Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, if I may, I will share my 20 minutes with my colleague, the hon. member for Shefford.
I am pleased to take part in the debate on the budget tabled February 18 by the Minister of Finance. This budget definitely does not help the unemployed or poor children. I agree with my Bloc Quebecois colleagues who have spoken recently on this budget, describing it as a lazy budget, an expression coined by our party's finance critic, the hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot.
Where is the minister's compassion for these unemployed people, these poor children? The $600 million announced for 1998-99 for the 1.5 million poor children makes a very poor showing next to the billions of dollars slashed from social transfers and pilfered from the employment insurance fund.
Where are the business and individual tax reforms the Bloc Quebecois has been demanding for so long? The Bloc Quebecois has pointed out, in fact, that the government could have freed up $3 billion yearly from corporate taxes to help companies create jobs. What this involved was a reworking of the corporate tax system to eliminate inefficiencies.
The government is trying to reduce its deficit at the expense of the provinces, mainly via a tax burden which has increased by $22 billion in four years.
What has the government done to stimulate employment? Bankruptcies have risen by 22 per cent in Canada, 20 per cent in Quebec, and 22 per cent in Ontario.
What is more, the number of bankruptcies in the National Capital Region has increased even more than in the other regions. The government has at least created one category of jobs, the pawnbrokers, whose business is booming. The Minister of Finance continues to promote family trusts and to promise job creation.
In September 1996, the federal government launched an unprecedented attack on the auditor general in order to try to stifle the scandal on the tax-free transfer of family trusts to the U.S. The government was, and is still, using all the means at its disposal to protect the coffers of the Liberal Party. Canada's rich families continue to enjoy these tax havens, and this budget continues to protect them.
It is not a budget that creates jobs, but purely an election budget. All the government's new initiatives are in the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces, and taxpayers are the victims of the overlap and duplication.
The federal government did however find the funds necessary for the minister of propaganda's flag campaign on the eve of the election.
The government is also helping artists, by subsidizing those who advocate federalism. We must not forget that over 49 per cent of the cuts to the $16.5 billion in program expenditures between 1994 and 1999 come from cuts to transfers to other levels of government, primarily the provinces.
What has the government done for the rural regions? Nothing new yet. In my riding of Argenteuil-Papineau, we have a number of farmers facing major problems. The government is spending only $25 million this year on job search. This means less than $1 per Canadian and less than $20 per unemployed individual.
Since we are talking about overlap and duplication, I would like to point out that the federal government announced in its budget the establishment of an opportunities fund of $30 million a year over three years to give persons with disabilities greater financial independence.
The fund will contribute to supporting innovative projects developed in partnership with groups of individuals with disabilities, the private sector and provincial governments. However, the provinces have always been involved in this area, and here comes the federal government once again to appropriate their clientele.
I have spoken on a number of occasions before this House to underscore my interest in persons with disabilities. In December, I expressed my interest and that of the Government of Quebec in marking the Quebec week of disabled persons, by saying, and I quote: "The Quebec week of disabled persons focuses on integrating these people into the work place. Presided over jointly by Clément Godbout, president of the FTQ, and Ghislain Dufour, of the Conseil du Patronat, this week is a first of its sort in Quebec and takes place in a spirit of fairness and solidarity".
I told of the work done by Cécile-Hélène Wojas, a paraplegic teacher in Lachute whose dynamism and courage have advanced the cause of the disabled, not just in her workplace, but also in the Lachute area, which is part of my riding.
I also paid tribute last February to parents of sick children, and particularly to the courage of one family in my riding of Argenteuil-Papineau. The Séguin family of Saint-André d'Argenteuil, two of whose children, Sylvie and Patrick have muscular dystrophy, is a model of love, courage and devotion.
In addition, what has the federal government done to help students? Their debt load has increased in recent years.
In 1994-95, the total amount owed by students under the Canada Student Loans Program and Quebec's loans and bursaries program was over $7 million.
In 1994-95, over 625,000 Quebecers and Canadians paid interest on loans taken out to pursue their education. In my riding of Argenteuil-Papineau, students must often leave home and move to larger urban centres, thus adding to what it costs them to get an education.
Tax assistance for students certainly helps with their tax burden, but these measures were put in place when the economic situation of students was different.
This budget certainly does not create jobs for taxpayers. And what can we say about the mistakes made by the federal government with respect to the Montreal airports, which will mean the loss of thousands of jobs for many, including people in the Lower Laurentians.
I spoke about this scandal this week. I mentioned that the Bloc Quebecois was severely critical of the federal government for its inconsistent decisions and its mistakes, as former minister André Ouellet called them, in the matter of the Montreal airports.
I also referred to the comments made by Senator Pietro Rizzuto, who confirmed that, for two years now, the federal government has failed to assume its responsibilities in looking for a viable solution to ensure the future of air transport in Quebec, hence the current confusion and the mess we are in.
I also said that the Bloc Quebecois condemned the Liberals for trying, once again, to take the people of the Lower Laurentians hostage on this issue by making all sorts of promises on the eve of an election for purely partisan purposes.
In conclusion, with an election in the offing, I urge the federal government to do a better job and to be more honest, because the public will not be fooled. It can read between the lines and sees this lazy budget for what it really is.