As I said, this is a vast country. I did not say it was the best country in which to live. I said that it covered a wide area.
We are completely distinct. We are not alike. What works in British Columbia does not work in Quebec. What works in Toronto does not necessarily work in Montreal. There are therefore distinctions to be made.
Members will recall that the discussions concerning child support payments arose from the Thibaudeau case. This case forced the government to throw together a bill that, as we see today, is in need of amendment. The bill before us, with all its amendments, includes a number of measures to ensure that children's interests are respected. However, most of these measures are unsatisfactory.
The guidelines respecting the determination and amount of child support orders make no sense at all to me. This part alone should be completely overhauled. I do not think it meets the expectations of the people concerned. In reality, judges will now have guidelines to follow in determining the amount of child support. They will no longer be able to exercise discretion. They will no longer be called upon to make a decision, but merely to approve what the government wishes to enforce. This, in my view, is very different from allowing them to exercise discretion, and so on.
Where is the happy medium that will respect the rights of children? With these guidelines, the government is on the wrong track. I will not be revealing any great secret when I say that the federal model before us is inconsistent with the Quebec model.
Furthermore, the criteria governing the guidelines are very different. In order to see this difference, perhaps we could take the concrete example of a non-custodial parent who is an income security recipient. In Quebec, this person does not have to pay support. It is very easy to understand why. He or she barely has enough to live on as it is. Yet, in what is being proposed to us, this individual might have to pay child support.
Is this really realistic? When that question is asked, even if the individual has the best of intentions, he or she will not be able to meet obligations. This bill also assumes that the parents' incomes are equal for purposes of paying child support. Only the income of the non-custodial parent will be taken into account.
This loses sight of whom the support payments are for. They are for the children. In Quebec, support payments are based on both parents' ability to pay, which, as you will agree, means shared responsibility for the children. There is, therefore, a world of difference, a vital difference between what they want to apply here and what is done in Quebec.
Moreover, this system has been tested, and the latest measures adopted in Quebec are satisfactory to everyone, at this point. With this bill, the federal government can, with a sweep of its hand, completely do away with everything that is being done in one province, compared to another.
Moreover, it is also stated that the Governor in Council may, by order, designate a province for purposes of the definition of "applicable guidelines".
The verb "may" is used just about everywhere. This has just been discussed. It means that, if a province issues guidelines, it absolutely must obtain the blessings of the federal government for these to be applicable.
The same federal paternalism as always. The federal government is, therefore, imposing its view on the provinces, but it is a view that does not always take reality into consideration. Let me tell you, I personally can do without this centralizing paternalism, which is the trademark of this government, moreover. If a province finds the guidelines it has set being refused, this could lead to absurd situations.
The most striking example is one where a separation is governed by the grid of a province, while the divorce would be under the federal guideline. A mother of two who separates could be awarded $1,500 under the provincial grid, while another who divorces could get $1,000 under the federal one. Where does the problem lie?
Let us identify this problem. Such a rule must be done away with. This is why we must take away all the discretionary power that this bill gives the federal government and, therefore, the amendment proposed by my colleague from Quebec must be seriously taken into consideration.
This amendment provides that once a province has satisfied federal criteria, its own guidelines will automatically be recognized in replacement of federal guidelines. This would eliminate the possibility of facing situations out of control like the one I referred to earlier.
Another aspect of the bill which concerns me a lot is the provision which takes into consideration the place of residence of the payer instead of that of the child for purposes of the award. Once again, they forget that this legislation must serve children exclusively, yet it tends to forget them too easily.
However, children should be at the core of this measure. This bill must be improved for the protection of those children. We hope and I eagerly hope that the members opposite will take into consideration each of the amendments proposed by the Bloc Quebecois in order to improve the protection for our children, and I stress the word protection.