Madam Speaker, we sat for such a short time before the Prime Minister abruptly decided to prorogue Parliament that I do not know whether I had time following the election to thank the voters of Richmond—Arthabaska. I would like to do so now before I get into my remarks on the budget. Naturally, I am very pleased that they have placed their confidence in me for the third time in a row, with an even bigger majority than before. I want to assure the people of Richmond—Arthabaska that they can count on me to fight, tooth and nail, on their behalf.
I would like to note that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Châteauguay—Saint-Constant.
We are here today to talk about the budget. The Bloc Québécois' subamendment is, of course, a major one. In light of the current crisis, we expected the Conservative government to take the needs expressed by the people into account. Quebec's National Assembly wanted to contribute its two cents to the budget consultations, and that is why the assembly—the Liberal Party of Quebec, the Parti Québécois and the Action Démocratique—decided to move a unanimous motion, which the Bloc Québécois has proposed in its subamendment today. This is further proof that there is only one party in this House that truly stands up for Quebeckers' interests. That party is the Bloc Québécois, and we have decided to vote against the budget.
The motion by Quebec's National Assembly, which the Bloc has presented today, asks for help for workers, communities and businesses affected by the economic slowdown, and financial support for struggling sectors—particularly the manufacturing and forestry sectors, of course—similar to what the government decided to do for the auto sector in Ontario. The government promised Ontario no less than $4 billion in assistance, but is giving just a few million dollars to the manufacturing and forestry sectors in Quebec. That is a really big difference.
We also want to see improvements to the employment insurance program. The government has brought in certain measures. We are not against increasing the benefit period from 45 to 50 weeks. However, Quebec's National Assembly and Quebec as a whole want improved access to employment insurance. Today, in 2009, 53% of Quebeckers who contribute to employment insurance are not entitled to benefits. That was our basic demand with respect to employment insurance, but the government refused to discuss the issue.
We are also talking about keeping equalization calculations the same. The fact that the government insists on changing the equalization calculations means that this year Quebec will lose close to $1 billion and could lose as much as $2 billion next year. For this reason alone we cannot vote for this budget. Obviously, Quebec's National Assembly has opposed and will continue to oppose a national securities commission.
The Conservative government has made choices that favour Ontario and the west, at Quebec's expense. We understand that the government is attempting to win more seats in Ontario and western Canada in order to obtain a majority. And this budget is padded with gifts for these parts of Canada.
The leader of the Bloc Québécois has reiterated his trust in me by appointing me as the agriculture critic once again. On this topic, we cannot stay silent on what the government has done and, above all, what the government has not done. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food was no different from his colleagues when he revealed what was in the budget before it was read. Obviously he did not reveal the details because, as the saying goes, “the devil is in the details.” Hearing that there will be $500 million in the budget for agriculture makes people happy at first, of course. They think there will be some money to help them. But, when the details were unveiled, we all got a surprise. For those who know the Conservatives though, it really was no surprise. The member for Lévis—Bellechasse kicked off his marketing campaign with a statement before the budget was read. He comes from an agricultural area and should know a little bit about the needs there. He said that his government would fill agricultural needs. He put on his rose-coloured glasses and said:
Farmers should—
Notice the use of the conditional in that sentence. The member chose his words carefully and he was right to do so. What came next showed that his government is less than willing to truly help the people who grow our food.
He said:
Farmers should have access to new funding to increase their slaughter capacity. This is the perfect opportunity for our government to support our beef and pork industries, as well as other producers. Our economic action plan should [he is still using the conditional tense] include a flexible program for agriculture. Such a program should help farmers tackle the challenges of the market and exploit significant opportunities in each province and territory.
The agriculture sector was quick to react and respond to this sort of wishful thinking, because there was a real disconnect between what the minister had announced and the actual details in the budget. The title of the press release from Quebec's Union des producteurs agricoles says it all: “A budget that's way off track”. That is what the Union des producteurs agricoles had to say.
“This budget is disturbingly insensitive to the agricultural community,” said Christian Lacasse, president of the UPA, in this press release. “By excluding income support measures where the need is greatest, the government is completely changing a program that was supposed to be flexible.”
I mentioned earlier that the member for Lévis—Bellechasse had said that producers would have a flexible program, a good program. The government completely ignored the recommendations of Quebec's agricultural community.
“A program that each province can adapt to its own particular agricultural reality is obviously a good thing, but it must be properly funded and targeted,” the president of the UPA went on.
As for assistance for the slaughter industry—because that, too, was announced in advance—the government has overlooked Levinoff-Colbex, which is located in Saint-Cyrille-de-Wendover, in the riding of my friend from Drummond, who is also quite familiar with this issue. It is the only major cull cattle slaughterhouse in eastern Canada. Beef producers have just recapitalized to the tune of $30 million and expect the government to apply the same rules for capitalization as for new projects: one dollar of government funding for every dollar of private investment. Consequently, $50 million over three years is not nearly enough.
It is still not known whether Levinoff-Colbex can benefit from this program, and there have long been calls for government money and support to help this slaughterhouse survive. I would remind members that it is the only one of its size left in eastern Canada.
I would like to read another excerpt from the UPA press release:
“Major financial support was also required for the forest industry, which would have needed at least double the investments announced just to keep going—”
That is what the UPA had to say. A number of my colleagues in the House will cite people from various sectors who are totally dissatisfied with this budget. Two of my Bloc Québécois colleagues issued a press release today concerning women's groups that were completely overlooked by this budget.
Continuing with agriculture, the Conservative government had the nerve to appropriate the names AgriFlex, or agri-flexibility, invented by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and its partners, such as the Fédération des producteurs de cultures commerciales du Québec. The central idea behind the concept is that the viability of the family farm can only be maintained if farmers had programs in place allowing them to plan for the long term.
The government did not include measures to ensure income security, the very essence of what farmers are asking for. Flexible regional funding is needed in order to ensure support for programs like Quebec's farm income stabilization insurance program, which insures farmers against catastrophic income shortfalls caused by unstable world prices, regional market conditions and other factors beyond their control.
The government opted for smoke and mirrors. It has been raising expectations, of course, ever since the election campaign. While campaigning, they talked about a plan totalling $500 million over four years. But in the budget, that turned into $500 million over five years, a small difference of only a few million dollars. The bubble has burst.
One thing is crystal clear: this government has abandoned Quebec; this government has abandoned Quebec farmers with this budget.