Debates of Oct. 29th, 2007

Opposition Motion—Federal Spending Power

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Cape Breton—Canso knows very well the importance of federal involvement in economic development. Since his arrival in this House in 2007, the same election in which I was given the honour of representing the people of Beauséjour, he has been a tireless advocate for the economic development of Cape Breton and for the important role, for example, that the Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation plays and that the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency can play.

When parties that do not believe in Canada, such as the Bloc, think that we need to limit the federal spending power, those are code words, really, for eliminating federal action in areas as important as economic development. I am glad that the hon. member for Cape Breton—Canso raised this.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to take part in this debate on the motion introduced today by the Bloc Québécois.

I am sure that this has already been done, but I would like to read the motion.

That, in the opinion of the House, given that the Prime Minister has promised to eliminate the fiscal imbalance and that this imbalance cannot be eliminated without the elimination of the federal spending power in areas that fall under the jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces, the bill on federal spending power that the government will introduce should, at a minimum, provide for Quebec to have the right to opt out with no strings attached and with full financial compensation from any federal program, whether existing or not and cost-shared or not, which invades Quebec's areas of jurisdiction.

As my colleague from Beauséjour said earlier, the Liberals and, I believe, most Canadians, including the people of Quebec, will never be able to agree to eliminate federal spending power. Limiting or regulating federal spending power is quite another matter.

I believe that the work the former Liberal government did to negotiate with all the provinces, including Quebec, and the three territories in order to reach an agreement on how the federal government could spend in areas of shared or provincial jurisdiction—the social union agreement—is an excellent example of how Canadians saw a government tackle this issue so that when it comes to social programs, people across Canada will be entitled to equivalent services, no matter what province or territory they live in.

The social union framework agreement went a long way toward strengthening the national social measures that matter to all Canadians, including Quebeckers. I am thinking of measures such as health insurance. It was also vital in promoting equal services for all Canadians, no matter where they live.

Recently, this framework agreement was crucial to the successful negotiation of agreements on early learning and child care with the provinces and territories, agreements that the current Conservative government threw out. The Conservatives discarded these agreements, depriving millions of children and families of billions of dollars.

The Liberals will not allow the current Prime Minister to create a compartmentalized federalism or to sit back idly and give Quebec separatists any ammunition. I heard a member of the Bloc Québécois say there is a strong consensus in Quebec on, first of all, the fiscal imbalance and, second, on the complete elimination of the federal spending power. This is interesting, because the consensus, which was reached in the National Assembly, was based on the Séguin report. Mr. Séguin is a prominent economist, well known in Quebec and throughout Canada. It would be interesting to see what the Séguin commission reported and concluded in its report as a result of the consultations held throughout Quebec regarding the fiscal imbalance.

It is interesting to note what the Séguin commission proposed to correct what it identified as the provincial fiscal imbalance—it made no reference to the federal side, even though Canada's national debt is far greater than the combined debt of all the provinces and territories. Indeed, the federal government's revenue is much lower than the combined revenue of all the provincial and territorial governments. Yet, that is a separate issue. I have no desire to debate the issue of whether or not there is a provincial fiscal imbalance.

The Séguin commission concluded that the solution to the fiscal imbalance lies in transferring tax points. It also proposed some other possible solutions, such as transferring the value added tax, commonly known as the GST, from the federal government to the provinces.

I would like to quote an excerpt from page xii of the Séguin commission's March 2002 report.

The Commission expresses its preference for an occupation of the GST field by the provinces. In light of the financial objective adopted, the federal government should entirely relinquish the GST in favour of the provinces. However, the Commission does not wish to reject the scenario calling for a new division of the personal income tax field.

Of course, the fact that the federal Conservative government has already reduced the GST by 1% without the Quebec government raising its own sales tax, the QST, to take advantage of the tax room thus created, and to reduce the so-called fiscal imbalance, undermines the Bloc's argument.

Again, the Quebec government had the opportunity to use the tax room created by the federal Conservative government when it reduced the GST by 1%. If it had really believed that a fiscal imbalance existed, the Quebec government could have increased the QST immediately in order to occupy the tax room that had been created. But it did not do that. It is interesting to note that the Bloc never mentions this fact. It does not mention that the Séguin commission said that it preferred that the GST be used as a tax field to deal with the so-called fiscal imbalance. But the Bloc never makes mention of this.

We must look at what sources of revenue are available to the provinces. As I already mentioned, there is the tax on the sale of goods and services. In Quebec, this is the QST. But there is also the personal income tax. This is the tax that people pay as a percentage of their income, which may include their salary, pension, investments and property income.

The federal government has access to the same sources of financing or revenue. However, the provinces have other sources not available to the federal government, such as lotteries, royalties on natural resources, and taxes on the sale of alcoholic beverages.

The federal government does not have access to any of these fields of taxation. In my opinion, the provinces are in control of their destiny and can use these tax fields as they please, in order to provide their citizens with the services that they are entitled to, under the sharing of jurisdictions provided by the Constitution.

I thank hon. members for listening to my remarks.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to the Bloc motion presented by the hon. member for Papineau.

The use of the federal spending power is an important issue. Many Canadians recall the debates on that spending power around the time of the Meech Lake accord, the Charlottetown accord and the negotiation of the social union framework agreement in 1999, all trying to try to reach a consensus on this issue. This is not a new issue.

This is a debate we will continue to have. In the Speech from the Throne, the government promised to introduce bills on the spending power during this session. The New Democratic Party is pleased with this debate. We want to explain our vision of a cooperative and asymmetrical federalism in the framework of this debate. We also want to hear from the provincial governments, including the Government of Quebec, which absolutely must be heard on this issue.

Today, however, we do not have any legislative measures to debate and the provincial governments have not been consulted. Today, all we have is a Bloc motion. We have to wonder why. Why is the Bloc presenting this motion today?

We are starting to see certain trends among Quebec sovereignists here in Ottawa and in Quebec. Their popularity is going down in the polls. They have put the possibility of another referendum on ice, but they are trying to stir up disputes. They introduced an unfortunate bill on Quebec citizenship. They are picking a fight with minority groups. These are not actions to bring people together. These are actions to pit people against one another.

I cannot help but think that this motion serves that same purpose. It does not seem to be a serious attempt to find common ground. It appears to be designed to divide the members of this House of Commons.

Should we be surprised to see that their motives are questionable? Of course not. We know that the “best before” date on the Bloc expired a long time ago.

Can we rely on their so-called attempt to revive Canadian federalism, when their stated and resolute goal is to separate Quebec from Canada? I do not think so. They do not want Canada to work better. In fact, they do not want Canada to work at all. As André Pratte, a columnist for La Presse said, “When it comes to analyzing the development of Canadian federalism, the PQ and the Bloc have zero credibility”.

That is why we cannot support the Bloc motion.

I am a man of hope, though, and the NDP is a party of hope. The day when the Bloc clearly states it wants to work together with the rest of Canada, it will be possible to see something other than trickery in their proposals. The lobster fishing season is over.

The NDP is very much looking forward to the debate on the legislation that the government promised to introduce on the spending power.

The NDP has long supported the autonomy of Quebec and Quebec’s distinct identity within Canada. And I mean “within Canada”. We feel that Canada is better off with a strong Quebec and Quebec should have all the tools it needs to continue to prosper within Canada.

The NDP's policy on a cooperative, asymmetrical federalism that recognizes the distinct nature of Quebec was adopted decades ago.

We see this as a matter of principle and practical applicability.

The NDP has always comported itself in ways that respect the areas of jurisdiction, while focusing on results. These are not just empty words for we have always added substance to what we say. Here are a few examples.

In 2005, the NDP had an opportunity to rewrite the budget. We took $4.6 billion that the Liberals wanted to spend on tax cuts for big corporations and made sure that it was invested in the priorities of Canadians, including public transit and reduced tuition. We were careful to address the concerns of the provinces by negotiating how this money would be used.

In this Parliament, my friend from Victoria sponsored a bill on early childhood education. So far, it has enjoyed broad support in the House. It explicitly recognizes the special circumstances obtaining in Quebec when it comes to daycare programs and allows Quebec to opt out.

These are examples of cooperative federalism, a practical federalism that gets real results for the families of today. We hope this is the kind of federalism that all parties in the House can support.

This brings me to the government’s plans for the spending power. What are these plans? We do not know. They have not provided any details yet on their proposal in the throne speech. Would it be like the social union framework agreement? That would be a good start, but as the hon. members of this House know, the Government of Quebec has not agreed to it yet. So what are they planning? We will see.

Once again quoting the columnist André Pratte, I would say that “the wording of the commitment made by the Harper government still allows for different interpretations”.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I must remind the hon. member for Acadie--Bathurst that we do not use proper names.

Please do not use proper names but rather the name of the constituency or a title.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if I understood my colleague correctly, he was naming an editorial writer with La Presse and not a member when you asked him not to use proper names. What I understood from the speech was that he was speaking of Mr. Pratte of La Presse and not about a member.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I heard the name of the Prime Minister and I thought it was the honourable member who had used it. It was my mistake. I apologize.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, I mentioned the Harper government and I apologize.

At present, the Conservative federal government is open to many interpretations, and we will see.

What we do not accept is an approach that creates division. Canadians, and Quebeckers in particular, have had enough of the old debates about federalism; those old debates between two fixed positions. We have seen so many times already that false debate between two unrealistic positions. On one hand, insisting on no role for the federal government, and on the other hand, standardized programs. Today’s families have had enough of campaigns that try to arouse fear. Some parties want to create division, but we do not.

As we begin the debate over spending powers, some people will be tempted to focus on the processes and mechanisms, and, of course, on symbols. Those debates are sometimes unavoidable but at other times, they prevent us from concentrating on the practical realities. We must not lose sight of the principle before us. The principle is that we want better and more equitable programs. We have to do that in a way that respects the jurisdiction and specific circumstances of Quebec.

That principle and that practical reality have been lost from sight during the years of debate over spending powers. While the two sides of the false positions have been tangled in that debate, almost nothing has been accomplished. Increasingly the interests of the people have been overlooked while governments and parties squabble. Spending reductions and unilateral decisions have thrown a cloud of mistrust over federal-provincial relations. It is time to put an end to all that. We need a constructive approach, based on principles, to escape from that vicious circle.

In conclusion, I thank the House for giving me this opportunity to take part in this debate. However, as I said, an even more important debate over the federal spending power needs to take place. I encourage this government to start consultations with provincial governments in an open and transparent manner, and to bring forward legislative proposals so that we can have a real debate. Rather than trying to obstruct debate and revive their party, I encourage my colleagues in the Bloc to participate in this debate in a constructive way.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for my hon. colleague from the NDP. I want to understand his reasoning and his thought processes.

At the time of the throne speech, the Bloc Québécois brought forward an amendment to the amendment to the Speech from the Throne, to the effect that the Canadian government ought to limit its spending power in areas that fall under the jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces. The Bloc Québecois added that commitments needed to be made in connection with the crisis in the forestry and manufacturing sectors. At that time, the argument used by our NDP colleagues over the way was that, had the amendment to the amendment not brought in the other provinces but just Quebec, they would have voted in favour of it. Well, today's motion does indeed mention only Quebec. So why would they not vote in favour of this motion?

The arguments served up to us today are the total opposite of the ones they used during the debate on the Bloc amendment to the amendment. I would therefore like to understand our colleague's mental processes in order to determine whether it makes sense to say one thing one week and the opposite the next.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from the Bloc for his question. If he has not grasped where we were going with this, we will try to clarify a little.

As far as the throne speech is concerned, now that the government has announced that there will be a bill on spending power, is the Bloc wondering if there will be consultations, debates and an opportunity given to the provinces and to Quebec to express their opinions on such an important bill?

The Bloc is proposing a motion just as a pre-emptive strike, but for what purpose? That is what I wonder. There is a bill in the offing. We do not even know anything about its details yet. The reality is that it will give everyone an opportunity to discuss spending power, and that will be a good thing for Canada and for Quebec. It will also give us an opportunity to understand each other.

The members of the NDP remember the bill on child care. An amendment was proposed so that Quebec could opt out because it has a good child care system. I congratulate the people of Quebec for their good child care system, one that can well serve as an example.

The NDP has worked toward that, and we want to have a debate in which everyone ...

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Questions and comments.

The member for Papineau.

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is my turn to be surprised by the reasoning of my colleague opposite. On one hand, he tells us that he totally agrees with the power of the provinces, with what we should have; on the other hand, he wants a debate. Apparently, a debate is coming and we should wait for it.

However, what keeps him from talking about it now and from considering the same elements that he would present in a pseudo debate on a bill? This is still useful today.

However, he makes quite a dangerous association between the Bloc Québécois and the Parti Québécois. I would like him to remember that we are a sovereignist party in the federal Parliament. We are 49 members who legitimately represent the Quebec people. This is not insignificant. That is why we want to be listened to.

I would like to ask him whether he thinks it is right that, on issues concerning our own areas of jurisdiction, Canada can intervene at any time and spend massive amounts.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Papineau. I thought she had heard the answer I gave to the member for Chambly—Borduas, but I can repeat it once more.

Why not wait for the bill? What is the Bloc trying to gain today by proposing this motion while the topic will be covered by the bill? What is the Bloc trying to gain before discussions are held with the provinces, giving them respectfully the right to express their views, and before the subject is investigated and witnesses are heard in Ottawa or elsewhere in the country so that we can find what our citizens from all provinces have to say on such an important bill?

I do not see what the Bloc is trying to achieve. This is yet another case of division and quibbling, and Quebeckers are fed up with it. This is why the Parti Québécois is losing ground in the polls. Quebeckers want action. They want a federal government who can agree with provincial governments to obtain good results for citizens across Canada, including Quebec.

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to our NDP colleague referring twice to an editorial writer from La Presse newspaper to form his opinion about the Bloc and the Parti Québécois. It will soon be two years since I was elected. I am asking my question based on my own observations in this place on the NDP's behaviour.

He was commenting on the credibility of the two parties. From my observations over two years on a centralizing party such as the NDP, I am asking him how credible he thinks the NDP is in the discussion on limiting and eliminating the federal spending power in Quebec's areas of jurisdiction?

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Saint-Maurice—Champlain. I wonder where he was when we passed the day care bill, which provided for Quebec to opt out and receive compensation. The NDP set an example which proves that it understands. Where was the hon. member when we voted to recognize Quebec as a nation and to allow it all that follows from that?

My colleague says that he has been an member of this House for two years and that he knows the position of the Bloc Québécois. So he must know that, since the NDP has now secured 18% of voting intentions in Quebec, that means that Quebec is starting to look at the NDP as the party that could represent it. The Bloc wants us to believe that if you are not in the Bloc, you cannot represent the citizens of Quebec. However I am sure that the hon. member for Outremont, for example, will be a very good representative of the province of Quebec and its interests.

I am proud of the Quebeckers who have finally given a Quebecker a chance to represent them under the NDP banner. This will be the future of Quebec. We will be there to work together, to succeed, for all Quebeckers. I invite my fellow Quebeckers to vote for the NDP, and change will come.

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. friend from Acadie—Bathurst for his presentation this afternoon. As a matter of fact, I was quite encouraged by the tone that he took in terms of a strong and united Canada.

I wonder if he might point to some examples of how such a constructive and cooperative approach that has been taken in terms of federal spending power has in fact helped his great province of New Brunswick.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, one can give other examples. As for the Canada Pension Plan, Quebec has its own program similar to that of Canada, and one that it administers very well. It is on these sorts of things that we have to work together, while acknowledging that Quebec holds a special place in Canada, as has been recognized in the House of Commons. We can work together for certain programs. For example, Quebec has its own immigration office. We can work together on things like that.

What do we need? We need a united country with different programs that suit the provinces in promoting the well-being of citizens. Today there is squabbling every day that the House is in session. Who are the losers for this? It is the citizens, the Quebeckers, the Acadians, and Canadians across the rest of the country. We have to work together.

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, our finance critic, who will be dealing with matters more technical.

I would like my NDP colleague to understand why the Bloc is making this motion. The Conservatives' throne speech refers to limiting Quebec's and the provinces' spending power. There is absolutely no mention of limiting federal spending power. The aim is to take from the provinces the political autonomy they need to set up the programs chosen by their people and by their national assembly, in the case of Quebec. If the other provinces do not want this and wish to remain under the watchful eye of the federal government, big brother in Ottawa, so be it. This is why we refer in our motion to the right to opt out unconditionally with full compensation for Quebec. If the others want to remain under federal control, that is their business. We want to come out from under it. We found nothing like this in the Conservative government's throne speech. For years and years, governments in Quebec, both federalist and sovereignist, have tried to break free of the yoke of federal spending, a yoke with no constitutional basis. Limiting federal spending would amount to an acknowledgement of the federal government's right to spend in areas under the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces and Quebec. This is not even to be found in the Constitution of 1867 and would be a step backwards from it. We want to eliminate this power, which has no constitutional basis.

We do not have to wait two or three weeks to see the bill. We know what it will contain. It will be exactly the same as what all the other federal governments have done throughout Canada's confederation—find ways to diminish Quebec, prevent it from growing as it wishes by setting conditions. They still talk of Quebec's areas of jurisdiction. So long as we remain within confederation, we will not prevent the federal government from spending in its areas of jurisdiction. Let it do so. If it limited itself to these areas, it would not have its present surpluses. Its power to tax would be significantly reduced.

Over the years, the federal government has had more than ample funds to spend in its own areas of jurisdiction. It has so much money that it has used it to invest in provincial jurisdictions with the approval of the Canadian provinces other than Quebec, within Quebec's jurisdiction, even going at times against the aims of the Government of Quebec and the National Assembly and the consensus of the people of Quebec. There is no question of limiting federal spending power. As I have said, there is no constitutional basis for it. Why limit something that has no basis? We want it eliminated—pure and simple.

But we have understood. The comments of my colleague from the NDP were pretty clear: the rest of Canada wants the federal government to be involved in areas of provincial jurisdiction, with all the risks this entails.

Let us look at the example of social housing. In the 1950s and 1960s, the federal government barged in and started funding social housing programs. Most notably, low-cost housing was built. At some point, the government unilaterally pulled out. What happened then? The provinces are stuck with renovating housing at their own expense—particularly Quebec, since its needs in this area were very high—but social housing is underfunded, even though the need is there. If the tax base had been shared, taking jurisdictions into account, Quebec's own tax field should be much larger, enabling Quebec to assume all its responsibilities within its jurisdictions, such as education, health, culture, environment or agriculture. That is the real solution to the fiscal imbalance.

A look at the Speech from the Throne reveals that it is all smoke and mirrors. There is absolutely nothing in the speech about limiting anything. To quote what the Governor General said, “—our Government will introduce legislation to place formal limits on the use of the federal spending power for new shared-cost programs—”. So, anything that was done before does not count. Bloc Québécois researchers spent days trying to figure out what the shared-cost programs were.

Basically, they found two: the infrastructure program and the agriculture policy framework. For the rest, all the funding involves transfers in fields that fall under the jurisdiction of the provinces and of Quebec, transfers that could easily have been made by a transfer of income tax points, period.

There are practically no shared-cost programs. We have been calling for one for many months. I refer to a support program for older workers that would be funded in part from the employment insurance fund, which, unfortunately, has been under federal jurisdiction since 1942. I always say that Adélard Godbout would roll over in his grave if he knew that he had agreed to a constitutional amendment that permitted the federal government to take control of employment insurance. There are no, or practically no, shared-cost programs.

In La Presse on Saturday, October 20, Alain Noël wrote:

The [Prime Minister’s] proposal on the federal spending power, is a bit like Ottawa offering to allow the provinces full control over the manufacture of black and white television sets.

Those are things that do not exist any more, and they would like us to believe that this would be a solution to the demand Quebec has been making year after year, for at least the last 40 years.

Again, reading from the Speech from the Throne, “This legislation will allow provinces and territories to opt out with reasonable compensation.” It does not even say full compensation. That makes no sense but that is what is written. Words are supposed to mean something, at any rate, the Bloc Québécois believes so.

“This legislation will allow provinces and territories to opt out with reasonable compensation if they offer compatible programs.” Compatible means similar. You can have any colour of car, so long as the colour is black. That is exactly what the Speech from the Throne says to us, and that is not the position supported by Quebec.

I read in a book that was published at the time the social union agreement was signed, and which quite properly is entitled, The Canadian social union without Quebec, an article by Claude Ryan where he reviewed the position of different Quebec governments over the years; it was always the same: the right to opt out with full compensation and without conditions, whenever the federal government brings forward initiatives, whether it is in a shared or exclusive jurisdiction, whether shared cost or not, when it is a federal initiative in Quebec’s field of jurisdiction.

It is easy to see why: that is how it is trying to build the Canadian nation. I respect that, but that is not how we in Quebec want our nation to be built by our state, the Quebec state.

We are talking about the right to opt out with no strings attached, and it is absolutely non-negotiable. The Bloc Québécois will continue to fight for the position traditionally held by Quebec's successive governments. Whether federalist or sovereignist, this policy has always been the same.

I would like to go back to the Prime Minister's promise to Quebec to eliminate the fiscal imbalance. What does eliminating the fiscal imbalance mean? It means eliminating the federal spending power in areas that fall under Quebec's exclusive jurisdiction. Here is what the Prime Minister said when he made that promise on December 19, 2005:

As I have said before, even after the new government came to power, my party and I oppose the federal spending power in areas of provincial jurisdiction.

Could it be any clearer than that?

The Prime Minister did not say “monitor”. He said “eliminate”. He also said this:

I think that this kind of spending power in areas of exclusive provincial jurisdiction is contrary to the very spirit of federalism. Our government has made it clear that we do not intend to act that way.

Nevertheless, that is exactly what the government has done, just like every other federalist government in Ottawa, because as you know, there have only ever been federalist governments here, and there will only ever be federalist, centralist governments here. They might look different on the outside, but inside, they are all the same. In this case, the Prime Minister promised to correct the fiscal imbalance and to eliminate the federal spending power. He broke his promise. Quebeckers need to know that, and they should speak out against it during the next election by voting for the only party that is capable of standing up for Quebec in this House: the Bloc Québécois, whose members I congratulate.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank and congratulate the hon. member for Joliette for his speech and his opinion. His stance and his request are quite clear.

But would he be willing to agree on the following? He said that we are a centralizing party and that when we introduced a bill on child care, offering compensation to Quebec, the Bloc Québécois supported us by voting in favour of the bill. This means that it is possible to have a federalism that works with the provinces. The Bloc Québécois supported the NDP on a bill that could work. That is the kind of federalism that I envision: with Quebec as an integral part of Canada. That is how I see it. We can make this work, but only if we all work together.

As the hon. member for Joliette just said, we can work to ensure that it does not work at all. On the other hand, we can work together, like the NDP, to find solutions regarding various programs, while ensuring that Quebec's areas of jurisdiction are respected, as we did and as others saw.

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I do not want to argue with anything in my hon. colleague's speech, but in the case of child care, Quebec was the only province that had set up a real network of child care centres. It would have been absurd to tell all Canadian provinces to set up a child care program and tell Quebec that it had to add to an already existing program. So, this only makes sense. Even the previous Liberal government admitted that Quebec had already invested considerable resources in its child care program and that it could invest elsewhere.

Therefore, this is definitely not an example. On the contrary, it is a counter example that shows just how centralizing the New Democrats are.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Joliette for his clear presentation. I would like to examine the reason for today's Bloc motion. Let us reread it.

That, in the opinion of the House, given that the Prime Minister has promised to eliminate the fiscal imbalance and that this imbalance cannot be eliminated without the elimination of the federal spending power in areas that fall under the jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces, the bill on federal spending power that the government will introduce should, at a minimum, provide for Quebec to have the right to opt out with no strings attached and with full financial compensation from any federal program, whether existing or not and cost-shared or not, which invades Quebec's areas of jurisdiction.

The first sentence of the motion clearly answers the NDP member's question as to why we are tabling such a motion today. The Conservative Prime Minister promised to eliminate the fiscal imbalance and this is not at all addressed in the Speech from the Throne. The government has done very little. It had promised to eliminate its spending power and that is what Quebeckers were expecting. In 1970, Mr. Robert Bourassa, then the premier of Quebec, said:

Quebec continues to believe that, ideally, this federal spending power in areas that come under exclusive provincial jurisdiction ought quite simply not to exist, and the federal government would do well to quite simply renounce it totally.

That was the position, in 1970, of the Quebec premier, Mr. Robert Bourassa, who has been called an excellent premier by the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, who was a cabinet member in Quebec City and was of the same mind. Now that he is in Ottawa, he has changed masters and his position. As a result, today, in this House, he has denounced the Bloc Québécois' position by stating that the desire to cooperate was lacking.

The desire to cooperate is expressed in the final words of the motion, which states:

—right to opt out with no strings attached and with full financial compensation from any federal program, whether existing or not and cost-shared or not, which invades Quebec's areas of jurisdiction.

For a long time, people said that this could not be done, but also that Quebec should have this right because it was a distinct society. People even said in this House that Quebec was a nation. Today, we are asking the members to support a motion recognizing that Quebec has the right to opt out with full compensation so that it is not required to introduce a similar program. We do not want to annoy the rest of Canada with this motion. We are not asking the members to practise the same type of federalism in the rest of the country. We are asking them to give Quebec this one thing.

Unfortunately, the same thing always happens when it comes to these issues. Often, on social issues, we see eye to eye with another party in this House. Today we are asking for the historical rights Quebec has been demanding for years. I quoted Robert Bourassa, and before him was Maurice Duplessis. The people of Quebec also had that problem.

In 1970 I was 17. Today, my daughter is 17 and the situation still has not changed. That proves how stagnant the federal system is. There is a huge difference between what the federalist leaders like the Prime Minister say on the campaign trail and what they say in the House of Commons. People seem to go back on their word, and that is what is causing the problem.

In the past, we fought hard for the manpower agreement and the agreement on parental leave. We thought that the current government was offering us an interesting opportunity. What we found in the throne speech, though, was not this opportunity, but the same old drive to centralize.

I will continue my speech after oral question period.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member will have five minutes following oral question period to finish his speech.

RADARSAT-2

[Gary Goodyear, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last week the Minister of Industry visited the Canadian Space Agency's David Florida Laboratory, where he viewed and spoke about RADARSAT-2, Canada's newest and most advanced earth observation space satellite.

This new satellite represents powerful state of the art technology that will enhance our ability to protect Canada's sovereignty in the far north, in keeping with our Arctic strategy outlined in the Speech from the Throne.

RADARSAT-2 will also provide improved surveillance and monitoring capabilities for management of our natural resources and monitoring of the environment. In cases of disaster, RADARSAT-2 will be an indispensable tool to provide rescue and humanitarian aid for those most in need.

RADARSAT-2 will be launched in December of this year and is proof of Canada's commitment to leading edge research. We can all be proud of its contribution to the global scientific community.

ADISQ Gala

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last night at the 29th ADISQ Gala, Isabelle Boulay and Nicola Ciccone were named performers of the year.

Three trophies were also awarded yesterday to Mes Aïeux. They won the Félix for group of the year, for album, top sales, and the award for pop song of the year for their song Dégénérations.

Daniel Bélanger—no relation—won the award for best pop-rock album for L'Échec du matériel. He also won the highly coveted Félix for writer-composer of the year.

I also want to acknowledge Pierre Lapointe for winning a Félix for show of the year in the writer-composer-performer category, and Tricot Machine for best new artist of the year.

Our artists work hard and their achievements should be celebrated. The official opposition is committed to them and offers its most sincere congratulations to the winners and all the nominees.

Dalai Lama

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as part of the Dalai Lama's visit, the city of Blainville in my riding has accepted the invitation from members of the Canada-Tibet committee to raise the Tibetan flag in support of the Tibetan cause and its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Blainville is the first city in Quebec to raise the Tibetan flag today to officially support the cause. It did so in the tradition of major European cities and at the invitation of the Canada-Tibet committee, which has taken a stand against the human rights violations, particularly of freedom of religion, currently taking place in Tibet. Justice, compassion and freedom are fundamental and legitimate values to which Tibet is entitled.

My colleagues in the Bloc Québécois join me in expressing, as Blainville has done, their solidarity with the Tibetan people. We also want to take this opportunity to wish the Dalai Lama an excellent stay.

Organized Crime

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last week my constituents in Hamilton Centre were horrified to learn that a federal prosecutor had dropped drug and weapons charges against suspected members of a cocaine ring.

These men were thought to have connections to the Hells Angels and other organized crime gangs across Canada. Their arrest was seen as a major blow to the hard drug market and followed months of investigation. Why drop the charges? Because the RCMP's investigators are on sick leave due to problems with morale in their office.

What is going on here? Could Conservative mismanagement be so bad that drug dealers are going free? Sadly, shockingly, the answer is yes. Over the past year, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts heard hours of testimony about morale problems due to RCMP mismanagement.

The Minister for Public Safety promised change, and now we see he broke his promise. Morale is worse than ever and the result is that accused drug dealers are back on the street. I demand the minister review this case and stop letting poor management be the criminals' “get out of jail free card”.