Mr. Speaker, I was looking forward to speaking to report stage of Bill C-71. I certainly understand the situation my colleagues from the Bloc and those from Newfoundland are encountering with respect to transfers to the provinces. However we have to look at the issue in a broader way and use very understandable language.
It is very clear that poverty is increasing in the country. I do not think anyone could argue that. We have 500,000 more children living in poverty since the Liberals came to power. The Liberals are bragging that the country is doing better than ever. I certainly would not want them to start saying that we are not doing very well, because then definitely there would be a lot of people in trouble.
There is nothing in Bill C-71 to help the children living in poverty. The same children who were hungry before the last budget are still hungry today. That will not change unless the government changes its direction. Unfortunately we have an official opposition that is pushing the Liberal government to cut even further.
Earlier a Reform member referred to social programs as being a waste. I find that very unfortunate. I hope people who need social programs recognize what is being said in the House sometimes by the same parties that are trying to tell Canadians they care about what is happening to poor children.
Perhaps some in the House would like to talk about the poor bankers, but I would rather talk about poor children and the poor parents. My goal is to try to help the children and the teenagers who are living in great difficulty.
There are serious problems in this country. There are students who accumulate $40,000 in debt during four years of university. They have a mortgage on their home and have still not even found a job. Someone should talk with them and begin to give them some hope.
Since June 2, 1997, when I was elected, I have not seen much done to give hope to young people, to single parent families living on welfare or inadequate salaries. These people cannot afford day care.
If we look at what the Liberals promised in 1993, a national day care program was right up there. What became of this promise that was so important in 1993? They have had enough time to implement this program. But instead they decided to go after the surpluses.
And where did they look? In the EI fund, which belongs to employees and employers and which is there to help employees through periods of unemployment when times are tough.
The Minister of Finance is quite a creative fellow. The President of the Treasury as well is starting to take a pretty creative approach to the pension fund of federal employees. The two of them went after $25 billion in the EI fund and $30 billion in the pension fund respectively.
Questions are in order when people contribute to a pension fund and, overnight, the government can decide to lay claim to it and say that it belongs to all taxpayers. A look needs to be taken at who actually contributed to this fund.
When the government cut the EI program, the result was widespread poverty. Today the 500,000 children who are poorer than they were in 1993 have not benefited from a better economy. That is not true. It is a known fact that the ones who benefit from a better economy are the richest people in this country. The gap between rich and poor is wider than it has ever been in this country.
The decisions taken by governments have helped one group, the people who already had money, while causing suffering to many families. We see the results in our communities. We see the results of a lack of job creation. We see the lack of understanding of the situation in the Atlantic provinces, when we hear comments made here about those people not wanting to work.
The reality in our regions must be seen first hand. We live in regions where the jobs are seasonal. Last week, they were calling for 20 centimetres of snow down there, while people were going around in shorts here in Ottawa. The tourists wandering around Parliament Hill are not doing the same on the beaches of New Brunswick, at this time of year. We can still see ice on the beaches.
This must be understood: we live in a country of great diversity. This requires a strong central government with a desire to continue to help the entire country, not just the few richest provinces, which is what we are seeing today.
It is a great pity that we again had a budget that does not respond to the needs of everyone in the country, just those of a few provinces and a few groups. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Children who went hungry before the budget are still hungry, and will continue to be. One day, I hope, we will have a government with a conscience.
The Minister of Finance should visit food banks, as I did a month or two ago, and meet the families that have to rely on these food banks. We must get it out of our heads that people are just pretending that they need to go to food banks. Not too many people get up in the morning and muse about which food bank they will go to, to get their groceries.
The majority of people going to food banks need help. The Minister of Finance should have dinner in one of these places every now and then, instead of eating with his friends, the bankers. He might reconsider some of the decisions he is making.
The problem today is that too many people making decisions are associated with just one group. The Prime Minister put the Minister of Labour in charge of the homeless issue, but we have yet to see any related budget or structure. Very little action has been taken.
I am convinced the minister is prepared to do her job. However, she must be provided with the necessary tools to do it properly. I am convinced that, so far, she has not been given the resources she needs. She will not be able to do her job until she gets those resources.
I hope that, in the future, opposition parties will start looking after the interests of the poor in this country. This is difficult to do when the official opposition's goal is to lower taxes. But at what cost? Some provinces need help. Our party says that a tax reform is in order, because there are people who should not be paying taxes, while there are others who do pay taxes but should be paying more. We all recognize that, but we must also recognize that social programs are needed. We need to help those who are suffering. The $42 billion deficit has been eliminated.
Who paid off part of that deficit? It is the unemployed, the elderly and the young university graduates with debts of $40,000 or $50,000. It is these people who eliminated the $42 billion deficit. We must help them, because they are in need. Bill C-71 clearly does not meet the needs of all Canadians.