Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to speak to the budget, which I will refer to, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois.
At the end of the year, once the 2009 audits are complete, Canadians will have a record deficit somewhere in the neighbourhood of $53 billion, according to the numbers in the budget.
This is a record deficit for which the Conservatives can take much of the credit. Their election promise to reduce the GST cost $14 billion per year. Their decision was political. The Conservatives' last GST cut, which cost $7 billion, came just a few months before the crisis, even though they were told, in the middle of the election campaign, that the crisis was coming. They refused to acknowledge that the crisis and the recession were around the corner.
To those who think that the Conservatives are good managers, this is how my colleague from Manicouagan described Brian Mulroney's Conservative government: a government that knows how to grow a deficit. The current government is yet another typical Conservative government that knows how to run up a deficit.
The Bloc Québécois is the only party in the House that proposed measures to the government. Our measures focused on finding revenue, not on investment. The Bloc Québécois is responsible. When it proposes spending, it also tells the government where to find the money.
Since the resumption of proceedings, we have pointed out a number of times in this House that one way to find money is to begin by eliminating access to tax havens. During today's question period, the leader of the Bloc Québécois and the finance critic stated clearly that the banks had made huge profits of over $5 billion over the past three months. We have the figures, because the law requires the banks to report in their financial statements the amounts they save in taxes when they transfer funds to or invest in tax havens. In the banking sector alone, these savings amount to some $2.3 billion.
The banks are stating openly that they are making economies of scale. The Minister of Finance even told us today that the banks are the best in the world. That is not hard to understand—they do not pay taxes.
The banks do not contribute to society. They are allowed to invest in tax havens and thus save taxes to the detriment of society as a whole. What is terrible is the way the Conservatives repeatedly encourage the rich, so as to better crush and stifle the poor.
The situation is the same for the $3.2 billion in tax credits for the oil companies. It was quite something to hear the parliamentary secretary tell us that the government was creating jobs. What he does not see is that the tax credits increase the profits of the oil companies. They do not have a quarterly deficit. They pay their shareholders dividends. Their shareholders make profits. This is because the government gives the oil companies $3.2 billion in tax credits. We have suggested to the government that it recover this money.
The government could recover $3 billion as well by eliminating access to tax havens. The Bloc has proposed a surtax on society's top wage earners, 2% on those who earn $150,000 and over and 3% on those who earn $250,000 and over. This measure would have meant the recovery of $4.8 billion. Those who come out furthest ahead in a time of crisis should contribute to the overall spending to help society's disadvantaged.
We suggested to the government that it review its military spending policy so as to recover $1 billion. It chose to slash $1 billion in a review of military spending policy, a suggestion the Bloc had made.
We asked it as well to save $1.5 billion by putting an immediate end to the mission in Afghanistan. In addition, we suggested it reduce operational spending by $5.4 billion.
Like me, my colleagues no doubt saw the excesses revealed by the media this morning. When $1,000 is spent to change a doorbell and $5,000 on replacing six lights, significant amounts, in my opinion, can be recovered. The Bloc Québécois suggested that $5.4 billion be recovered from the government's operating expenditures. We showed the government how to save $18.9 billion. It chose simply to close its eyes, except with regard to the billion dollars earmarked for military spending. These savings would have meant that Quebeckers could have been given what they were requesting.
According to the figures appearing on page 259 of the budget, despite the deficit of $53 billion in 2009-10, $9.718 billion was paid out to the automotive industry and $62 million to the forestry sector.
Seen from the standpoint of a Quebecker, it is quite clear that, despite the government's accumulated deficit, much of the money was not invested in Quebec. We have always criticized the Conservative government on this spiteful way to get Quebeckers to pay. We have seen it all in the pages of this budget.
The decision to help the nuclear industry create energy—to produce electricity from nuclear power—will give rise to a new competitor for Hydro-Québec. That is the reality.
The government has decided to help the nuclear industry in order to create, with government money, a new competitor for Hydro-Québec. Quebeckers pay 23% of the bill.
The same can be said about the decision to invest $10 billion in the automotive sector, but only $62 million in the forestry sector. What this means is that 23% of Quebeckers' money is invested in the automotive industry. I would like to point out that automakers closed all their plants in Quebec. That is the reality. There was no compensation in this budget. In 2010, no additional investment is being made in the forestry sector to compensate for investments. However, $108 million will be invested in the forestry sector, bringing the total for 2009 and 2010 to $170 million compared to $9.7 billion for the automotive sector. There has been no compensation for the aerospace sector either.
What happened in the infrastructure sector is even worse. Most mayors of Quebec cities asked the government to extend the March 31 deadline for completion of work because elections were held in Quebec. It was the only Canadian province that held elections in 2009. In the midst of the Conservative government's infrastructure program, the cities asked that the deadline be extended because elections had delayed work by three to six months, depending on changes in municipal councils. Once again, the minister decided to ignore them.
That is just like the Conservative Party, to decide to make Quebec pay for something it did not do.