Debates of March 24th, 1995

Borrowing Authority Act, 1995-96

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

In that case, the hon. member has 20 minutes, and I will interrupt his speech at 1.29 p.m.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak to this bill, and I

have the impression that what I say could be used next year, since most of the decisions will not come into force until then.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

This will be two speeches rolled into one.

[An hon. member]

Save on words.

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

In athat case, take only ten minutes.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

No, I will take all the time allocated to me. You will learn something. People can learn something at any age, even on the other side of the House.

The government talks about decentralizing but and the only thing they have decentralized is the deficit. They have shipped it out to the provinces, and this is pretty obvious in the case of Ontario and Quebec, where these provinces will assume 71 per cent of the cost of transfers that will no longer be made. There is nothing for jobs in this budget either. They campaigned on the slogan: jobs, jobs, jobs. There were two "jobs" too many. The infrastructures project lasted a year. However, it is now being extended to get ready for the next election, and then they will extend it again. This is like politicians who promise a bridge during every campaign, even when there was no river.

This budget also maintains the privileges of the wealthy. I am thinking of family trusts. The government says it did something about family trusts, and oddly enough, that something will kick in in 1999. The government is giving these people plenty of time to get ready. It is saying: watch out, we are coming, but not right away, there are still plenty of tax loopholes. I suppose the government even points them out. Meanwhile, it claims that it has done something about family trusts.

The same applies to flags of convenience. This is a rare occurrence. Not often do you see senior government officials who own companies. Of course they declare those interests; they do not manage their companies while they are cabinet ministers. However, some companies use flags of convenience, including Canada Steamship Lines, which belongs to the Minister of Finance and whose ships fly a Panamanian flag. This is unusual indeed. The example comes from the top. Taxpayers are told: make an effort, pay your taxes, but this does not apply to me. K.C. Irving also used convenience flags.

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

Great Canadians.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Great Canadians. Mr. Irving also received the Order of Canada, while in the Bahamas.

Is this the ferocious attack against the wealthy? As long as the example will not come from the top, do not expect people to make efforts and to see black market activities stop.

Take Canadian Pacific. The company made profits of $422 million last year but did not pay taxes. The teller at the Royal Bank pays more taxes than the Royal Bank itself. This is incredible.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

We are told that banks will have to pay $100 million in new taxes over a two-year period. Yet, the Royal Bank, and let me check to make sure I am not mistaken, made profits of $1.2 billion last year, and we are told that all the banks together made-

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski—Témiscouata, QC]

Five billion.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Five billion dollars. And we are told that all the banks together will have to pay $100 million in new taxes over a two-year period, in addition to being able to take advantage of all the existing tax loopholes. If this is the government's effort to make the wealthy pay some taxes, what would it be like if the government did not do anything?

In the meantime, the government targets the public service. I agree that some cuts must be made and the Bloc Quebecois can propose ways of achieving this.

However, who is this budget going after? The public servants, not Paul Tellier. Paul Tellier gets an annual salary of $345,000, plus approximately $50,000 in expenses and has an interest free loan of $400,000 at the Royal Bank, a "friendly" arrangement. I feel so sorry for these kinds of people. These are the people with the gall to say: "Let us get to work. Do not exaggerate; we have to tighten our belts".

We do not touch these people, but we hit the poor public servants. Eliminating 45,000 jobs in the public service represents 14 per cent of public servants. In Montreal, there are 21,000 public servants, more than in Hull, where there are 20,000. Montreal has the second largest pool of public servants next to Ottawa-Hull, which has 104,000. Since we know that there are 20,000 in Hull, that leaves 84,000 in Ottawa. As luck would have it, yet again.

[An hon. member]

Luck has a hand in a lot of things.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

It is like the research centres that are on the other side of the river as well. It is a pretty tricky business.

So, for Montreal, this means 9 per cent of all public servants. Taking a look at the main departments and the cuts likely to be made in Montreal, it is clear the cuts will be huge ones, especially when we know there are no measures to soften the blow. No measures are planned.

If a total of 45,000 positions are cut nationwide, the total number that Montreal would lose of the 20,000 or 21,000 currently located there would be 2,730. That is a huge number! They are unionized jobs, generally well paid. It is a question of 2,730. But that is not all. Canadian National employs approximately 7,000 people in Montreal. We know that they want to

privatize. The Canada Post Corporation is also a big employer. The CBC employs 3,723 people. Everybody at the CBC in Montreal knows this, only the French section of course, and when I say everybody, I mean everybody except the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

The people who watch the news on Radio-Canada, which probably does not include the Minister of Canadian Heritage, know that 750 positions will be cut. I see my colleague, the government whip, gesture that, yes indeed, he knows that 750 positions will be cut.

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

He is nodding yes.

[An hon. member]

He agrees.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

He would make a much better Minister of Canadian Heritage than the person currently occupying the position.

[Some hon. members]

Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

It is true that almost anybody else could do a better job.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I concede that that is not much of a compliment because there are many people out there who could be a better minister.

[Some hon. members]

Ha! Ha!

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Those 750 positions at the CBC are also worrisome, quite worrisome. A Franco-Ontarian colleague who is here knows that this attack on the French section of the CBC will reduce the flow of information which is supposed to reach francophones outside Quebec, and I suppose that he is rather concerned about the government's decision, although the heritage minister is not. I would imagine that the government could function without the heritage minister.

Therefore, we could say that there are lots and lots of cuts. Cuts in the semi-public sector. I mentioned the Canadian National, we can see what is happening now. The rail strike was prepared jointly by companies, with the complicity of government, and this was very clear yesterday in the presentation of Paul Tellier. He said that he believed that people were making too much money, and that salaries and work conditions would have to be lowered; not his though. He is a wise man. He knows that charity begins at home.

They want to privatize, to reduce the number of jobs, the way they did it at the Angus yard, not far from my riding. At one time it had 8,000 employees. It is closed now, completely closed. People were promised the best job security plan, but today the railways are reneging on this promise.

These are major job losses at the Canadian National, major job losses at the CBC. If we add it all up, we are talking about 6,500 jobs that will be lost in the Montreal area within two years. I recall the excellent document prepared by the present Minister of Finance, when his party was in opposition, which proposed a strategic plan for Montreal. It received very good coverage in the press. There were two or three very good articles about it.

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

You were against it?