Madam Speaker, as I was saying, it is a pleasure for me to speak to Bill C-76, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 27, 1995. Ultimately, in practical terms, the purpose of this bill is to modify certain legislation, following the tabling of the budget with its sometimes devastating consequences.
As I examined this bill, my attention was caught, in particular, by some of the legislation affected, including the first part on public sector compensation, where we can see the results of the government's consistency. If this bill is passed, 45,000 federal public servants will eventually lose their jobs, and yet you will recall, Madam Speaker, that "jobs, jobs, jobs" were what the red book promised.
The ideology continues to be the same. Faced with labour relations problems last week, the government did not hesitate to impose back-to-work legislation on workers who wanted to avail themselves of their right to strike, but who did not even have the time to do so, having first been locked out and then, twelve hours later, legislated back to work. Sometimes, this government is only too consistent.
I also noted that the Western Grain Transportation Act will be adjusted, and yet we know that following the abolition of these subsidies in the West, there will be compensation of three billion dollars, while subsidies to Quebec dairy producers will be cut by 30 per cent, with no mention of compensation. We realize that the member for Brome-Missisquoi will not be leading the protest.
Finally, of course, there is the main body of this budget, which announces cuts in transfers to the provinces over the next three years of $7 billion, including $2.5 billion-around 40 per cent-in cuts to the Quebec government. Quebec, with only 25 per cent of the population, will assume 40 per cent of the cuts. And this is consistent too, not just for this government, but for the entire Canadian federal system.
It is consistent because, if one looks at the figures since 1982, Quebec has been cut $14.3 billion over 12 years. In other words, the government of Quebec, regardless of which party was in power, averaged cuts of over a billion dollars. It is no wonder that the impact of these perverse cuts is being felt in education and health and throughout the system. One only has to think about the community organizations that face repeated cuts resulting from this system based on concealment, on shifting the burden to the provinces and on irresponsibility.
They may laugh, especially since they come from Quebec and have just been elected. Some have not yet realized it. Some people are slower than others. All these cuts and those to come are to be implemented without any changes in Quebecers' tax rates. Quebecers will continue to send between $28 billion and $30 billion to Ottawa. For over a decade, we have seen that compensation in the form of subsidies and tax transfers is steadily declining, while Quebecers' tax rates are being maintained.
In this regard, it is sad that these cuts are being implemented on the backs of the most disadvantaged in our society, that is, patients in hospitals, the unemployed, welfare recipients, retirees and seniors. We feel that these people are being sacrificed because of an administrative choice, a societal choice, an ideological choice made by this government. My colleague, the hon. member for Laurentides, talked about this earlier. In light of the finance minister's situation, it is difficult to make different choices.
I am very happy about the movement that was born in my riding last week, which is going to sweep across Quebec. This proposal by the Trois-Rivières chapter of Solidarité Québec will be put to all of Quebec through Solidarité populaire Québec, a movement that will result in a national Quebec petition calling for a commission of inquiry on taxation. I want
to commend the people of the CEQ, the CNTU, the FTQ, the nurses' federation, the union of professional employees of the Quebec government and the union of Quebec public servants, who joined forces to put together a massive petition denouncing the federal government and calling for an inquiry on taxation.
In the end, when they talk about social programs, what do they really mean? We are talking about redistribution of wealth. And when less and less is being distributed, what happens? Wealth is concentrated. That is the evil-the cancer sapping the economy not only in Canada but also throughout the Western world- that has to be denounced and dealt with quickly. Wealth should be distributed, not concentrated as is presently the case.
The government appears to want to distribute wealth, but one must not mistake appearance for reality because, in reality and at the expense of the provinces, it is merely standardizing. It was already standardizing the area of health while at the same time reducing funding. Now, it will do the same not only in the area of social assistance but also, and this is a precedent, in the area of postsecondary education, killing two birds with one stone. On the pretence of bringing the debt under control, the government interferes in a totally unconstitutional way in a area of jurisdiction which, as we know, is very dear to the Government of Quebec in particular and, in Canada as we know it today, is recognized in the constitution as an area of exclusive provincial jurisdiction.
Where will this lead? When cuts are this extensive, it means that social programs will have to be chopped as well. It will become necessary to either cut back funding for education and social assistance or raise taxes or both. But what is disgusting and wicked about all this manoeuvring on the part of this government is that it is designed to pass the buck so that it can wash its hands of the matter. That is what Lise Bissonnette was referring to when she spoke of imperial federalism.
