Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague who spoke before me concerning the points that caught his attention in particular.
Before I speak about the budget, I would like to say that a major consultation took place not long ago. The government says that it consulted on the budget, but normally the consultation takes place in 308 ridings in Canada.
In fact, with all of the proposals and measures the Bloc Québécois had brought to the Conservative government when we left in June 2008, the government should have been aware that there was an economic crisis. It was not simply that after the financial crisis the economic crisis became apparent because, for the past two years the impending economic crisis has made itself felt, threatening to strike us sooner or later.
We called for significant measures, first from the Liberal government and then from the Conservative government, to help the manufacturing and forestry industries as well as the poor. Money, help and services for the poor are immediately put back into the economy.
In June 2008, the government decided to take it easy, taking two months of vacation to prepare for a potential election campaign, and that is what it did. There was an automatic delay of four months because of the election campaign. And since October 14 we have waited another three and a half months. The Conservatives do not seem to have understood the message from their October 2008 consultations. I imagine that a large number of Canada's ridings are having serious economic and employment issues.
Since the Conservatives came to power, more than 80,000 jobs have been lost. They were not conscious of that. They were not conscious of the fact that they needed to help these people directly, support the economy and invest monumental amounts of necessary money.
The philosophy of the Conservative Party and the Conservative government is much different. It is a conservative party. That is clear. It is a right-wing party. Economically speaking, the only actions they know are cutting spending and taxes. For the economy and investments, it is the most extreme of laissez-faire policies.
Imagine a government with that kind of philosophy finding itself on the brink of an economic crisis. What can it do? The Conservatives do not know what to do. That much is clear. In October 2008, they decided to challenge the opposition by proposing nothing at all or next to nothing, and moreover, by launching a direct attack on certain rights: democratic rights, women's rights and union rights. Then there was the budget. It, too, contained many things the opposition did not want, things the provinces and Quebec did not want, especially Quebec, which did not want government interference.
This government set the stage for the political crisis that followed. The coalition was formed, and its members agreed on policies to stimulate the economy in Quebec and Canada. The policies received nearly unanimous support within the coalition, and we knew it was the best way to move forward. There was a serious loss of confidence in the government which, as everyone expected, has shown its true colours. This government did not follow the Bloc Québécois' recommendations.
In his speech, the Minister of Finance thanked us for having contributed by making serious proposals. Then he said he would read them eventually. As it turns out, the Conservative government did not really mean it when it reached out to all members of Parliament and asked them to help move things forward.
Following that challenge, the coalition did develop significant proposals. However, the Prime Minister did not follow up, and then he prorogued the House, which caused further delay. We really thought he would have understood, but at that point, he did not. The excellent proposals we put forward resulted in something else: this budget speech. As I said earlier, the Minister of Finance claims that he conducted the broadest consultations ever. I did not hear anyone in my riding talk about it. I heard people talk about my own 36-day consultation during the election campaign. I knew exactly what the people of the riding of Sherbrooke needed and wanted. People recognized the need for immediate action, but that is not what the government has delivered.
I am going to talk in specific terms about the fundamental problems with this budget, which we will not support, but which the Liberal Party has obviously agreed to support. It reminds me of the story of the wolf who ate the grandmother and then started making eyes at Little Red Riding Hood. Eventually, the wolf ate Little Red Riding Hood as well.
Budget 2009 is a real hodgepodge, because it includes dozens of little measures to please everyone. But it misses the mark on a number of important issues. Take equalization. Maintaining the change will deprive Quebec of $1 billion in 2009-10. From what I understand, certain hand-picked Liberals will have the right to vote against this budget. Seeing as how everyone in Quebec is against the direction this budget takes, I hope the opposition leader will also allow the Liberal members from Quebec to vote against the budget. We shall see. It will be interesting to see.
As my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie said earlier, there are no major environmental measures: no exchange, no targets, no standards, no major funding for green energy and no extension of the ecoAUTO rebate program, which my colleague from Brome—Missisquoi would have loved, I am sure.
As for regional development, there is no shift on funding for NPOs or on regional economic development, except in Ontario, which gets $1 billion.
That reminds me of something about the coalition. One might think the opposition leader did not believe the Governor General would have accepted a coalition government. I believe she would have. She would have accepted it. But I think he got calls from Bay Street. That gives some idea of the direction the budget takes, and I could go on and on.
I also invite all the Conservative members from Quebec to vote against this budget, because it runs counter to the aspirations, the needs and especially the jurisdictions of Quebec.