Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent, who will question the government about the aboriginal peoples and the content of this budget said to be very generous towards aboriginal peoples and towards the provinces as well.
This is a budget that the Liberals are bragging about. Clearly, their speeches are full of praise for the budget. It is only fair, however, that opposition parties be on their toes and in a position to criticize it.
To listen to the Liberals, there is something for everyone in this budget, and they have listened to the public in general, and social groups in particular We also listened to the unemployed and that is not what we heard.
In fact, many people in several segments of the population as well as the provinces have been ignored. For these reasons, one might say that this budget fails to meet the expectations created by the Liberals during the last election campaign.
We know that the Liberals had promised to address the fiscal imbalance. There was in fact a commitment to that effect in the Speech from the Throne. It was not referred to as fiscal imbalance, but as pressures on the provinces. One can certainly say that, with this budget, these pressures will not be addressed. For 2004-05 alone, the provinces' shortfall amounts to $2.3 billion. This represents the imbalance in relation to the needs of the provinces, so that they could provide programs that meet the needs of the public
The Liberal Party has no reason to brag or say that it has met expectations and that we in the opposition, which includes the Bloc Québécois, are doomsayers. We are not. We are informed persons who have been very close to their fellow citizens and their needs.
We need only think of the fiscal imbalance. At this rate, by 2015, there will be $166 billion in the federal coffers, while the provinces' shortfall will be $70 billion, putting them at risk of falling back into a deficit. That is what the real fiscal imbalance is all about. The Bloc Québécois went much further, of course. A parliamentary committee presided by my hon. colleague from my hon. Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot will be touring Canada to bring back real solutions to the government. Let us hope that the government will listen.
We also know that for employment insurance there are two reports in this House for which there was unanimous support. However, the government was unable to respond and make real reforms.
The Minister of Transport and member for Outremont told us that expectations had been met and it was done. But this $300 million is just tinkering with reform. The government knows very well that this amount is completely unacceptable in view of the measures that were requested in the reports, which were unanimously adopted. It should not be forgotten that members from all parties sat on the committee.
What was requested was 360 hours. Rather than that, we are given a reduction of 60 hours out of the 900 hours that one has to work before qualifying for employment insurance.
There is talk of being able to go back to the 14 best weeks. We had agreed that it would be the 12 best weeks and that there would be 50 weeks of benefits at a rate of 60% and not 50%. Instead of a meagre $300 million, these measures amounted to $1.9 billion. This sum could have been covered by the $46 billion that has been taken from the employment insurance fund. The government thinks that it can wash its hands of this and no longer owe anything to the employment insurance fund, that is to say, to unemployed Canadians.
The government could have started to return the money, $1.5 billion a year, and it could also have set the contribution rate at $1.98, meaning 3¢ more than it is now, which would have amounted to $270 billion.
So this is how the government could have responded to expectations and to a unanimous report of the House concerning which the Liberals voted for all the reforms that were requested. We did not hear much in the way of criticism from the Liberals of the measures that were taken in regard to employment insurance.
There is many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip. In any case, we are still very far from declaring victory for this budget, even concerning tax deductions, while we wait for another budget. We will see the vote-minded budget that will come probably just before the elections. It is odd. That is when they will loosen the purse strings. We will see whether there will be money for flirting with certain client groups.
Consequently, there is a fiscal imbalance. I cannot say that this government gets five stars. It is the same for employment insurance. For social housing, it is terrible. The Liberals had actually committed themselves to $1.5 billion over five years. But there is zero, not a cent more. It is the same for day care.
The government is proposing $5 billion over a five-year period. Out of that amount, $700 million will be deposited. The government said Quebec would not be accountable and that there would be no strings attached. In the second year, an accountability exercise will take place to see what the provinces did with that $700 million.
However, we expected, and justifiably so, that $1 billion would be deposited. Why is the government holding back $300 million if it wants to create a true national child care program?
In my opinion, there is no incentive for the other provinces to get on board. Indeed, we all know that, in Quebec, $1.4 billion is invested in a quality child care program that meets the public's needs. I want to point out that the cost is very minimal to the Liberal government. Indeed, since Quebec set up its $5 a day child care service, which had to be increased to $7 a day, or $35 per week, the federal government saved money in tax deductions for families, which represented $35 per week. Over the past five years, the federal government was able to keep $1 billion in its pockets. This means that, with $1 billion per year over five years, it saved a bundle. The Liberal government is also getting money since it no longer has to pay tax credits to Quebec taxpayers.
Therefore, we say yes, the budget is generous as regards child care, but when we look at the real figures and at what Quebec is no longer receiving as regards the tax deduction, we realize that the Liberal government is not nearly as generous at it seems to be.
As for seniors and the guaranteed income supplement, there, too, nothing is coming tomorrow. In fact, it will be 2007 when seniors receiving the GIS finally get the meagre amount of $36 more each month. It has been said that this will be a good thing and a fine present for seniors. On the contrary, I would say it is an old, recycled present, since the Liberal government kept $3.2 billion from another generous gesture made in another budget, in terms of the guaranteed income supplement, because we know that many people who were entitled to it did not apply for it, since they did not know about it. Quite often, measures are put in place that the taxpayers are not aware of. They do not know this generosity exists, because it is hard to understand the information and, quite often, the public is not told any more than necessary.
And so $3.2 billion stayed in the coffers. We in the Bloc Québécois have been demanding this money on behalf of those who were entitled to it. We have carried out a huge information campaign. I can assure the House that the government did not want to act retroactively. It kept this money in its coffers and now it says to them, “This is the second time we are being generous with the same money we already promised you”.
The Liberals are praising their budget to the skies. In my opinion, that is verbal inflation. As for the provinces and the fiscal imbalance, we can say that if there has been any good faith involved, that would have been the first problem tackled.
The provinces are responsible for meeting the public's primary needs. That is where the institutions are located and that is where the people can go before their legislatures to demand their fair share with respect to the provincial responsibility for people's quality of life.
You are saying that my time is up. That is too bad because I would have liked to continue in the same vein and criticize a few more of the Liberal government's activities.