Mr. Speaker, this is a very important day in the House of Commons, because the Bloc Québécois has presented a motion on the fiscal imbalance. I will not read the motion again. The Liberals have heard it, but whether they have listened or not is another thing, as they insist on denying the evidence, correcting the facts, correcting a fundamental injustice.
What is fiscal imbalance? It is the realization that the basic needs of people and families are not being met, whether for health, education or whatever. These needs remain unmet because a huge surplus is concentrated in Ottawa, while the needs are in the provinces and in Quebec.
The provinces and Quebec are being impoverished bit by bit, and the funds are instead often being misspent, spent inefficiently, or used to sell a government that is centralizing and ineffective. Now we are seeing the abuses, just as we did with the firearms registry, the sponsorship scandal and the Canadian unity fund.
The attitude of this government reminds me of Harry Potter's cousin, for those who are literate. This cousin took everything that belonged to Harry Potter, just like a spoiled child who takes everything from his brother, all his toys, clothes, even sometimes the food from his plate. I am sure that no one likes to be treated like that.
Ideally, we would like to be a respected brother country to the United States, to Canada, to France. This country would not have to put up with the spoiled child who, rather than meet his own obligations, prefers to spend money on what are really the other's obligations, to spend unwisely, and still to keep huge amounts for himself.
It is unbelievable. We see that this year Quebec will get, in all, $800 million. The member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie has talked about fiscal dyslexia, because the forecasted figure for the surplus was $1.9 billion when it was really $9.1 billion. If we had had a share of that surplus in Quebec, we would have got $2 billion. When we are told that they are giving us $800 million, we have to remember that there is another $1.2 billion we are not getting.
The government will say that it is putting the money toward the debt and that this will be good for our children. But the reason people are often cynical about politics is because the federal government is crushing the provinces and Quebec under a huge debt, accumulating and hiding surpluses, refusing to hold debates on their use, and proposing complex equalization formulas that give practically nothing more to the provinces and Quebec.
Often, when a policy cannot be explained in simple terms, it is because it is not all that it is made out to be. People can smell a stunt being pulled with the equalization. The average is calculated using five provinces instead of ten. Certain figures are factored in and adjusted. Indexation or no indexation, an injustice remains an injustice.
That is what the Minister of Finance has planned and announced. This does not address in any way the basic fact that Ottawa has a huge amount of money to fulfil obligations which are, all in all, limited, while there is very little money for provinces struggling to respond to the needs in health and education.
The Government of Quebec has been forced, by lack of money, to cut a program designed to provide libraries in Quebec with new books. This affects our children, their education and their ability to learn that the world has changed. In many instances, geography books date back to before the cold war. That is a disgrace. And the reason for this is because the money is in Ottawa. The fiscal imbalance is such that the provinces cannot afford to fulfil their important obligations, and neither can Quebec.
It is not financial pressures but a total imbalance that is creating inequities and having a concrete impact on the voters of Beauport—Limoilou among others. I think of the single parent families which get together every week in the northern part of Beauport, in my riding. These get-togethers have a cute name, Matinée frimousses, and are an opportunity for these families to share on various topics.
They are too rich to qualify for some social programs and too poor to make it on their own. So they share amongst themselves. These single mothers need a helping hand. But what happens? Programs like child care do not get implemented and every year we lose enormous sums of money in parental leave.
It is not possible to create a program that helps these families balance work and family life, because the money for that, too, is in Ottawa. It is being poorly spent and sometimes wasted in a scandalous manner. We see it every day in oral question period. And in the end, what do we have? In the end, we have an imbalance that affects families directly. The problem is not in the structure, whether provincial or central. It is in the duplication and intrusion, using money that does not belong to Ottawa, but to Quebec and the provinces. It is a shameful thing and it hides behind all kinds of complicated mathematics and tricks to fool the people of Quebec.
My colleague from Richmond—Arthabaska presented clearly, in black and white—he also quoted the Conference Board, which is not noted for being a sovereignist organization— forecasts of the fiscal imbalance for the provinces, that is, their growing deficits, compared to the surplus of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves. I do not know how many members there are on the other side—