Mr. Speaker, in the few minutes that are available to me, I very much appreciate the occasion to participate in the debate on the government's budget implementation bill. It will not surprise any of my colleagues here in the House of Commons to know that, like my NDP colleagues, I will not be supporting this flawed, short-sighted and meanspirited bill.
I am proud of the work that my leader and my colleagues have done, both here in the House of Commons and out across the country, to draw attention to the errors and omissions, the missed opportunities and the misplaced priorities of the bill that is before us.
I have heard from a great many people, certainly, from many parts of the country, in relation to the failure of the budget to in any significant way address areas for which my critic responsibilities apply, those of international development and foreign affairs. I do not have the opportunity to speak at length about that today, except to say that the disappointments in the budget as they relate to dealing with domestic issues certainly are matched by the profound sense of disappointment felt by a great many people across this country that we have yet again shown no significant progress in meeting our international obligations to seriously commit to the eradication of poverty and to preventable disease in the very poorest parts of the world. We have a lot of work to do on that front.
I have also heard, not surprisingly, from a great many of my constituents. I will just very briefly refer to one of many messages received by e-mail, letter and in person. One that came to me is a longer one than I have time to read, but it speaks about the budget, stating that “the Harper government” has confirmed “one of the largest budget surpluses in Canadian history, a whopping $13.2 billion”. It goes on to say:
Even with this excess surplus, the Government is still cutting back on funding for programs relating to women, disabled persons, aboriginals, and other disadvantaged Canadians.
Furthermore, programs for helping disabled persons get jobs are not receiving any additional funding, no additional programs to encourage employers to hire disabled persons, no funding for youth programs, no additional programs to get disabled persons into the workforce, no legislation requiring employers to hire disabled persons.
That is just one example of our most vulnerable citizens who feel very let down by this ultra-conservative budget. Not surprisingly, this is a memo that this young man in my riding entitles “Big Surplus and Betrayal from Conservative Government”.
My colleagues have had an opportunity to speak about the disappointments in the budget with respect to how it is going to increase child care wait lists. Despite all of the talk about addressing child care, it simply does not do so. The fact is that family allowances will effectively be diminished, because the budget is now going to tax the $100 a month allowance and will be eliminating the young child supplement.
The fact is that pollution undoubtedly will go up because, just like the Liberals before them, these Conservatives have no plans to seriously tackle, with detailed plans, targets and timetables, greenhouse gas emissions and to get on with serious reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
As well, as I have already had an opportunity to point out, student debt will continue to grow because there is no serious commitment to tackling this problem.
I am very, very pleased with the fact that constituents in my community, given the opportunity earlier this week to meet with the NDP finance critic and the NDP critic for post-secondary education and literacy, responded by coming out to participate vigorously and enthusiastically in a discussion about not just the flaws, failures and omissions of the budget implementation bill that is before us, but also the very short-sighted and meanspirited cuts that have been announced subsequently, very much within the same genre, within the same spirit, or lack of spirit, for how to improve the lives of Canadians.
Among those who gathered in that meeting in my riding on Monday night were those who were speaking up for women who are desperate about the threat of cuts to transition houses, which help protect them from the abusive relationships from which they are escaping, and desperate about the threat of cuts to women's programs that are helping women to rebuild their lives.
Others who participated came because they are very concerned about the lack of new housing initiatives in this budget and the continuing failure, right up to as recently as yesterday, to confirm in any kind of detail the continuation of SCPI funds and the commitment to new funds to basically rebuild what was once the best national housing program in the world, which was simply killed by the previous prime minister when he was serving as finance minister. The result, of course, was predictable: incredible numbers of homeless people.
At that meeting on Monday night in my riding, we heard from people who are very concerned about the cuts to the arts and about an attempt to somehow define as illicit lobbying the attempts of those who would champion the arts and try to get the government to understand that this is really about the heart and soul of the nation. It is really about the ability of Canadians to come together around who we are and who we want to be in today's world.
Others were there to speak with real concern about the unbelievable decision, announced since the broader budget framework, of killing the international youth internship program. It is absolutely unbelievable.
In this globalized world in which we live, at a time when our young people are anxious, eager and highly motivated to get out and really contribute their time and energies, and their hopes and dreams and aspirations, to building a better world, in one of the very best programs available to give them overseas experience and help open the doors of opportunity to valuable employment, the doors have just been slammed shut. This has to be one of the most cost effective programs from the point of view of the opportunities given to young people on their way to building careers in international service. This cut also is a real blow to the NGOs that depend upon the very significant contributions and skills of our young people in their hard-pressed, seriously underfunded agencies.
The list goes on and on in regard to the tremendous sense of loss felt across the country.
There is also the community access program, which has been very important, in this knowledge-based economy, in putting people on track to be able to use the Internet for modern communications.
There is the death blow to various volunteer initiatives and organizations.
I am sorry there is not more time, but I have to say that at the end of the day this is a budget that is a series of misplaced priorities and missed opportunities. For that reason, I too will be voting against this budget implementation bill.