Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak on behalf of my constituents in the riding of Rimouski—Mitis in this debate on the budget.
Each year, as February approaches, there is feverish anticipation in the population.
For some weeks during the fall, the government, via the Standing Committee on Finance, consults the public about its needs and expectations in connection with the upcoming budget. Because it is important for the greatest number of individuals and organizations to be heard, the committee in question travels and holds public hearings in the major cities of Canada. And I thank all those who took part in these consultations.
Then February rolls around, and the media start getting involved. Day after day we are exposed to their hypotheses on what good or bad news to expect in the budget speech. The closer we get to D-Day, the more the press and broadcast media abound with rumours and scoops.
Then the Minister of Finance's moment of glory arrives. The cameras are all focussed on him, and while he is releasing his budget to the entire deputation together in the House of Commons, the journalists are writing their stories for the next day's paper, or interviewing analysts who comment on the good and the bad news in the budget.
Year after year, the scenario never changes. Some groups are better organized than others and they are more successful at getting themselves heard by government members. They often retain the services of lobbyists, who are sometimes former members of parliament or former ministers of the party in office.
These groups manage to get themselves heard and some decisions are made in accordance with their representations. For other groups that are often have no voice, or that have no way of presenting their case to the governments, the situation is more critical. Their expectations are never met. These groups are often disappointed by the budget, because their expectations are not met, even though they were repeated in every city in Canada the committee travelled to.
For several days after the budget speech, opposition parties usually ask the government, during oral question period, about anything that was not included in the budget, or about what has been part of the public's expectations for several years.
But this year things were different. Three of the four opposition parties totally ignored the budget brought down by the Liberal majority, because of the administrative scandals that currently exist within the government, in several departments.
The Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and all the Liberal members were disappointed by the behaviour of opposition members, but we had no choice, given the magnitude of the scandals.
In spite of this rather exceptional situation, I am taking this opportunity to say a few words on the budget.
I would be curious to know what people took from the latest budget read in this House barely a month ago. I think the operation held some striking surprises, so disappointing was this budget and in so many ways.
The money set aside in it for health care is not enough to permit the provinces to rebalance their budgets in this field. The federal government ignored the call by the provincial premiers and territorial leaders for a return of the transfer payments to the levels of 1994, and, worse yet, the cuts announced in previous budgets have been maintained. The Minister of Finance decided to put the sum of $2.5 billion, a one time grant, in trust.
There was little in the latest budget for the unemployed. The eligibility criteria for benefits remain unchanged, and seasonal workers will continue to be unjustly penalized by the employment insurance reform. The unemployed have become a real cash cow for the Liberal government. In budget 2000, the government confirms it diverted a surplus of $6.5 billion in 1999-00 and that it expects a surplus of $5.6 billion in 2000-01.
According to the government's chief actuary, the accumulated surplus will reach $31.356 billion by the end of 2000.
It is a scandal that the government is collecting over $31 billion in contributions, not to provide a temporary income for the unemployed, since 60% of them receive no benefits, but first to reduce the government's deficit and then to give the government some manoeuvring room.
Today, we can say that the pot is being used to cut the taxes of the wealthiest and to fund the federal government's invasion of the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces, including their jurisdiction over health care, but not to improve the situation of workers unfortunate enough to lose their job.
As a consolation prize, budget 2000 proposes lower premiums but, strictly speaking, the government has given no formal undertaking to this effect. The worst thing in this horrific scenario is that the Minister of Finance calls this tax relief.
In addition, the current EI system discriminates against women, particularly those wishing to take maternity leave. It is true that the government is preparing to increase EI coverage during maternity leave from six months to one year. However this Canada-wide intention is not what families in Quebec have in mind. The Government of Quebec has its own plans, but the Liberals do not want to negotiate. Once again, they have thumbed their nose at the consensus in Quebec.
In response to questions from the Bloc Quebecois in the House, the Minister of Finance is refusing to make any improvements to the EI system. Like the Coalition sur l'assurance-emploi, the Bloc Quebecois has long been demanding that the EI system become a real insurance scheme again and that premiums be used only for the purposes set out in the Employment Insurance Act. But no improvements are planned.
As for social housing, the budget contains only a few scraps. The plan of the minister and the member for Moncton could be called “In search of social housing lost”. Since the early 1990s, those in inadequate housing have paid the price of budgetary restraint.
There is no way $268 million over five years—or $54 million annually—will do the trick. For Quebec, this comes to less than $20 million a year. One per cent of budgets—between $1.6 and $1.7 billion more a year—would have been reasonable. While it would not have met all needs, it would have helped to bring the number of available units into line with today's realities.
In the budget 2000 speech, the Minister of Finance said the following, and I quote:
Secure social programs that recognize that real progress is made by reaching for the top, not racing to the bottom.
Does this mean that his government places social housing and those without adequate housing at the bottom of the heap?
A lot more could be said about the inadequacies of this budget—it will certainly not be one for which the Minister of Finance will go down in history. Most observers are agreed that surpluses will be between $115 and $150 billion.
The Bloc Quebecois' conservative estimate puts it at $137 billion over five years. We therefore think it obvious that the Minister of Finance could have done much more with the surpluses than he did this year. For instance, he could have come up with $3 billion annually over the next five years for an infrastructure program. Unfortunately, the Minister of Finance did just what he needed not to get his name in the history books.