As my colleague has just said, these cuts could even be called extraordinary.
When a government, which is also one of the key parties with responsibility in this entire affair, turns up with a zero deficit and a budget surplus which will probably be $20 billion by the end of 1998, I believe that finding a few million dollars to distribute among all hepatitis C victims is no big deal. Regardless of what may have happened, these people were contaminated through blood and need support.
Since coming to power, the Liberals have reduced the deficit—I want to refer to this again and I am going to provide figures—mainly by passing the buck to the provinces. Between 1994 and 2003, this will amount to $42 billion out of the coffers of Quebec and the Canadian provinces. That amounts to 52% of the cuts imposed, while the federal government's share amounts to barely 12%. This is an eloquent first clue as to the financial situation of the governments.
By the year 2003, Quebeckers and Canadians will face an additional $30 billion in federal cuts to health care, education and social assistance. The provinces, obviously, are going to have to figure out how to absorb them, as it is they who will have to bear the burden and not the federal government. In the meantime, the federal government is coming up with budget surpluses, and by 2000—and I say 2000 advisedly—the employment insurance fund will have accumulated an excess of $25 billion on the backs of workers, the unemployed and the sick.
The representatives of the governments that agreed to compensate the victims of Hepatitis C as humanely as possible did not all start off on the same footing in terms of their ability to pay.
The tainted blood scandal in Canada is a national tragedy, which appeals to Canadians' and Quebeckers' sense of compassion. The point of the exercise is not to point the finger, but more importantly to provide justice to the victims of a tragedy of unprecedented proportions.
This government prides itself on taking full responsibility for the safety of Canada's blood system. It can and must set up a special no fault program. Then, afterward, the issue of setting up a more extensive no fault system should be debated by Canadians as a whole.
For the time being, I invite all Liberal members in this House to support this motion to make it clear to the government that it has a moral and financial responsibility to correct an incredibly unfair situation.