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Dissenting Opinion by the Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois Members of Parliament subscribe to the values expressed in the Committee's report, that children are one of our society's most valuable resources and that they represent our future. It is, therefore, our duty to make every effort and to pool the resources needed to ensure that children develop to their full potential.

However, the Bloc Québécois MPs deplore the fact that the recommendations made by the Liberal MPs are a blatant attack on two areas of provincial jurisdiction - health and education. Some of the recommendations even suggest that supplementary national standards be developed and imposed, which is totally unacceptable to the Bloc Québécois.

The Committee's report does not show the whole picture of poverty in Canada, nor the fact that poverty is constantly increasing, aided and abetted by the Liberal government's irrational policy of cutbacks in transfer payments to provinces and in social programs (unemployment insurance reform, among others). It must be pointed out that, after three years of Liberal rule, more than 1.5 million Canadians are out of work,1 more than 1.3 million children live in poverty,2 and a total of 5 million people in Canada are living below the poverty line!3

The Bloc Québécois MPs feel that, in order for any measure that aims at improving children's development to be truly effective, it must be implemented in consideration of the division of powers among the levels of government, and in consideration of the programs and initiatives already in place. Consequently, we believe that a province which does not consent to the implementation of the measures or programs that might result from the Committee's recommendations must be entitled to full financial compensation.

1 Statistics Canada, Cat. No. 71001, November 1996.

2 Source: National Council of Welfare, Poverty Profile 1994, Spring 1996.

3 Statistics Canada, Cat. No. 13207, 1996.

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