Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank the member for Saint-Jean for introducing Motion No. 393 in the House of Commons and the member for Jonquière for her speech this morning. She talked about the fund that has existed in Quebec for many years.
I would like to add that such a fund also exists in Manitoba and that it works very well. Members are able to distribute this fund to the people in their region.
The motion states:
That, in the opinion of this House, the government should make available to Members a support fund for community activities in each of their ridings.
The motion is clear. It refers to community activities and not partisanship. That is what this motion is all about. If some members rise in this House and say that members of Parliament cannot be trusted to administer such a program or money for community activities, I would suggest that they go back to their ridings, where they will be held accountable by their constituents and the people of their community. I think their stance would come under intense scrutiny. It would be seen as something particularly serious in the region.
If we look at the government's position, we can see that already, in previous speeches, reference was made to partisanship and accountability. The government member mentioned this. If this is grounds for rejecting the motion, I suggest we just look at federal programs to find partisanship. It has been going on for 100 years. It is said that there is always partisanship with political parties. Here, however, we are talking about a fund for individual members.
I can only think of the good that could be done with a fund allocated to members in their communities.
How will the fund be used? That is where rules must be established. First things first, let us start by accepting the motion. That will set the ball rolling. The hon. member for Saint-Jean is indicating that he is in agreement with me. He agrees with that the motion must be accepted. That will set the whole process in motion to move forward with this new fund.
People wonder what members would use this money for? I just want to say that, in my community for instance, I receive a fair number of phone calls from community services, people involved in adult literacy for example, who are not paid and who sometimes need money for publicity or something of the sort. They phone the office, but we cannot be of any help. There is no federal program under which we could help them out.
Earlier, with my hon. colleague, I indicated that that we can go a long way a little at a time. This means that sometimes even small amounts can really help a community organization do good things and be in a position to support its community.
In our community, there is a halfway house where battered women can go overnight following a family incident. How many times have these people phoned us, asking if funding was available to help them?
We are talking about community organizations, and not partisanship. We are not talking about an individual who will be voting for the hon. member for Acadie-Bathurst, for Saint-Jean, for Halifax or for Peace River in British Columbia. That is not the point. We are talking about money that could benefit a community.
When it comes to youth centres, for example, it saddens me to see how many young people are involved in criminal activities today because they did not get support earlier on. There are youth centres in my area. There is an area where the youth centre closed down and was looking for help. The government did not want to take any responsibility for helping the youth centre to reopen. We were told by the RCMP that, during the time the youth centre was closed, there was an 85% increase in the number of young people in trouble with the law.
Yet the government can find a lot of money to help them once they are behind bars. So what is needed is prevention. These community groups work hard and sometimes need a little boost, a little help that could go a long way. Help is what they need.
That is why I personally will be supporting the motion of the hon. member for Saint-Jean. A number of my NDP colleagues will be doing so as well. Yes, some have reservations, but not about the motion itself, actually. My colleagues say that the federal government ought to be responsible for the communities. It ought to be responsible as well for getting transfer payments to the provinces in order to enable them to help their communities. These are things that we ought to be able to expect, but they are not.
So, that is why it is important to see what has happened in Quebec, where there is a fund available to members of the legislature. We have never heard of any scandals like those the federal Liberals have been involved in, where the federal Liberal government paid $1.5 million twice for the same report from Groupaction. It was screened by the government. There has never been a scandal like that in Quebec, among the members of Quebec's legislature, with respect to a fund to help people in their communities.
I would suggest to the committee that will study this issue—if the motion is passed—that it ensure that there is a local association or organization that can help the member identify the community groups in need. There are many ways to protect the fund to ensure that it is properly distributed.
As I said, I hope that the motion will be passed and that the members of this House will feel responsible. They must not be afraid that they are unable to manage this fund. I say that if a member is afraid to manage a fund himself, he really has a problem. We should have confidence in ourselves regarding this fund, since it works well in Manitoba and Quebec. Moreover, it will help groups in our communities, groups that are in real need.
Giving a small amount such as $500 to such organizations can take them a long way, for instance, to advertising a fundraising campaign for their own organization or for young people. I recall a community group that wanted to have an outdoor skating rink in order to organize winter activities for young people. There was no way to obtain money from anyone. But a small sum of money would have helped them. Federal members of Parliament receive this kind of request in their offices. It would be a way to help small, community-based organizations.