René Canuel

[The Budget, March 3rd, 1999]

Madam Speaker, having heard my colleague praise the Minister of Finance and his budget to the skies, I have a very short question to ask him.

How can it be that the number of food banks in the country has tripled since 1989, and that the number of those who go to the food banks has doubled? How can he accept that people with incomes of $250,000 or more are going to pay $8,000 less in income tax? How can these things be reconciled?

[The Budget, February 18th, 1999]

—who, in the spring, will have to do without benefits for two whole months. There will be no food for their children. The hon. member boasts about the fact that those who earn $250,000 or more will see their taxes cut by 3%, thus saving $8,000 a year.

[The Budget, February 18th, 1999]

My question to the hon. member is this: Why is it that, three or four days before the Minister of Finance brought down his budget, the Minister of Human Resources Development, whom I had invited to New Richmond, did not show up? There were about 800 workers and unemployed people—

[The Budget, February 18th, 1999]

“Servile” means “servant”. They are little people. They cannot understand that Quebec is the loser here, the big loser.

[The Budget, February 18th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I did listen to my hon. colleague, but she kept repeating what the finance minister had said. The members opposite are parrots. And the Liberal members from Quebec even applauded.

I can understand my hon. colleague. She is from British Columbia and everyone there got something. The people of this very wealthy province are now even wealthier.

I must tell my colleagues from Quebec who were applauding that I cannot understand them. They are servile—

[The Budget, February 18th, 1999]

Madam Speaker, I have a very brief question.

I was listening to the minister as she addressed two issues in particular: poverty among children and in rural communities. Yet, funding for rural communities and the regions has been cut by $100,000.

I would like to ask her this: In light of the fact that we have unemployed workers in the riding of Matapédia—Matane who will go two months without any benefits, what are her thoughts about the poverty affecting the children of these unemployed workers?

[The Budget, February 18th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that the Minister of Finance's philosophy is to be tight with the people and generous with the rich. That is obvious.

The current Minister of Finance is merely miserly with the people. He takes what little people have and gives it to the rich. However, I was listening to my colleague, and I am not sure he would do a whole lot better.

I put the following question to him: What could he do for the 1,500,000 poor children?

[The Budget, February 17th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, first off, I wish to congratulate my New Democratic Party colleague for her great sensitivity to the less fortunate, particularly children.

As I said last week, everyone agreed back in 1989 that we should eliminate child poverty by the year 2000. Today, the number of poor children stands at 1.5 million, a 500,000 increase.

What this means is that, since 1993, this government has shown no compassion. This is terrible, when children do not get enough to eat, when they go to school without a lunch, when they do not have proper clothes to wear and are made fun of, and at the same time the taxes of rich Canadians are going down. I call that a scandal, an outright scandal.

I hope the members opposite will agree with the NDP leader that this is a scorched earth policy, and that is exactly what I mean.

I ask my wonderfully sensitive colleague how we are going to get to zero poverty in the near future, if it is possible at all, because I am losing hope. Fortunately, we already have a zero deficit. However, we must get to zero poverty in four or five years.

Zero poverty should be everyone's goal. How can we make them understand? I do not know if they have it in them. How can we get together and make them understand that zero poverty should be everyone's goal?

[Employment Insurance, February 12th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the minister could come, even without an invitation.

We realize that the minister is very busy. If he wants to go skiing like the Prime Minister, he should come to New Richmond, which has a nice ski slope.

Am I to understand that the minister, who bled the unemployed dry with his quotas and his cuts to the employment insurance program, refuses to come and meet—

[Employment Insurance, February 12th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development.

Tomorrow, fishers, workers and residents from the Gaspé—Magdalen Islands region will hold an important rally. They will once again talk about jobs and dignity. The minister was invited by the Liberal MNA for Bonaventure to come and see for himself the perverse effects of his policies on the people in these regions.

Will we see the minister in New Richmond tomorrow?