Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate in this prebudget consultation. As all hon. members know, the finance committee has completed its annual exhaustive consultation with Canadians and has produced a report with some 33 recommendations, which I suspect have a costing of some $7 billion to $10 billion more than it is possible to spend.
It is an important point to make because we should not be looking at a budget in isolation. We should look at budgets as a series of budgets and find out where we have been, how we have performed, where we have to backfill and where we have to reshape or reformat some of the spending in certain areas and indeed respond to emerging matters.
But there has been some consistency in regard to the budget preparation since 1993. That consistency has to do with the principle that we need balanced budgets in Canada. Canadians want balanced budgets. We want to stay out of the deficit scenario.
I do not want to have to review the history, but we have been fortunate, through fiscal prudence and a balanced approach, in being able to balance the budget and continue to pay down debt, to support program spending as well as introduce new programs, and to keep those priorities in focus.
The other consistency in the budgets since 1993 has been our commitment to the health care system. It is very clear that it is the number one priority of Canadians and, I believe, of this House, so I am not going to talk very much about health care.
As well, we have a number of areas such as the cities agenda, the infrastructure et cetera, and those kinds of needs that our cities have. We have heard many stories of infrastructure deficits within our cities. This is going to take a concerted effort from all levels of government. The federal government is not solely responsible for roads, bridges and sewers at the municipal level, yet there has been since 1994 an infrastructure program each and every year for the benefit of our municipalities.
I will not talk very much about Kyoto or about our environmental portfolio. It is going to be in the budget. There is a commitment and the Prime Minister reaffirmed today our commitment to our Kyoto targets.
Children are also a part of the government's throne speech in its commitment to Canadians to continue to address the needs of children. In the past we have dealt with the Canada child tax benefit and the national child benefit. Now we are dealing with child care issues. There will be more child care spaces because we understand the need of families and particularly children to have quality child care.
I am pleased that we have been able to deal with equalization matters and that the issue with regard to offshore revenues has been resolved through negotiations between the federal and provincial governments. It is an important step that has been taken.
We had a debate in this place about fiscal imbalance and about some of the aspects of how the federal and provincial governments can in fact address their needs in terms of revenue requirements. It was clear from that debate that both levels of government have ample opportunity to raise tax revenue. They have the tools to do it.
But in some provinces, quite frankly, what has happened is that they have, through extensive tax cuts, reduced their revenues to the point where they cannot meet their obligations under their constitutional responsibilities, including health care specifically. Those provinces will not be cutting taxes very much in the near future. I am very sure of that.
I have a couple of other areas I would like to talk about if I had the time. I would like to talk about the underground economy and the principle that if we all paid our fair share of taxes we all would pay less. That is an area which requires substantial work. I hope that the government will initiate some action to ascertain how we can continue to address what I think is this major leak in the revenues of the Government of Canada, i.e., for the people of Canada.
What I do want to talk about, however, is the issue of poverty. Poverty is something that I have spent a great deal of my time on as a member of Parliament over the last 11 years, and more so on the nature of child poverty. I once wrote a monograph in which I described child poverty as a situation where one cannot live in one's own community without being noticed, which I think is a thought provoking way to put it.
Poverty is not just about food, clothing and shelter; poverty has to do with whether I can live in a community, participate in a community's activities and interact with people in my community without being noticed. It is like children wearing shoes with holes in them to school and being mocked by their fellow students because they do not have proper shoes to protect their feet.
That led me to think about and reflect on poverty as a national issue, but in a broader context. Child poverty is really family poverty. If children are living in poor conditions then obviously their families are unable to provide for them to the level we would like to see.
There are many things families can do. We know that family breakdown has a very significant impact on the probability of poverty. In fact, 15% of all families in Canada are one parent or lone parent families, but they account for some 54% of all children living in poverty. Thus, if we are going to address child poverty, we really have to start addressing the social breakdown of the Canadian family. It is really an important aspect. We simply cannot expect governments to take care of children. Everyone has a choice.
There is another aspect, which is that of high school dropouts, and it is a terrible situation in Canada. It took a long time to get people in the field of education to admit what the levels of high school dropouts were. I remember that as a member of the finance committee I once at a meeting described high school dropouts as those who choose to sit on the curb and watch the parade go by. They are Canada's poor in waiting. In the vast majority of cases we cannot have less than a high school education and expect to be able to sustain ourselves and become contributing members of society.
That is one of the reasons why in the past we have done things with post-secondary education. We have done things with the millennium scholarship fund. We have done things in terms of student debt in debt repayment, in repayment geared to income and in writing off debts.
The universities now are telling us that we have no shortage of students and that as a matter of fact we need to be able to take more students. I am also encouraged by the fact that 95% of students who have student loans pay them off on time. That is an important aspect.
But we can always do more. Can we do more in this budget? That remains to be seen.
Those are some elements of family poverty, but I want to focus the poverty discussion a little more on those who are probably the forgotten persons in the Canadian family, those in our society who have the least ability to help themselves. I am talking about Canadian seniors.
In fact, I want my speech to be reflective of my concern that we do not have an appropriate strategy for our seniors. We need a long term strategy for seniors that will enable them to address some of the pressures they have. We have all heard about the problems of living on a fixed income and being faced with higher than normal uninsured medical or drug costs. We have heard about the home care problem and the nursing home problem, the costs of these and the demands on the family
We have heard about people being forced to leave their jobs at age 65. If for some odd reason a person has been unable to prepare properly for retirement, suddenly that person's skills and knowledge are no longer available to that workplace and that person is now out on his or her own and has to find another job, which makes absolutely no sense.
I would like to outline for the House a few thoughts for its consideration and for the government's consideration, a few thoughts on poverty, particularly seniors' poverty. First of all, I think we have to establish provincial, territorial and regional poverty lines. We do not have poverty lines established in Canada.
It is time that Canadians asked themselves what level of poverty they are prepared to tolerate in Canada. It is an important question. We cannot raise all people up to some arbitrary level because it would probably cost hundreds of billions of dollars. There is a large group of people within our society, many of whom are seniors, who are living on such low levels of income that it is embarrassing. It should be embarrassing. It is a tragedy. We need to do something.
We should be prepared to establish a guaranteed annual income for seniors. Seniors ought to be respected for what they have contributed to Canada. They should be respected and given the dignity which they have earned. We hold them in high esteem. There are many seniors who are living on very low levels of income. I believe that seniors are entitled to a guaranteed annual income.
We have to take all steps necessary to eliminate mandatory retirement at age 65 across the entire country. The retirement age of 65 years came in during Bismarck's time. At that time people who were 65 years of age were referred to as the unnecessary eaters. Now people live much longer. People live more productive and happier lives if they are able to fulfill their own destinies, their own targets. It is time to eliminate that discrimination. We are talking a lot about the charter these days. Let us talk about the permitted discrimination against those who turn age 65. We must allow them to be contributing members of society for as long as they care to contribute.
The caregiver tax credit needs to be revisited. It is something that I am pleased to say was brought in as a consequence of Motion No. M-30 which I brought forward in this place back in 1997. It is a very modest amount. Seniors depend very heavily on their family caregivers, who more often than not are women within our society. Women are closer to their children, more so to daughters than sons. As a consequence many women have to exit the paid labour force to care for an aging parent. We want to ensure that proper care is available. We should help those family members who are prepared to make the sacrifice to withdraw from the paid labour force to care for a loved one.
Those caregivers should be eligible for EI benefits when they withdraw from the paid labour force. They are providing an important service. It is like unemployment because they will not receive a paycheque. They are giving up more than a paycheque. They are giving up a chance to earn pension credits for their own future.
The Canada Pension Plan Act contains a child rearing drop out provision, which is the ugliest term I have ever heard. When someone withdraws from the paid labour force to have a child, it is called dropping out. That is not dropping out. Really it is an adjustment that is made to the Canada pension plan computation so that the person is not penalized for having zero income in certain years while caring for children. Caregivers who withdraw from the paid labour force to care for a needy family member should not be penalized in their Canada pension plan computations if they have made that contribution to their families.
We are taking some steps on home care but we are not doing enough. Anybody who knows anything about home care knows that two hours a day for someone who is chronically ill, who has an urgent need, means that somebody still has to come in to fill in the gaps. Home care is going to be more and more in demand in Canada. The Government of Canada has to be a greater player in that regard.
With regard to pharmacare, we now spend as much on drugs as we do on doctors in terms of the health care spending of Canadians. I have ample examples of seniors who have life threatening illnesses that require certain medications that are not covered under public insurance plans. It differs from province to province. In the Maritimes I think people have to be on welfare before they can get any coverage whatsoever.
Why is it that when seniors are on a fixed income they are being asked to bear a higher cost of pharmacare spending which is natural because 75% of the health care costs are going to be incurred in the last year or two of a person's life? Pharmacare costs have become extraordinarily high. We need to help seniors with their pharmacare costs.
Affordable housing was discussed earlier. Any of the jurisdictions that are involved in the affordable housing area will say that half of those units are seniors units and the demand is twice that much again. In line with the whole theme of providing an opportunity for seniors to continue to live in dignity, the dignity which they have earned and are entitled to have, we need to do more on affordable housing.
Seniors represent the most vulnerable in our society. They probably are least able to understand and they are taken advantage of more often than not. This is not specifically a budget matter, but in terms of a strategic initiative we should consider amending the Criminal Code to provide stiffer sentences for those convicted of abusing a senior. Those are aggravating circumstances, taking advantage of the vulnerable, those who cannot take care of themselves. We could use stiffer penalties to reflect the concern we have about senior abuse.
One of the first things I had changed here was stiffer sentences in the Criminal Code for those convicted of spousal abuse. The same kind of action should be taken with regard to senior abuse.
We should also have stiffer sentences under the Criminal Code for those who take advantage financially of seniors, those who defraud seniors. This is rampant. People are stealing from seniors because seniors may not understand or may not have someone there to help them make those decisions.
It is important that we deal with these areas of abuse of seniors.
Part of the strategy should include the creation of the position of physician general of Canada. I know that we have a position already set up, but the position that was set up has to do more with emergency situations. I am talking about a physician general that would mirror the surgeon general in the U.S. There would be a website and resource materials for ordinary Canadians, including seniors, to help them understand better how to live healthier lives. Health Canada cannot do that job any more. Health Canada has become very politicized I am afraid to say. It is not helping seniors to get information and I am very concerned about that.
There should be a full time cabinet position for seniors, a minister for seniors. There should be someone at the decision making table to advocate on behalf of seniors. It is not enough to have it buried somewhere else. We need a minister responsible for seniors' issues.
We should establish a public education campaign to inform Canadians about the growing prevalence of discrimination on the basis of age. It is called ageism. Ageism is a problem which has slowly crept into the institutions in Canada. There have been cases where doctors have refused to take on new patients who are over 60 years of age because they take a little more time. This has to be a violation under the Canada Health Act.
We have to encourage the government to say that the concept of ageism is a reality now. It is very easy to say that we should cut back on that seniors stuff, but seniors paid taxes all their lives. Those taxes are what built this country. If we honestly believe that they should be living in dignity and respect, we should make absolutely sure that each and every interaction they have with the community is not against them with regard to their age.
We should establish a bill of rights for seniors. A bill of rights for seniors would not override the charter. It would be an articulation of the principles with which we cared to assess current programs as they related to seniors, and a filter through which we could assess the relevancy and effectiveness of new programs as they related to seniors.
I hope I have given members a few things to think about. Seniors, though the most vulnerable in our society, deserve to live in dignity and with respect. I suspect that most members in this place would agree.