Mr. Speaker, I thank the Reform Party for giving us this opportunity today
and I notice, as the debate wears on, that there is a basic distinction between what the Reform Party is suggesting and the proposal put forward by the Bloc Quebecois. I would like to emphasize this difference based on the minister's speech.
Every time we have brought up the subject of government finance, we have said that it was imperative, capital that a committee composed of representatives of all the official parties in this House be set up to review all expenditure items that make up the government's financial commitments. While the motion that the Reform Party has put before us is interesting, I think that it would not give us a broad enough view, a comprehensive view of where cutbacks should be made.
I wanted to draw a parallel with the department that the Minister of Industry runs, as his committee met for the second time this week. I attended the meeting because I take a keen interest in the issue. I was surprised to learn for one thing that the total budget for his department was nine times smaller than that of National Defence, in spite of the fact that the manufacturing sector is known to create jobs and that commitments need to be made in that area. I would like to submit to you that with respect to cuts, the problem with what the Reform Party is saying is that we get the impression that there should be cuts everywhere, across the board. On the other hand, a parliamentary committee like the one we are suggesting could give us a much more balanced picture. There are indeed areas where cuts can be made, but there are others where additional resources are required.
At that committee meeting where all the deputy ministers had come to tell us about their financing activities, every one was amazed to hear for instance that as little as $15 million was earmarked in the department's budget for the very important sector of tourism, a sector that is expected to gain more and more importance toward the year 2000. So, both the government members and the opposition members present were surprised at how meagre their resources were, considering how much needs to be done in Canada in that area.
Just think that the Quebec Ministry of Tourism alone has about the same budget. I picked that particular example because it is in the magnificent riding of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve -where the hon. minister is always welcome- that you find the Olympic Stadium, the Botanical Garden and the Biodome.
This is a case where, if a parliamentary committee carried out a qualitative study of each budget item related to governmental activity, as the Bloc Quebecois is proposing, we could make a quantitative determination and realize, for one thing, that there should be more resources allocated to the Department of Industry, particularly for tourism, and we would be able to make nuances. I do not know whether the hon. minister agrees with me on this, but I think that this is a basic distinction between what the Reform Party and the Bloc Quebec are proposing.