Mr. Speaker, I would like to indicate that I will be sharing my time with the member for Jonquière.
First, the example that I will use affects the people in my riding of Châteauguay, in the Montérégie and in greater Montreal. However, this example, which may appear to focus on the issue of highway 30, will nonetheless have an impact on all Quebecers and on all Canadians.
Let us not be fooled. A budget is about more than just numbers, much more than numbers. I will touch on infrastructure in particular, on this strategic infrastructure foundation which was mentioned and which will likely be set up during this session, this spring.
I am surprised that there has not been much talk in parliament about the importance of this foundation, yet another foundation that will be created. This is one more scheme to chip away at the powers of all of us sitting here today, of members of parliament. What is happening to democracy in this parliament?
When I rise to speak to the Liberal government bills, and this is not just coincidence, on almost every occasion, for every debate or speech, I have to intervene and warn the House that democracy is being threatened.
Each time that I stand, I imagine what it woould be like if the 301 members, maybe a few less, because the ministers or the executive have given themselves more powers, were to stand. How can it be that members of the House, not only those in the opposition benches, be they members of the official opposition, the Bloc Quebecois, the New Democratic Party, the Conservative Party, or the Progressive Conservative/Democratic Representative Coalition, but also members from the Liberal Party, how can it be that we are being told that this budget is good? I heard this being said earlier: “one of the best budgets that could have been brought down for Canadians and Quebecers”. I simply do not understand.
The problem is as follows: by quoting figures, they believe they will stop comments by our fellow citizens, our constituents. They say that they have “invested two billion dollars in the foundation”, which is, of course, most welcome. “If there is a surplus at the end of the fiscal period ending in March, if there is a surplus, some of it will be invested”. Invested in a foundation that is controlled by whom? By a board, once again by people who have not been elected.
Instead, they are prime ministerial or government appointees, but we know very well that the one behind it is the Prime Minister of Canada and that he will keep on making partisan appointments. We have no inkling of who these people will be, or how they will be chosen. We have some suspicions, however, that they will be cronies once again.
Imagine. Take the example of highway 30. There were promises right from the start, during the campaign for the November elections, about building two bridges to access highway 30, along with a 14 km stretch of road. I have risen in the House on a number of occasions to ask the government what progress it has made on this promise concerning highway 30, and the memorandum of agreement the Quebec minister of transport was asking it to sign.
There has never been an answer of “Yes, we are going to sign it and yes, we are going to finally respect our promse and commitment on highway 30. The work will be done”. All that we heard at first was “Oh yes, we are progressing. We are at the request for information stage”.
That was what we kept on hearing until December. So even without a budget, we would still be hearing the same thing today. They are at the request for information stage with the private sector, to find out whether it might be involved in the undertaking.
From the outset, what we were not told was that the goal was not to sign this cost-sharing memorandum of agreement and provide funding for the completion of highway 30, because the government knew that it would set up a foundation, I think this is the eleventh, to make it hard for MPs and the auditor general to find out what they are doing with taxpayer money.
This approach creates a second, unelected parliament, which will be run by unelected officials, by people who have been appointed. This is serious. Each time, I am forced to speak about the erosion of democracy.
This erosion has been taking place since the September 11 attacks. We thought that bin Laden had not been successful. No one can locate him, but he has still been successful to the extent that even in our parliament we have seen an unbelievable loss of democracy. We asked this government to hold a debate on the deployment of troops so that the House could hold a vote. This was rejected out of hand. Worse yet, the public is being led to believe, through the take note debate held last night, that something is being done, when the decision had already been taken to send our troops to Afghanistan or a bordering nation.
These troops will capture prisoners and hand them over to the United States, which will enforce the law as it sees fit with respect to those prisoners, whether or not it complies with the laws of Canada or the Geneva convention. We will have no control.
This government talks about Canadian sovereignty. I do not think it understands why Quebecers want to be sovereign. It is handing over to the Americans its sovereign right to decide what is to be done with the prisoners.
I now go back to the foundation. When the government talks about $2 billion, it is of course over a three year period, provided there is a surplus. For Quebec, over a three year period, this means from $400 million to $500 million. In Quebec, during the election campaign, the government made promises totalling in excess of $3 billion for highways alone.
This foundation will not only deal with highways, but also with construction projects, convention centres and all kinds of infrastructures. What is worrisome is that the government is killing two birds with one stone. Parliament will no longer have any control over how these public funds are used. The federal government will even be able to bypass the provinces, and Quebec in particular, to negotiate directly with municipalities.
Again, I am convinced that this is either a lack of vision or a lack of honesty, not only intellectual honesty, because we know about the surpluses that they took from the employment insurance fund. They have taken over $40 billion, and the amount for this year is said to be in excess of $13 billion.
Earlier, I heard a member say during his speech that the government was giving us a present. What present? This is not a present, it is money that comes from our taxes. People who are in precarious jobs are deprived of over $40 billion in the employment insurance fund. I just figured out what they mean by a present. They take the money and, instead of giving it to those who contributed in order to eventually get benefits, they give that money to cronies, they put it in other areas instead of reinvesting the available money directly in the infrastructure.
I want to tell my fellow citizens from Châteauguay, the Montérégie or the greater Montreal region that I will force this government to respect its commitment regarding highway 30. I will also see that this foundation is set up as quickly as possible and that audits are conducted, even though the auditor general will not be able to look into what the board of directors is doing.