Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to the hon. member's speech. I know that he cares about the issue of child poverty. I also know that he supports his government's strategy against the deficit.
I do not think he mentioned the enormous problem we currently have with the unemployment rate, which exceeds 10 per cent in Canada and 12 per cent in Quebec, with the cuts made by his government to social programs, and with the fact that over 4 million Canadians live below the poverty level.
His government has demanded tremendous sacrifices from the most vulnerable in our society, like the unemployed and welfare recipients, but not from rich Canadians.
This is in contradiction with the traditional Liberal philosophy, which was based on compassion. A former Prime Minister coined the phrase "just society". Where is the compassion? Where is the traditional Liberal ideal of promoting a just society? I do not see any compassion in the government's agenda. On the contrary, the government is relentless with the unemployed and with welfare recipients, who are the poorest members of our society.
I would appreciate it if the hon. member could explain the contradiction between his stated concerns about children, and his government's policy, which in no way reflects his own concerns.