Eugène Bellemare

[Regional Development Banks, June 8th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 1999 report on Canada's participation in regional development banks.

[Cida, May 18th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, if there is an environmental problem we will present our report to the country of Belize so it can make a judicious decision as to whether it should or should not go ahead with the project.

[Cida, May 18th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the question is a very good one. Unfortunately, the member is out to lunch.

CIDA is providing funding toward the preparation of environmental and social assessments and for public consultation only. We are not contributing to the construction of any dam.

[École Jeanne-Sauvé, May 18th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, last week I attended the launch of the environmental microbusiness “La société de demain, j'y travaille” at the Jeanne-Sauvé public elementary school in Orléans.

This is the first initiative of its kind in Ontario and it came about through the support of the Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario and a grant from Alcan.

The microbusiness's activities are now an integral part of the lives of the school's 575 students from kindergarten to grade eight.

The students are required to collect and recycle aluminum cans and grocery bags. They also recycle paper to make greeting cards for sale in the community.

Each class is a shareholder and it is up to the students how they reinvest the profits from the sale of their products.

Jeanne-Sauvé public elementary school is an example to all schools.

[Human Rights, May 3rd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure that the hon. member wants us to help the poorest of the poor and the sickest of the sick.

That is what CIDA is doing. We will not support terrorists or governments that terrorize people. We are dealing with human poverty.

[International Assistance, May 2nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is committed to helping developing countries, and domestic development is the reason why our economy is so strong.

When it comes to supporting the development of other countries, we are involved and we are continually increasing the budgets spent abroad.

[Charles Daudelin, April 4th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, we were deeply saddened to learn yesterday of the death of sculptor Charles Daudelin. He held a very prominent position in our cultural universe.

Born in Granby, Charles Daudelin was a pioneer in the development of contemporary Canadian culture. One of the first sculptors to propose an approach based on the abstract, thus distancing himself from traditional sculpture, he became a model for other contemporary sculptors.

His interest in the integration of art and architecture might explain his role in the concept of public art, that is, sculptures in public places rather than in buildings.

Canadians, and Montrealers in particular, are very familiar with his public sculptures. His work may also be found in Notre-Dame basilica and in the Canada Council art bank.

Mr. Daudelin leaves us a rich heritage of his work and his influence on visual arts in Canada.

On behalf of the government of Canada, I thank Charles Daudelin for the work he has left us and offer my condolences to his family.

[Robert Gauthier, April 3rd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, Robert Gauthier, the most illustrious educator in French Ontario, died on March 25, 2001. He was in his 99th year. Mr. Gauthier spent his life promoting education in French in Ontario, at a time when the schools that had survived the infamous Regulation 17 had to start all over again.

A graduate of the universities of Ottawa, Laval, Montreal and Toronto, Mr. Gauthier became a school inspector at age 25 and went on to become Ontario's first provincial director of French education.

Robert Gauthier launched the provincial French competition, the Olympiade de la langue française. He created the Association des enseignants franco-ontariens, and he developed kindergartens, integrated schools and the TAN-GAU method to teach a second language.

The future of French in Ontario was his passion. For Robert Gauthier, it was “a matter of language, a matter of pride”.

[Supply, April 3rd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois is linking the Grand-Mère golf club to the Auberge Grand-Mère for purely political reasons.

I have some questions for him. The auberge obtained loans from the caisse populaire and from the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec. I ask him what the total of those loans was. Was it not $2 million? What was the amount of the loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada? Was it not $615,000? What was the rate of interest? Was it not 25%, while today's interest rates are around 7%, 8% or 9%? What was the favour to the auberge?

There are hundreds of golf clubs in Quebec. They do not need an adjacent hotel. Very few golf clubs do not have their own clubhouse. As for the Prime Minister, he was a co-owner, not the owner, of the Grand-Mère golf club. He owned perhaps 25% of the shares.

I ask the leader of the opposition what percentage of shares the Prime Minister owned and when he sold them, not when he might have sold the entire golf club, which did not belong to him.

[Member For Saskatoon—Humboldt, March 15th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Alliance member for Saskatoon—Humboldt, who suffers from francophobia, introduced a deplorable private member's bill on February 28 to destroy the Official Languages Act and our Canadian unity.

According to his comments, he feels that money is being wasted supporting language minorities. He would crush any hope for French Canadians to be equal partners of Canadian society. He would even want to prevent the capital of this country from officially providing services in French.

Do the Leader of the Opposition and his Canadian Alliance Party agree with this attitude of intolerance and—