Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Hillsborough.
First of all I want to thank my fellow citizens in the riding of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord who were inspired enough to elect me for another mandate, so that I could strive to serve them efficiently. They can be assured that I will do everything I possibly can to show them that they did the right thing in supporting me.
As you can see on my jacket, my first priority is still the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean area. Before making my comments on the Speech from the Throne, I want to say that I listened to what some of my colleagues in the Bloc and in other parties had to say. They are always talking about the Canada-Quebec dynamics, Canada versus the provinces.
Recently I was reading the book written by Mr. John Ralston Saul where he was wondering if the problem of Canada is not related to the fact that the wealth is not shared equally within the provinces.
In our regional university, an economist, not from London but from the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, who proved, supported by figures, that our region was highly disadvantaged by Quebec government that was extremely centralizing.
I thought that I should make an analysis to see where the problem lies as far as the sharing of wealth is concerned. I have the figures here. The federal government is sharing the wealth with every province, a given amount per capita. The unemployment rate and the wealth index are also thrown into the equation.
There are two major programs. There is equalization, a lump sum payment that provinces can do what they want with, and there is the Canada health and social transfer, for health and social programs.
The problem in Quebec is that our regions are in a very precarious situation. We are looking at ways to keep our young people in our regions and we are seeking the best method to stop the migration of our young people. Yesterday, I asked the member for Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière if he could tell me about the measures needed to stop the migration of these young people and to offer them interesting jobs.
Unfortunately, I sometimes am under the impression, that the members of the Bloc want all Canadians to be on EI. I do not think this is the thing to do. The bill was introduced. It will then be referred to a parliamentary committee. Some interesting amendments will be made. Significant changes have already been made. I am confident that in the end the EI bill will please everyone.
I wondered how I could continue to help my region. I thought we should analyze the areas where the government wanted to invest. Health care is a major issue, especially in the regions where the average age is increasing because of the incredible migration of young people. Consequently, we must invest in this area.
Everyone is aware of what happened in our regional hospitals. The doctors and the nurses were pushed into early retirement with huge cash outs. Friends and colleagues of mine told me this “How can someone stay on with an offer like that?”
Finally, we are in an extremely difficult situation. With regard to the health care budget, it is all fine and well to transfer $21,5 billion to the provinces. However, this is a provincial jurisdiction and a Quebec jurisdiction, and I for one want to make sure that our regions are in a position to provide health care.
In my area, and this is a proven fact for the past 10 to 15 years, we need about $75 million more each year. The Canada social transfer and equalization payments will go from $11.5 billion or $12 billion in 1994-95 to more than $14 billion in 2004. There is certainly a management problem. The provincial government does not pay attention to the regions. The current Quebec government is a centralizing government which arbitrarily is using equalization payments to build a $900 million hospital in Montreal while letting the hospital in Chicoutimi die.
As an hon. member from the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, I think that when the amount of transfer funds are negotiated, it is important to ask our government to make sure that regions are well represented and have what they need to fulfil their role, particularly in health care.
I also noticed that the throne speech insisted on the importance of skills. The federal government talked about literacy and the need to reach agreement with the provinces. One third of the Canadian population has a literacy problem. That has a tremendous cost for business.
The government insists a lot on research and development. During the last parliament, I was in the opposition and I worked on a very major project for my region, a major aluminum plant. We actually produce 50% of all the aluminum in this country.
Nothing has been done yet in terms of processing. We lost 8,000 jobs in the aluminum industry. With the help of my colleagues with whom I now sit, particularly the Minister of National Revenue, we will be building next spring a national research centre for the processing of aluminum that will allow us to create good jobs for our young people. The issue of aluminum is of critical importance to me.
There is also the forest issue. Natural resource areas such as ours are there strictly to be developed. No one is helping us with our development. The first aluminum processing plant, partly financed by the Quebec government via the SGF was built in the Montreal area. We lost 8,000 jobs in our community, even if we were named the aluminum valley last year. It must not become a valley of tears.
There is another issue mentioned in the Speech from the Throne. It is the issue of infrastructures. A region cannot develop itself without a highway infrastructure (The Europeans, the Americans understood that). This is a major element.
For several years, the federal government has formed partnerships with the private sector. I hope the Quebec government will take advantage of these programs in order to help our region to be connected to the North American continent and to the beautiful greater Quebec City area by a highway between Quebec City and Chicoutimi. This does not involve billions of dollars, but it is important. Land communications are the precursors to development, they do not follow it.
We have all the industrial development support programs, through Economic Development Canada, as well as research programs which I hope will be increasingly set up in the regions. The guidelines the government wants to set for itself are promising for the future.
There is the whole aspect of poverty. I would need more time to speak about it, but I will come back to it. I think that one day the federal and provincial governments will have to look carefully at a method to combat poverty effectively.
The government has created good programs, such as the child tax benefit, worth over $9 billion. There is the early childhood support program worth over $2 billion. There is the whole business of more progressive taxation over the next five years. One hundred billion dollars less in income tax to pay will benefit everyone.
Poverty is a difficult issue to define. The European economic community and a number of other countries are currently looking into the following possibility. Rather than increasing the number of programs, consolidating federal and provincial assistance programs, or within a federation such as that of Europe, to fight poverty effectively with a single program, there could be guaranteed minimum income. It would be easier to manage and easier for recipients to identify.
I am certain that, in addition to the program's being more effective, everyone would be content to know that, as Canadians over 18 years of age, they have something to get them started in life. I hope that one day a future agenda will include the important item of giving thorough consideration to the battle against poverty.
In 1967 the American government pointed out that this was probably an approach worth considering. Unfortunately, there was no follow-up. The Macdonald commission examined this aspect. It considered it a positive avenue. One day we will come back to this. Poverty is an important issue.
