Mr. Speaker, I will continue to speak to the motion of the hon. member for Shefford, asking the government to “take steps to alleviate the burden of poverty in Canada by encouraging self-sufficiency and self-reliance”.
To that end, the government should “increase the basic Income Tax credit to $10,000, index the tax brackets and index the Child Tax Benefit”.
We will not support that motion for two reasons. First, we think the motion is unrealistic from a financial point of view and could generate another deficit, after we just got rid of one. The second reason is the restrictive nature of the proposed measures. Indeed, the Bloc Quebecois has more all encompassing suggestions to fight poverty.
The motion includes some elements found in the dissenting opinion expressed by the Progressive Conservatives in the December report of the Standing Committee on Finance. The Progressive Conservative Party proposes what are essentially good ideas. However, if all these proposals were implemented, it would surely create another federal deficit. We know that the Progressive Conservative Party has already largely contributed to the federal deficit.
The hon. member for Shefford proposes to reduce employment insurance contributions by $6 billion. We too are strong supporters of that idea. We want to reduce employment insurance contributions, but we also want to improve the program. This means more people eligible for employment insurance. We know that 40% of people now have access to employment insurance benefits. Three young people out of four no longer qualify. A number of men and women cannot draw benefits. We cannot agree with the first measure of a $6 billion cut, because this does not take improvement of the program into account.
Total indexation of the tax tables, at the cost of $2 billion, on top of the $6 billion for employment insurance contributions, brings us to $8 billion for these proposals.
If we include raising the basic personal exemption from its present $6,500 to $10,000—we know that every $100 increase costs the treasury $250 million—the total cost would be $9 billion.
She is also calling for a $2 billion increase in the Canada social transfer. While in agreement with some of these measures, we believe her proposals total $21 billion. If we had one criticism to make of the Progressive Conservative Party, it would be its failure to provide figures for the proposals made here today.
There was no provision made for the surplus, which, according to a very conservative estimate, will be in the vicinity of $15 billion. More idealistically, it could be around $19.13 billion.
Obviously, we are a few billions short of meeting the expectations of the hon. member for Shefford.
We know that the Conservative Party is in the habit of passing its deficits on to the next government when it is no longer in office, but there is still a need to remain realistic and think about the budget, which must be taken into account. The Bloc Quebecois is proposing measures that are better suited to the real budgetary situation.
As I said earlier, there is some merit to what our colleague is proposing, but there is also a lack of vision due to the restrictive nature of the motion. Obviously, we are in favour of indexing tax brackets and tax benefits, but that is not enough. We feel this should be part of a comprehensive antipoverty strategy.
By refusing to index the child tax benefit, the tax brackets and the GST credits, the Liberal government is picking the pockets of low income earners to the tune of billions of dollars. By not indexing tax brackets, GST credits and the child tax benefit between 1993 and 1997, the federal government took $5 billion out of the pockets of low income earners. By not indexing these things, the whole structure of transfers to individuals was left to change according to the cost of living. This in turn resulted in a complete distortion of the tax system, which affects the effectiveness of tax policies and makes the system unfair.
Let me give members an example of the type of distortion resulting from this decision not to index credits. A person earning between $32,000 and $33,000 paid $821 more in income tax between 1994 and 1997. However, a person earning $92,241 paid $752 more in income tax during that period. We can see the unfairness in the system and its unfair effect, a tax bias.
Which of the government's measures actually caused the impoverishment? For the Bloc Quebecois it is surely the reduction in provincial transfers, reductions of $6 billion annually for a total of $42 billion. That affects education, health care and social assistance.
People in vulnerable situations, living below the poverty line, need more support for help with children. They need more health care. They often need social assistance. It is sad to say, but it is the truth. When the federal government cuts transfers to the provinces, it impoverishes the public too.
Then there is the employment insurance reform. Six out of ten unemployed individuals are excluded; 32% of unemployed women received benefits in 1997; 15% of young people are eligible for benefits. These two government measures could have been effective in the fight against poverty. The Liberal government could have decided, with $20 billion in the employment insurance fund, to help part of the population without employment and often without financial assistance.
These people are often not eligible for social assistance for other reasons: because a partner is working, earning a bit, they have to give up their possessions, their small savings. This is how poverty grows.
I do not, unfortunately, have time to continue. It is always a shame when a speech is split in two with one part delivered earlier and one later. It is never fair in terms of time.
I respect the Chair. Since I am told that my time is up, I will stop here. I hope I will have other opportunities to speak of all the measures the Liberal government could implement to stop poverty. I hope I will have the opportunity to do so in the weeks following the tabling of the budget and I hope you will give me more time to address this issue.