Mr. Speaker, last week when the Reform Party of Canada announced its proposed cuts to the federal budget, the most draconian cuts ever proposed in the history of Canada, the leader of the Reform Party had the nerve to claim that these cuts focused on non-social spending.
By calling for a 25 per cent reduction in the budget of CMHC, Reform Party members are calling for the federal government to break hundreds of federal-provincial contracts and agreements as well as thousands of contracts with public and private non-profits and co-operatives across Canada. They are also calling for cuts in social spending in the worst areas, affecting the poorest of the poor.
They are kicking those most in need, the poor, the old, the young, the disabled, single mothers and aboriginals, out into the streets. The Reform Party is saying to people whose annual income is on the average less than $12,000: "Get out of social housing and out on to the street corners".
This would have the effect of reducing the federal share of the shelter by 25 per cent.