Translation of "Social Assistance Information System " (English → French) :

While things are pretty tough for the people who are perhaps at the lowest end of the income ladder in Canada, in the third world there is often no social assistance payment system.

One of the things that happens in our current social support system for low-income families with children is that when families are on social assistance—and this comment is primarily directed at the incentives for families who are on social assistance and who are considering leaving social assistance to join the paid labour force, or families who are in the paid labour force but at quite a low-income job—those families face quite high hurdles and disincentives to enter and stay in the labour force.

Quebec's guidelines are very different because Quebec has a very unique social assistance system and their guidelines are in keeping with their social assistance system.

In specific cases, claiming social assistance can give rise to a reasonable doubt on the part of the national authorities that the person may have become an unreasonable burden on the social assistance system[35].

As far as pensioners are concerned, they do not have to worry, I made that clear, and old age pensioners will not be affected, not in November and not in the finance minister's next budget. Mr. Michel Gauthier (Roberval, BQ): Mr. Speaker, will the Prime Minister admit that at the rate the federal government says it will cut transfers to the provinces, in other words, money used by the provinces for social programs and education, at the rate the federal government plans to cut these expenditures, according to our most accurate estimates-although the criteria have not yet been released, but we tried a series of criteria that seemed likely- ...[+++]we can say that in four years time, if Quebecers say no in the referendum and decide to stay in the federal system, in four years time the federal government will no longer pay a cent in transfer payments for social programs, education and social assistance, and on top of that, under the tax points system, Quebecers would again have to send part of the province's tax revenues to Ottawa to help fund social programs in the other provinces?

What I am suggesting is that the priority should be reinvestment in our social programs, our medicare system, our public post-secondary education system, restoration of our unemployment insurance program, improvements to social assistance, and a national early childhood development program—social programs that benefit all citizens.