Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will be splitting my time with the member for Saint-Lambert.
I am pleased to speak to the motion introduced by the Liberal Party, a motion that we will in fact be supporting because it is in the interests of Quebec, and of Quebecers, to denounce the cuts announced a few days ago by the Conservative government. More than anything we have seen since the Conservatives took power, those cuts have demonstrated the ideological motivation behind some of the decisions made by this government. As the name says, that ideology is extremely conservative, not to say neo-conservative.
I am therefore pleased to speak, not because I am pleased that there have been a billion dollars in cuts, but because it is my impression that when I speak today I will be speaking on behalf of the thousands and thousands of people in Quebec who were extremely shocked by the cuts that have been announced and by the places that were chosen for making those cuts.
The fact that recent polls have shown the Conservative Party in third place in Quebec is not surprising. It reflects neither the values of Quebecers nor their vision of the role that a government should play, in particular when it comes to the most disadvantaged people and the causes of groups who are facing particular difficulties.
The first obvious thing is that the public does not agree with the billion dollars in cuts announced by the Conservative government. This is true in Quebec and I imagine it is also true in a large part of Canada. We can see that the values that this party espouses do not reflect the values of Quebecers or, again, of a large proportion of Canadians.
Quebec is a nation that seeks to develop an approach based on community, so that it can deal with the issues of the future, particularly issues relating to globalization, the war on poverty and the need to reconcile economic prosperity and the welfare of the population as a whole. What do we see when we look at where the Conservative Party has decided to make its cuts? The first thing it does is attack the disadvantaged and the groups that stand up for their interests.
I will give you a few examples. I will not address the entire question of culture, because my colleague from Saint-Lambert is more able to do that than I am and I know that he will do it.
There is a cut of $10.8 million in the smoking cessation program for aboriginal people. I would like you to tell me where the logic is in cutting $10 million from this program at a time when everyone agrees that smoking, in society as a whole but particularly among aboriginal people, is a serious health problem.
The budget for women’s groups has been cut. Unfortunately, women are still victims of certain forms of discrimination and they need the support of autonomous groups that are active in promoting equality between the sexes. This approach is probably something that the Conservatives do not like. Funding for those groups is being cut. I will be reading from letters that I have received from some of those groups in my riding.
There has also been a reduction in support for volunteer groups and literacy programs. We are all familiar with the challenge of globalization. The Standing Committee on Finance is currently doing a prebudget tour that focuses on Canadian competitiveness. If the competitiveness of an economy can be attributed to anything, the quality of training of the population is one factor and, at the core of training quality is literacy. It is therefore completely absurd, counter-productive, anti-social and detrimental to the economy to make cuts to these programs.
First of all, this is an attack on those who need our help the most. Here are some personal stories.
Stéphanie Vallée, director of the Centre au coeur des femmes in Saint-Jean-de-Matha, in my riding, wrote me a letter dated October 17, 2006. It reads:
Dear Sir,
We do not appreciate the recent decisions and steps taken by the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women. We find the cuts to the department, totaling approximately 40%, particularly worrisome, along with the undemocratic steps recently taken by the minister to try to silence women's groups, by radically changing the rules of the women's program, which is responsible for funding at the Status of Women.
We at the Centre au coeur des femmes would like to see that decision immediately reversed and we are counting on you, our member of parliament, to convey our message to the minister. We would like to hear the results of this discussion upon your return from Ottawa.
I hope to have good news for them when I return to my riding. However, for now, like this woman, I am extremely concerned about this government's approach to funding for women's groups.
The Bloc Québécois will continue to fight to have the government reverse this decision. Ms. Vallée can count on the Bloc Québécois.
I have here a letter from a literacy group. It reads:
Dear Sir, For more than 16 years, three grassroots literacy groups in Lanaudière—
The three groups are the Groupe populaire Déclic in Berthierville, the Coopérative de services multiples de Lanaudière in Sainte-Julienne and the Regroupement des assistés sociaux du Joliette métropolitain in Joliette. The letter goes on:
—have worked together on projects as part of the program of joint federal-provincial literacy initiatives.
Over the years, funding received has created one job and supported the three groups, the trainers and the adults in training through the creation of adapted instructional material, training for trainers, a strategic awareness and recruitment plan, and so on.
The groups would like to denounce the cuts the Conservative government has announced to its adult learning, literacy and essential skills program, because these cuts will have a negative impact on each of these organizations, as well as on the adults in training.
We firmly believe that this program plays an important role in helping adults in training, trainers and literacy organizations further their literacy efforts. That is why we are asking again that the full amount earmarked for fighting illiteracy be maintained.
This letter is signed by Odette Neveu, project officer for the group.
Could this be any clearer? In Quebec, at least, not only is there disapproval of the cuts, but there is the hope that the government will reverse its position. If this government would abandon its ideological approach, it could reverse its position.
I said that the first cuts are made in programs for the most disadvantaged. However, cuts were also made to programs for organizations that keep the government in check and that address certain unresolved issues that sometimes paralyze our society.
For example, what is the government doing when it cuts funding for the Law Commission of Canada, slashes Revenue Canada advisory groups and abolishes the court challenges program? These are attempts to stifle civil society organizations that seek to bring about social progress in our society. This is clearly undemocratic. A complex society such as ours need groups to speak on behalf of views that are sometimes in the minority but which, in the long run, end up being those of the majority.
For example, take the rights of same sex couples or the rights of gays and lesbians. Had there not been minority groups—supported by programs such as those I just mentioned— to defend these causes at the outset, our society would not have accepted, as it does now, these realities which are quite normal but were considered abnormal a few decades ago.
They have just created the conditions for social decline in Canada and in Quebec. We do not accept that. Once again, it is to be hoped that the government will reverse gears.
The battle fought on behalf of the Montfort Hospital would never have taken place if there had not been a court challenges program. Minority language groups are being attacked, specifically Francophone minorities outside Quebec.
Not only are they attacking the most needy, the groups who defend them and the anti-establishment groups that work in our civil society to bring about social and democratic progress. In addition they cut the checks and balances and economic reinforcements; $39 million was cut from development of the social economy. I just cannot get over it. Simply, it is not Quebec that will pay the biggest price but rather it is Canada.
Quebec had an advantage in terms of the social economy. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Chantier de l'économie sociale. Projects were underway and because the previous government announced the creation of this fund, the projects were completed.
Quebec will lose $5 million, which is completely unacceptable. In the rest of the country, $34 million will be lost. We need a program of this type in order to create business organizations that are a necessary complement to government programs and the initiatives of the private market, the capitalist market, the profit-seeking market.
Once again, I believe the government needs to reverse gears. There is room to manoeuvre in terms of operating expenditures. We are not against making the federal bureaucracy leaner. On the contrary, the Bloc Québécois has been urging that for a long time.
During the first five years, from 2000 to 2004, expenditures increased by 39%—that is, operational expenditures for the bureaucracy including information technology, furniture and pencils, not program expenditures. That represents an increase in operational expenditures of about 8% per year, whereas an increase of 3.5% would have been appropriate considering population and inflation. There is room to make the Ottawa bureaucracy more efficient.
We do not need to strip resources from the most needy, from the groups that work on their behalf and the groups that work to advance democracy, as well as social and economic progress. That is what the Conservatives have done.
They have been unmasked and, in my opinion, unless there is a reconsideration of their policy, their image has been tarnished forever in Quebec.
