Mr. Speaker, I will start by responding to what I have just heard. This is a very strange way to view things, in asking the provinces to sign an agreement before they can even negotiate it. It is like asking workers not to strike and to sign a collective agreement, in hopes they will agree with the employer. If an agreement with the provinces is to be reached, it must be done before the expiry date and there must be negotiations.
References have been made, for example, to the $2 billion for health. How long have we heard about this? Mr. Chrétien promised this amount, for part of last year, and this promise is being repeated. They say that to invest $2 billion in health, the equalization agreement has to be renewed for another year. This is false.
The Bloc Quebecois is asking that the federal government fulfill its obligations and give the $2 billion for health care. The bill can be split with regard to this issue. We are asking that this $2 billion be made a recurring item. It makes no sense to try to administer a province without ever knowing what will happen.
For example, Quebec, like the other provinces, is responsible for health, education and municipal affairs. It needs to know what funds it will receive. A new equalization agreement must be signed before the old one expires, so that we know what will happen under the next agreement.
However, if one law says it can be renewed for one or five years, this puts the provinces in a tight spot. They agree to what the government wants, or else the current system is renewed. This is not a logical way to work. Our system is one in which the federal government must give money to the provinces; therefore, both parties must agree.
Last year, the House hardly sat. Nothing was accomplished. Now, the bills we should have considered last fall are being reinstated one by one. Due to internal problems in the ruling party, the House did not sit. Now, the government wants to reinstate everything at the last minute, no matter what may happen to those suffering from its incompetency, as the provinces are suffering with regard to equalization.
The request of the Bloc Quebecois is quite logical. This $2 billion for health was promised a long time ago. Please, give us the money. We can split the bill. We all agree, everyone agrees with that part of the bill, and we would even want it to be a recurring item. It is quite a significant amount.
Last year, during the whole summer and autumn, we were told that the government was not sure it would have enough money to hand out this $2 billion. The government wanted us to believe that it was almost in a tough financial situation, but we now realize that there will be a $7 billion surplus. All this goes to show how hypocritical they can be. Why can they not tell the truth for once?
We are looking for the truth not only about the sponsorship scandal, but also about what is happening with equalization. I agree with what our critic said on this issue. We do not sign blank cheques. We want the bill to be split and we want to get the money for health that is owed to us under the equalization program, and we want it to become a recurrent item. We would support that part. However, let us go to the negotiation table as soon as possible. Let us not put a knife to the throats of the provinces and coerce them into signing a deal that would be similar to the current one. If we go about it this way, the provinces would not be pleased and would feel once again that they have been had.
I sat for nine years at the National Assembly of Quebec and I know the administration problems the provinces have when they do not know what transfers they can expect. The amounts owed to the provinces do not belong to the federal government, but rather to the provinces and are needed to help them discharge their obligations.
It is not logical to feel that one is at the mercy of the federal government and that they always arrange things so one is at a disadvantage in negotiations.
I am therefore totally in agreement with the Bloc Quebecois position on this and am convinced this position is shared by all the provinces, Quebec in particular of course, because we have heard that Mr. Séguin is calling for the same thing we have been saying here.
What I find deplorable about this government is the lack of justice in its legislation or in the way that legislation is applied. Someone this afternoon referred to equalization payments as they are seen by the Liberal Party over there. Among other things, it is the money involved in the sponsorship scandals which finds its way to the party's campaign funds without anyone being responsible. They saw nothing, yet half a billion dollars changed hands, and one hundred million of that half billion changed hands in an indirect manner. A strange kind of transfer payment, that.
I invite people to look into the contributions to the Parti Quebecois and the Bloc Quebecois. These are public and bear no resemblance whatsoever to the contributions to the Liberal Party. I know that because I have worked in Quebec, as I said, and have had to work within the stringent rules of Quebec's legislation and we had moral standards, unlike the federal public service and the federal government.
It is, for instance, scandalous to see that seniors are being deprived of money, as are the unemployed. Only 39% of those currently out of work can collect employment insurance. Their fund has been taken over. That is another transfer payment in favour of the federal government. They helped themselves to $45 billion from the EI fund, money that belonged to workers. Not one red cent of it belongs to the government.
I do not want to hear anyone try to tell me that it is the same thing in Quebec. That is not true. The Government of Quebec has had some things to answer for, but never a scandal such as the one we have here. There are even some people on that side who are so scandalized that they dare not speak. Someone has said it is totally beyond him. What is really beyond me is that it is difficult, if not downright impossible, to get at the truth.
There is a word I would like to use, but it would be unparliamentary. Therefore I will not use it. Another word that should be considered unparliamentary is the word truth. We have very little opportunity to hear that word. What is happening defies logic.
The fact that we are constantly before a government that takes every opportunity to help its friends and then shirks responsibility if a problem arises, make no sense. They are the only ones who had not heard about what was going on, while in our ridings, everyone had. Agency representatives in my riding were shocked at what they had to do in order to get a sponsorship. It is quite unbelievable.
At any rate, we are talking about equalization. I know I have somewhat belaboured the point, but we can all agree that this equalization formula is unacceptable. With respect to the current agreement, I think it would be logical to meet with the provinces to negotiate as soon as possible in order to resolve this problem. Legislation could be passed after the negotiations, not before. The provinces should not have to renew the former agreement for another year or another five years because the government says so.