They certainly are. Cuts in federal transfer payments to the Government of Quebec will cost Quebec $650 million next year. This offloading of the federal deficit will mean that next year, the Government of Quebec will have a shortfall of $650 million. Ultimately, we will lose $2.4 billion because of federal decisions over which the Government of Quebec has no control.
But there is more than that in this bill. The bill contains another instance of strong arming by the federal government. This is the kind of tactic we have come to expect from the present Prime Minister who was the right-hand man of Pierre Elliott Trudeau in 1980 and in 1981, when the Canadian constitution was patriated against an almost unanimous decision of the National Assembly to veto patriation unless Quebec's historic demands were met.
The present Prime Minister was also the chief instigator of the demise of the Meech Lake accord in 1990. No one will forget that. We all remember how he walked up and down the hallway with his cellular phone while inside, the Leader of the Official Opposition in Manitoba, Mrs. Carstairs, was taking her cues from him and doing his dirty work.
He is the one responsible for the collapse of the Meech Lake accord. Quebecers remember that too.
Now, another blow is being struck by the federal government with Bill C-76. The blow comes from our national expert, who is making his right hand man, the Minister of Finance, do his dirty work.
Bill C-76 provides for the continuance of national standards for health care and the introduction of new ones for welfare and post-secondary education. And if the provinces-for these people, Quebec is just another province-fail to comply with these standards, they will be cut off just like the unemployed and the people on welfare were cut off and like seniors soon will be.
Permit me to contradict the parliamentary secretary. No, the provinces are not being given greater autonomy. It gives me a pain in my stomach to hear talk of provincial autonomy, when welfare, post-secondary education and health are already provincial matters, within Quebec's jurisdiction. Giving greater autonomy in areas of provincial jurisdiction-now I have heard it all.
The parliamentary secretary talks of greater autonomy and greater flexibility. On the contrary. Not only will federal intrusion into areas already established by the constitution continue, but the provinces will be bound and gagged and told that, if they fail to meet the Canada-wide standards established, the government will find one way or another to cut them off, to not give them any transfer funding.
This is the sort of flexible and co-operative federalism the government is offering us with a simple bill on public finances.
When Bill C-76 was initially tabled, there was a great outcry in Quebec. Imagine setting national standards in post-secondary education for Quebecers, in particular. You can bet there was a reaction in Quebec when that came out. Quebecers were outraged. They understood that, if this bill were implemented, 75 per cent of people of Canada would be deciding about education in Quebec. Imagine the effect on the backbone of our culture, of what makes us distinct and of what makes us a people if our education were determined by the other founding people.
No people in the world would accept such conditions. It makes no sense. So here we have the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, our worthy representatives of Quebec,-and I see the member for Brome-Missisquoi with a smile on his lips-closing their eyes and concerns to the development of Canadian standards for post-secondary education and making Quebec toe the line on pain of being cut off. This is their idea of federalism.
Given the general outcry provoked by his initial project, the Minister of Finance, at one point-I think it was during the debate at second reading-proposed, in a move which is very unusual on the floor of the House, to table amendments following speeches by the Leader of the Opposition who opposed this measure, by the critic from Mercier and myself. He threw them out just like that, saying that they could meet Quebec's demands. We did well not to react right away because, when we received in writing the amendments which were passed yesterday by the government side, we realized that not only did the minister not solve anything but that he made things even worse. The second version was worse than the first one. They were laughing at us.