Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part to this debate, following the speech on the budget. I would like to take a few minutes to talk about the comments made by the member for Dauphin-Swan River and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources. As a matter of fact, the speech she has just given was somewhat out of touch with reality, to say the least, in terms of the repercussions that the budget already has and will continue to have on Canadians.
She talked in particular about agriculture. As my colleague from Longueuil has so well explained, Quebec farmers will lose a good part of the advantages that federal subsidies gave them. In order to show how reality is completely different-otherwise the hon. member must be living a an environment totally different from ours-she said that the budgetary decisions made by the Liberal government have made farmers in her area very happy indeed, that everyone is happy, that every farmer she meets is smiling since the government decided to do away with the grain transportation subsidies.
I can understand why farmers in the West are smiling. If I were one of them I would be grinning from ear to ear. Over two billion dollars in subsidies were given last year, in the 1995-96 budget, to compensate for the reduction of grain transportation subsidies.
The non taxable part of the support was assessed. Western farmers received cash outs to compensate for the decrease in the value of their properties and they were given direct subsidies to facilitate the transition to other types of agriculture. The subsidies given to western farmers to compensate, as I said, for the loss of wheat transportation subsidies, are estimated at $3 billion.
Meanwhile, what is happening in the east? As my hon. colleague indicated, our farmers are required to pay more for their grain but when the time comes to apply similar measures to them-I am referring to milk subsidies cuts-there is a double standard.
Last year, the government reduced milk subsidies paid to producers by 15 per cent. This year, producers are told that the subsidies will be completely eliminated over a five-year period, without any form of compensation. And the hon. member is telling us that all is well and everyone is happy with the decisions made by the federal government?
Our colleague, the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Agri-Food and for Fisheries and Oceans, and member for Beauséjour also stated, in response to a question from our critic for agriculture, and repeated in this House that, following the decision made last year to cut the subsidies paid to producers, consultations-to which both the Secretary of State and the Minister of Agriculture participated-would be carried out to sound out the opinion of the industry. Now the Secretary of State rises in his place and formally declares in this House: "We have the support of milk producer associations to use this approach". He said so and repeated it with a straight face, without flinching.
As the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Agri-Food and for Fisheries and Oceans, and member for Beauséjour was making this statement about milk producer representatives being in agreement, I was reading, in my hometown newspaper, La Tribune , what the president of the milk producers association had said. This is not a member of the Bloc Quebecois. Perhaps he is a separatist at heart, but it is not obvious from the article.
What does he have to say this dairy producer representing his union in our region, in the Eastern Townships? "Ottawa is on the backs of the farmers". He criticizes the elimination of the subsidy over a five-year period. He proves beyond a doubt that the federal government acted unilaterally. So if the minister and the Secretary of State did in fact consult anyone, it certainly was not these
people. Representatives of the UPA in the Eastern Townships and throughout Quebec never at any time agreed to such a measure.
The head of the UPA in the Eastern Townships, Jacques Dion, added that other demonstrations will be needed. It is time to bring out the tractors. This is the only way, it appears, the government understands.
I do not think my colleague for Dauphin-Swan River met with the same representations, needless to say, and I understand. I have just explained that the decisions affecting the west do not have the same scope as those affecting the east-and it is not just Quebec, we are talking about Ontario too. So, to say that the agricultural measures in the government's budget were positive is, to say the least, going too far.
I would also like to talk about cuts in the area of unemployment insurance. In fact, the main measures, the primary effects of the budget we are seeing this year are not to be found in the 1996-97 budget, but in the 1995-96 one, since the cuts to transfers to the provinces announced last year took effect last year and this year. As far as unemployment insurance is concerned, it is the same thing. The Minister of Finance added to his revenues to reduce the federal government's deficit. He dipped into the unemployment insurance fund and took nearly $5 billion.
The cuts that will result from the changes made to the UI legislation will make the surplus in the UI fund grow bigger, which means that the government will be able to draw even more money from the fund to reduce its deficit at the expense of the unemployed. Everyone in Canada knows that, because of federal government policies, the unemployment rate in Quebec is much higher than the Canadian average.
In that sense, Quebec can be said to be principal homeland of unemployment in Canada. The motion passed by the Liberal Party on the weekend could have said, in addition, that Quebec is not only predominantly French speaking, but also one of the places where the unemployment rate is the highest. As I said, we have the federal government's long-standing policies to thank for that.
Let me give you just one example. The oil refining industry in Montreal has completely disappeared as a result of decisions made by the federal government. There is a long list of this kind of decisions.
I will conclude on this because you are signalling that I have only one minute left. We have the feeling of living in two completely different worlds when we meet in this House. When I hear government members praise this budget, I catch myself thinking about the poor, the unemployed and the people on welfare who are listening to such remarks. They must be telling themselves: "What country is this? Is this the right place? Perhaps I should have my head examined. My perception of reality must we skewed, because that sure is not how things are for me. I keep growing poorer and poorer, while being given less and less opportunities to break out of poverty".
That is the reality. That is the kind of effect the budget before us is having on people.