Mr. Speaker, qualifications, as my colleague has reminded us, have been made so restrictive that it is not rocket science to figure out why in 2004 we actually have to take note of an increase in child poverty in this country today.
It may seem like a big step from the discussion about the fiscal arrangements act to the increase in child poverty, for which we now suffer the embarrassment and low income families suffer the burden, but there is a connection. It has to do with the misplaced priorities. It has to do with the fact that the policies that have been consistently pursued by the Liberal government have enriched the wealthiest corporations and those in the higher income categories at the expense of those who most need to know that the community and their governments are there for them.
We hope this is the beginning of a repair job. It does not address at all the unfulfilled promise made by the Prime Minister during the last election. We have not yet seen any signs of the promise being honoured by the Prime Minister to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador with respect to the share that is owing to our provinces which needs to be invested in the future economic prosperity of our provinces from our natural resources.
It is important on this occasion to recognize that further legislation will be needed. We are not talking about an amendment to the bill before us. We are talking about a companion piece of legislation that would honour the commitment made, but not yet kept, by the Prime Minister to ensure that we become the beneficiaries of the offshore resources that currently overwhelmingly are going to the federal government.
That is not only the fair thing to do, but it is also the only honest course of action that can be pursued by the government. The Prime Minister so transparently came to Atlantic Canada desperate for votes. The Liberals were so desperate to hang on to those Liberal seats and to take the seats out from under the NDP everywhere they could possibly do so. A commitment was therefore made to allow us to invest the benefits from our offshore resources in order to build our own more solid, sustainable economic base for the future.
Let us not lose sight of the fact that needs to be done. This legislation does not address it. However, it is no less urgent than the changes that are proposed here in the fiscal arrangements which now ensure that Canadians can expect there will be some kind of floor below which nobody in this country should sink, starting with the over one million children who remain in poverty. Sadly, in the last set of statistics available from the previous year, that number looks as if it is on rise, not on the decline in the direction of the eradication of poverty as promised by this Parliament in an all party resolution a full 15 years ago.