Mr. Speaker, our economy is faltering. The unemployment rate is still at harmful levels. The tax system must be reformed. Very few jobs are being created, and only by the private sector.
In such a context, the government must show its leadership. Recently, Mr. Chrétien and his team missed a good opportunity to change our economic environment and adjust it to the realities of this century's end. The budget tabling process is a public management tool that must include adjustment and stimulation measures that will help us reach our collective goals.
But Mr. Martin chose to bring down a budget which closely resembles an election budget containing watered down initiatives and lacking concrete job creation measures. The Liberals have soon forgotten the promise to create jobs they made during the last election campaign. In the past year, the unemployment rate went down by only 0.1 per cent. Concretely, this year's budget proposes a summer job creation program for students and a technological investment fund aimed at preserving jobs.
But in order to do so, the government is reducing tax benefits for workers' investment funds, a favoured job creation tool. Moreover, the cuts in research and development announced last year are being implemented this year, which is slowing down all the more innovation and research in Quebec and in Canada.
Indeed, job creation is not the Liberals' priority at the moment. Moreover, they are determined to go forward with their unemployment insurance reform, which they have the gall to call "employment insurance" in spite of all the public opposition and demonstrations.
With this bill the government should be able to give workers the tools they need to get the jobs available on the market. In fact, every year, 300,000 jobs remain unoccupied in Canada because of a persistent lack of consistency between the training given in our institutions and the needs of employers.
The government's objective is clear: increase UI fund surpluses and take them over at the workers' expense. It is time those funds were administered by the people to whom they belong and served the purpose for which they were collected. Only then could we speak of a real employment insurance. Without changes in that direction, the government must withdraw its bill.
The government continues to insist on making the poorest elements of our society finance its overspending and its inability to put public finances on a healthy footing. The reform, in its present form, in unfair because the conditions of eligibility are tightened and it creates two categories of unemployed: frequent users and
the others. Moreover, by lowering the benefit rate, it will throw more and more seasonal workers into poverty.
In an economy built on small enterprises, farms and small retail stores, like in my riding, there is a lot of seasonal work. The people occupying temporary jobs do not do so because they want to. Why then penalize them as if they had a choice?
The proposed reform is eroding the buying power of our workers.
During the 1993 election campaign, the Liberals talked about eliminating the GST. Now they are talking about replacing it, about harmonizing it with provincial taxes. They are slowly setting the stage for the introduction of a national sales tax.
The federal government should transfer to the provinces the tax room occupied by the GST. The government is quick to forget its campaign promises, especially now that it seems more preoccupied with the next election. But Canadians have a good memory.
Fortunately, the Martin budget contained no tax increases for individuals but, indirectly, consumers will have to absorb part of the cost of the dairy subsidy. This budget provides for the phasing-out of the dairy subsidy over a five-year period starting next year. This will result in a loss of $76 million for Quebec dairy producers, who produce 47 per cent of industrial milk in Canada.
For farmers in my riding, this means an annual loss of about $1,500 each, or more than $7,500 between now and August 1, 2001. Members will recall that the dairy subsidy was introduced in the early 1970s to lower the selling price of dairy products and make them accessible to the largest possible number of consumers because they are good for their health. Once again, in a roundabout way, the government is making our small businesses and consumers pay the bill.
On another subject, the new seniors benefit, which will replace the old age security and guaranteed income supplement programs in the year 2001, will be based on the family income of pensioners. On the one hand, the government is encouraging people to invest in RRSPs and, on the other hand, it is saying that seniors whose family income exceeds $45,000 will be penalized.
For a couple, this represents an annual income of $22,500 per person, a figure which is relatively easy to reach for individuals who contribute $2,000 a year to their RRSP for about thirty years.
The Martin budget changed the situation for all those involved in the long term planning of their retirement. There will no longer be a universal old age security system. The minister just said that such a universal system will have disappeared by 2001.
In conclusion, the government is restricting access to programs and is quietly passing on the bill to low-income people. The noose is getting tighter and tighter. Enough is enough. We will not be fooled by this collective impoverishment strategy. The government must ensure a fair distribution of the present tax burden. The social and financial security of our children depends on it.