Madam Speaker, as the assistant to the Official Opposition critic on regional development, I am pleased to address Bill C-46.
Back on September 26, I had the opportunity to express my strong disagreement with this piece of legislation, since it does not recognize Quebec's jurisdiction over its regional development. That bill was unacceptable in its original form. Yet, this House rejected the amendments to clauses 8, 9 and 10 proposed by the opposition critic on regional development. These amendments read as follows:
That Bill C-46 be amended by replacing, in Clause 8, line 23, in Clause 9, line 22, and in Clause 10, line 36, with the following:
with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council of Quebec where such powers, duties and functions relate to regional development in Quebec-
We simply asked that Quebec have control over its regional development. Who, if not Quebec, is in the best position to develop policies in that sector? Certainly not the federal Minister of Industry, although he could, through this legislation, have the authority to set up such policies and exercise control over Quebec's regional development.
The previous government wanted to streamline federal bureaucracy with this bill. The current government admits to looking for ways to eliminate duplication and overlap. Is it just paying lip service to the idea? It looks like it, since Bill C-46 would allow the federal government to intervene at will in Quebec.
This government is ignoring, or pretending to ignore, the efficient regional development programs which have been in place for a long time in Quebec. Incidentally, the new Quebec government has developed a dynamic regional development policy which will be implemented by the stakeholders and which takes into account the fact that trade liberalization eliminates trade barriers and exposes regional economies to stiff competition.
The Quebec government devised a new sharing of responsibility between itself and the regions, including the Quebec union of municipalities, as well as the Quebec union of regional county municipalities and local municipalities. As we have already explained to this House, RCMs will become decision-making centres for Quebec's socio-economic development. These RCMs will be designated as independent and multi-purpose political authorities.
Municipal councils will have to rely more on participation. Under the authority of the RCM's board, sectoral commissions will be delegated various powers, depending on the sector concerned. Regional delegates were appointed to provide direct liaison between the regions and the Premier.
The Quebec government also developed a sectoral development policy which puts the emphasis on the agri-food, fisheries, forestry, energy, recreation and tourism sectors. But what about the federal government? Has it demonstrated an ability to develop programs which take into account already existing provincial and regional policies? The answer is no, Madam Speaker.
No, because the federal government has never been able to reach a consensus where regional development is concerned. No, because the priorities of the Liberal government differ from those of the provinces and the regions. Let us decentralize the funding and the decision-making authority! Then, the regions would be able to develop according to their own priorities.
With this bill, the federal government is trying to control the economic development of Quebec. The government party is digging in its heels and the results are duplication and overlap.
People do not seem to understand the situation; either we have not been able to explain it to members opposite well enough or they are not listening. We all remember the three little monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. The government is following the advice of the first two monkeys too closely; it should pay more attention to the third one. Several commissions have clearly stated in their reports that the federal government is impeding our regional development.
In its report, the interdepartmental working group on regional development, set up by the Quebec government in 1991, when the Liberals were in office, I might add, examined the issue of the proliferation of regional development initiatives.
The working group came to a very clear conclusion: confusion, duplication and overlap.
Confusion in terms of regional divisions: the federally defined regions do not match Quebec's administrative regions. Frequent confusion concerning regional officers, since there are too many government officers.
Duplication of structures: regional advisory bodies, economic development organizations, creation of program management committees to reconcile all the various types of initiatives.
Duplication that leads to operating costs that are high compared to the amount of money actually spent on development.
The Bélanger-Campeau Commission, also established by Quebec's former Liberal government, draws conclusions that are equally clear. If Quebec assumed responsibility for existing federal programs without any reduction in services, there would be annual savings of $289 million in spending related to the collection of customs duties and taxes, $250 million in manpower and $233 million in transportation and communication costs.
A study indicates that 67 per cent of federal programs overlap provincial programs to some extent. This study, conducted by Germain Julien and Marcel Proulx, tells us that overlap accounts for 65 per cent of government spending, excluding the public debt and unemployment insurance. This represents $67.5 billion and 45 per cent of personnel or 114,000 full-time employees for 1991 and 1992.
What is the origin of this overlap? Seventy-six per cent is attributable to the authority to legislate in shared areas and 24 per cent to federal spending power in areas under provincial jurisdiction.
We know all too well the consequences of these overlapping programs: increased cost of government action when it would be more economical to give one government exclusive responsibility for services provided at both levels.
Redundancy in programs: irrational use of personnel and equipment by both levels for similar activities.
The exorbitant cost of co-ordination: officials meet hundreds of times a year to check whether they are offering the same services, to harmonize program objectives and to ensure they are compatible.
Reduced effectiveness of government measures: how many times have we seen measures that are put in place by two levels of government cancel each other out for lack of consensus on objectives and priorities. Of course, no one wants to make concessions.
An additional burden on the target population, which has trouble finding its way through the labyrinth of government programs, especially when there is duplication.
Turf wars that make governments act irresponsibly. And who pays for all this? The taxpayer.
In spite of these factors, the Liberal government insists on passing legislation like Bill C-46 which dismisses out of hand Quebec's policies on regional development. The government says that it wants to eliminate duplication and overlap and then introduces a bill in which it maintains its hold on regional development.
Unlike Quebec, the federal government does not consult but implements policies from coast to coast. Consider the changes made within the Federal Office of Regional Development-Quebec. The new focus targets four areas: exports, new technologies, entrepreneurship and catalyst projects. According to the government, that is what the directors of SMEs want.
However, every region has to identify its own priorities. In our region for instance, these include tourism and culture. It will not be easy to get approval for these projects, since proposals for a cultural centre in my own riding have just been turned down. The federal government refuses to consider the specific needs of each region. We have developed instruments, including the CRD, the Conseil régional de développement, to promote regional priorities. The government could have consulted to harmonize its actions.
All this duplication and overlap is very costly. Why should we believe today that the Department of Industry will be able to reduce waste? When reading Bill C-46, I see, like everybody else in this chamber, that it maintains the status quo-an expression dear to the Prime Minister-between the mandates and the grouped departments.
Quebec's demand for exclusive jurisdiction over regional development is nothing new. Since the Quiet Revolution, it has been constantly restated. These are not whims, contrary to what the Prime Minister said. Since then, Quebec has had governments of every political stripe, but its demands have remained the same. Federal interference is still ubiquitous, and the regions are no better off as a result.
Let us recall why the Department of Regional Industrial Expansion disappeared in 1987: the regions were not involved in the funding request development and review process. The money that could have been used to fund excellent projects was instead given to useless ones. Industrial development was favoured at the expense of regional development. Since then, we have been living the same nightmare. If the federal government believes its general agreements have improved the situation, it is quite wrong. There may be no complaint from western Canada and the Maritimes which received $630 million and $1.2 billion respectively, whereas Quebec received $165 million. Is this fair? Regions can and must do more than simply supply domestic and foreign markets with raw materials.
It is the processing industries which create jobs and develop local resources. If we do not look after them, regions become more and more dependent. The federal government refuses to acknowledge that its approach to regional development are wrong. Yet, studies clearly show that the economic base is eroding, the social fabric is unravelling, the depopulation of rural areas is continuing, and young people are moving out of the regions.
All Ottawa is doing is regionalizing its operations by setting up regional structures. It might increase visibility, but it certainly does not improve efficiency. As we already said, federal interference causes duplication and inconsistency. The result is an administrative mess which slows down economic development in the regions and makes them the big losers.
The federal government's scope is so broad that it cannot correctly target the particular needs of a given region. As far as we can tell, FORD-Q is not free to make its action fit any total vision of local development.
It would be so simple for the government to promise to accept the priorities set by the regions, in order to maximize the impact of measures initiated by regional leaders in Quebec. Going along with the priorities set by the regions is one thing, having a third party role in the financing of regional development projects is another.
On this point, the rise in administrative costs and the squabbles with the provinces should convince the federal government that duplication between the two levels of government is damaging. This is why we insist so much on the need to decentralize budgets and decision-making. The future of the regions lies in the decentralization of power towards regional decision centres.
The government is not proposing anything to redress the imbalance in funding. While federal regional development funding has increased 50 per cent in Quebec since 1983, it jumped 300 per cent in the West and 250 per cent in the Maritimes.
Based on figures from the Federal Office for Regional Development-Quebec itself, the federal input in regional development is inequitable. Quebec's per capita share is $230, compared to $240 in Western Canada and $920 in Atlantic Canada.
Master agreements were mentioned earlier. The per capita results are catastrophic for Quebec in that regard as well, with $64 spent in Quebec in 1987, compared to $431 in Atlantic Canada and $259 in Western Canada.
The government could restore equity by cutting expenditures, as the Auditor General said, by eliminating tax breaks such as family trusts and the waste from duplication and overlap caused mostly by infringing on provincial jurisdictions, as mentioned earlier.
What would these billions of dollars be used for, Madam Speaker? This money could be used to restore equity in the amounts received by Quebec from the federal government for regional development. Quebec does not want its regional development to be built only on an industrial vision dictated by the Department of Industry in Ottawa.
Quebec has had its fill of inconsistent federal initiatives and policies. Why is it that the Quebec government has realized that the regional stakeholders are the only ones who grasp the real needs of their respective regions and the people across the way have not?
This bill is far from putting to rest the concerns that regional development organizations and all stakeholders have. The government must change course. We want Quebec to have exclusive control over the development of its regions.
We want to repatriate, in the form of tax points, the budget allocated to local development. We want decision-making and spending powers to be decentralized to the regions. This is a must for the economic development of Quebec. It is also a major component of our people's plans for sovereignty.