Madam Speaker, there is one comment the hon. member across the way made that I agree with. He said that the record of the federal government speaks for itself. In reality the record is very different from the record the hon. member has described.
While we hear on the one hand that the transfer of tax points to the provinces over the years has somehow been something that has mitigated the damage done by the federal government, let us be clear that the situation we are in today in terms of the provinces now proposing radical changes to the social union is a direct result of the $6 billion cut by the federal government from the Canada health and social transfer. It is a direct result of the abandonment of the Canada assistance program that laid out the entitlements and rights to Canadians in social programs. That is what the Liberal government has abandoned.
My question is for the hon. member who gave the same line as the hon. government member before him, that somehow Canada is the envy of the world. If that is true then why is it that the UN committee studying the economic, cultural and social covenant to which Canada is a signatory is asking Canada why we have the second worst incidence of child poverty in industrial nations? Why is it that we have increasing homelessness that now constitutes a national emergency?
Those questions are coming from the UN and are being directed to the Canadian government. I think they speak to the true record of the government in terms of abandonment of social programs.
What will the hon. member say to the 1.4 million children who live in poverty or the 5 million Canadians who live in poverty and do not get any of the benefits that he speaks about today?