Raymonde Folco

[Business of Supply, October 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Bloc Québécois for his remarks, with which I agree in large part. I am aware that the Bloc has been touring in Quebec's regions to gain support for its demands for a new POWA, and I cannot say that I disagree with that.

The fact is, however, that a program established by the federal government in 1999 has already been in place for seven years now; I am referring to the OWPPI, an initiative to help older workers get back into the workforce.

During the Bloc Québécois' tours of Quebec, did the hon. member make this new program, or new take on a program first established in 1999, known to his constituents?

[Literacy, October 4th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the international adult literacy and skills survey indicates that nearly one in two Quebeckers between the ages of 16 and 65 cannot read well enough to function fully in society.

In addition, since Jacques Demers' biography was published, support groups such as Alpha Laval in my riding, Laval—Les Îles, have seen a huge rise in requests for literacy services.

How can the President of the Treasury Board ignore this reality? When will he reinstate funding for these programs?

[Business of Supply, September 28th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, this is an extremely important question. However, before I answer, I would just like to say that what the Liberal government was able to do for years is not what we are discussing today. We are discussing the budget cuts that this Conservative government is making, to the detriment of women. I would just like to point that out.

I understand my colleague's question, but I do not understand why he is placing emphasis on women, when we know that the vast majority of people who are sponsored across this country are women sponsored by men, and not the reverse. I acknowledge that some women sponsor men, but for the most part, it is men who immigrate here and then send for their wives or spouses.

That said, it is true that a person who agrees to sponsor his or her spouse has a financial responsibility. Our government has always wanted that responsibility to be the same whether the sponsor is a woman or a man, because that person has signed and accepted that responsibility.

[Business of Supply, September 28th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am quoting the figures I have in front of me and that I read earlier: an additional grant of $1.3 billion over five years to improve settlement and integration services for new immigrants.

If the hon. member wants more information, I will gladly forward the exact amount of this grant, but those are the figures I have in front of me.

[Business of Supply, September 28th, 2006]

Since my hon. colleague for Peterborough has not been here very long, I would like to point out to him that these cuts were due to the deficit run by the Government of Canada, a deficit that all Canadians had to shoulder and pay for with their taxes every year. It was the deficit left by a Conservative government that spent too much and on the wrong things.

Unfortunately, we had to make cuts in some places because we had no other choice. It was because of the Conservatives’ deficit, though, that we were forced to do it.

[Business of Supply, September 28th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians, and Canadian women in particular, know very well that there is a huge difference between the budget cuts made today by the Conservative government and the unfortunate budget cuts of our Liberal government.

I do not need to remind the public, both here in the House and elsewhere in Canada, that our budget cuts had to be made because when we took power in 1993, there was a huge budget deficit. The only way to deal with it was to pay it off as quickly as possible.

[Business of Supply, September 28th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I too rise today to take part in the debate and to lend my support to women's rights to equality in Canada.

I hope that by the end of this debate, the House will not only recognize the Conservative government's failure to provide all Canadians equal opportunity, but will also categorically oppose the government's partisan and discriminatory cuts to federal funding of women's programs and services.

These cuts that the Conservative government have just announced to us and to Canada as a whole represent nearly 50% of the operating budget for Status of Women Canada.

Women make up 52% of our society. Women are more than just mothers, sisters, spouses and the conscience of our nation; they are the reason this nation survived the great difficulties of past few centuries and the reason it continues to exist.

These cuts by the Conservative government ignore the fact that women's rights are human rights. “Women's rights are human rights” are not my words. I did not make this up. This quote came from the global community of women at the World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. That is why the Liberal government supported the Native Women's Association of Canada. The Liberal government gave the association $5 million over five years to be used to end violence against aboriginal women.

I have decided in this part of my speech to focus on concrete examples to illustrate how this Conservative government's cuts will affect very specific groups of women. I just mentioned the Native Women's Association of Canada. In addition to the $5 million over five years for that association there are other cuts, $2.1 billion over five years for improving financial assistance for students and $1.3 billion over five years to improve services for setting up and integrating new immigrants to Canada. These groups are often at the bottom of the social scale and at the bottom of the socio-financial scale—if I can put it that way. These are the groups that will suffer and are already cruelly suffering because of the Conservative government's cuts.

The Liberal government’s support for the National Association of Women and the Law gave that organization the impetus it needed for its recent and effective campaign against Sharia law, an arbitrary process based on religion, when it was thought that it might be incorporated into the legal fabric of this country. That was one of a number of recommendations made by Marion Boyd, a former Ontario Minister of Justice during the very short-lived reign of the NDP government.

The financial support provided by our government gave voice to women across Canada. Muslim women, Christian women, Jewish women, women of every other religion, worked with NAWL to ensure that women’s rights continue to be an integral and fundamental part of women’s equality in Canada. Once again, a coalition of women, of spouses, mothers, sisters and daughters, of every religion and from every political party, came together and were able to do that thanks to the funding provided by the former Liberal government. They will no longer be able to come together, because this new Conservative government, in its opposite, contrary and negative way, is not providing the funding.

By cutting funding for status of women organizations, this government is trying to ensure that women do not have an opportunity to be part of the decision-making process in this country, because they will no longer have access to any funding. Why say that? Because this government is sending a clear message to women, saying that we, women, have no place at the table when decisions are made, that our place, women’s place, is in the kitchen, once again.

What century is this? The 21st century, or the first century, or the second?

While the Prime Minister and his government are busy reducing women’s opportunity to sit at the table where the decisions are made, rather than standing up doing the housework and cooking 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the Prime Minister’s wife—she being a woman—is distributing one of our national newspapers to encourage women to improve their reading skills. This is a woman who knows what needs to be done. In spite of the negative things that the government led by her husband is doing, she believes that literacy levels among women, women’s independence, the ability to make a choice and to be able to make choices, are truly and essentially something to which all women have a right.

[Taxation, September 28th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, these are still just words. Rarely do we see the government party follow up on it words with concrete deeds. The Premier of Quebec stated that there would have to be significant progress in the next federal budget. What we have just heard from the Minister of Finance does not indicate significant progress concerning the fiscal imbalance.

Can the Prime Minister explain why he has postponed his commitment indefinitely? Is it because, in the end, there is no solution?

[Taxation, September 28th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is no longer just the opposition in this House that is accusing the Prime Minister of going back on his promise to fix the fiscal imbalance. The Prime Minister has brushed aside his December promise and is now saying that he does not have any intention of addressing+ the fiscal imbalance in his next budget.

Will the Prime Minister of Canada finally admit that he never intended to honour a promise made for base electoral reasons and designed to mislead Quebeckers?

[Laval Crime Victims Assistance Centre, September 25th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the Laval Crime Victims Assistance Centre, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary.

We met last Thursday to celebrate the anniversary of this organization that provides front-line services to all victims of crime and to indirect victims as well.

The Laval CAVAC has a criminologist and three social workers on staff, all experts in providing crisis intervention.

I wish to thank them for the vital assistance they provide to victims to help them overcome the physical, psychological and social repercussions of crime.

Since the Quebec National Assembly adopted the act respecting assistance for victims of crime, 16 CAVAC centres have opened their doors across the province.

It is groups like the Laval CAVAC that were extremely helpful in the aftermath of the tragic events at Dawson College in Montreal.

Congratulations to the Laval Crime Victims Assistance Centre. We hope you will continue to operate for many more years.