Mr. Speaker, it seems strange that the Bloc would support a budget that goes against everything it believes in. This budget offers nothing but cuts for the poor, aboriginals and low-income women with children. It offers nothing but cuts for the environment and nothing at all for the fiscal imbalance.
These days, the Minister of Finance is talking about fiscal balance, which implies that there is no problem. The budget actually took money away from the provinces, which is the opposite of what the Bloc wants. Moreover, there is no money to correct the fiscal imbalance—all of the experts are telling us that the government has spent all it has. Therefore, there will be nothing to correct the fiscal imbalance over the next few years.
The question is, why is the Bloc voting for it? There is only one possible answer. Even though the budget goes against everything they believe in, they are afraid they will lose their seats in Quebec if there is an election, as shown in yesterday's CROP poll.
Despite the fact that the budget goes squarely against everything in which the Bloc believes, like a defanged pussycat it follows meekly in support of a budget that goes against the fiscal imbalance and everything else that party stands for. The simple reason is that the Bloc knows if there is an election it will lose seats in Quebec.