Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to congratulate the hon. member for Vancouver East for her speech. She made it with conviction and above all with common sense. Unfortunately, understanding common sense is beyond the grasp of the party in power, the Liberal Party. So, we should listen carefully to the wise words of the member for Vancouver East.
I also want to thank and congratulate the hon. member for Beauport—Limoilou for introducing this bill, for the clarity and conviction of his comments and also for his competent work on the issue of housing. Defending the poorest in our society and particularly the most poorly housed is not something new for him. He knows housing matters very well and he fights for housing not only with courage but also with skill. I can say that the hon. member for Beauport—Limoilou is an example that the government members across the way should follow.
The concerns expressed by the member do not seem to be those of the government. In fact, the government seems to be working against the social concerns that are expressed in the bill we are debating today.
A famous person once said,“You can judge a society by the way it treats its seniors and its youth”. Another one said that one can judge a government by its capacity to be compassionate and understanding and, more importantly, its capacity to manage the country's finances and to ensure a more equitable distribution of wealth.
This bill deals with a concern that we in the Bloc Québécois have, one which I feel our colleague from Vancouver East shares, and that is to have a bill that is fair to all segments of our society. To be able to find decent housing is part of the blueprint for society that is needed.
Where respect for human dignity is concerned, three basic needs have to be met: food, shelter and clothing. In whatever order you put them, these three things basically ensure that a person is protected. In that respect, we can say that the Liberal government has failed miserably in terms of its responsibility to provide these three essentials to protect human dignity.
Through employment insurance restrictions, among other things, this policy has impoverished families. Some people can barely afford the shelter, food and clothing they need. There is a lack of vision and foresight surrounding the industrial policy. We see in particular what is happening with the clothing industry policy, especially with the textiles. Unfortunately, housing is no exception. It is the third essential need which must be met.
Two people who are now part of the government were outraged about the policies on social housing adopted by the Mulroney government in the 1990s. They are the present Minister of Labour and Housing and the present Prime Minister.
In 1990, they criticized Mr. Mulroney's policies by saying that when he was in the opposition, he had the same position they were now defending and he had come to the same conclusions. But when the Liberals were elected, they did nothing to remedy the situation. In fact, they made it worse.
Here is what the present Prime Minister and the present Minister of Labour and Housing used to say to denounce the increase in the number of households in dire need of housing.
Canada is presently confronted with a major housing crisis [...] The availability and cost of housing as well as the issue of homelessness is raising a great deal of concern across Canada. In our country, it is unacceptable for 1.3 million households to have to live in mediocre housing--
This is what my colleague from Beauport—Limoilou was referring to earlier.
In 1990, the present Prime MInister and the present Minister of Labour and Housing, now in charge of social housing, also said:
These are the official numbers: but the depths of despair resulting from the housing crisis in Canada affect many more families and individuals than are reflected in these numbers [...] The Mulroney government has cut housing programs and budgets. It has dumped its responsibilities--
That is not a common word in French. It is not I who has used that word. It is in the text. I do not know what he meant by that.
-- its responsibilities onto the provinces without giving them the corresponding financial means. And it has been insensitive to the dire needs of thousands of Canadian households.
While this was being said, there were 1.3 million poorly housed families in Canada. There are now 1.7 million, 450,000 of which are in Quebec. This is 400,000 more poorly housed families in Canada.
How did they achieve that? They really did the job. They made cuts, not only in one part of the program, but in the whole program, between 1990 and 2001, which is what led us to this situation.
A Quebec author once wrote that members of Parliament are like carpets, we have to beat them to get them clean. Back in those days, Canadians did “beat” the Mulroney government, thinking that the next government would restore things. But it was not the case. This party was not clean, even when it first came in. It made cuts. The rule saying that a 3% vacancy rate is necessary in order to ensure a sufficient supply of affordable housing to meet the people's needs just disappeared. In most of the big cities, the rate is not even 1%.
Is my time up already, Mr. Speaker? I was supposed to have until 2:30.