Mr. Speaker, we need to be frank and clear-eyed. Instead of tabling its budget last spring after the election, the Liberal government chose to table it this fall. Why? It simply was not ready back then.
This budget clearly reveals the new Prime Minister's policy orientation: a big deficit and Conservative policies. Let us look at the facts. Two measures dominate this budget: massive military spending and the tax cuts announced last spring. The government plans to spend billions on defence to satisfy Donald Trump's demands even as it slashes foreign aid. That is the order of priority: weapons before solidarity, submission before co-operation.
This record $78-billion deficit makes Justin Trudeau look positively frugal, and that is saying something. That deficit will be achieved only if the public service sheds 40,000 jobs in four years.
Where is the plan? Where is the vision? They are nowhere to be found. This is not reform; it is a threat.
The step backward on the environment is tragic. Green policies have been abolished. The oil and gas industry is getting maximum support, so much so that the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture disagreed and opted to resign. That is the price for defending the planet in this government: isolation, silence, or exit. For now, the former minister is still a Liberal member. How he handles his options remains to be seen.
While the Prime Minister was elected on a promise to stand up to Trump and protect our businesses and workers impacted by the tariff crisis, this budget contains a few paltry support measures.
In terms of reforming the EI system to make it more accessible and functional, we will have to keep waiting. Only a few temporary measures have been extended. That is the reality.
The budget contains the support that was announced in August for the forestry industry, with $700 million in loan guarantees, but this measure is still not accessible. Only one forestry company in Quebec has accessed it so far. While we acknowledge this measure was recently enhanced, we strongly disagree with the fact that it is not accessible four months after it was announced, four long months for workers at Scierie St‑Michel who are still waiting for this assistance.
The budget includes an investment superdeduction for businesses. That is all well and good, but it is not enough given the tariff crisis.
The government claims this is a generational budget, but there is only $9 billion in new money over five years for infrastructure, $9 billion for the whole of Canada. That is barely twice the amount needed to refurbish a hospital in Montreal. In the meantime, our roads, our water systems and our overall infrastructure needs will have to wait. Wait for what? Wait for a government that actually believes in the future.
The health sector is getting worse, with a 3% increase in health transfers, even though costs have gone up by 6%. This hearkens back to Stephen Harper's government. The federal share will continue to decrease steadily, along with access to health care. That is the dollars and cents approach that is compromising social justice.
When it comes to housing, in his budget, the Prime Minister has reiterated his commitment to Build Canada Homes to tackle the housing shortage but has not given any details about this plan, other than expressing a desire to centralize this area, which should be a Quebec and provincial jurisdiction. There will be significant delays of several years before approved funds can be spent. In the meantime, families and individuals are still waiting for housing.
For provinces that did not have a carbon pricing system, which is all of them except for Quebec and British Columbia, the federal government implemented a carbon tax that was offset by cheques sent to households. During the election campaign, the Liberals abolished the tax but still sent a cheque to the residents of every province except Quebec and British Columbia. This was a handout to those taxpayers that cost Quebec taxpayers $814 million. The government still refuses to compensate us for that. With this Prime Minister, the environmental laggards are rewarded by the people who are actually making an effort.
Added to that is the government's stubborn refusal to reimburse Quebec for the assistance provided to refugee claimants, leaving us on the hook for $700 million. That is how they treat a compassionate nation.
The budget confirms that the tax on web giants has been scrapped. As the big five tech giants use tax havens to pay almost no tax here and elsewhere, Canada had passed the legislation suggested by the OECD consisting of a tax equal to 3% of revenue earned in Canada. Donald Trump and his billionaire tech friends did not like this tax, so in June, the Prime Minister decided to repeal it in order to negotiate an agreement with Trump by July 21, 2025. No trade agreement was ultimately reached, but the budget confirms the commitment to amend the law so that web giants will no longer be taxed. Billion-dollar multinationals can once again shirk their fiscal responsibilities. What is even more upsetting is that we in the Bloc Québécois have been advocating for many years to use part of this tax to support media that are struggling financially as a result of advertisers shifting their business to digital platforms.
The budget contains increased funding for CBC/Radio-Canada, but it does not allocate anything to other media. The government expects them to fend for themselves.
There is a new setback when it comes to tax havens. Canada is abandoning the 15% global minimum tax on U.S.-based businesses. Members will recall that Canada announced this tax with its G7 partners during the summit held in western Canada in June. That is another significant setback in the fight against the use of tax havens, which also stemmed from agreements with the OECD, or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
That is another capitulation. Who does this benefit? Brookfield, a company that was headed by the Prime Minister before he joined politics less than a year ago. Brookfield, which moved its headquarters to New York for tax reasons. Brookfield manages many subsidiaries in tax havens. Some of the subsidiaries that operate in Canada even received funding through the wage subsidy program during the pandemic even though they report income in tax havens to avoid paying taxes in Canada. That is the moral of this government: the powerful take and Canadians pay.
The Liberals have a minority government, but with this budget and other initiatives introduced in the House, they are behaving as if they have a majority government. They did not negotiate any agreement to secure support from any party and chose to conduct themselves like cowboys. They banked on the fact that people were wary of an election during the holidays to advance their political agenda. The Bloc Québécois remained true to its principles and made its budget requests. All of these requests were ignored. In our opinion, the budget will hurt Quebeckers and so we voted against it, while all the other opposition parties chose to let it pass.
The Green Party member initially stomped on the budget in front of cameras because it did not contain anything for the environment but ultimately chose to support it. There were two NDP abstentions, which gave the Liberals a majority, even though this was a Conservative budget that will result in massive cuts of 40,000 public service jobs over four years. Lastly, the Conservatives used a strategy that allowed them to vote after everyone else to ensure that the budget passed. The House leader and the caucus chair walked into the House of Commons after the vote, before the results were released, claiming that they had experienced technical difficulties voting remotely. They play acted and voted after the fact. It was all a sham.
We do not accept this government's vision. We do not accept bowing to the powerful, pandering to billionaires, abandoning workers, treating the provinces with contempt, and stepping back on the environment. We do not accept centralization, arrogance and injustice. We want respect for Quebec. We want to continue to fight against the use of tax havens. We want to support our media, and we want to protect workers. We want adequate funding for health care. When it comes to Donald Trump, we want fairness and dignity. That is our fight, that is our duty. We are going to fight with all our might, because we know that history belongs to those who refuse to back down.
The Bloc Québécois will not support Bill C-15. It is an enormous omnibus bill nearly 650 pages long. It contains 80 legislative measures that create or amend 49 laws in a wide range of areas. Some are quite good, others are simply minor legislative amendments. In addition to containing almost none of the Bloc Québecois's pre-budget priorities, Bill C-15 includes certain measures that we find utterly unacceptable.
For example, it includes billions of dollars in new fossil fuel subsidies. It deepens the media crisis and permanently scraps the digital services tax. Lastly, I must condemn the amendment the government hid in the middle of its omnibus bill, which gives any minister the power to exempt any company from the application of any federal law, except the Criminal Code, for a period of three years. This is completely unacceptable. That is why we will be voting against Bill C-15.