I would ask my colleagues opposite to show us a little respect, just as we show our respect for them every day.
There is something even more shocking about this budget, and I will tell you what it is. With this budget, the Minister of Finance, who in reality controls human resources development in Canada, has just put a straightjacket on the Minister of Human Resources Development. He has accomplished this by committing him to save $7.5 billion through social program reform over the next three years. Various income security programs will be reformed and outrageous changes will be made to the unemployment insurance system, changes which he criticized the pre-
vious government for making. In other words, he is saying right from the start to the Minister of Human Resources Development, even before the committee undertakes its work, that savings of $7.5 billion will have to be realized over the next three years. Is that what the government calls restoring fiscal equity?
Is this what the government calls restoring social justice in Canada? In point of fact, it is attacking those who are most in need, namely the least fortunate, those who are, in large part, victims of the previous government and who are being further victimized by the current government.
The leader of the Bloc Quebecois and Leader of the Official Opposition was right. When the government party speaks about reforming social programs and health care programs, what it is really talking about is making cuts. Today, we have irrefutable proof of this.
Middle income taxpayers and senior citizens certainly deserved a tax break, but the Minister of Finance is not giving them one with this budget. What about those who are unemployed and the most disadvantaged? A total of 1.5 million Canadians are out of work. The 437,000 Quebecers who are out of work were expecting genuine job creation initiatives in this budget, not merely stopgap measures such as the infrastructure program which will create 45,000 part-time jobs. They were hoping for real job creation initiatives.
This budget gives us no reason at all to hope. Aside from the nice speeches and nice smiles from the Minister of Finance and his colleagues, there is nothing in this budget to help the 1.2 million Canadians who are currently waiting for social housing and who spend more than 50 per cent of their income on housing. Nice speeches are all well and good, but when the time came to restore $600 million in funding for social housing, an issue over which they tore a strip off the previous government, their nice words did not translate into concrete action. All we are left with are nice smiles and nice speeches about social justice in Canada. That is what Quebecers and Canadians hate in politicians. That is why Quebecers and Canadians are cynical towards politicians and political institutions. It is because of a lack of courage, a lack of long-term vision that Quebecers and Canadians are feeling alienated from politicians' promises.
Not only does this budget not include anything that the government should have done, but its spending reduction targets are ridiculous. In the next three years, there will be no spending cuts in nominal terms.
I have the feeling that this government is living on another planet, that it is not aware of Canada's excessive debt, which puts it in first place about everywhere in terms of poor performance. I get the impression that this poor performance and this government are two totally disembodied things.
The Minister of Finance said that we would blame them for not going far enough. We will not blame him for not going far enough, but we will blame him for not doing what he should have done, and that is even more serious.
We will blame him for sparing, once again, the government's rich friends. But Quebecers and Canadians are starting to grasp this government's vision.
I therefore move:
That the debate be now adjourned.