There is also another message that we could send to the federal government, given what we heard at the finance committee. We could certainly add another message. Some Canadian provinces want national standards; they want standards for everything. The federal government should meet with these provinces and determine the standards with them and with all the Canadian groups outside Quebec who want such standards. Let them choose and implement the standards, but they should leave Quebec alone. That is the second message we want to convey to the government about Bill C-76 and the Canada health and social transfer.
There is another point we must make in the context of this bill and it concerns the Crow's benefit. That benefit raised passions in Quebec in the past. Do you know why? Because, in 1982, another Liberal government was in office at the time and they understood strictly nothing about that issue. I remember that, in 1982, the actual minister of International Affairs was responsible for the Crow's Nest rate issue in Quebec. He was the only french speaking member of the group who could understand what a crow, a nest and a train were. At least, it was a beginning.
There was a terrible fight in 1982. Do you know why? Because the Crow rate, a grant for western grain transportation, a preferential rate structure for the shipping of grain products from the prairies to the various export points, was established in 1897.
Since 1897, we have built a balance between east and west, between grain production in the west and livestock production in the east, especially in Quebec. We also grow grain in Quebec, but mostly for animal feed, while in the west wheat is grown for export. This balance evolved over the years: grain in the west, livestock in the east.
When you eliminate the preferential rate known as Crow's Nest, when you eliminate the subsidies paid year after year by the federal government to railway companies, to allow them to charge below cost, you are breaking the balance. The disappearance of the preferential rates will mean a local price for grain in the west that is $8 to $15 a metric tonne below the international price.
Do you know what that means? It means that by breaking the balance you are giving a competitive advantage to western producers who, with a price for grain of $8 to $15 a metric tonne lower than the international price, will be able to produce more meat animals. This situation is accepted by eastern producers and in particular those in Quebec. They reason that things have changed since 1897, and they accept that the subsidized rates known as the Crow's Nest rates must disappear.
However, we should not go too far. That is the way it was in 1982 and that is the way it is today, but we should not go any further. In other words, when you eliminate this advantage, you must simply do away with it and bring transportation rates to the level at which they should normally be, that is to say the real transportation cost for the hopper cars which carry grain to the various export points.
If you go beyond that, if you give a federal compensation-24 per cent of which is being paid by Quebec taxes-to increase livestock production in the west so that they can compete with Quebec hog producers, for example, we no longer agree. We cannot accept that federal money be used to help western producers compete against their Quebec colleagues. It would be totally unfair. Not only do they subsidize, but they subsidize in a big way.
They ask everybody to tighten their belts while giving $1.6 billion in compensation to western producers. And contrary to what the parliamentary secretary said earlier, this $1.6 billion is tax free, which means that, in fact, we are giving $2.2 billion to western producers in compensation for the fact that the preferential tariff is going to be eliminated within the next five years.
Nobody warned the Quebec milk producers when milk subsidies were cut, $35 million in one shot. There were no transition measures, they did not offer any when our markets were opened up under NAFTA and, afterwards, the GATT agreement which is now the World Trade Organization agreement. They did not compensate them at all. Nor did they compensate the unemployed when they cut UI funds by $2.5 billion annually.
In a period of fiscal austerity, a time when it is said that the federal system is bankrupt with a debt of $548 billion, they are ready to give what amounts to $2.2 billion to western producers. It is totally unfair because, as I said earlier, Quebec's money will be used to increase the competitiveness of western cattlemen who are going to compete with Quebec hog and beef producers. This is why we are against this part of Bill C-76.
If we must amend the Crow rate, let us eliminate it and the subsidy that goes with it; we must let the free market set the tariff and leave it at that. This is what we must do when we are bled white because of the state of public finances and when everybody is asked to make sacrifices. Moreover, they do not even recognize that the elimination of the Crow's Nest rate will have considerable impacts on Quebec. According to an analysis done by Professor Garth Coffin of McGill University, Quebec will have to absorb between $24 and $46 million per year in losses because of the government's policy.
I think that the current Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and the current Prime Minister forgot what the Crow rate did for Quebec in 1982.
It would be in their interest to remember that, because Quebec producers remind them, either here or in their riding office, of what the Crow rate means for them, of what it means for them to have their dairy subsidies cut again and again. They were asked to make greater sacrifices than other classes of population in the last budget; their dairy subsidies and various income stabilization plans were cut and they were especially concerned when our borders were opened, as we did here a bit over zealously-if you will allow me the expression-by opening our borders wider than anywhere else in the world. Americans, who are in favour of free trade in the milk industry, are the second most protectionist in the world after Japan. That is something.
Madam Speaker, I have only a few minutes left, but I would like to add a last point. Veterans affairs is another issue that I consider important. Bill C-76 contains clauses that are hitting veterans very hard, but even more so their families. Speaking of veterans, we can go back to World War I or II, but we must not forget those who fought recently. Soldiers were sent by the federal government to represent Canada in peacekeeping forces and some of them died while in the performance of their duty. Their families however must go on with their lives.
Concerned with justice, my colleague and friend, the member for Châteauguay, presented amendments to Bill C-76 to prevent the federal government from acting unjustly towards them. His colleague for Chicoutimi made a brilliant plea in favour of the amendments yesterday. I thank him for that, since the member for Châteauguay had pressing obligations elsewhere. Yesterday, the member for Chicoutimi presented the analysis made by the member for Châteauguay and I will comment on it, since the Bloc Quebecois considers that in no case must a budget lead to social injustices, as this measure would do for veterans.
Briefly, in Bill C-76 the government gives up its obligations and commitments towards veterans despite historical promises made on their honour by this government and its predecessors. The government knows very well that these cuts will add to the plight of the families of these veterans and force them to turn to other public services, provincial in this case, for the help they need. Someone said earlier that the federal government had become an expert at shovelling. Well, this is another case of shovelling.
This government not only shows disrespect for veterans, their memory, their families and all they had to go through, but it passes on to Quebec responsibilities which were initially that of the federal government. For example, clause 42 of Bill C-76 amends the Children of Deceased Veterans Education Assistance Act. This amendment is the first step in the gradual elimination of a benefit giving children of deceased veterans a chance to pursue their studies. The 85 orphans who presently receive this benefit are all, except one or two, children of deceased soldiers who participated in Canadian peacekeeping missions. We are not talking here about the two world wars but about recent peacekeeping missions in which Canadian soldiers died.
Not only did those children lose their fathers who died while defending peace, democracy and freedom, but they are now being deprived of a chance to further their knowledge. According to Bill C-76, students who were receiving the benefit up to the day the budget was tabled will continue to be entitled to it, but the department will accept no further applications. In 1993-94, that assistance program cost $315,803. It is not so much, but that is the Minister of Finance's great initiative, his masterpiece.
Not only are the poorest in our society being attacked, but now the children of those who lost their lives fighting for peace are being attacked also. We oppose this. Clauses 68 to 72 amend the War Veterans Allowance Act by putting an end to the payment of allowances to veterans who were involved in the resistance. We are talking about allied resistance fighters who made the same contribution as official soldiers, as official armies, to bringing
about peace and freedom during the First and Second World Wars.
These clauses are aimed at gradually eliminating the allowances payable to these veterans who were military allies, who immigrated to Canada at the end of their service and who lived here for at least ten years before asking the government for assistance. The government is cutting off their allowances simply and brutally.
Clause 69 repeals sub-section 6.1 of the Allowance Act. This sub-section 6.1 provides that allied veterans who took part in the resistance will continue to receive the allowances established according to their financial circumstances, as long as these allowances were awarded on March 2, 1992 or before.
With this provision, by repealing this sub-section, the government is cutting off allowances to more than 3,000 people in Canada. This provision will also have the effect of taking away the allowances of more than 1,000 resistance veterans whose Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan benefits put them just above the income level that would normally qualify them for health care benefits.
And speaking about health care, a few weeks ago, I received a letter from people in my riding of Saint-Hyacinthe that was quite meaningful and may illustrate the awful and disrespectful treatment we give to veterans and their families.
Mr. Hervé Bélanger, the secretary of branch 102 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Saint-Hyacinthe wrote the following: "The executive committee of branch 102 learned recently that veterans living in the Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Hotel"-veterans injured in active duty-"will have to pay more for their rooms, as rates will go from $547 to $703.80 per month this year, or a 28 per cent increase", all because of a decision taken by this government.
Do you know how much rates have gone up for these veterans since 1990? They pay 198 per cent more. But because there are very few of them, and they do not have the energy and strength to get organized, after having served their country, and in some cases lost a limb-some families were left fatherless-, they cannot get organized, their numbers are dwindling, and they are not a force to be reckoned with, so the Liberals have no use for them. The Liberals do not see them as an organized lobby, so they think nothing of slashing their assistance. This shameful slashing is taking place because they do not have names like Bronfman or Desmarais, and because Liberal ministers never visit them as they visit the Desmarais and the Bronfmans, even if it means going as far as California. So, they are not accorded fair and just treatment.
For all these reasons, not only during the vote, but also after, and during the referendum campaign in Quebec, the official opposition will strongly and firmly reject Bill C-76 as well as this government which is more centralizing than any other government-