Tony Tirabassi

[User Fees Act, March 27th, 2003]

So moved, Mr. Speaker.

[Main Estimates, 2003-04, March 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, on behalf of the President of the Treasury Board, part III of the Estimates consisting of 87 departmental reports on plans and priorities. These documents will be distributed to members of the standing committees to assist in their consideration of the spending authorities sought in part II of the Estimates.

[Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, March 25th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority that is located in my riding of Niagara Centre. Its mandate is to further the conservation, restoration, development and management of natural resources.

With the assistance of the federal government, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority has, and continues to, restore the ecological health of the watersheds in the Niagara region, that being only one of the many rehabilitation projects it has undertaken.

It also maintains conservation areas that offer spectacular views, sparkling waterfalls, unique trails, fascinating rock formations and rare plants and wildlife.

I want to congratulate Andy Burt, Mary Stack, Andrew Mack, all the staff and tee board of directors. I ask that they keep up the excellent work.

[Peacekeeping Service Medal, March 24th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my constituent, Harvey Beauvais, who has been awarded the Canadian peacekeeping service medal.

Harvey began his career with the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency in 1982 after a 23 year career in the Canadian military, where he served in Europe working in intelligence.

During his career with customs, Harvey held positions that included customs inspector, acting customs superintendent and intelligence officer. Harvey is now retired and lives with his wife in Thorold, Ontario.

I congratulate Harvey for having done Canada proud.

[Suzanne Rochon Burnett, February 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to some of the accomplishments of my constituent, Suzanne Rochon Burnett.

Suzanne is a proud Metis who began her broadcast career in Quebec in the 1950s. She eventually moved to the Niagara Peninsula and by 1974 she had developed the highly successful radio program Chanson à la Française . Suzanne was also a regular on CBC's Morningside .

In 1995 Suzanne's company purchased the business that operated radio station C-HOW in the Niagara. She applied to the CRTC for an FM frequency and was granted a licence.

Suzanne is a strong supporter of business, the arts and broadcasting in native communities. She is a member of countless arts and cultural boards, and has received numerous awards and medals, including the Order of Canada.

I congratulate Suzanne. She has made our community a better place in which to live.

[Fred Rogers, February 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we are saddened today to hear about the death of a long time childhood icon, Mr. Rogers.

Fred Rogers, whose show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood aired from 1968 to 2000, was a part of so many of our neighbourhoods as we were growing up.

What many Canadians do not know is that his program got its start as a 15 minute show here in Canada on the CBC before he took the program back to his native Pittsburgh.

Mr. Rogers had a special way of soothing and entertaining. His love of children and his simple messages taught important life lessons, while leaving us feeling as though a friend had just come over to visit.

Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian minister who studied early childhood education and did most of the puppetry for the show himself.

Indeed, it is a sad day in the neighbourhood this morning. Many of us have lost a cherished figure from our childhoods. He will be remembered fondly.

[Criminal Code, February 25th, 2003]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate again the question from the hon. member. As a matter of fact, the government was very concerned that perhaps the selection process was too restrictive. More than a year ago the Public Service Commission broadened the area of selection for all senior officer level jobs to Canadians residing anywhere. It also launched a series of pilot studies to determine how these changes would affect costs, workload and other aspects of the selection process.

The commission briefed parliamentarians this past November on the result of its projects and on its planned course of action with regard to systematically moving away from geographical based areas of selection. The government is concerned about the process and has undertaken the pilot projects with the hope that it would be able to broaden its selection area from coast to coast to coast.

[Criminal Code, February 25th, 2003]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Cumberland—Colchester for bringing this issue before the House.

We recognize the hon. member's concerns on this very important issue. The practice of using geographical criteria to determine who can apply for certain positions with the Public Service of Canada has been a subject of discussion among parliamentarians and Canadians for some time now.

Hiring public servants is the responsibility of the Public Service Commission of Canada, which is an independent federal agency responsible for recruiting and appointing qualified candidates to public service positions in accordance with the provisions and principles of the Public Service Employment Act. The act allows for the use of geographic criteria, a practice which has been in use for about 40 years. Although we agree in principle with the concerns that have been raised in the House, there is a rationale for imposing geographic criteria on public service competitions.

First, let us appreciate that the objective of advertising job openings is to generate a sufficient pool of qualified and representative candidates for a given position. Common sense dictates that when the job is a highly specialized one or when the labour market has a low concentration of the sought after skills, the net has to be cast widely to ensure that there will be a sufficient pool of qualified candidates to choose from. That is the approach that the commission has traditionally taken.

Conversely, for junior level positions, it makes much more sense to limit the scope of the search to a smaller geographic area because the labour market is likely to contain a higher concentration of the sought after competencies per capita. I should point out that it is not unusual for the Public Service Commission to receive hundreds or even thousands of applications for open competitions and that it is required by law, via the Public Service Employment Act, to assess every one of those applications within the current recruitment system. This is performed manually. Clearly the government has to find the right balance between equity of access to public service jobs and the wise use of taxpayers' money.

That said, the Public Service Commission has expressed on numerous occasions its desire to move away from geographically based areas of selection to the fullest extent possible. Such a course of action cannot be pursued without assessing all of the implications within a merit based staffing system. We do not want to find ourselves in the position of promising Canadians something that we simply cannot deliver.

Therefore, the Public Service Commission has been taking a measured approach to this issue, phasing in wider areas of selection and evaluating the consequences. One thing it has discovered, not surprisingly, is that broadening the geographic area of selection for a given position increases the volume of applications, adds to the workload of departmental managers, lengthens the selection process and places additional pressures on an already strained staffing system.

The commission is currently studying how best to solve these issues at a reasonable cost. I would like to point out that the Auditor General has commented favourably on the approach that has been taken in this regard. In her report to Parliament last year she concluded that it would be premature to eliminate geographic selection criteria without careful study first. She wrote:

Opening all positions across the country could have a significant impact on the affordability and efficiency of recruitment. It could increase the volume of applications and therefore the time it takes to hire someone. It could increase the costs of the selection process and of moving successful candidates to the job location.

[Order of Canada, February 25th, 2003]

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my constituent, Dr. Jacques Dubois, who has received the Order of Canada.

For over 50 years Dr. Dubois has been an important influence on various aspects in the City of Welland in the francophone community. A general practitioner, he has worked in the fields of health, education, culture and social causes. As chair of the public school board, he increased the number of elementary schools in the area. At the provincial level he chaired a commission of inquiry on health care delivered in French in the clinics and hospitals. As a volunteer, he contributed to the development of charitable organizations such as the Red Cross and Club Richelieu.

On behalf of the citizens from my riding of Niagara Centre, I would like to thank Dr. Dubois for his dedication to our region.

[Health Care, February 17th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to pay tribute to my constituent, Kim Stasiak. Kim graduated from the Mack School of Nursing in St. Catharines in 1977 and trained in hospitals throughout the Niagara region.

During her career Kim has worked for the Nurses Registry in Niagara, local nursing homes, the Lakeside Camp for Crippled Children in Port Colborne, the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and presently in the ER of the Hotel Dieu Hospital in St. Catharines.

Today I would like to recognize Kim's unwavering commitment to the Niagara Health Coalition, where she works under the co-ordination of the Ontario Health Coalition that is fighting to defend our medicare system.

Kim strongly supports the recommendations of the Romanow Commission. Over the 26 years that Kim has been a registered nurse, she has worked tirelessly to defend what many of us take for granted.

I thank Kim for her continuing hard work and dedication.