Good morning everyone.
The Front populaire en réaménagement urbain, or FRAPRU, is a Quebec coalition of 120 organizations that work mainly in such areas as housing and, more specifically, poverty and respect for social rights.
There are two main reasons why we find it somewhat paradoxical to be appearing before your Committee to present our views on cuts to the Department of Human Resources and Social Development announced by the government.
The first of those reasons is that these budget cuts coincide with the Conservative government's announcement that there will be a $13.2 billion surplus in fiscal year 2005-2006. Surpluses of that magnitude would, on the contrary, have warranted reinvestments in social development, as opposed to budget cuts.
The second reason relates to the total contradiction between these cuts and the recommendations of a UN committee, made barely five months ago, with respect to respect for social rights in Canada. That committee made a whole series of recommendations that should have had quite different budgetary repercussions at the Department of Human Resources and Social Development: an increase in federal transfers for social assistance and social services, improvements to the Employment Insurance program and, finally, recognition that housing and homelessness are a matter of national urgency — as stated by the UN committee — which should normally result in reinstatement of social housing programs.
The Harper government which, it should be said, has not even deigned to respond to the UN report, has chosen the opposite direction, by introducing a billion dollar's worth of budget cuts that have more to do with ideology than with budgetary requirements.
And I want to emphasize that point: cutting spending by $1 billion, when there is currently a $13 billion surplus, is beyond all comprehension. However much we may try to see some logic in this, from both an economic and social standpoint, the fact is that it makes no sense whatsoever. So, at some point, someone will have to provide us with an explanation that goes beyond pure ideology, because we simply cannot understand why these cuts are being made when the government has such enormous surpluses.
What other opinion could one possibly have of the cuts being made to grants for women's groups, or the abolition of the Court Challenges Program?
But, strictly in terms of cuts to the Department of Human Resources and Social Development, FRAPRU is particularly opposed to efficiency gains of some $45 million at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC.
CMHC has told us that these cuts will have no effect on programs or on existing social housing stock. That may be true, but if CMHC is capable of realizing certain efficiencies — for example, because of interest rates that are lower than expected — any money that is saved should be used to provide additional assistance to families and individuals.
Do CMHC's own estimates not show that some 1,484,800 households are in serious need of housing in Canada, and that there are 150,000 homeless people in this country? That last figure is the number of people it would take to fill three football stadiums. So, just imagine three stadiums filled with homeless people. That is what that figure represents here in Canada.
In fact, CMHC could provide more appropriate support for the current social housing stock, which is not only aging but also experiencing serious financial difficulties.