Madam Speaker, I wish to thank my colleague, the member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, for the kind remarks he made at the beginning of his speech.
As for what was done back then, I would remind him that we were in a major recession at the time and had to take certain measures accordingly. I will say nothing further.
I have a question for the member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot about the UN committee's report, released in December 1998. In its recommendations, the committee expressed its concern over the fact that, in all the provinces except New Brunswick and Newfoundland, the national child tax benefit intended for all children of low income families only went to children of low income parents holding down jobs, because the federal government allows the provinces to deduct the full amount of the child tax benefit from the social assistance received by parents.
The committee recommended that the child tax benefit program be amended so that provinces may no longer use it to reduce social assistance.
I would like to have the hon. member's opinion on this.