Mr. Speaker, that speech was so enthusiastic, how can we not be too? And how can we not be floored by what we are hearing from the other side of the House?
Earlier, I heard my hon. Liberal colleague say that the provinces had the same means as the federal government. That is not true. The provinces have backed into a corner and left hanging, so much that most of the provinces are currently having serious financial difficulties.
Quebec's financial problems are due to the lack of stable federal transfer payments, and these transfer payments have shrunk drastically, particularly since 1995.
The person responsible for these cuts, the person responsible for the problems inflicted on Quebec and the provinces, with the exception of Alberta, is the hon. member for LaSalle—Émard. He was the finance minister. When he becomes leader of the Liberal Party, he will not be a greenhorn; he will not be a political virgin. He will be a man who can never shake his past.
It is a disgrace that here we have a man who claims to want to head this government announcing his intention to negotiate directly with the municipalities, to transfer part of the gasoline tax to the municipalities, whereas that same man has deprived the governments of Quebec and the provinces of some $25 billion since 1995 in net transfer payments. Those payments are for health care, among other things. Sick people have to be dealt with. There have been $25 billion in cuts to transfer payments for health care, education and assistance to the most disadvantaged members of our society.
He has just said that the Government of Canada intends to invest part of the gasoline tax in the municipalities. If he were serious, and not merely seeking a higher profile, seeking to increase the popularity of his so-called new government, he would remedy the problem of the fiscal imbalance.
There is nothing theoretical about this problem. Too much money is going into Ottawa's coffers in proportion to its responsibilities, and not enough into the coffers of Quebec in proportion to its huge responsibilities: health, education and assistance to those who are the least well off. He could solve this problem.
That is where the problem lies: too much money in the federal coffers in relation to its responsibilities. So much money, in fact, that they keep making announcements: direct payments to the municipalities, direct investment in education and so on. Let the federal government start interfering in the education of my granddaughter, who is seven, and I will be quick to tell it to mind its own business. There is a Constitution, after all.
As my colleague from Joliette has said, this is rather strange. We are sovereignists. We want to get out of the system, and yet here we are, because of these repeated encroachments on provincial areas of jurisdiction, the only ones in this Parliament calling for the Canadian Constitution to be respected. What a ridiculous situation. There is a contract, and when there is a contract, there are certain rules that have to be followed.
Section 92 of the Constitution is very clear on this: municipalities are a provincial responsibility. So let the federal government stop its constant interference. If it wants to solve the problem, I have a little recipe for success to suggest to the member for LaSalle—Émard, the future prime minister and former finance minister, he who is responsible for the catastrophic state of the public finances of the provinces and of the Government of Quebec. I have a suggestion for him. It is nothing new, but it is one of those tried and true recipes.
When Quebec's current minister of finance signed the report that bears his name, the Séguin report, he said that there were two ways the situation could be settled once and for all. The first option would be for the federal government to transfer tax points, particularly income tax points. We will come back to that one in a moment because it is a problem related to the great imbalance in the income tax system. The second solution he proposed would be to give us the revenues from the GST.
By doing that, the problem would be solved once and for all. There would be no more fiscal imbalance and the provinces and the Government of Quebec could live up to their responsibilities and could settle the problem once and for all.
It goes on and on. The revenues from the GST increase each year, just like income tax. And there is the big problem. If there is too much money going to Ottawa, that is a major factor. In fact, there are two factors: cuts, which we will come back to shortly, and tax structure.
If we take the example of Quebec, federal income tax is 58% of the income tax collected in Quebec, while 42% goes into the coffers of the Government of Quebec. Federal income tax and revenues from the GST increase the most, year after year.
The current fiscal imbalance is only the tip of the iceberg. This will continue because of the tax structure itself.
As a result, 58% of the tax base is growing. That is higher than the federal government's other tax revenues. That is a lot of money, year after year.
There was a $10 billion surplus for the last fiscal year. My colleague, the member for Joliette, estimates it will be $6 to $7 billion for next year. It could be more, since it seems there has been an economic recovery over the year.
If this were settled, in other words, if the GST revenues were given to Quebec, there would no longer be any problems with the municipalities. I can understand the municipalities because the municipal representatives in my riding tell me they would appreciate having more money. I understand that, but the most effective, stable and intelligent way to find a sustainable solution to the problem is to resolve,once and for all, the inequities between the federal tax revenues and those of the Government of Quebec and of the provinces.
If not, we will be no further ahead. We have to beg the federal government for money. Quebec's taxpayers want health services and education. They want us to support the less fortunate, and for the municipalities to be able to provide services directly to the public.
These problems have to be resolved once and for all. The only way to do so is to give back the Government of Quebec and the provinces their share of the taxes paid by Quebeckers and Canadians. This share has to be given back to the governments that provide the most direct services, in other words, the Government of Quebec and the provincial governments.
I support the municipalities that are asking for money. I understand them, since they provide services at a grassroots level, close to the people. They want money and we will do what we can to make sure they get more, but in accordance with the contracts; otherwise, there will be anarchy. At present, the main contract that should guide the federal government is section 92 of the Constitution.
Transfers of money should not involve the ridiculous sums that the member for LaSalle—Émard was proposing, that is, a portion of the federal gas tax. It has to be a considerable amount to settle the fiscal imbalance once and for all. The money has to be paid to the Government of Quebec and the provinces. There should not be any negotiations without consulting the governments.
Quebeckers realize that Quebec's identity is being undermined as a result of these efforts to curtail the powers of the National Assembly, the only assembly where all members are Quebeckers, the only national voice—it is called the National Assembly—the only voice of the Quebec nation. This also means that the primary instrument for our long term survival is being rendered ineffective. That is what they are doing. That is what the hon. member for LaSalle—Émard is doing. The National Assembly's powers are being curtailed, when they should be reinforced.
Consequently, this motion is unacceptable. The Bloc Quebecois will fight so that Quebec taxpayers get what is rightfully theirs. It is not normal that the federal government should overtax, and it is not normal that federal initiatives should deprive Quebec of its resources, when the feds have money coming out of their ears. We must provide services to the public. People want their money's worth.
Consequently, if we resolve the fiscal imbalance, municipalities will not have any more problems. The members opposite think this is hilarious, but we have news for them. We will be there during the next election campaign. We will campaign on real issues. We will say that the hon. member for LaSalle—Émard, the former finance minister and future prime minister, is responsible for all the problems. We will say that, because of him, health and education are underfunded. We will say that, because of him, plans for parental leave fell through in Quebec. We will say that, because of him, there is not enough social housing, and that he is telling shameless lies when he says he wants to resolve the problems, because he caused the problems related to the fiscal imbalance.
