Mr. Speaker, I hope you will permit me to point out the irony of being here on February 25, 2005, discussing a bill to implement a number of measures in the 2004 budget, which was brought in a year ago. I find it quite ironic.
As my colleague from Joliette mentioned earlier in the day, we will vote in favour of this bill because it contains a certain number of measures which can remedy—to some extent—a number of problems.
This bill lists many things. Unfortunately, what is even more striking is that it also ignores a number of things. On this point, I would like to read an extract from an article which, although the journalist was speaking of Wednesday's budget, could be applied very well to the measures in the 2004 budget and all the budgets presented over the past eight years. He says:
The lack of credibility is much more worrisome. It comes from the fact that the budget is based on figures no one believes anymore. For eight years, federal financial operations have generated large surpluses which budget speeches, year after year, have denied. Last year, as always, the Minister of Finance predicted a surplus of $3 billion. It will be $10 billion, $12 billion, $15 billion or something like that. For this year, the minister is announcing, as always, a $3 billion surplus. We do not believe him.
The gap between the forecasts and the reality is too wide, too predictable, for it to be justified by thrifty management. But especially, this gap is corrupting the very essence of the budget process. What a budget is meant to do, in addition to providing an update on public finances, is to establish the resources available and have a collective debate on their best use. This debate is essential for democracy and impossible if the real size of the surplus is not known.
For example, recognizing the fact that there are large surpluses could lead Canada to begin to seriously reflect on making different choices, reducing income tax substantially, creating a new agreement with the provinces, greatly reducing the debt or, perhaps, engaging in extraordinary initiatives—debates that are impossible if, technically, manoeuvring room is $3 billion.
More importantly, as a result of this budgetary fiction, important decisions are now being made outside the budget process, as surpluses materialize out of thin air. For example, for fiscal year 2004-05 ending in March, Ottawa incurred $10.9 billion in expenditures that were not included in last spring's budget. These are significant expenditures that escaped budgetary debate. And it looks like it will be the same this year. The new initiatives for 2005-06 announced in Wednesday's budget are in fact very modest, at $2.9 billion, probably because the real 2005-06 expenditures will come later, once a surplus has been uncovered.
—The fact that the federal government is so affluent while the provinces are increasingly struggling to carry out their responsibilities is creating an imbalance, both politically and fiscally. Besides the fact that it is unfair and causes misuse of collective resources, Ottawa's refusal to recognize this imbalance is translating into moves that are not always very bold.—
—Because of this dynamic, the finance minister's budget lacks consistency, credibility and legitimacy.—
—As a result, when the Minister of Finance announces an initiative, even an intelligent one, instead of applauding, we tend to think that the money he is spending should not be in his hands to begin with.
There are such initiatives in this bill.
These remarks were made by Alain Dubuc, a reporter with La Presse and Le Soleil , among others.