Madam Speaker, I welcome this opportunity to address the 21st report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs and the very fine speech of my good friend from Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord. This report deals with his complaint and the fact that, even when George W. Bush visits Canada, this Parliament belongs to its members. We have been democratically elected and should have access to Parliament without any restrictions of the kind encountered on the day of his visit.
I attended the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. I remember feeling at the time as if we had been invaded by the U.S. We had U.S. helicopters hovering over us in Quebec City as if they owned our country.
The U.S. president was invited to Parliament. When he got here, parliamentarians were unable to access Parliament because of all sorts of problems they encountered.
Perhaps my friend from Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord should listen to what I have to say. A previous speaker from the Bloc Québécois qualified as akin to prostitution the move by the so-called NLP in making a deal with the Liberals concerning the budget. I wonder where they were when the throne speech was read. They too engaged in prostitution, because they were in favour of the throne speech. We had entered into agreements at the time. If memory serves, it was already known that there were problems. Justice Gomery had been appointed to investigate, and the commission had already started hearing witnesses. Everyone was aware of possible corruption.
The only difference is that, at that time, the Bloc Québécois thought it would be losing its shirt, and losing seats in Quebec. That is why it voted in favour of the throne speech. It would even have voted in favour of the budget.
Again, the Bloc Québécois has just said we were unable to reach an agreement on employment insurance. Perhaps if the Bloc Québécois had joined with the NDP—a minority party—instead of the Conservatives, then we could have tried to get something for the unemployed. Instead, it is working with a political party that is against employment insurance. I have been in the House of Commons for eight years and every time a bill on this topic has been introduced in the House, the Conservatives have voted against it.
Now the Bloc Québécois is working with a party that is against the francophone minorities in Canada, as we know, and against economic development in Atlantic Canada since it wants to get rid of the ACOA. That is a party that wants to privatize health care. That is who the Bloc Québécois is dealing with. I do not need to take any lectures from the Bloc Québécois today.
I am proud to be a member of the NDP. In the days of Tommy Douglas, during a minority government, the NDP helped give us a public health care system. Yesterday I was at a hospital in Quebec, in Saint-Jean-sur Richelieu, and there were patients waiting in the hallway to receive care. We see the same thing at home in New Brunswick, in Ontario and in British Columbia. It would have been grand if, in this minority government situation, the Bloc had joined us in fighting the battle for social democracy, instead of leaning to the right as it has. It is shameful. It pains me to see my dear cousins join the Conservatives, a right-wing group. The only thing the Bloc was thinking about was how to get more MPs.
But they know they have not helped the cause of the unemployed. I would have been proud to see the Bloc onside with us on employment insurance, since the people of the Côte-Nord really wanted to become eligible for it. We had five months to improve EI, and regrettably were not able to do so.
When I hear it said that we in the NDP have made a pact with the Liberals about an agreement, my response is that the purpose of that agreement is to help the poor, and that I take pride in being on this side, and not with the Conservatives. We are told we are taking a backward step with a budget that is helping people who can no longer afford their own housing. My response is that we need housing for people. The phone calls we get in our riding offices come from people who do not have any housing. I am certain that my dear cousins in Quebec have the same kind of problems as we do.
I repeat, it would have been great if we had all been united, because we have fought some battles together. Where employment insurance is concerned, it was not the Conservatives who hit the streets with us. In Forestville, when 2,500 workers hit the streets with their employers, it was not the Conservatives who were out there saying they were going to change employment insurance. They say it is too costly for Canada. The workers who have lost their jobs cost too much and that is not how jobs are created. That is what the Conservatives are saying.
I would be ashamed to have taken sides with the Conservatives today as they have. I far prefer being an NDP member to being onside with the Conservatives as the Bloc members are. Where were they in November during the vote on the throne speech? Maybe that day they were being Liberals? But of course not.