Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak about Bill C-18 on equalization and about the effect it may have on our regions.
The agreement was supposed to be signed at the end of March. Now we have to pass a bill to extend it for another year. That is too bad, but our party will vote in favour of this bill anyway for the simple reason that transfers must be made to the provinces.
We must think about people in the provinces and this is why we will vote in favour of the bill, because the Liberal government has put us in this position. However, is this right? I do not think so. Does the equalization system work? I do not think so.
Today, the equalization system has increased by 18% in Canada. However, if we look at transfers to the Atlantic provinces, it has decreased by 4%. This is not right. As I said earlier to my colleague when I asked her a question, should we not help each other? If we cannot help each other, what are we doing in a country? We live in a country where there are more opportunities, more chances of succeeding. We must be able to share with others. This is what a federation is all about. This is what I think it should be.
The cuts will be drastic for us. The provinces and New Brunswick will not have the means to do things the way they should be done. We always come back to health.
As I said in the past, the federal government will provide transfers to the provinces. It will make the announcement in the next few days. With the left hand, it provides $2 billion in transfers to the provinces for health care and, with the right hand, the hand that always likes to take from the poor—the right side, the side of big business—it takes $2.2 billion from the provinces, from the most vulnerable people. This is unacceptable.
In our area, the government is currently looking at the possibility of closing down emergency departments in communities where they are so needed. One need only look at the whole matter of planned emergency department closures on the Acadian peninsula. This is why it is important for the federal transfer payments to go to the right place, for the good of all the provinces of Canada.
We are beginning to feel the affects in our area. As I said, on the one hand the government says it is going to give $2 billion for health, while on the other it is going to take $2.2 billion away from transfer payments to Canadians. At the same time, they are talking about a $4.4 billion cut to corporate taxes for big business. Imagine what a difference that could have made to the provinces to help them survive what they are going through at present.
The Atlantic provinces are not having an easy time of it. People have had to manage with seasonal work for several years, and still do. I have raised this matter often in the House of Commons. The industries with these seasonal jobs produce things Canadians want and like to have, for instance fish and 2x4s. Yet these industries are being hit so hard that they can no longer survive.
According to the Conservatives, the solution is cut and dried. They will close down Atlantic Canada and that will be the end of it. The former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, and now leadership hopeful, made that clear. If he comes out on top, it will be a matter of “It's not needed any more. If you folks can't survive on your own, just move somewhere else.”
I have a surprise for him. Not everyone in the Atlantic region wants to move somewhere else. Some have had to, but they do not all want to. There is a surplus of $7 billion; the EI fund has a $3.3 billion surplus, and the major corporations have had a tax cut of $4.4 billion. So I can say that the federal government is not managing our money properly. It could be put to other uses.
The Liberal government prefers handing out money to the big banks to make sure managers and chairmen will be glad that some money is being used to pay down the debt. Of course, we should use some money to pay down the debt, but not all our money. We must look after the communities in regions where health services are inadequate. In the throne speech, the Liberal government avoided mentioning the Romanow report.
In 1969, the federal government was paying up to 50% of health costs in Canada. In recent years and especially in 1994, when this Prime Minister was the finance minister, we had drastic cuts in health transfers to the provinces. The transfers were as low as 14%, and they have now inched up to 16%.
Our health care system is sick. In this day and age and with our technology, when we can send rockets to Mars and the Moon, we are not even capable of maintaining a viable health care system
The other day, I read a story in Le Devoir , if I am not mistaken, about a lady or a gentleman taking their small dog to the veterinarian. A little later, the veterinarian called to say the animal would be operated on. During the operation, the owners of the dog received another phone call telling them the operation was under way and that everything was fine. After the operation, there was another phone call to tell them everything had gone well.
In a hospital, people are being parked in hallways. Elderly people have to live in hospital hallways. This is degrading. It is degrading when men and women have to share a hospital room. Were are we heading?
When we see all the scandals that have plagued the Liberal government in recent months, it is a disgrace to our country. It is unfortunate for the institution of parliamentary. That is what is going on at this time.
Where education is concerned, by the time students graduate from college or university, they owe $40,000 in debt. Let us take a look at the daycare system. In 1940, around 5% of Canadian women were on the labour market. These days, as many women as men are working. Our society needs to adjust. We have to meet the needs of the people but not only by throwing billions of dollars at big companies.
We are heading toward a society where people will be either very rich or very poor. That is not what Canadians want. They want roads. They want health care. They want their children to be able to afford to go to college or university. They want a better education system based on modern technology. They want infrastructures to try and keep people close to home.
Transfers will not do it. My hon. colleague said earlier that the government wanted to extend equalization for another year because of the upcoming election. I am not so sure. It could be, but I think it would be wrong because we have never granted a one-year extension before.
I really do hope the government will review its equalization formula in order to help the provinces stimulate their economic growth and development. I also hope we will find some way to support regional development so that Canadians feel comfortable where they are and do not feel the need to see what the rest of the country has to offer.
To conclude, I would urge the federal government to reconsider Bill C-18, because, as all Canadian provinces have pointed out, transfers are not the answers.