Quality indeed, thank you for that.
The thrust of my speech is that we need a system that is more transparent and more democratic. It was incredible to hear the Minister of Finance, this morning, tell us, “Yes, indeed, estimates are not an exact science and there may be errors. A small error of 2% may have an impact of $300 million”.
Since I see that I have six minutes left, I think that I will start to speak much more slowly. It has often been said that experience is the sum of our errors. I will tell you that I am getting a lot of experience at this time.
Indeed, if estimates are not an exact science, we are still seeing a systematic underestimation of revenues by the government. If, during the 1970s and 1980s, we saw most optimistic forecasts that brought repeated deficits, year after year, this government has taken exactly the opposite direction by both constantly underestimating its revenues and overestimating its spending.
There is only one taxpayer. This taxpayer must know what will be his contribution to the various services that the state will provide him. For example, we talked about employment insurance. This is incredible. Employment insurance has become a hidden tax, an employment tax.
The employment insurance fund has huge surpluses year after year, while these surpluses should go to workers, to people who contribute to this fund and who need it when they go through much more difficult times.
Through accounting gymnastics, the Liberal government manages to get these surpluses and to use them, among other things, to reduce the debt. This is outrageous. It is attacking people who are at a disadvantage and in a crisis situation, who have families and children, who have mortgages, and it tells them, “You have not asked for employment insurance for a number of years, because things were going rather well. You had a job, you do not meet the requirement of 910 hours and, thus, you will not get an income”. The government has huge surpluses. It does not know what to do with them anymore.
The federal government must take care of its own jurisdictions, and not intrude in Quebec and provincial jurisdictions. We see this again here in this House. In the last couple of days, we have heard a lot about the Canadian armed forces, and many parliamentarians have talked about the shortfalls in their financing. I am telling you that if the government was taking care of its own jurisdiction without intruding in the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces, the armed forces would probably be much better equipped and the Liberal government would focus on solving the problems that are truly Canadian instead of intruding in Quebec and provincial jurisdictions.
We attended a federal provincial conference on equalization yesterday, and I must say that we were quite disappointed with the Prime Minister's attitude. Under the guise of openness and cooperation, the Prime Minister made a speech in which he is not giving one more cent to equalization compared with the figures given at the last conference on health held in September. There is no change in the calculation formula, which penalizes Quebec and prevents it from making consistent forecasts and knowing exactly what its budget will be in one, two or three years. This forces the Quebec government to beg the federal government for money, and this is not healthy.
Quebec, like the other provinces, must be able to manage the areas under its jurisdiction and tell its fellow citizens “this is what we have to offer in the areas of health, education, social assistance and early childhood services.”
We are talking about a national child care program. For seven years, two of them as chairman, I sat on the board of a day care in Quebec. It was a fantastic experience. It is a fantastic model. I will never stress enough how afraid I am that the Liberal government across the way might barge in with a one size fits all program that will undo all the progress we have made in Quebec since 1995, if my memory serves me right.
Not only it is planning a one size fits all daycare program, but if we go back a few years, when the $5 dollar a day daycare program was introduced in Quebec, Quebec families lost their federal tax deduction. Since 1995, around one billion dollars has been taken out of Quebec tax payers' pockets. The Liberal government is aware of the fact. Nevertheless it has done nothing to address the problem. It would not take much though. If the government really cared and wanted to cooperate and help, it would help those people get back the money owed to them.
I understand I have about one minute left. Let me conclude by reminding the House that the fiscal imbalance is not only about money, it is also about democracy and accountability. People must know how their tax dollars are spent.