Mr. Speaker, I would like the hon. member for Etobicoke North to explain what he means by a courageous movement to pay off the country's debt.
As we are speaking, the debt is $579 billion. For the last three years of the plan, it will remain at $576 billion. At a rate of $3 billion per year, supposing we apply the government's provisional reserve for the debt, it will take Canadians 192 years to eliminate the debt. The debt does not bother the federal government too much.
What really bothers the federal government is the assistance it could provide to the provinces to help them overcome the daily problems that confront them. All the provinces agreed that the priority was health care. All Canadians, including Quebecers of course, need additional resources to pay for health care. Everyone agrees that it is the top priority.
The federal government does not recognize that because, in order to carry out this priority, it would have to go through the provinces and give them more money to provide the services for which they are responsible.
Instead of meeting the essential needs of Quebecers and Canadians, instead of meeting them via the provinces, the federal government has opted for impoverishing the provinces still further by keeping them in a position of dependency, so that they will be increasingly unable to act, even in areas that are set out as their jurisdiction.
What then are the heroic gestures the federal government has taken to meet the essential needs of the people? Why does the federal government not allocate any significant amount to solving the problem of Canadians' health? Is that what the budget's generosity is all about?
If there had been no budget last evening, Canadians and Quebecers would not have gone all year without noticing, because the significant effects will not kick in for two, three and four years.
Where does the heroism of the government lie? Where is the government's sensitivity to the needs of taxpayers clamouring for health services, educational services, and more money for poor children? Where is the federal money for this year?