Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to comment on the budget brought down by the Minister of Finance on February 24. The budget sets out the federal government's priorities for the coming years. Unfortunately, this government's priorities are far from being Canadians' priorities.
This budget does not address the concerns of Canadians. It says nothing about job creation, nothing about our crumbling health system, and contains but a few crumbs when it comes to the serious problem of poverty and education.
I would like to begin by looking at job creation. The Liberals were elected in 1993. During their campaign, they spoke about job creation. Now we hear in the House that it is not the government's responsibility to create jobs, but it was a different story before they got elected: “We are going to create jobs. Elect us and we will create jobs”. Once in office, it was no longer their responsibility. That was what the Liberals said in 1993, and now they are saying it is no longer their responsibility.
Today, five years later, 9% of Canadian workers are receiving EI benefits, not to mention how many are on welfare. Yesterday, it was pointed out that 730,000 people who used to qualify for EI had had to turn to welfare. This is a national disgrace.
Today they rise in their places and tell us how wonderful they are. It is unbelievable, completely unbelievable.
It is the government's responsibility to build infrastructures that will lead to job creation. Take the natural gas line in New Brunswick. Why have it go from Nova Scotia, and then turn at Moncton and continue on to Saint John and then Boston, instead of having it go through New Brunswick, benefiting the whole province, connecting it to Bernier in Quebec, and going on to make it a national line? Why not do that? But no. They are going to have it turn at Moncton and then go through Saint John to Boston, so they can sell gas to the Americans. But Canadians are not going to reap the benefits.
I suppose, for example, that not everyone can benefit from the arrival of a company in New Brunswick, in terms of the jobs created. Residents of northern New Brunswick, where the unemployment rate is 19.9%, will not benefit from it. They will not benefit from companies coming to our province because it costs these companies less to operate their business. Of course not. But the government has a responsibility. It is the government that gives the green light. “We are not concerned about you, even though the unemployment rate stands at 19.9%, not to mention the number of people on welfare. We are not concerned about you”.
We have to be careful about the budget. The government is boasting about a zero deficit. Great, but at whose expense has this been achieved? It was done at the expense of the poor.
A lady phoned me last week. Yesterday, I listened to a Reformer who mentioned the case of a lady in his riding and wondered what would happen to her because she must pay $800 in taxes. It may be that Reformers only get one such call, but I get 50 every day. So, a lady phoned me and said “Yvon, what can you do for us? My husband and I are on welfare. The wood in our house is rotten all the way up to the windows. In the bathroom, we have to be careful not to fall through the floor and end up in the basement. The kitchen floor is not even covered with linoleum and the fridge is empty”.
That is more worrisome than someone who cannot pay $800 in income tax. I had a call from another lady who said “Mr. Godin, yesterday my husband and I thought about shooting our kids and then ourselves, because we can no longer feed them”. That is more of a concern than reaching a zero deficit, far more.
I cannot bear to watch our country get into debt, but neither can I bear to watch the country pay its debts at the expense of the poor. That is not what the Liberals said while they were campaigning. They talked about job creation, and now today that is no longer their responsibility. They have the responsibility to administer the country justly, not to impoverish people still further. That is their responsibility.
Those hon. members from northern or southern Ontario whom I hear telling us that all their constituents are in favour of the federal budget, very much in favour of it, let them come down to New Brunswick and they will see people who are far less in favour of it.
The provincial health minister stated on tv or radio, and in the press, that there is absolutely nothing in the budget for health in New Brunswick. The provincial education minister was quoted in the newspaper and interviewed on television—and we cannot claim he was misquoted by the journalists because he was the one speaking—as saying there is nothing for education.
The New Brunswick finance minister appeared in print and on television stating that there is nothing for New Brunswick. Their counterparts in Newfoundland said the same thing, as did the premier of PEI. Are they all lying? These are all Liberals.
The New Brunswick finance minister, Edmond Blanchard, is a Liberal. Russell King is a Liberal. What have they done? They have put money into health and have tried to defend their actions in the area of health. They were given money and they do not know how to manage it.
There was a time when provincial money was spent on health. The provinces were not given the chance to spend it on whatever they wanted, to pass it on to their friends, as we have seen in our province with Doug Young for the four lane toll highway. That was not the case in the past. The money went into health.
If money was given for education, where did it end up? In education. Not any more. The government is administering the country badly, I can assure you of that, because their own Liberal counterparts in the provinces are saying so. So was it because they have not read the budget or do not know how to read, or because they cannot count or do the math? They are trying to shift blame to others, but who created the system that allows this? The Liberals did.
But the bottom line is that people are suffering. I get calls, and I know that people from my riding are listening today and know what I am talking about when I say that I am getting 50 calls a day and cannot even get back to everyone. They are destitute but they want to work. They are courageous people, not lazy like a former minister in this House would have us believe. Our people are hard-working. When a company starts up and says it wants to hire 300 people, 2,000 to 3,000 people apply. Then it turns out to be a false alarm because the company is not starting up after all. We are talking about hard-working people who want to go out and work.
And then there is the business with EI. Yesterday, the Minister of Human Resources Development turned around and said they were not his changes, that the three reforms had begun with the Conservatives and the Liberals had followed on. Two weeks ago, he said it was too soon to say what was happening, to know how many people were affected.
I urge the minister to come with me and visit homes in my riding where there is nothing on the floor but holes and no food in the refrigerator. I issue an invitation.
Then the government boasts about all the money it has set aside for education. Only 7.1% of students attending university will benefit from the fund; the remaining 92.9% will get zip. And they are so pleased with themselves.
Imagine trying to convince Canadians that this is a good budget. When we look at what is happening in hospitals, when we see the elderly and the young in the corridors, that is the health system the Liberals have given Canadians. Before the budget, Canadians' message was clear: “We want money to be put into the health system. Nothing is more important than Canadians' health”.
The Liberals did not listen. They let Canadians down, paid no attention. For the good of this country's inhabitants, I call on the Liberals to examine their conscience.
