I am told there were three thousand. It is now less than half. What we need is a new shipbuilding policy with economic spinoffs. Not a word from the Liberals on that, though. Everyone agrees there is a need, but the Liberal government is turning a deaf ear.
Concerning social housing, it is a joke, there is nothing in here. It only says that a report is expected from the minister responsible for the homeless, who is still travelling all over the country to hear comments. The government recently announced that $500 million might be made available for community shelters where the homeless could spend the night.
They earmark a mere $500 million to shelters. They completely ignore the whole issue of social housing and overlook the fact that there is a way of doing things. Opening shelters is one thing, but support must also be provided to help the homeless get out of that situation.
I take this opportunity to congratulate my colleague from Quebec for her excellent analysis on poverty, homelessness and federal government policies. Since 1994, this irresponsible government should have implemented policies and increased its contribution over the years, using the tremendous surplus it generated last year and will be generating in the coming years.
I also want to pay tribute to the members of the Accueil Bonneau choir, who honoured us with a visit on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the anti-poverty motion passed by the House. They gave a wonderful concert. I want to remind members once again that it is because of the admirable work done by my colleague from Quebec and by the Bloc Quebecois in their fight against poverty. While we are fighting poverty, the government is creating poverty. The Liberals create poverty.
With respect to tax cuts, I notice that the Liberal majority members of the Standing Committee on Finance are the true reflection of their government. These are people who put on a big show, making suggestions that may look spectacular and generous at first glance. At one point, they even got us wondering if an election was not about to be called.
However, a closer look reveals a big problem with the tax proposals put forward in the Liberal majority report on taxation. In our consultations, Quebecers told us “Yes, substantial tax cuts are required, but first tax tables and the whole tax structure must be fully indexed”. Since 1985 tax tables and tax structure are no longer indexed.
As long as this issue remains unsettled there will be no lasting solution to the problem of tax fairness for all. We are not talking here about insignificant amounts. Since 1994 the bracket creep has resulted in extra tax revenues of $17.6 billion for the federal government. It is unfair.
In the few minutes I have left let me explain what indexation is all about.
Let me put it simply, as we should always do in this kind of demonstration. If a taxpayer earns $100 a week and his employer gives him a $2 raise, his new salary is $102. But in the economy, prices in general have gone up $3, which means that the taxpayer is actually poorer.
After a $2 pay raise and a $3 overall price increase, this taxpayer is in fact $1 poorer. Full indexation of the tax tables and the tax structure as a whole takes into consideration the fact that the taxpayer is poorer and not richer, even with an income of $102 compared to $100 the previous year.
So, this increase in poverty is taken into account and the taxation level is reduced according to the inflation related rise in poverty. This measure was abolished and, since 1974, $17 billion in new taxes have been collected. The government cannot be blamed for doing something to increase taxation, but it can be blamed however for not reforming the tax system and restoring the full indexation that was abolished in 1985.
Do you know what $17 billion represent? It is a lot of money. With $17 billion, one could give around $2,400 to each of the 7 million Quebecers and that would make up for the money that was stolen from them. It represents about twice the education budget for Quebec and one hundred times its environment budget. It is a lot of money.
The report does not address these issues but it does mention the elimination of the 5% surtax. That measure, along with the elimination of the 3% surtax announced in the last budget, will greatly benefit those who earn $250,000 or more. It will give them $9,300.
However, the taxpayers earning between $30,000 and $70,000 will see their taxes reduced by only $200. Even by increasing the ceiling to 15%, this solution will only last until 2001. After 2001, without full indexing, our tax system will become unfair again and taxpayers will continue to pay more taxes than they normally should.
For all these reasons, we tabled a minority report, a dissenting opinion based on what we heard when we went to meet the people, putting our ideas together with theirs. We gathered different priorities and views and presented them, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois and myself, to the Standing Committee on Finance on behalf of Quebecers.