Mr. Speaker, it is customary in this House to point out that a member expresses the concerns and interests of his constituents.
In this regard, I think the hon. member for Waterloo deserves praise for expressing the concerns of his region. There is certainly nothing wrong with this. The member also talked about financial sovereignty. Again, we are rarely opposed to anyone seeking greater autonomy.
The member talked about the financial sovereignty of the people in his region, compared to the United States. In stating his concerns, he mentioned that a number of people trained and educated in his province are moving to the United States. This is certainly a serious concern for him and others, since he would like these people to stay. Indeed, when the government puts money into education, it wants to see the benefits of that investment remain in this country. Therefore, the hon. member must be congratulated for his concern.
This is the positive note, the flower-who knows, it might bring spring along. However, when the member mentioned that the government was about to invest $800 million in the Canada Foundation for Innovation, he should have pointed out that this amount will not all be invested this year. In fact, it is believed that only $150 million will be invested in the near future.
The member then said that the Minister of Finance promised to invest in higher or post-secondary education. It is true that $137 million has been set aside for education and $7 million for literacy. While this may seems interesting at first because it looks like more money, we must remember that this same government and its Minister of Finance have cut $800 million more in transfer payments to the provinces for health and education. The hon. member says it is great that a foundation will be created with a $800 million budget. It looks like it adds up, but in fact only $150 million will be invested in the foundation.
In itself, saying $800 million will be invested while the actual amount is $150 million, does not matter that much. What does matter, however, is the fact that this is basically a provincial jurisdiction. The member comes from Ontario, so he must surely be aware of what is going on in Ontario-reaction to the cuts made by the Harris government, a Conservative government-and must know why these cuts are being made. They are the result of the federal government's cuts across the board. Since its election, this government has cut no less than $4.5 billion in those transfer payments referred to by the hon. member.
On the eve of an election, having made all these cuts, the federal government wants to be seen as generous and be able to say it has done something for post-secondary education. It would have been much better for the government not to make such drastic cuts in transfer payments for education and health in the first place, but rather to have let the provinces look after it; then, the provinces would not have been left holding the bag and been forced, as they are now, to make their own cuts. The same thing is happening in Quebec.
A matter of current interest in Quebec concerns the renegotiation of collectives agreements by the government and the major union federations representing health and education workers. It is tough, even fierce. Why? Because the federal government has cut transfer payments back and Quebec has been hit especially hard by the cuts.
I find it incredible that, after having cut transfer payments, the government now forces the provinces to clean up its mess, while it hands out crumbs to hide all the cuts and cover everything up. That is unacceptable. I would like to hear his comments on this.