Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance's 1996-97 budget tells us nothing except that last year's bad news will apply this year as planned, and that all of the negative measures will continue, and will be even worse.
The government will continue along the same path. As far as dumping the deficit on the provinces is concerned, the government will continue its drastic cuts to social programs, to the tune of $7 billion over the next two years.
The government will continue to make use of the surplus from the unemployment insurance fund, $5 billion yearly, when it has not contributed to that fund for a number of years.
The government will keep on going without any significant measures for job creation. That is what it has told us today.
The worst part of all this is that the Minister of Finance is patting himself on the back for having restored healthy public finances. He is patting himself on the back for having applied the precepts of sound public financial management when, during his time at the helm of the Department of Finance, he has managed in two years to add over $113 billion to the cumulative debt of the federal government.
Not everything in this budget is bad, however, and I would like to start by pointing out one positive element, the measure concerning child support payments. I would like to take this opportunity to express my personal appreciation and that of my colleagues to Mrs. Thibodeau for her monumental battle to gain equality for women.
Since this measure will bring in tens of millions of dollars in new taxes, I cordially ask the Minister of Finance and the government to consider the following proposal: he could use these funds for transfers to the provinces, transfer part of it to the Government of Quebec, which has family policy levers to help the most disadvantaged families and children in Quebec and Canadian society.
My congratulations, however, stop here, because a closer look at the budget reveals that the minister deserves no congratulations.
It reveals first and foremost that the minister has given up in the fight against waste, duplication and overlap, because this budget contains no new measure to trim government machinery. We have been looking at this government for two and a half years, and God knows there is an enormous amount of wastage. On the basis of the report by the Liberal majority on the finance committee the government is abandoning its fight against waste.
Our second criticism is that the Minister of Finance did not speak the whole truth about the old age security system. The minister's proposals run headlong into 50 years of women's struggles for equality and financial independence, since the family income will now be the basis for determining old age security benefits and all the credits for seniors. It is disgraceful.
As regards taxation, we are pleased to some extent that the minister gave in to arguments about the unfairness of the tax system, particularly corporate taxation. After two and a half years it was high time he did. It took him two years and a half to realize that the tax system was giving undue preference to big business, which makes good use of outrageous loopholes, and to accept a forceful argument from the official opposition for an in-depth review of our tax system.
But, as I said, the minister only went part of the way, because he is now calling for a closed review of the corporate tax system, a process which is open only to great tax experts, great corporate tax lawyers who, at this very moment, are advising big corporations on the means to avoid paying their fair share of taxes to Revenue Canada.
But there is more. Some of the members on this new technical committee represent companies which also have affiliates in countries considered as tax havens. That takes some nerve. Among the members of this committee will be representatives of companies that have affiliates in countries considered as tax havens, companies that benefit from special tax rates and avoid paying what they would normally have to give Revenue Canada.
That is not what we were asking the government to do. We asked for a more open process. We asked for a special parliamentary committee made up of government members, members of the official opposition and members of the second opposition party who would have to be accountable to elected representatives, to the public, to all those who expect us to be responsible and to disclose the inequities in our tax system. Instead, the Minister of Finance opted for a process behind closed doors.
We are also deploring the fact that, after announcing in the throne speech that a Canadian Securities Commission would be set up, a commission that would interfere in an area of exclusive provincial jurisdiction, the Minister of Finance now wonders "Why should there not be only one tax collector in Canada? Why not set up a national revenue agency?"
Is it not a way of isolating Quebec once again? Is it not a way of forcing Quebec to fall back into the line? Is it not a way of telling Quebec that it must let go of all the financial and tax leverage that it has been fighting for for 35 years to make way for a national entity? Is it not a way of establishing an institution to manage the proposal made by the government regarding a single, Canada-wide, sales tax to replace the GST? That proposal is unacceptable.
When we are talking about eliminating duplication and overlap, it is funny to see how the government is always willing to take away some of Quebec's powers and keep them for itself. That is easy to do.
It is also easy for the government to go after small investors, those in Quebec in particular, with the kind of measures proposed in this budget that will weaken one of the instruments we are proud of, namely the Fonds de solidarité of the FTQ.
The government prefers to go after small investors, to go after tools which primarily serve to create jobs, rather than taking on big business taxation.
Here is another measure against Quebec: the government speaks of eliminating the milk subsidy even if it knows full well that 40 per cent of the subsidy goes to Quebec. Attacking Quebec is easy.
In conclusion, the 1996-97 budget of the Minister of Finance is only cosmetic, it is rather election-minded. It glosses over the negative effects of the last budget. It glosses over the government's inability to reduce its rate of expenditure. It glosses over the government's true intentions as regards taxation reform. It glosses over the government's inability to give a boost to the job market. It glosses over this government's desire to make Quebec toe the line. For these reasons, I will advise my colleagues to vote against the budget.
I move, seconded by the hon. member for Laurier-Sainte-Marie:
That the debate be now adjourned.