Andy Mitchell

[Snowmobiling, November 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, with the snowmobile season soon upon us, I rise in the House today to pay tribute to the volunteers who make snowmobiling in my riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka an important part of the economy, supporting a large number of businesses.

Snowmobiling is enjoying an incredible resurgence and it is fast becoming the number one winter sport. The tremendous growth has turned snowmobiling into a $1.25 billion industry in Canada, supporting thousands of jobs across the country. Largely financed by the user pay system, snowmobiling relies on the support and dedication of its volunteers.

In Parry Sound-Muskoka close to 850 of my constituents volunteer their time. Across Ontario the number is 10,000 and across Canada there are a staggering 30,000 volunteers who support the snowmobile industry.

Volunteers are a valuable commodity. In my riding these generous people are helping us fulfil our goal of becoming a four season tourism destination through the increasing popularity of snowmobiling.

[Social Policy Forum, November 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to extend a note of thanks to close to 100 of my constituents who participated in my social policy forum held last week in my riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka.

The forum was held over a two day period. It brought together representatives from a wide range of social service providers and interested constituents alike. Eleven panel speakers provided diverse perspectives from organized labour, education, training, the business sector, municipal government, apprenticeship programs and family and children's services. This broad range of insight initiated group discussions to include all issues as brought forward in the discussion paper of the Minister of Human Resources Development.

I wish to extend a special note of thanks to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources Development for his active participation in my forum. His input was well received and provided a good foundation on which to base our two day discussions.

I will be providing the minister with the recommendations which came forward from my constituents to ensure that their point of view is heard.

[The Economy, October 28th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, on numerous occasions during the past few weeks members of the Reform Party have included in their statements the amount the debt increases during the one minute they speak. Fair enough. Emphasizing the seriousness of our economic difficulties is important.

But members of the opposite party fail to tell the complete story and ignore some of the important disbursements the government will make. In the next minute, $38,000 will be paid to seniors, $28,000 will be transferred to the provinces to pay for medical services, $15,000 will be disbursed to low income Canadians through the child tax and GST credits and $29,000 of tax expenditures will be incurred to support retirement savings plans.

Unlike some members of the Reform Party we in the government are cognizant of our social responsibilities to individual Canadians. We intend to ensure that people do not die for lack of medical care, do not go hungry for lack of food and do not suffer from exposure for lack of housing.

As Liberals we intend to live up to all of our responsibilities.

[Small Business Week, October 26th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, October 23 to 29 is Small Business Week in Ontario. The week is sponsored by the Federal Business Development Bank in partnership with many local private and public sector organizations that promote entrepreneurship.

It is no surprise to anyone in this House that small business is critical to the Canadian economy. Eight of ten new jobs in Canada come from the small business sector. It employs 4.2 million Canadians and accounts for 37 per cent of the country's employment.

This week throughout Ontario the FBDB will be giving a series of seminars and luncheons which will promote small business, educate participants and pay tribute to the men and women who make this province successful.

We owe a debt to the small business men and women of this country who daily risk everything they have and in doing so create jobs and economic growth for Canada.

[Supply, October 25th, 1994]

The member across suggested a number of ways he thinks we can do it. Let me enumerate some of them. He talked about the fact that he wants to eliminate day care. To him daycare is not important. Let us sweep it off the table. That is not of any interest to anybody.

According to the member pay equity is not important. Let us sweep that off the table. That is not something we want to have anything to do with.

We do not want anything to do with unions or with economic diversification in the areas of this country that are hard hit economically. No, we do not want to help any of our disadvantaged regions. That would be something we would not want to do.

Finally, he talks about special interest groups. He mentions that we do not want to fund them. He suggests that we should not have to do that because they would pay for it themselves. I agree there are occasions where I would like to see somebody who is able to afford to make a case to the government pay for it themself, but not everybody has the financial resources to do that.

If we use the member's scenario, the rich would have an opportunity to present to Parliament and an opportunity to make their voice heard, but the poor would be shunted aside because they would not have the money to be able to do it.

I do not think that is the kind of representation we want to encourage as a government. I bring these points up to the member opposite and suggest that he might want to re-evaluate and take a second look at some of the suggestions that he is making to the hon. finance minister.

[Supply, October 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to all parts of the speech of the member opposite and I have a couple of comments to make and a question to ask.

At the beginning of his speech he talks about, and quite rightly, our grave concern about interest payments. He suggested that if we were responsible, somehow we should be able to eliminate it overnight. It is inappropriate that we should be incurring more debt and more interest payments tomorrow, the next day or the day after. However, I want to make it clear both to the member and to the people out there in the audience that to accomplish that tomorrow would mean we would have to cut $40 billion out of government expenditure. The member opposite is suggesting that we cut $40 billion out of the federal budget tomorrow.

That is an unreasonable approach. We want to cut the $40 billion but we are going to do it over a reasonable period of time with reasonable policies that protect individual Canadians while we are doing it, not overnight.

[Petitions, October 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my second petition has to do with changes to the Human Rights Act. My constituents are concerned that the changes will concur or give societal approval to things that my constituents do not believe appropriate.

[Petitions, October 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present on behalf of my constituents today.

The first one deals with the young offenders legislation. My constituents have expressed a number of concerns. I am pleased to see that our government has addressed many of those in the present legislation before this House as well as in the study that is being undertaken by the justice committee.

[Paul Brodie, October 18th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, Wednesday, October 19, at Government House, Paul Brodie a resident of Bala in my riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka, will receive the prestigious Order of Canada award.

Mr. Brodie is recognized as Canada's ambassador of classical saxophone and founder of the World Saxophone Congress. Having played for 35 years, Mr. Brodie has performed in 2,500 concerts. He has been the guest of high commissions and embassies in England, France, China, Israel, Australia and others. From the small, picturesque community of Bala, Mr. Brodie has travelled to small communities throughout Canada.

In the Parry Sound-Muskoka region Mr. Brodie has been kind enough to share his art with young students by performing in the many schools in my riding. I congratulate Mr. Brodie for winning the Order of Canada and wish him continued success in the future.

[Department Of Industry Act, October 17th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to have the opportunity this afternoon to discuss Bill C-46, a reorganization of the industry department. It is an important piece of legislation. A large number of activities which are going to affect the business community are being brought together into one department: small business support; tourism; economic development; telecommunications; trade and commerce; science; and consumer affairs.

The thrust of the legislation in what it is trying to accomplish is very positive. We are trying to make the department more efficient. We are going to give the small business sector and the business community in general one stop, the Department of Industry, in which to interface with government rather than having to go through a paper chase every time.

It is going to be a more efficient process. We are going to have a number of consolidations. The member opposite mentioned some of the savings that are beginning. Those will be accelerated as time goes on. We are going to have a more productive department. We are going to have centralized planning and direction for our government's industry policy. This consolidated department will give us the opportunity to do that.

There are three specific areas I would like to talk about: small business support; tourism; and regional economic development.

Small business support by the Department of Industry is absolutely critical to the Canadian economy. It is the fastest growing component of our economy. In the first three years of this decade during one of the worst recessions we have ever experienced, 73,000 new small businesses were created. Eight of ten new jobs in the country come from the small business sector. It employs 4.2 million Canadians and accounts for 37 per cent of the country's employment. This new Department of Industry is undertaking a number of important initiatives to help this sector grow, to help it expand, to help it employ more Canadians.

One of the most important initiatives which I have had some direct input on and one which my colleague for Kenora-Rainy River mentioned was access to capital. It is absolutely essential that the small business sector be able to access both debt and equity capital if it is going to have an opportunity to expand or an opportunity to establish new businesses. The department has already moved in this area. A private sector committee estab-

lished last winter has been studying this issue. It is about to make a report with some very specific recommendations on how an environment can be created within which small business can access capital.

The department is working with the chartered banks, with this committee and others on a code of conduct. It will establish the relationship that will exist between the small business sector and the banking community to help ensure there is better access to capital.

There is an ongoing review of the Federal Business Development Bank to make it more effective and more responsive to the needs of the small business sector. An all party committee of this House, the industry committee, will table within a couple of days its report with some very thorough and sound recommendations on how this process can be taken even further.

I had an opportunity earlier this year to chair an access to capital task force. It toured the province of Ontario and discussed with the small business sector some of the things that can be done to help them access capital.

Beyond that the department is doing other things. It is helping formulate business networks to help individual small businesses combine their strengths so they can compete globally. They are working on establishing a Canada investment fund to help innovative firms access venture capital, to operate not as a replacement for capital from the private sector but as a stimulus for entry into those markets.

There should be better access to government programming through business service centres. This is an important initiative. Small business people do not have the time to go through reams and reams of paper trying to access information. They need it to be given concisely and in one location. This is an important initiative that is being undertaken co-operatively with the provinces.

There is a private sector committee working under the auspices of the industry department looking at the business environment, including the regulatory and paper burden that small businesses have to operate under today. We have to relieve the small business people from spending more time on paperwork than doing their jobs and more time on trying to adhere to regulations than trying to earn profits and employing people.

The second area is tourism, a critical industry in Canada and a critical industry in my riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka. Representing 10 per cent of the Canadian labour force, 1.2 million jobs depend on this sector. In Canada 60,000 businesses are directly employed in the tourism industry. It generates $12.9 billion in tax revenue which can be used for the betterment of all Canadians. Locally in my riding 52 per cent of all employed individuals are directly affected by the tourism industry. For each million dollars that we are able to increase tourism in my riding we can create 39 person-years of employment.

Industry Canada through Tourism Canada is working hard on making that a bigger and better industry in this country. It is helping to formulate partnerships with the private sector so that we can market ourselves internationally as a country and attract more visitors to Canada. They are concentrating on the development of new products such as a winter experience product including snowmobiling and cross-country skiing, areas of vital concern in my riding where people are able to earn their livings.

This is not going to be the end. It is the beginning. As the Minister of Finance said today in his statement, the area of tourism is one the government will concentrate on in the months ahead. As well, the Prime Minister appointed his special advisor to recommend further action. Tourism will be looked at by this government. It will be pursued and will become an even more important industrial tool in Canada.

The last area I would like to touch on very briefly is the area of economic development. Something that is often forgotten in all of the plans is that in northern Ontario we are a resource based economy which has experienced great financial difficulties over the years.

The economic development agency FEDNOR operates in northern Ontario. I agree with the Minister of Finance and several other comments in the House that we cannot subsidize a losing proposition and expect it is going to have any meaningful impact. However, economic development agencies can invest in the future winners. It can help lever investment from the private sector. In fact FEDNOR has committed $53 million directly but by doing so it has been able to lever $186 million in additional funds. That is what economic development agencies are all about. That is what they do.

FEDNOR has participated in 843 projects since its inception and it has helped create or maintain over 3,600 jobs. FEDNOR is an important initiative for northern Ontario. It is one under the auspices of the Minister of Industry and I am pleased to see it will continue under the reorganized department.

In summary, this bill is committed to creating a department which will create an environment in which business can prosper. The reorganization of the department will help this happen. It will make it more efficient, more effective and more productive. I would like to congratulate the minister, his assistants and the people of his department on a job well done in formulating this piece of legislation.