Debates of March 30th, 2004

Health

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there are 4,000 new HIV infections every year in Canada, and this represents $600 million in additional medical costs annually. The number of people living with HIV rose from 30,000 in 1993 to over 50,000 in 2002. Yet the funding for the Canadian strategy on HIV/AIDS has remained the same since 1993, $42.2 million.

Can the Minister of Health explain his refusal to act on the unanimous recommendation by the Standing Committee on Health urging the federal government to raise the annual funding for the Canadian strategy on HIV/AIDS to $100 million?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve has raised a very important point, since it is absolutely obvious that remarkable work has been done, with the help of the government's strategy, in the battle against HIV/AIDS.

I am very much aware of our government's responsibility; $42.5 million is allocated to the strategy. You can count on the Minister of Health to continue his efforts and to try to improve budgets, because the organizations have clearly done a remarkable job in recent years.

The Environment

[Charles Caccia, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Natural Resources. Given that reaching the Kyoto protocol objective requires a considerable improvement in automobile fuel efficiency, when will the minister decide to overcome market barriers and recommend to cabinet the proclamation of the 1982 Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act?

[R. John Efford, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, first, the automobile industry and government recognize that considerable work needs to be done to improve fuel efficiency. In the case of Europe, it has a volunteer agreement with the auto industry. In the case of Australia, it has signed an agreement with the auto industry. At present, we are working voluntarily with the auto industry to accomplish fuel efficiency in vehicles.

What we should do first is recognize what its has accomplished to date. I congratulate it and look forward to working with it to accomplish our goals in the future.

Foreign Affairs

[Joe Clark, Progressive Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Is Mr. Bhupinder Liddar being sent as Canadian consul general to Chandigarh? If so, why and when? If not, why not?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, appointments of heads of mission are always subject to certain administrative procedures, which in this case have not been completed. Until they are completed, the position is that Mr. Liddar is not being sent to Chandigarh.

Whistleblower Legislation

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, no fewer than three different task forces have strongly recommended that any whistleblower officer has to report directly to Parliament, not to a minister and not to cabinet. Yet the government introduced legislation that says 180° the opposite. This bill is more about protecting ministers from whistleblowers than it is about protecting whistleblowers.

Will the hon. President of the Privy Council, stand up, admit that this is bogus legislation designed to plug leaks, not protect civil servants, withdraw the bill and take one off the shelf, one of the private members' bills that we presented?

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada]

Mr. Speaker, it seems that the member of Parliament is using a better word than what he used in the press. I thought he was an expert in manure.

However, the legislation that we are putting forward not only addresses all those questions, but we are doing exactly what we have to do. I urge the member, instead of trying to play his own little game as usual, to participate fully in the parliamentary committee and ensure that he brings forward all his points.

We have done our job. Let us see if he will do his.

Ways and Means

[Andy Mitchell, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 83(1) I have the honour to table a notice of ways and means motion to implement certain provisions of the Tlicho land claims and self-government agreement and Tlicho tax treatment agreement, which is part of this notice, and I ask that an order of the day be designated for consideration of this motion.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that this House approves in general the budgetary policy of the government.

The Budget

[The Speaker]

When the debate was interrupted for question period, there were seven minutes remaining in the time allotted for questions and comments on the debate of the hon. member for York South—Weston.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, at the end of the member's speech he made reference to his many years of service to the people of his city from a municipal and regional perspective.

As the member knows, the budget included a significant initiative related to helping our cities and communities. Today there was an important announcement with regard to his city.

Would the member remind the House and Canadians about the important contribution the government has made to the cities of Canada?

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, during my comments I referred to the new relationship being developed under the umbrella of a new deal for cities.

The first announcement through the budget was the full rebate on the GST. When that washes through to the municipalities, it will allow them to invest in a wide spectrum things, such as infrastructure, water and sewers, housing and transportation initiatives.

A continuation of that theme is the announcement with respect to the city of Toronto of $1 billion that will be a partnership of the city of Toronto, the province of Ontario and the federal government. Under the initiative we will see an improvement to the transit infrastructure in the city of Toronto. Within the context of the GTA when we add that to the $50 million initiative for an investment in the York region, we will have a federal presence for the first time in a major way in the area of transportation and other infrastructure.

There is also a theme with respect to consultation. For years there has not been the recognition that municipalities have a huge role to play with respect to the quality of air and quality of life that Canadians enjoy. There is a commitment given through the budget that there will be consultation before each budget. Cities will be invited in order that there is an understanding of what their needs are and how the budget can be used to meet those needs.

With that kind of consultative approach and the kind of announcement that was made in the city of Toronto today, we are on the threshold of a new relationship which can only better serve Canadians in the cities.

[Ken Epp, Canadian Alliance, Elk Island, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in our intervention earlier, I asked the member specifically whether he thought it was incorrect of the government to put large amounts of money into general revenue. He answered my other questions with respect to the EI fund to the best of his ability, even though we may not totally agree. However, he did not address the question of the money going into general revenue and there was no mention made in the budget that it would be changed. I would like his comment on that.

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I always appreciate a colleague who includes in his preamble the characterization of a member doing it to the best of his ability, which I did.

I indicated that the employer and employee contributions to EI had been reduced in the last two budgets. I indicated that the Auditor General had said that we should attempt to ensure that instead of transferring that fund into general revenues, it should be reinvested in matters relating to employment, such as seasonal employment, employees who find themselves in situations where they are without work.

What I did say also, and I am sorry the member did not hear it, was that while that is the direction of the government, I do not think the government should be faulted for investing general revenues in employee related initiatives, such as skills development. That is in keeping with the philosophy of reinvesting in job creation, job retraining programs that the employment insurance fund was designed for.

I would agree with the principle and the spirit of the member's question. Eventually it would be, I think in accounting terms, more correct to have the fund and out of that fund allocate expenditures that relate specifically to employment creation and employment insurance.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Musquodoboit Valley—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, for years now we in Atlantic Canada have been asking the government to develop a shipbuilding policy. One was developed by the previous industry minister, Mr. Tobin. Three budgets have gone by and there is still not a single word on a shipbuilding policy. This would facilitate the employment of thousands of people in Canada, not just in Atlantic Canada.

Why would the government consistently omit this very important aspect of our economy which could develop so much for Atlantic Canada?

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I think the intent is to look at the Atlantic regional opportunity program.

I would suggest that with the full spectrum of needs that exist in the Atlantic region, shipbuilding obviously is one of those that should be evaluated. It should be incubated in such a manner that it does create the kind of jobs and economic activity the member would like to see. I am sure the government would support that. It should it looked at through the porthole, if members would pardon the nautical analogy, of the Atlantic regional expansion fund.

[Gary Lunn, Canadian Alliance, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise and represent the constituents of Saanich--Gulf Islands in the budget debate. I will be splitting my time with the member for St. John's West.

When we listened to the budget speech, there were such expectations. The Prime Minister, when he was minister of finance, had been plotting for some 10 to 13 years to overthrow the previous prime minister, Jean Chrétien. He was successful last November. That was his dream. We expected to see some type of vision, his plans on where he wanted to take the country.

We were absolutely surprised by the budget. It was so hollow. There was very little in it.

The Prime Minister has been completely derailed by the sponsorship program, by the wasteful and abusive government spending. I call it the theft program, not the sponsorship program.

This matter was created by the Liberal Party. I want to touch on this because this is one of the major points in the budget. It is ironic. The theft program, otherwise known as the sponsorship program, was created to promote unity across Canada. When we talk to people outside Quebec, they say, “Quebec gets all this money. What a crazy program. The $250 million that the Liberals funnelled in there has gone to Liberal friendly firms”. For anyone who is associated with the party it is really a corrupt program. There is no question about it. When we talk to people inside Quebec, they say, “There is nothing but a bunch of crooks in Ottawa. Look at this $250 million. Look at the unity program”. Whether people are inside Quebec or outside Quebec what they are seeing in the program is corruption in the highest order.

I have said that this is one of the darkest days in Canadian political history, but let us get into the specifics. The government has been preoccupied with this for two or three months. Its response has been to bring back the comptroller general of Canada. This was something that was eliminated in 1994 by the Liberals. It was a process that had been started before they took office. The Liberal government weakened that position and eventually got rid of it entirely in 1994.

Ironically in 1995 it was the current Prime Minister when he was minister of finance who promised to bring in program review to ensure that we did not get wasteful spending, to ensure that there was value for money. That year, 1995, was the very same year that the minister of finance, who is now the Prime Minister, approved the sponsorship program where we have seen hundreds of millions of dollars go down a big black sink hole never to return.

It is the talk on the streets in British Columbia everywhere we go. When we go into the restaurants, the coffee shops or wherever we end up people are genuinely upset. Members from all parties, including the Liberals, have told me that people are angry about this, and rightfully so. They should be angry. They have a right to be angry.

In British Columbia people have said to me, “When Glen Clark spent $450 million on the fast ferries, the people of British Columbia were so outraged that they reduced the government majority down to two seats. But at least the government spent the money on ferries. It did not work, but they spent the money on ferries”.

In the sponsorship scandal, the theft program, the money was literally stolen. It is corruption of the highest order. Sadly, money went to Liberal friendly ad agencies, the ones that have been doing all the contracting. All the stories have been out there. It is a slap in the face to the Canadian taxpayer. This is the time of year when Canadians are filling out their income tax and writing cheques to send to Ottawa and these are the stories they are reading on how money is spent.

I will bring this a bit closer to home. How has this impacted the people of Saanich—Gulf Islands? A number of employees who worked for JDS Uniphase were innocently caught up in an employee stock purchase plan. It was an absolute tax nightmare. I cannot go into all the details but, in short, people received salaries for one year in the amount of $100,000 and their T4s showed $1.4 million in earnings and $700,000 in tax owing.

I met with the then minister of finance who is now the Prime Minister. He looked at that and acknowledged that it was a serious problem and that something had to be done. He acknowledged that these people were caught up in a tangled web through no fault of their own and he promised to do something. I met with his officials and had e-mails from them saying that they would “cut the motor” on Revenue Canada from pursuing these people.

It has now been three years and absolutely nothing has been done. I wrote the Prime Minister in his capacity as minister of finance and I have written the current finance minister. I have written three finance ministers and it has fallen on deaf ears. Do they care about these people? No.

Who do the Liberals care about? What have they done? How about George Radwanski, the former privacy commissioner who owed the federal government over $600,000 in taxes? What did the current Prime Minister, the former minister of finance, do in that situation? He wrote off over $600,000. Why would he write off the privacy commissioner's tax debt? He was a well connected Liberal.

I am sure members can see where this is going. If one is a well connected Liberal, one gets special perks, special favours and hundreds of millions of dollars.

This has brought Parliament into the darkest days of political history. A black cloud is hanging over all parliamentarians because of what the present Liberal government has done. It has of course tried to portray itself as a new government but half of the cabinet are the same Liberal people. We are not seeing anything different.

I want to comment on a few of the specifics in the budget, the first one being health care. I have always said that health care is one of the most important issues for my constituents. We have serious problems in health care: waiting lists are getting longer and access to health care and finding a family doctor are becoming more difficult.

After the government's claim that it put all this money back into health care, let us look at the facts. The lineups are significantly longer today than they were when the Liberal government took power in 1993. It takes longer and longer to get services. No new money went into health care. The Liberals announced some old money that they had already put in, but they have not addressed these problems. They do not look at the systemic problems of the health care system. They do not bring in energy and new ideas. It is a huge problem.

I want to quickly talk about education. If a baby was born after 2003 and his or her parents make less than $35,000 a year, the child will receive a grant in 18 years. What is being done for the students of today with all this talk about education? The government is telling students to borrow more, to go deeper into debt and to crawl into that big black hole.

There is nothing in this budget that is helping Canadians. The government has done nothing to address the sponsorship program. It is all smoke and mirrors. There will be nothing there to bring accountability back to the government and it wants us to trust it.

Over the next two months, on his campaign trail, we will hear the Prime Minister talk about his new Liberal government but it is nothing but a facade. It is the same old, tired government that has brought the darkest black cloud over this Parliament in Canadian political history. The Liberals need to be sent a clear message that they need to go. It is time for a new government in this country.

[Grant McNally, Canadian Alliance, Dewdney—Alouette, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I think my colleague was getting to the nub of the issue, and that is trust. I wonder if he could comment on the matter of trust. Should Canadians trust the current Liberals to put the financial house in order when they are the ones who basically led us into scandal and mismanagement over these last 10 years?

[Gary Lunn, Canadian Alliance, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, when I was asked by a reporter last week what the election would be about, I said that it would be about ethics and trust. Trust is something that is earned. We do not have a right to it. It is something we have to earn from the Canadian people.

This is not just about the sponsorship program. The sponsorship program was just the latest culmination of scandal after scandal, of lining their own pockets, getting deeper and deeper with more blatant disregard for the Canadian taxpayer. We had Shawinigate, HRDC and the $2 billion gun registry in the Department of Justice. Someone mentioned $750 million on the cancellation of the helicopter contracts. We have the office of the Governor General with a budget of $10 million or $11 million and having spent $41 million. This is a total disregard for the Canadian taxpayer.

The Liberals are now asking us to trust them after we have seen the darkest and worst political scandal in Canadian political history. The severity of this scandal cannot be underestimated. When money is stolen, although we do not know exactly who stole it, political masters must be giving the signals and directions. The Prime Minister said that he did not know and yet his own policy advisers were writing him letters. We have had government staff come forward saying that this stuff goes as far back as 1999 and asking us to do something.

What has been going on is criminal. Silence is consent. By his refusal to act and his wilful blindness, he is as guilty as the person who stole the money. We teach our children to know who their friends are and if their friends are criminals and committing criminal acts our children know that if they are with them they are guilty too.

The same analogy can hold true here for the current cabinet and Prime Minister. Half the cabinet is the same. They were sitting in those cabinet meetings. We know there had to be political direction. It is time to get rid of this most scandal ridden government in Canadian political history. Canadian taxpayers deserve better. They deserve an ethical, honest, open government.

For the current Prime Minister to say that his government is a new government, I would suggest, is dishonest. There is nothing new about this government. We have seen exactly what is going on. He is desperate to go to the polls. In fact, we heard today that he is advising all the government members to get their pictures taken and get ready to go.

I say that he should bring it on. If this budget is the best vision he has for this country and if the Liberals can ask Canadians to trust them after the recent scandal, then we are ready to go on this side. I believe Canadians deserve better. I believe that after examining the record of the current Prime Minister and the Liberal government for the last 10 years, Canadians will be looking for a new government.

The Conservative Party of Canada will rise to the challenge. The current Leader of the Opposition has ethics second to nobody. He is one of the most honest, hardworking parliamentarians in the House and he will make an incredibly awesome prime minister.

[Loyola Hearn, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to my colleague's comments. I do not want to revisit the areas but I do want to make reference to his last comment about the government members having their pictures taken. If I were a member of the governing party, the last thing I would want flashing around the country right now would be my picture. I know the hon. member over there agrees with me and, I believe, rightly so.

Having said that, I will now concentrate on the budget. I want to look at what was not in the budget rather than at what was. What was not there is having a negative effect on a number of our provinces. At least four of our provinces today, as we speak in fact, are bringing down or have just brought down budgets. All of them are having major problems trying to balance their budgets.

Balancing the budget is something we always talk about. It seems that it is something we must do. Even though that is a major concern for the government, for the finance minister, there is something much more important in relation to that. We need to know what we have do to our people in order to balance the budget.

I want to talk about what is happening in the Atlantic provinces in particular because I am more familiar with what is happening in those provinces than I am with what is happening in Quebec, in Ontario or in some other provinces. The costs of our social services, health care and education take up a huge percentage of our budget. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the major expenditure in our budget would be the cost of health care, followed closely by education and followed closely, unfortunately, as is the case in many provinces, with the payment on debt charges.

As health care costs escalate and our population becomes older, more demands are being put on the health care system. That is true right across the country. A few years ago the federal government paid close to 50% of the cost of health care. Now its share is down around 16%, which means the burden is on the provinces to handle this tremendous debt load.

Because of the way the Atlantic provinces have been treated by the central government, because of the neglect of our resources, because of the mismanagement of the fisheries, because of the lack of consideration in relation to the development of our offshore resources, our hydro power and our minerals, we see young people leaving our province in droves. Over the last 10 years, 50,000 young people, or 10% of our population, have left the province. These were people of child bearing age, people who will produce our future. They were the wage earners. What is left is a significantly older population than anywhere else, which means increased health care costs.

I know I have said this a number of times but I learned a long time ago here that in order for people to help they must understand and in order for them to understand it seems they must hear it over and over again. When a province has fewer people than in the past, and when the money that is handed out is based on a per capita, that means fewer dollars. When our younger people leave, leaving behind the older people, it means there are greater demands on those fewer dollars.

When we look at the geography over which we have to deliver health care, then we can visualize how difficult it is to provide even the essential services to people in a province such as Newfoundland and Labrador. However, all the provinces across the country are having problems, but specifically because of these reasons my own province is.

Then we look at education. This is where the word vision is missing in the budget. Where is the vision? We have a reactionary budget throwing a few dollars out for two reasons. Because of severe problems some money must be thrown at it. The government was embarrassed, forced, to provide money for farmers in the west, long after they should have done it, putting the farmers and their families through all kinds of hardships because of the government's procrastination.

The government finally threw $2 billion into health care after three years of promising to do so. Now the Prime Minister, with no relationship at all to what was presented in the budget, says that there will be more money. Undoubtedly, that is after the election. He is sending the message that if he is re-elected, he will ensure the money is there. This is bribery, which is what we usually see from that side. We get bribes and reaction but absolutely no vision.

When we talk vision, let me speak about education. The greatest expense across the board is health care. If we analyze health care costs, we will find many of the costs are because people cannot or do not look after themselves. They cannot afford to or they do not know how to. A lot of that has to do with the education.

Many people avail of health care services, whether it be mental health, physical health, emotional and I can go on, as a result of them not being active in the workforce. This puts all kinds of different strains on them, again physically, financially, mentally, et cetera.

If we look at our justice system and we analyze who avails of the justice system in relation to who are the ones causing us to spend money on the justice system, again many of them are people who, because of no fault of their own perhaps are in trouble, or are on drugs, or commit crimes, do not fit into society as they should. On many occasions we can tie this into a lack of education.

When we look at the environment and we see those who are not properly caring for it, again we will find it is a lack of education or understanding of how important the environment is.

I could go on and on, however I only have two minutes. However, we have the future of the country in front of us. We have young people, the pages in this House, who over the years will contribute so much to the country. They are being educated. I am not sure whether this is an education in here, but hopefully they are learning a lot. However, they are being educated at universities.

They then will become contributing members in our society. They will be young and educated for the rest of their lives. They will work and pay taxes. They will feel good about it because they are contributing and helping others. They will also spend every cent they make buying things which create work for someone else. If they are not educated, they do not contribute. Instead of contributing to the country, they take out more through social costs, health care costs, welfare costs, housing costs, justice costs, et cetera.

A little vision, a little investment upfront pays dividends down the road. Many more things have been left out of the budget. We will have a chance to talk about them at another time. We must start looking ahead. We must invest where we get return. We cannot only react by throwing money at problems. We will have fewer dollars coming in, more dollars going out, and that puts us exactly where we are today.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed my colleague's remarks. I particularly appreciated the way he focused on the budget and his views of it, unlike his colleague who spoke previously, where I really did not hear the budget mentioned.

I think he knows that I share his views about education. I was very pleased about the way he elaborated on how education affects all of our society. For example, the evidence shows that the better educated people are, the more healthy they are. The evidence shows that even if we could set up a perfect health system now, we can only maintain it by educating our people to make it sustainable over a period of time. He knows these things, and he gave some examples.

I thought I heard him say that the federal government only provides 16% of the funding for health care. I could not help but notice this. On page 94 of the budget document, referring to the year 2003-04, it points out that the federal government transfers $14 billion to the provinces for health care. In tax transfers it provides another $10 billion for health care. Through the equalization payments, it is estimated that $3 billion is used by the provinces for health care. Direct federal spending and tax measures worth $6 billion of support for first nations health, Inuit and veterans' health, employment insurance health, health protection and public health featured very large in the budget. Therefore, federal expenditures for health are approximately $34 billion, or 40% of the $85 billion spent by governments on publicly funded health care in Canada.

Could my colleague address the difference between his 16% and the 40% which is in the budget.

[Loyola Hearn, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, first, let me refer to his earlier comments about investing in our youth, investing in our country, and the dividends that are paid on the far end of something like that. He is dead-on when he says that an educated population is a healthy one, a contributing one and a productive one. However, I want to raise one little point, and maybe he will help lobby for this.

For many of the people who are not educated, it is not because they do not have the ability; it is because they do not have the money. We can talk about student loans. In the budget we saw the government say to young people that they could borrow more. They do not want to borrow more. They have too much of a debt load already. What they want is some adjustment, particularly for those who have extra costs. Tuition is one thing. Board, lodging, food, and travel are all expenses that more than double the cost of education, way more than tuition.

Unless we can ensure that children of poor families, scattered throughout the country, in rural areas in particular where they have to travel in to the university towns, can afford to be educated, they never will be. That is a big challenge for all of us, not a difficult one but one that we must meet.

In relation to the figures, I have the word of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, through the budget, that the government pays 40%, and I have the word of 10 premiers plus the territorial leaders that say it pays 16%. I will let members make the choice as to who is right.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Ahuntsic.

I would like to pick up where my colleague left off, on the matter of education. I use education in a very broad sense, in a sense of lifelong learning. As he knows, because he has great experience at the provincial level and I have some, we normally think of education as largely a provincial responsibility, particularly in the early years but right through, and it certainly is. I would not want the federal government running elementary schools, high schools or even colleges and universities more than it already does. However, as he knows, the federal government in some ways still does.

People do not often realize the extent to which the federal government is involved in education. While I have been in this place, one of my efforts has been to focus and co-ordinate more the federal government's efforts in education in the broader sense of lifelong earning, without impinging on provincial jurisdiction, so we can work as effectively as we can.

I believe that in recent years the government has done a great deal in those areas, Some provinces have responded positively to federal programs and others have not. By that I mean sometimes when we have increased funding for a certain area of higher education, some provinces have responded by helping students from all income levels to engage in that higher education. However, other provinces have responded by raising tuition fees.

The contrast I would give would be between the province of Quebec and the province of Ontario. The province of Quebec has moved to two free CEGEP college years while the province of Ontario has moved to eliminate free grade 13 and has raised tuition to the second highest level in the country.

The budget document really is a remarkable thing. Around this time of year I really wish I was an accountant so I could read these tables to get from them the way the government operates and the emphasis that exists in government. They are all summarized in facts, figures and diagrams in an extraordinary volume. The federal system is truly remarkable.

On the question of learning, training, education or whatever we call it, it is very interesting. There is a table on page 112, which I find is quite good. I have often tried to say that the federal government does not want to have a department of education and impinge on provincial jurisdiction, but it takes a great interest in lifelong learning. The table gives examples of federal government programs at different stages of life, for example, childhood, primary and secondary education years.

We have developed in recent years a prenatal program, with an early postnatal program and early childhood education. In those years we provide the Canada child tax benefit and the national child benefit to low and middle income families to help them give their children as good a start as is possible. Again, sometimes these are responded to well in the provinces, sometimes less so.

In those same years, we have the early childhood development and early learning and child care agreements with the provinces. We provide funds for child care, and a considerable number of spaces for child care. Again, they are dealt with, and it is the province's entitlement, in different ways in different provinces.

Then we get to the post-secondary years. Bear in mind post-secondary education is still traditionally and should be an area of provincial jurisdiction.

In the budget the federal government has introduced a Canada learning bond, which I hope to speak to in a moment. It has introduced first year grants, which will really fit in with what my colleague opposite was saying. Also, it has introduced upfront Canada study grants for students with disabilities. We have had now for many years the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, which will eventually provide scholarships for about a million students, with student loans of around $3,000. This is straight from the federal government to students in every province and territory. Also, for a number of years we have provided Canada study grants.

The member mentioned the Canada student loans program, which is powerful support for students in the country. He is right, there has been an overdependence on loans in recent years and as provinces have raised tuition fees, students have been required to borrow more. Even if the loan program is generous, which the Canada student loans program is, it still leaves them with a burden of debt. Nevertheless, for many years that has been very important base funding for post-secondary students in Canada, and it is a federal program.

There are also the Canada education study grants, which are added to RESPs. When a family purchases an RESP and takes the benefit of the tax shelter the RESP provides, the federal government provides grants for each child in proportion to the amount that is put into the RESP. A family can build up moneys over the years as the child is growing up for the post-secondary years. That has been very well received and was strengthened in the budget. Also, we provide tuition and education tax credits. All of those are in the post-secondary years.

When a student gets to the post-graduate level, which is early adulthood and early workplace experience, we provide interest relief that continues through from the year of the Canada student loan. There are debt reduction provisions for students who encounter financial hardship.

Then we get to later adulthood. We support adult learning, for example, training under EI programs and support for the sector councils, which encourage the trades and things of that type. We support literacy programs, including literacy programs for seniors. All the way through the lifelong learning cycle, there is federal government involvement.

In recent years we have allowed people to use RRSP funds to self-fund lifelong learning. People who are in middle life and need to be retrained and who have some RRSPs, can now take the money out of their RRSPs and apply it to any appropriate training that they care to engage in and retain the tax benefit.

It ties in with what my colleague was saying. The federal government in recent years has strengthened its role in lifelong learning and training. I would agree with him that it should be more coordinated and it is an appropriate area for the federal government to work in. I also agree with him that the moves in the budget toward grants instead of loans, toward focusing on low income students, are very important.

In the time remaining, because of some of the criticism I have heard from the other side, I would like to stress the changes that have occurred. I particularly appreciate the Canada learning bond, which provides money from birth for children in low income families. Also, there is the increase in the Canada education savings grant which I mentioned, which is a grant, not a loan, and which is associated with the RESPs.

I am particularly delighted that with respect to the early childhood development, the budget proposes to accelerate the implementation of the framework on early learning and childcare by providing an extra $75 million in 2004 and $75 million in 2005 and 2006. The total federal commitment for learning and child care will be $375 million in the next two years.

I truly believe that of all the lifelong learning span that I have described, the most important years are the early years. I commend the federal government for what it is doing in early childhood education and I urge it to do more.

[Eleni Bakopanos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development (Social Economy)]

Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure for me to speak today about the importance of the social economy, which was recognized in the throne speech and confirmed in the budget of March 23.

As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development with special emphasis on the social economy, I am pleased that my responsibilities focus on engaging communities, non-governmental organizations and the private sector in community development and the social economy.

The social economy is a concept rooted in the long-standing tradition of community living, a road often taken but rarely celebrated.

In Canada, there has been recent interest in new forms of social entrepreneurship, particularly with regard to the activities of enterprises with a social agenda. They are managed as companies and produce goods and services for the market economy. However, they manage operations and reinvest all profits in social and community objectives.

As the budget speech stated, the social economy is too often overlooked and underappreciated. With the attention social economy has received in the Speech from the Throne and what we plan to achieve through the support provided by the budget, we hope to make the term “social economy” part of the everyday vocabulary.

Communities are the foundation of economic competition and social well-being in Canada.

The Government of Canada is committed to help urban and rural communities find local solutions to local challenges. A key part of this commitment is supporting the growth of the social economy, that is, community based enterprises that pursue economic activities for the social good. We need to support those engaged in this entrepreneurial social movement by increasing their access to resources and tools.

The Government of Canada has extended the scope of programs currently available to small and medium businesses so as to include social enterprises.

Accordingly, budget 2004 provides new funding to strengthen support in the three priority areas: capacity building, financing, and research.

The Government of Canada is committed to provide funding of $162 million over five years as follows: $100 million in support of financing initiatives that will increase lending to social economy enterprises; $17 million for a pilot program for strategic planning and capacity building of community economic development organizations; and $15 million in the next five years to the Social Sciences and Humanity Research Council in support of community based research on the social economy.

I would like to quote two of the comments that came from national organizations that have dealt with the social economy a lot longer than this government has dealt with it.

Speaking on behalf of CCEDNet, executive director Rupert Downing said:

This budget allocation is a demonstration of the government's commitment to address the growing signs of increasing poverty and disadvantage in many of our urban neighbourhoods and rural communities. Clearly the federal government recognizes the important role that thousands of citizens and community groups play in community economic development and the social economy.

I want to quote a press release by Chantier de l'économie sociale, an organization representing social entrepreneurs:

In short, the social economy budget measures announced by the Minister of Finance will support the growth of a new means of development, based on the values of solidarity and equity, to counterbalance development based on the quest for optimum profitability, which too often translates into the closing of plants and the devitalization of regions, towns and urban centres.

“The Government of Canada can rest assured that social economy enterprises will be ready to seize new opportunities and make good use of them”, added Nancy Neamtan, who now hopes that Quebec will follow suit next week with the Séguin budget.

Thanks to these tools, innovative social enterprises, in reality all those who take part in the social economy, will be in a better position to ensure a better future for Canadian communities.

Through the collaborative, coordinated approach announced in the budget, the Government of Canada will work in partnership with communities, stakeholders and other levels of government to strengthen Canada's social economy.

Since December 12, 2003, when the Prime Minister assigned me responsibility for the social economy, I have been meeting with companies and groups such as Chantier de l'économie sociale in Quebec, which I quoted earlier, and CCEDNet in British Columbia, whose executive director, Mr. Downing, I quoted.

I know that we will not be starting from scratch. In Canada there is rich tradition of social economy that includes cooperatives, credit unions, community economic development agencies and not for profit agencies. We also have new types of social enterprises that start up regularly across the country and in every sector of the economy.

Often an example is better than a definition. The Neighbourhood Dollar Store in Halifax, affiliated with the Nova Scotia Hospital, employs and coaches people with disabilities to enter the mainstream labour market, while at the same time selling affordable goods to local residents. When I was in Halifax I had the honour to visit that store with the stakeholders. Such initiatives play a vital role by providing a range of benefits to the community.

Social enterprises have shown that they can help communities create jobs, particularly for members of vulnerable groups. They can help in skills development by investing in basic skills and employment skills that broaden learning and job perspectives. They offer social support by providing free or subsidized services to members of the community. They foster economic growth and neighbourhood revitalization by making products and services available that would not be otherwise and they stimulate growth and private investment in neglected areas. They help the social cohesion and mobilization of citizens by creating self-sustaining models for community agencies.

People may be surprised to learn that Cirque du Soleil began as a social enterprise in terms of community development. Today it is an international organization that uses part of its profits to do community development. That is one of the best examples I could use in terms of citizen engagement, social cohesion and putting profits from social enterprise back into community development and job creation.

The Government of Canada has always recognized and supported social economy stakeholders, namely the NGOs and the community sectors, community economic development agencies, cooperatives and the volunteer sector.

Provinces and territories have been actively engaged in supporting the social economy. Social entrepreneurship is active and growing in all parts of Canada, in all sectors, ranging from health and social services, to environmental stewardship, to natural resource based industries, to manufacturing and retail.

These enterprises represent billions of dollars in economic activity every year in Canada. I am proud to be able to say that my province, Quebec, has played a leading role in coordinating efforts focussed on the social economy in Canada, thanks to its 10,000 collective businesses and community organizations employing more than 100,000 people.

Let me give you another example of the social economy in action, this one taken from my own riding of Ahuntsic in Quebec.

For people struggling with personal, professional or social problems, the difference between success and failure is often linked to skills acquisition. The Atelier de meubles recyclés d'Ahuntsic-Cartierville is a registered charity and a social economy business that gives on-the-job experience in a real business to people at risk.

The workshop, which provides training in cabinet making and woodworking to young people at risk and the disadvantaged, specializes in the manufacture of new furniture and in the recycling, restoration and refurbishing of used furniture, which it then sells at two retail outlets, one for the general public and one at more affordable prices for the disadvantaged in the community. The workshop also tries to match its qualified employees with employers seeking workers.

Examples of the social economy abound from coast to coast to coast. With the support of our latest budget and by working together with all the stakeholders, we can strengthen Canada's civic foundation and help to generate economic and social benefits for all. The result can be a more vibrant and sustainable society for all Canadians.

I want to thank the Prime Minister for giving me the opportunity to work in an area which I have learned to appreciate. I want to thank the stakeholders who have given over the last 20 to 25 years in terms of helping the communities. I want to thank my constituents once more for giving me the confidence in order to be able to speak in the House.