Yes, indeed, thank you to the hon. member for Winnipeg St. James.
I would tell him that there is a very famous quote with regard to where women fit in our society. I would quote that well known 20th century philosopher, Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, who said women hold up half the sky. It might be interesting if the hon. member looked into that just a bit. The quotations of Chairman Mao in his little red book are almost as relevant to the workings of this House as the rantings of the 18th century mind of Mr. Locke and some others. However that is a mere bagatelle and we will continue to the matter at hand.
I am particularly delighted to take part in the debate today because I think it is terribly important, as it frequently is in this Chamber, to put a human face on the work we do here. I am always delighted to be in the Chamber to hear my colleague and good friend from across Halifax harbour, the member for Dartmouth, as well my colleague and good friend, the member for Kingston and the Islands because the experiences in their own lives frequently puts a human face on the work that we do here.
We talk about cuts. I say this with the greatest of respect, because it is a long tradition in the House that we do not impute motive and that each one of us as parliamentarians understands that every other one of us as parliamentarians, is here to do the best job he or she can do according to his or her lights. We are here to represent our constituents and to do the best we can as well for all the people of Canada. We represent very different views, but the reason for us being here is the highest. Consequently I want to talk about some of those groups that exist on government largess, those groups that my friend from the other side perhaps in his lack of comprehension or just in his lack of experience thinks are not worthy of government attention.
Let me talk about women's groups in particular. Let me talk about transition houses. Let me talk about women's centres. Let me talk about women's health centres. Let me talk about shelters for young people. Let me talk about shelters for women who have recently been released from prison. Although coming under the specifics of provincial funding, all of these receive grants in varying amounts from either the women's program under human resources or under Employment Canada or under other government programs.
Let me tell members how important these are. I believe that the hon. member in his own soul knows that these things are important too. He says he does not. Okay, he asked for it. Let me tell him about the women who are driven from their homes in the middle of the night in fear of violence, in fear of their own lives, in fear of the lives of their children.
Let me tell him about the women who are attempting to reconstruct lives after serving a prison term, after being helped through a group, for example, like Stepping Stone in Halifax which helps prostitutes get off the street and get back into normal society.
Let me talk about women who desperately seek to improve their level of education so they can break the cycle of welfare. Let me talk about people in general, but mostly women because the vast majority of those people suffering under the yoke of poverty in this country are women.
Let me say what would happen to them if the kind of federal funding that the hon. member in his pardonable but perhaps frightening level of knowledge wants to remove from the federal budget. Let me tell the member what would happen to them.
Places like Byrony House, a transition House in Halifax would be shut down. Places like Phoenix House, a shelter for young people would be shut down. Places like the St. Leonard's Society which assist people who come out of prison and who are trying to make a new start would be shut down.
We have already seen what happens when cutbacks meant that a great number of people suffering from various kinds of mental illnesses have had to be released on to the street. We have seen in the last 10 years, the years of the Mulroney government-the hon. member should pay attention, he may learn something-what has happened when a lack of compassion has contributed to an ignorance level and people do not see what is happening to the big picture.
Go to the streets of any major city in this country. Go to my city of Halifax, a small city, and see the number of young people who are on the streets. See the number of people with various kinds of mental disorders who are on the streets because there is no place for them and because the funding is not there.
Go to Montreal and Toronto and Vancouver and Winnipeg and Calgary and Edmonton and you will see them. Is this what you want in your country? Is this what you want to be the legacy of your children? Is this what you want the world to say Canada stands for and Canada means?
If it is, I have to say that it is not what I want and it is not what anybody on this side of the House wants from the hon. member for Saint-Maurice who is the Prime Minister to the latest elected backbencher on the government side.
On this side of the House, we have a history and a tradition that says that you can do two things. Yes, on that side of the House too, as my hon. friend from Ontario reminds me, along with the rump as well. We have a history and a tradition in the Liberal Party that says the two things that drive the engine of government are not incompatible and those two things are compassion and fiscal responsibility. People who believe that the two do not go hand in hand with the greatest of respect, just do not understand the way government works.
We on this side of the House have a great tradition of reform in the best sense of the word. This is the party of Joseph Howe. This is the party of Wilfrid Laurier. This is the party of Lester Pearson. And thank God, this is the party of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and the party of Jean Chrétien.
The question of reform has always been near and dear to the hearts of Liberals because it is reform with a compassionate face. It is reform to ensure that Canadians have a standard of living that is second to none.
My hon. colleague from Dartmouth asked the learned members on the other side where they would cut. I can remember, and I know the hon. member from Dartmouth remembers this as well, five or six years ago the hon. member for Dartmouth, the hon. member for Willowdale, who is currently the chair of the finance committee, and I went out for supper after a committee meeting. We talked about the jewel in the crown of Canadian social programs, and that is medicare.
The hon. member for Dartmouth's history is in a small coal mining town on Cape Breton Island. I came from not too far from there myself, but was brought up in a larger city. The hon. member for Willowdale was brought up in the city of London, Ontario.
We discovered that each one of us had the experience in our early childhood of seeing members of our families seriously ill and prevented from getting the kind of medical care needed. Actually, in my case it was not prevented. My father had an illness for three weeks. When he died, my mother was cleaned out. There was no money left. Everything was gone because this was pre-medicare. The hon. member for Dartmouth's father suffered an industrial accident which devastated his family financially. The hon. member for Willowdale had a similar experience.
The three of us talked about this. I remember it so well. It impressed me so deeply that the three of us, coming from our different experiences were utterly committed to the fact that never in this country should Canadians have to worry about medical care. Never in this country should Canadians have to think that they could not get treatment or medical services that are life sustaining without a complete and utter danger of bankruptcy within their family.
I was seven years old when my father died. I remember the devastation of his death, obviously. But I also remember what clearly was a fear in my mother's heart because she was left a widow with no resources. My father had been a pretty successful businessman. But there was no medicare and three weeks in a hospital cleaned out everything they had managed to save and compile in 10 years.
That is unacceptable. That is not even something which should be allowed to be contemplated. When hon. members from the Reform Party talk about cuts, when they talk about user pay which with the greatest respect is absolutely one of the dumbest theories I have ever heard of but I leave that for another debate, when they talk about these things I wonder if they have truly investigated and looked at the situation.
I would advise the hon. members to go into the Library of Parliament and look at an all-party report, a unanimous report done by the health and welfare committee in the first two years of the last Parliament.
The report talked about the kinds of changes that would deal well with medicare. Unfortunately that report has never been given the kind of light it needs. It talks about preventive medicine. It talks about the kinds of things for example that the province of Quebec is particularly good at. I forget the name and I do not know if any of my colleagues here can help me, but there is a name for medical centres in the province of Quebec-