Mr. Speaker, a budget is an important and powerful event in the life of a government. And this is my first federal budget in as a member of this House.
Of course, I have seen them prepared and defended in the National Assembly. I have also commented on budgets from both Quebec and Canada on information networks, but never here. This is my first budget and these are my first budget estimates.
We are disappointed because we did not hear the word “Quebec” mentioned in the speeches from the President of the Treasury Board and our Liberal colleague. It was not mentioned once; they are ignoring us.
I see that members on the other side appear happy with this budget. Good for them. This is their budget, not ours. A budget prepared by someone else does not interest us. The Liberals and the NDP can say that they would have done it differently, improving this and deleting that. They see themselves reflected in it. Even though they have differences, they see themselves in it, but we do not. Immediately after the minister's budget speech, I made my first comment, which the minister commented on. It was about the word “rien”. He understood the translation, which was “nothing”. There was nothing for the marginalized, nothing for informal caregivers, nothing for pensioners, nothing for housing, nothing for the homeless. Volunteers got a medal with a picture of the Prime Minister on it. There were a few crumbs and there was nothing about the environment. They created a new structure to eliminate structures. That is what the government did in this budget.
I concluded by saying that we deserved better and that we did not get it.
The President of the Treasury Board has finished his work. He showed us that we did not get what we wanted. One hundred and five days after the budget speech, my sovereignist beliefs and convictions have only become stronger. Quebec would be much better off if it had full powers. The minister said that Canada's economy shines. Where? Certainly not in Hochelaga.
At the start of the 1990s, 20 years ago, some middlemen tried to get us to sign the minimum agreements at Meech Lake. Obviously, this planted the seeds of hope, and then, when hopes were dashed, despair set in. Unbelievably, these middlemen—I will say it again—missed their mark. In 1995, I was there. In the 1995 referendum, were it not for a theft—yes, I will call it that—that has been well documented since then, we would have won our independence. If the process had truly been democratic, we would have had our sovereignty, but because this is a democracy, we accepted the result of the referendum campaign without pulling out our guns.
But the Bloc Québécois does not want to be paranoid. We must look what our reality is in 2010. We can forget about seeing an offer from Canada that addresses the aspirations and needs of Quebeckers. We are being told to act like doormats and let everyone walk all over us. That's it, that's all. But we say no, never.
Seven months ago the House Clerk returned the writs from my election to Parliament and after seven months—that should be five months, since there was a two-month lockout—I have to say that by coming here, I know Canadians and their representatives better. They are fine people. Canada is not a gulag; it is not Mongolia, but it is still a country that does not belong to us.
A recent, widely-published survey by academics and the media showed that 62% of Canadians do not want to reach out to Quebec. They are not interested. And we are supposed to wait for them to extend a hand? Come on, it will never happen.
Reforming Canada is an illusion. We do not want just a special status, but they do not want to give us anything more. They do not want to give us new powers; they will even erode the powers that we have in our own jurisdictions, for example, with the securities commission. They are stealing our authority. Canada is building a country. Let them do it their way and according to their ideals, but we do not want this country.
Canada is the way it is, and we do not see ourselves in it. It is like the budget. We need to make Quebec what we want it to be. Twenty years after the Meech Lake accord, the only notable change is that we need to build Quebec the way we want to and not wait for results from the others because they do not want to give them to us. Nation building is often done through Quebec bashing, which is unacceptable to us.
Language, culture, communications, citizenship, immigration. That is what we want to control. But there are no offers from the other side, no new powers. They should at least respect what we have. I talked about the national securities commission which runs counter to the wishes of the National Assembly, corporate Quebec, other provinces and international opinion. We are told that they do not want to have the massive mobilization that is occurring in Quebec. They are digging in their heels more and more.
Given that new offers and new powers are not forthcoming, we would at least expect them to pay the bills. They are not even doing that. They refuse to pay $2.2 billion to Quebec for tax harmonization; they refuse to give Hydro-Québec the $250 million per year paid to Ontario Hydro; they refuse to put a cap on equalization, which represents $337 million; they refuse to give Quebec $238 million in equalization payments given to other provinces; they have not yet paid the $137 million case we won in 1991 in the court of appeal and the administrative tribunal.
The thinking is clear. We must take control of our destiny. We must build a country where French will truly be appreciated. We want to control our immigration and citizenship policies. We do not wish to just defend and support our culture, we want to help it develop.
Meanwhile, the Bloc is not getting these allocations. The Conservatives will stand behind their allocations. That is fine, but we will steadfastly oppose them. For their part, the Liberals do not know where they are and therefore do not know where they are going.
A certain number of items have already been discussed in this House and I will conclude by stating that they cannot walk all over us, that we are not paranoid, that Canada is not Mongolia, that we will not get out our guns, that we have said no to the middlemen and that it is time to adjourn. And all this, to a House of Commons as it rises.
But tomorrow, what will the headlines in Quebec say? Halak has been traded for two unknowns.