It bothers them a lot on the other side to hear the truth. But do not worry, I am used to that. I once worked in the telecommunications industry and I am not the nervous type.
Talking about intrusions, the national health surveillance network comes to mind. This network will be used to identify outbreaks of serious illnesses and will link Canadian laboratories electronically. This is an investment of $75 million over a three-year period. Health is a provincial jurisdiction, it is a Quebec jurisdiction.
There is also the establishment of the Canada health network. This network will provide Canadians with access to information about health issues ranging from nutrition to colds, from breast cancer to diabetes, and so on. It will cost another $75 million over three years. Health comes under the jurisdiction of Quebec, not of Canada.
Then there is the Canadian institute for health information, a bunch of medical snoops who will visit CLSCs and hospitals and report to the Minister of Health on how he can take money, go over the heads of the provinces and of Quebec, and invest it.
The new mandate of the Canadian institute for health information will be to file periodic reports on the health of Canadians and the health system, including waiting lists, doctor and specialist assignments and the most effective courses of treatment.
During a meeting of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food dealing with rural development—since we are talking about health—I learned that a $70,000 investment in community health was being made in Saint-Étienne-des-Grès. How odd that this is right near, if not right in, the riding of the Prime Minister. I do not know whether the nurse or the person in charge of this project is a generous contributor to the Liberal Party of Canada. There are 68 rural development projects for a total of $3.8 million in areas of provincial jurisdiction. They excel at this.
There is more. There are telehealth and telecare pilot projects. These are virtual CLSCs. There are accountability measures and the NURSE fund. Now they are into training. But the federal government and the Government of Quebec signed a training agreement. This has been ignored. What about prenatal nutrition, to the tune of $75 million? This duplicates what is being done by CLSCs.
I will now look at how the federal Liberals went about eliminating the deficit. There is nothing tricky about it: the provinces, the sick, and unemployed workers were stuck with the bill. In 1993, the federal deficit stood at $42 billion.
This is the unfortunate heritage of the Conservative government, but we must not forget that before the Conservatives tere were the Trudeau Liberals, John Turner and great experts in economics. The result was a growing deficit.
In 1993, the present Prime Minister said it would be impossible for him to eliminate this deficit in under five years, without cutting social programs. The first solution was to cut social programs. And what did the Liberals do as soon as they took over? They systematically demolished social programs.
From 1994 to 1999, federal government program expenditures were reduced by $7.5 billion. Transfer payments to the provinces alone were slashed by $6.3 billion, or 84% of total reductions in program expenditures. Thus, close to 80% of federal budget cuts were shouldered by the provinces. These federal cuts to front line services represent more than 75 cents of every dollar of cuts to health and education in Quebec.
And what about the unemployed? This is another Liberal policy aimed at eliminating the federal deficit. There is nothing complicated about it. The employment insurance program is reformed, the rules are modified, and as a result fewer than 40% of unemployed workers paying into the program are now eligible to draw benefits. And where does the surplus go? First of all into the employment insurance fund, and later into the pocket of the finance minister.
When one thinks of it, employment insurance has become surplus insurance for the government and poverty insurance for workers who lose their jobs.
Nowadays, is there anything more scary than losing one's job? There have been so many cuts in offices that the unemployed are now dealing with recordings. There is not much sensitivity involved. People wait. They do not know what they will get. The act is so complex. They are told “Use tape number one to find out how to fill your form. Use tape number two to know your rights. Use tape number three to kill time”. Finally, when the time comes to meet an officer, the afternoon is gone. It is 4:30 p.m. They are then told “Sir, Madam, come back tomorrow”.
And the lists get longer. I have received many complaints in my riding office concerning the 1-800 number. The line is always busy. Yet, the telephone operators are located in Shawinigan, in the riding of Saint-Maurice. That service should work. After all, it is in the Prime Minister's riding.
I will now refer to a recent study by two UQAM professors, Pierre Fortin and Pierre-Yves Crémieux, which shows that, because of the recent employment insurance reforms, Quebec's welfare roles alone will eventually swell by 200,000.
The impoverishment of Quebec and the regions is the result of the employment insurance program. The data from Statistics Canada support this forecast, given that, between 1989 and 1997, the percentage of unemployed receiving EI benefits dropped from 83% down to 42%. The situation is even more dramatic in the case of young people. More than three out of every four young people do not qualify for employment insurance, even though all young workers contribute to the program.
I want to say a word about the tax reduction, about the crumbs that this government offered in its latest budget. The Bloc Quebecois had asked for a targeted tax reduction that would have helped those who paid off the deficit, namely the unemployed, the young, the sick and the poor in our society.
As regards the elimination of the 3% surtax for middle class people earning between $30,000 and $60,000, the reductions in income tax amount to $163 per person. In this budget, the poor were left to their own devices, with tax reductions of only $90.
The minister announced an increase in the basic personal exemption from $6,456 to $7,131, a tax reduction of $115 per single taxpayer living alone. That really boosts the economy, and helps a parent cope with difficulties.
I have spoken at length of the unemployed and health care, I will now speak about rural development.
The Minister of Finance announced cuts worth $100 million to funds earmarked for regional development. Since its arrival in 1993, this government has completely forgotten Quebec regions in its budgets. That is understandable, since a recent survey published last week in the Globe and Mail revealed that 77% of people did not know who was responsible for regional development, despite government propaganda.
Every time they provide a bit of money in Bloc ridings, we are not invited. They arrive on the sly. The Minister of Human Resources Development was by two or three weeks ago on the pretext of making big local and regional announcements. All he wanted to do was impress the local media with the benefits of the budget.
The press conference was over in 20 minutes, of which 15 were taken up with questions and five with announcements. The media reported that there was nothing in the budget for unemployed workers, middle income earners, or health. On the contrary, there is plenty for health when it comes to Quebec. But once again this was misunderstood.
In conclusion, I would like to mention another cute patronage trick for interfering in the affairs of the provinces. It is called rural development. There is an indepartmental working group composed of 26 federal departments and agencies. Their job is quite simply to find ways of interfering in provincial jurisdictions where they have no business. That is their mandate.
At least they are frank about it, which is rare for members opposite. They say that the rural development goals for the next few years are to ensure follow-up—$3.8 million for 68 small projects with no structure—; co-operate better with other levels of government. I wonder what that is all about because they are going to be interfering in municipal and provincial jurisdictions. Another goal is to make programs more flexible and—here comes the fine print—increase the federal presence. This was on one of the slides shown last Tuesday.
They also want to listen. Listen to what? Listen to the demands of people who no longer know which way is up. The response is to increase funding and to go over the heads of municipalities, provinces and agencies serving the public.
Let me address these projects, particularly the $70,000 to develop a model for rural community health care co-operatives.
The other project—and the minister was asked to define rural community last Tuesday—is a $20,000 investment in community organizations in the municipalities of Longueuil, Saint-Hubert, Boucherville and Chambly. These communities are located across from Montreal, on the south shore. It is an urban area, and the government would have us believe that it will put money into rural development in that area. It is nothing but a joke.
In conclusion, when talking about implementing certain provisions of the budget, it is very difficult for us, in the Bloc Quebecois, to vote in favour, because our basic demands were dismissed out of hand by the Minister of Finance, the Prime Minister and the federal Liberals.