Madam Speaker, it is again a pleasure for me to rise in this House to speak on the budget. I should start by saying how very proud I am to be part of this crew of 54 men and women who are prepared to do battle. We are prepared to take on the ship of the Minister of Transport, which is already foundering. The sallies we will make on that ship within the next few weeks will make it possible for new crew members to be added to the Bloc Québécois crew and to show our belief in the sovereignist movement.
I am trying to find something positive in this budget. Perhaps I could have been taken in, like some Ontario NDP members, by this incomparable whitewash campaign by the Prime Minister, but the Bloc Québécois members are solid, proud and unshakeable. We did not take the bait in this blackmail operation by the PM involving provincial premiers, the NDP and the most disadvantaged members of our society.
Returning to the budget, there is absolutely nothing in it on employment insurance. I am still having to cope with an injustice in my riding, having to deal with two categories of unemployed. One group needs to accumulate 700 hours to be eligible for EI and the other has to have worked 595 hours. This injustice is the result of the fiddling around with the regions carried out by the Liberal Party of Canada. It would, however, be simple to adopt a measure we have been proposing for a long time, and to set the required number of hours worked to be eligible for EI at 360 for everyone.
I would also like to speak about seniors, those most neglected by this budget, despite their great contributions to this country. There are a large number of seniors in Lotbinière, and they have been totally neglected by the Liberal government since 1993. No sensible adjustments have been made to their pensions. They have a very small amount and are not even getting the GIS when they are entitled to it.
In its budget, the government also ignores all of the farmers' expectations. There are a lot of expectations in the Lotbinière RCM, as there are throughout Quebec. No help was provided for farmers, who have been caught up with the mad cow crisis for two years now. There has been nothing tangible from the government to indicate its support for supply management. Farming in Quebec is in a full blown crisis, and all the budget offered was money for the rest of Canada. Once again, in this budget there is nothing at all for Quebec.
Let us turn now to what I call fiscal strangulation, which was initiated and co-ordinated by the present Prime Minister while he was the Minister of Finance. The fiscal imbalance underlies many of the problems of the Government of Quebec. Regardless of who heads it, the Liberals or the PQ, the result is the same. Because of the management style in this House, which has led to the creation of the fiscal imbalance, Quebec is the big loser.
The Bloc Québécois had demanded two essential conditions by taking steps to try to shake up Liberal sensibilities. The answer was no. There is nothing for the unemployed. The government continues to refuse to recognize the fiscal imbalance, despite the unanimous vote by all parties in the National Assembly.
The day after the budget was presented, a number of mayors called my office in connection with the famous gasoline tax to find out whether they were entitled to it.
We should ensure that these funds are administered by Quebec and not by the federal government, which is trying once again through little partisan schemes to please certain municipalities to the detriment of Quebec.
This government has always been disconnected from the reality of a number of regions in Quebec. I knew already that this tax program would do absolutely nothing to help small municipalities in Quebec. I am sure, though, that if the entire envelope were transferred to Quebec, it would be able to understand the regions better. A sovereignist government would provide the amounts needed to help certain regions survive.
Continuing with the budget that has been brought down, I find it very difficult to find anything positive. I say it again: there is nothing to fix the fiscal imbalance or for employment insurance. I am going to raise another point that is very important in my riding. We have been affected by the textile crisis. People do not talk about textile plants or factories any more because, unfortunately, that is the past. This is because of the irresponsibility of this government, which left companies and workers in the textile sector to battle the really incredible things done by the Chinese.
Now we have the furniture manufacturing crisis. Several towns in my riding are dependent on this work and we know already that Chinese brands are invading our furniture dealers. Who will again suffer the consequences? It is the regions—not just mine of Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière but several regions in Quebec. We are going to lose textiles. We are losing furniture, and nothing is done. There are major tools, though, at the WTO that could enable us to support these people and have transitional measures. If somehow, in the end, we cannot get the necessary assistance, there could always be a program, which is called POWA, for people who have worked 25, 30, 35 years in companies, raising their families. Unfortunately, these people did not have the education needed to go elsewhere and they find themselves at age 52, 55, 58 with nothing left.
That is part of this entire budget and all the measures that are being adopted. Some say the Bloc Québécois has a lot to gain with this budget, but what are we to gain when there is nothing on the table? There is nothing in it for Quebec. The fiscal imbalance is a daily reality, as is the issue of employment insurance. The best they could come up with was a gift of $4.5 billion to the NDP to save face, but mostly to stay in power. That is the primary objective of this government. Just look at the Duplessis-style behaviour of the current Prime Minister trying to buy the vote of Canadians and Quebeckers.
Let me tell you something. Quebeckers are becoming wise to Liberal partisan tactics. We have learned from the events of 1980, 1981, and 1995 and we have learned even more with the Gomery inquiry. In 2005, we will send a very clear message that we no longer want this government. There remains only one true solution for Quebec to flourish and that is sovereignty. We are on our way, with support now running at 54%.
On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, on behalf of this team of proud men and women, who stick together and stand their ground, yesterday we said we are against the budget and today we still are. This evening, at 5:45 p.m., we will say nay to the Liberal government's tactics.
