Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak on behalf of my party to Bill C-78, the Public Sector Investment Board Act.
This bill, as my colleagues before me have rightly pointed out, amends the Public Service Superannuation Act, the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Pension Continuation Act and other related acts.
I would first off remind this House and those watching that this bill was introduced by the President of the Treasury Board, who has a second job, as do all the ministers of the House. He is the member for Hull—Aylmer.
Why do I refer to the fact that he is the member for Hull—Aylmer? Because often, when there are bills of the closure or bludgeon type, such as the law ordering blue collar workers back to work—in which my colleague, the member for Trois—Rivières did such a fantastic job managing the debate— people forget that the President of the Treasury Board, member for Hull—Aylmer, represents a strong proportion of public servants living in the Hull-Aylmer area.
I would like the people, the workers and the public servants living in Hull-Aylmer to remember two years hence that this minister most of the time treats the federal public service with disdain. What distress me is that he takes them for granted. He says “We can pass laws of all kinds, we can hit them on the head with a stick, and absolutely nothing will change. They will vote for us”.
I do hope that people in the riding of Hull—Aylmer will remember this come the next general election, in two years. The last election was held two years ago, on June 2. I hope people in the riding of Hull—Aylmer will remember. We in the greater Quebec City region have clearly demonstrated how a President of the Treasury Board who shows contempt for people can be ousted.
We will recall the Mulroney years, before this government took office. Back then, Gilles Loiselle, the member for Québec, was the President of the Treasury Board. In the election held on October 25, 1993, Gilles Loiselle was fired by the voters in the riding of Québec. He has since been replaced with my colleague from the Bloc Quebecois, who is now representing the riding of Québec. So, I do hope that people in the riding of Hull—Aylmer will teach the President of the Treasury Board—who is taking their vote for granted—the lesson he deserves.
This bill confirms once again this government's approach to managing the finances of the country. The government tends to come barging into exclusive provincial jurisdictions and interfere in provincial jurisdictions in general. There are so many examples of such intrusions by the Liberal government that I simply cannot list them all in the 10 minutes that I have.
The government interferes in provincial jurisdictions and uses the surpluses to finance such intrusions. Think about the millennium scholarship program. The government does not recognize Quebec's jurisdiction over education and the Quebec education minister, Mr. Legault, has to negotiate with Mr. Monty, a financier and a non-elected administrator. This shows once again how arrogant the Liberal government is.
We could also mention the accumulated surplus in the unemployment insurance fund, because as far as I am concerned, this is not employment insurance, but unemployment insurance. Those on UI can be sure they will remain on UI; this program does not help the unemployed find a job. We should therefore continue to refer to this program as the unemployment insurance program, because that is what it is about.
The government appropriated the surplus in the unemployment insurance fund and used it to eliminate its operating deficit.
The Minister of Finance, who is a shipowner by trade, is boasting about this. Anyone who still has doubts about the minister's involvement in the shipping industry should be reminded that, whenever a motion is put forward in connection with that industry, the Minister of Finance leaves the House. He does not take part in the debate and does not vote. The Minister of Finance is still very much involved in the shipping industry.
Let us not forget that the Minister of Finance—