Mr. Speaker, I wish to respond to the remarks made by the Minister of Human Resources Development in answering a question on child poverty. Today, I would like to get a better answer than the one the minister then gave me.
When I asked him if he would agree that cuts to the unemployment insurance program and the transfers to provinces would force more women and children to join the ranks of the poorest citizens, the minister simply answered this, and I quote: "One of the real purposes for undertaking a major modernization of our social programs is to tackle the whole problem of poverty faced by women and children".
Those are fine principles. But reality is another matter altogether. Moreover, in conclusion, the minister even had the nerve to recall that the fight against poverty requires efforts by all levels of government, employers, unions, social groups and women's associations.
That is really showing a lack of responsibility. How can we not be totally disconcerted by a government that casually offloads its burden onto all the others, while pretending that it has good intentions?
I want to remind the government, and especially the Minister of Human Resources Development, to whom history will attribute the indecent increase in the number of poor women and children in Canada and in Quebec, that the massive cuts and the shameless manipulation of the unemployment insurance fund have a direct and unavoidable consequence: they increase the number of welfare recipients.
It is not hard to understand. In Quebec alone, last July, 477,771 households were on welfare. In Quebec alone, as a direct consequence of the current government's ineptitude, there are almost 50,000 new social welfare recipients since it came to power. In Quebec alone, 249,567 children count on welfare benefits for their very survival and are suffering the consequences. That is more than a quarter of a million children. And the minister has the gall to tell us that women's associations must do their share. He has the gall to tell us that social groups must also do their share.
This government must review all the cuts it wants to make. It must look at them through its gender analysis prism it has been boasting so much about on the international scene. The social program reform so dear to the minister would not stand up to such an analysis very long, and that is why his government is waiting so long to implement it. The conclusion is obvious: the reform will clearly penalize women and children the most.
This government must work to reduce poverty among women and children, and not to increase it, as is currently the case.