SPER Committee Report

Christiane Gagnon — MP for Québec
June 9, 2005

The Bloc Québécois would like to have seen recognition in recommendation 1 of the exclusive jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces for health and social assistance. The Bloc Québécois had suggested that the following be added at the end of recommendation 1: “together with the provinces and in accordance with their areas of jurisdiction,” but this was not accepted. As a result, the Bloc Québécois is compelled to issue a dissident opinion on this report, in view of the federal government’s obvious encroachment and refusal to cooperate with Quebec with respect to income support (other than tax measures) for persons with disabilities.

Recommendation 5.1 reads as follows: “priority should be given to expenditure programs rather than tax measures to target new funding where the need is greatest. The Committee recognizes that the development of such programs would involve consultations with provincial and territorial governments and the disability community.”

This decision to give priority to expenditure programs is motivated by the fact that “individuals must first have a taxable income in order to derive any benefit from the current [tax] measures.” ^[1] While this is basically true, expenditure programs in this area fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces, and must be seen as direct encroachment. In view of this encroachment, we cannot approve the implementation of this recommendation.

The Bloc Québécois is issuing this dissenting opinion because we believe that adopting recommendation 1 — which implements recommendation 5.1 of the Technical Advisory Committee Report — would be tantamount to giving the federal government a blank cheque for the development of programs in an area that is not within its jurisdiction. The Technical Advisory Committee Report (Chapter 5) presents a number of interesting solutions, but no concrete decision is made, so we do not know exactly what we are adopting in the way of solutions for persons with disabilities.

For instance, the proposal to make the non-refundable tax credit a refundable tax credit does not present any problems. The national employment strategy, however, represents an intrusion with respect to labour market integration policy.

As to a federal-provincial-territorial initiative similar to the one for early childhood development, where consultations and cooperation are planned, this is what the Government of Quebec has called for from the outset, but the federal government insists on interfering in provincial areas of jurisdiction and seeking to impose national standards for the establishment of a joint program. Finally, it would provide cash assistance in exchange for administrative and policy control over programs that are under Quebec and provincial jurisdiction, which is completely unacceptable.