Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for New Brunswick Southwest.
I am pleased to say a few words on the throne speech debate. A wide ranging debate like the one before us affords all of us the opportunity to raise a number of issues of importance to the people in St. John's East, to the people generally in the province and in the nation as a whole.
In my opinion this was a low-key, often vague throne speech. If there was a bright spot in the throne speech, and there was one bright spot and it deserves full marks, it would be the commitment to significantly increase the child tax benefit for poor families. I hope the government means it when it says that the increase in the child tax benefit will be significant. I am not encouraged by the fact that the last two throne speeches saw only 25% of the promises that had been made put into effect, implemented and finding their way into the nation's budget.
The child tax benefit is important to a lot of poor families. Child poverty rates in the nation are far too high for any western industrialized country. We all know what happened back in the nineties in the rush to balance the budgets back then. The Liberal government cut transfers to the provinces for the various health and social service programs that were designed to help poor families in particular.
I am sure all members will remember as it was only about a year and a half ago when the government cut deeply into the employment insurance program. This devastated whole regions dependent upon seasonal employment. The fishery was very important as was forestry and mining. The government cut deeply into those areas dependent upon seasonal employment. As a result poor families became poorer and more numerous. Child poverty increased nearly 20%. That was far too high.
Being a member of the committee that travelled the nation I will never forget the presentations made by people in every province between British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador with regard to poverty and homelessness. I found out something very important. Poverty has a real face in this nation. It is not fictional. It has a real look to it. It is on the faces of people on fixed incomes trying to make ends meet. It is on the faces of people who have to raise families on minimum wage. It is on the faces of single mothers who cannot find work, and even if they could find work they cannot find adequate day care programs that will enable them to work.
Poverty is real in this nation. Therefore any kind of significant increase in the national child benefit would be welcomed by a lot of families. We should constantly keep this before us. This is the House in which we passed a resolution to abolish child poverty by the year 2000. The year 2003 is fast approaching so we have a lot of ground to make up.
If the Prime Minister would like to have a legacy, for which he will be remembered and people will build monuments and statues of him, he should spend the next 18 months in office solving the child poverty issue and the issue of homelessness in this nation.
Health care is a very important matter in the throne speech. The Prime Minister proposes to meet the premiers on this issue and promises more money. Well, it is about time that he met the premiers on the business of the nation. He is long overdue in putting more money into the health care system.
The health care system back in my province is in a shambles at the moment. Doctors have walked out. They are the lowest paid in the nation and their employer is the most cash-strapped provincial government. The government balanced the nation's books. Nobody can deny that. It did balance the nation's books. The cuts to health care crushed the books of many of the provincial governments.
Simply put, our health care system needs reform, but it needs more money as well. Canadians have made it clear in public opinion poll after public opinion poll that they want the government to do something about it. No matter what changes and reforms are made to the system, it will require more money.
Roy Romanow will be issuing his report sometime in November and none of us would expect that report to make recommendations without making recommendations for an influx or infusion of money into the health care system. No matter what changes are recommended, it will require more money. If the federal government wants to establish national standards in this critical area of national policy, it has to be willing to pay a greater share of the costs involved. Simply put, if one does not pay the piper, one will not be able to call the tune.
The speech promises another infrastructure program for cities. This is the third infrastructure program we have heard about. We had a $2 billion program, a second $2 billion program and now we have a promise of a third infrastructure program announced by the government. So far, my province of Newfoundland and Labrador has seen only $50 million over a five year period to provide infrastructure for a couple of hundred communities.
My riding in St. John's and area needs a federal commitment of about $33 million to finance the sewage collection and treatment system required to clean up St. John's Harbour, one of the most polluted harbours in all of Canada. Just a simple, small commitment by the federal government for $33 million. The provincial government has made its commitment. The municipalities have made their commitments. The federal government has yet to pony up that money and it has had two $2 billion infrastructure programs. We are still waiting for the federal government to pony up a little bit of money to clean up one of the most beautiful harbours in the oldest city in North America.
Another matter of vital concern not mentioned in the throne speech is the need to reduce or eliminate the clawback provisions of the equalization program which I brought up a few moments ago in a question. Newfoundland and Labrador has one of the highest growth rates in all of the nation this year, last year and the year before that. Yet, we are still one of the poorest provinces with one of the highest unemployment rates. Something is definitely wrong with that picture. If there is a province with a high growth rate, it should not have have-not status almost permanently, but the lion's share of all these new revenues are clawed back to Ottawa and as a result the province cannot move ahead.