Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak to Bill C-21 at report stage, because I sit on the Standing Committee on Industry. I am a bit surprised because, at report stage, a report is made to the Chair and to other members of the House of Commons on what has gone on in committee. This is the stage at which one may speak of what is going on in committee.
In committee, all comments and questions on this topic were in favour of legislation allowing the federal government to guarantee bank loans. When we talk about banks, we include Quebec's caisses populaires as well, because the figures show that half the loans made to businesses in Quebec guaranteed under this legislation were made by that province's caisses populaires. This is therefore very important for small businesses.
But this morning I am astonished, because the purpose of the amendment is to cap loans at $14 billion. Not costs to the government, but the actual value of loans.
This is a rather surprising amendment, given that everyone seemed to be in agreement in committee, but it is all the more surprising considering that Bill C-21 is not a lengthy bill; it has only two clauses.
The first clause provides for a one-year extension of the legislation prior to its being amended, as the auditor general is suggesting in fact. We in the Bloc Quebecois agree that it should be completely overhauled, and that witnesses should obviously be heard, as the industry committee is proposing beginning in the fall, with a view to a complete overhaul of this legislation.
The second clause provides for increasing the amount from $14 billion to $15 billion in the interim. This would allow continued operation of the program for the duration of the extension.
What the Reform Party is saying is totally contradictory, because they talk of extending the act by a year but maintaining the present ceiling. Yet that ceiling has already been reached. What contradiction: they are in favour of financial guarantees to small business, but at the same time, they want the opposite—perhaps because they do not dare come right out and say it to businesses, their directors, or the people waiting for the jobs those businesses will create, and we know that 80% of new jobs are created by small and medium size businesses.
This morning we saw some pretty decent figures on employment, as well as a drop in the rate of unemployment in Canada and Quebec. There is some good news for Ontario and Quebec relating to job creation. Closer examination shows that those jobs are in small and medium size businesses.
One of the means—though not the only one—to create jobs is this act, which enables the Minister of Industry to guarantee small business loans. I find it a bit odd, which is why I wanted to point out the Reform Party's contradictions at the report stage. I wish to stay within the limits of parliamentary language, but let us say that they are, at the very least, inconsistent. Another term comes to mind, but I want to remain polite.
We will not join in on this delaying tactic, saying yes officially but really meaning no. We are not going to get into that. There are no surprises here. Yesterday during debate on our motion concerning federal interference in education, when we were voicing our desire to see no federal intrusion in education, the Reform Party kept saying that it agreed with the Bloc Quebecois, that it too thought jurisdictions should be respected, but that it would not be supporting our motion.
This morning, we have a similar situation in their approach to the Small Business Loans Act. It is inconsistent, but not surprising. This is not the first time we have seen them take this approach, because this is my second term in office and I remember the very early days when we were the official opposition and the Reform Party members and their leader said that the idea of an official residence for the leader of the opposition was a shocking one.
Four years later, with the shoe on the other foot, and the Reform Party now the official opposition, what do we have? The leader of the Reform Party is contradicting himself, saying that it is only a principle. Reality is another matter. Now that he is leader of the official opposition, he has agreed to live in the official residence. It was the same with the limousine and all sorts of other things.
I will make one final point, and then I will sit down. I do not want to go on and on about the flag business, but this week I saw people who wanted the right to display their flag but who were still unhappy. We saw one member throw his flag down in the House, and I also find that inconsistent.