Mr. Speaker, I welcome this opportunity to speak this morning to the amendment proposed by the hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot. This debate on Bill C-76, on provisions to implement certain changes in the 1995-96 Budget that will affect transfers to the provinces, concerns all Canadians and Quebecers.
I would like to start with a short summary of the major changes introduced by the 1995-96 Budget, after which, as the official opposition's representative for seniors organizations, I will try to show what the federal government has in mind with its plan to reduce old age pensions in 1997.
Transfers to the provinces are not changed by the 1995-96 budget. Today, there are three main transfer programs: Established Programs Financing, $21.73 billion; equalization, $8.87 billion; and the Canada Assistance Plan, $7.95 billion. The federal budget did not make any changes in the equalization program but it has extended the ceiling provision for equalization for a period of five years.
Section 48 in Bill C-76 will deprive Quebec of $650 million in 1996-97. Bill C-76 proposes new national standards for health care and provides for establishing new national standards for social assistance and post-secondary education. This new federalism does not decentralize at all. These national standards will restrict the autonomy of the provinces in their own jurisdictions.
The government is trying to minimize the significance of these cuts, although they are in fact devastating for the provincial governments, especially for Quebec. The government includes tax point transfers in its figures on cuts in transfer payments to the provinces. The federal government has no control over tax transfers paid to the provinces under its main transfer programs.
In fact, all financial transfers, cash transfers paid to the Government of Quebec, will be reduced by 32 per cent between 1994-95 and 1997-98, as a result of cuts in transfers to the provinces.
A sovereign Quebec would lose federal transfer payments but recover the $30 billion in taxes Quebecers are now paying to the federal government.
The latest budget cuts implemented by Bill C-76 will hit the most vulnerable in our society. The Quebec Minister of Finance estimates that these cuts and transfers to the provinces will reduce the federal contribution to social programs funding from 37.8 per cent to 28.5 per cent between 1994-95 and 1997-98. The federal government is intervening in areas that are under provincial jurisdiction and may make additional cuts in the cash portion of transfers to the provinces.
As the official opposition's representative for seniors organizations, I am very concerned about the old age pension reform announced by the government, which will become effective in 1997. In 1994, they said a document would be tabled very shortly, but the government has delayed production of this document, preferring to wait until after the referendum in Quebec.
In fact the government announced that the most disadvantaged seniors will not lose any protection. This means that the pensions of those defined as having high incomes will be reduced and that the reductions in their pensions will not go to raising the pensions of low income seniors, who have only the
assurance that their pensions will not be cut. So, some will have their benefits reduced and no one will receive an increase.
Another important point has to do with family income determining pension eligibility. This measure is unacceptable, since women have fought for financial independence for decades.
It is not a new measure. The government was preparing similar changes to the unemployment insurance plan as part of the social program reform. Given women's general opposition to the idea, the Liberal majority on the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development did not recommend linking benefit levels to family income levels. This is in the report by the committee on social program reform.
It is noteworthy that old age pensions have already been reduced for seniors with an income over $53,000. The Liberals decided, in the last budget, to reduce the tax credit for seniors with an income over $25,000. The federal government is continuing to go after the incomes of seniors, particularly those in the middle class.
Old age pensions are a major source of revenue for seniors. Federal government documents indicate that old age security and guaranteed income supplements accounted for 28.9 per cent of the income of single men; 41.3 per cent of the income of single women and 25.9 per cent of the income of couples, in 1989.
The government announced a review of the Canada pension plan, the CPP, for the fall. The federal and provincial finance ministers are scheduled to meet as part of the five-year review of the Canada pension plan. They will use this opportunity to claim that a review of old age pensions is mandatory.
The federal government does not have to change the old age pension system unless, that is, it wants to cut the budget at the expense of seniors.
Quebec seniors had the opportunity to state their opinions on their future at hearings of the seniors' commission on the future of Quebec. The chairperson of the committee was a minister in the former Conservative government, Monique Vézina. This consultation has shown that seniors across the country have similar concerns, mostly about their social and economic situation.
Quebec is going through a difficult economic period. Some of the witnesses at the hearings told of the problems they are having with unemployment or poverty because of the constant threat of cuts to social programs and the health care system.
Representatives of the Quebec Federation of Senior Citizens (QFSC) told the commission that their organizations were fighting the four main problems affecting seniors: the feeling of uselessness, inactivity, insecurity and isolation. Almost everywhere people are lobbying for society to guarantee seniors their rightful place. Seniors want nothing more than to use their experience for the good of the society they will leave behind for their grandchildren. It is clear that the universality of old age pensions should not be tampered with.
Lucien Bouchard, the Leader of the Official Opposition, recently shared with Quebecers his party's reaction to the federal government's position on pensioners. He said:
After hitting pensioners with annual incomes of more than $26,000 with a tax last year, the federal government has continued to go after them. The Minister of Finance has made it very clear that the universality of old age pensions is definitely a thing of the past, since in the future, pension benefits will be based on combined family income, and this will result in the loss of financial independence for thousands of women. By waiting until after the referendum to cut into social security, the federal Liberals are hiding the negative ramifications of their cuts from Quebecers. Be assured, Mr. Speaker, that the Bloc Quebecois will do its utmost to prevent the government from making the needed spending cuts at the expense of seniors, the unemployed and people who are most in need of health care, post-secondary education and social assistance.
The federal government should cut $2.85 billion more from the Department of National Defence's budget for the next three years instead of looking to seniors' programs next autumn to reduce its deficit.
You can be sure, Mr. Speaker, that, as the official opposition critic for seniors' issues, I pledge to fight any proposal the federal government might make to reduce its deficit at the expense of seniors.