Hec Clouthier

[Supply, February 5th, 1998]

It is so great to get the accolades from the members opposite.

I would like the hon. Leader of the Opposition to indicate how he believes the Liberal Party is being injurious to this country when he knows full well that there was a $42 billion annual deficit when we inherited the leadership of this country. Now the deficit has not only been eradicated but it is quite possible that we will have a surplus. At one time or another the members opposite quite obviously voted for another political party other than their current party which must have run up that bill in an extraneous fashion.

Would the hon. member opposite care to indulge the estimable group on this side of the House with what he believes could lead us to a brighter future?

[Supply, February 5th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I was indeed amazed when the Leader of the Official Opposition mentioned rowing.

Far be it from me to indicate to hon. members present that I am on the Henley rowing team but I do remember something that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in the last lines of The Great Gatsby , not to be mistaken for the great Myron or anything. In The Great Gatsby he wrote “rowing against the tide but borne back ceaselessly into the past”.

The difficulty I have with the rowing analogy is that on occasion hon. members opposite want to return to the past. It is a rather draconian way of looking at how our country is currently being operated.

I also noted that he used the word weak in varying forms. His etymological skills impress me. I wonder if the hon. member's researchers spent a week researching the meaning of the word weak. I remember him talking about computers and note that the hon. party opposite can be contacted at www.something or other. I wonder if that stands for weak, weaker and weakest.

I am reminded of something Shakespeare's MacBeth said: “Out, out brief candle; life is but a walking weak shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and it is heard by nothing. It is a tale told by an idiot signifying nothing”. That is not my terminology. The hon. member opposite does strut. He certainly does fret. I do not agree with MacBeth. The hon. member is no idiot. He is a very clever man. That is why it really surprises me when he speaks about the taxes of the current Liberal government.

The hon. member said that a single mother who earns $15,000 and has one child would pay $1,364 in income tax. The real facts are that over four million—four; one, two, three, four—four million people in this country pay no taxes.

The member talked about leadership. A leader is a custodian of the nation's ideals, of its cherished beliefs and permanent hopes which make a nation out of a mere aggregate of individuals. I ask the hon. member and his party how in heaven's name we will be able to coalesce in this country when he perhaps unknowingly wants to indulge in proposing such divisive tax measures.

I could go on and on but I know—

[Ice Storm, February 2nd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, there were many heroes during the ice storm of 1998. Our Canadian military and the hydro crews were simply unbelievable in their dedication and professionalism. But perhaps the real heroes were ordinary Canadians like Nancy Webb and Lucy Lecuyer of Petawawa. These women took charge and initiated a relief effort that benefited not only Renfrew County but also municipalities throughout eastern Ontario and western Quebec. This valiant pair worked non stop for over six days co-ordinating the relief effort. They were ably assisted by Colonel Kevin McLeod of CFB Petawawa.

As the Member of Parliament for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, I say to Nancy Webb, Lucy Lecuyer and all volunteers thank you for caring and thank you for being there when you were needed.

Example is an eloquent orator. These acts of kindness speak volumes about our Canadian spirit.

[Drunk Driving, December 10th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the many organizations that wage a daily battle against drunk driving.

Groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving have changed the attitudes of Canadians. People who may have considered driving drunk before probably do not now because of stiffer penalties and RIDE programs.

As the Christmas season approaches I encourage everyone to make this a safe and happy holiday. If you do drink, don't drive.

In our gallery today we have a group of students from Bishop Smith Catholic High School in my riding of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke. One of those students is Miss Kathleen Forder.

Miss Forder is the Ontario provincial chair of Students Against Drunk Driving. It is the leadership shown by Kathleen and other young Canadians like her who will help keep the pressure on parliamentarians to ensure that people continue to realize that driving drunk is not socially acceptable. We must work together to make our highways safer for all Canadians.

Kathleen, keep up the good work.

[Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act, December 1st, 1997]

Madam Speaker, tell them to watch my lips. It is a pension plan. We will look after people when they decide to ride off into the sunset with their pension.

The actuaries of the Reform Party have already told them that it would be more costly initially to get into an RRSP plan than it would be to get into the CPP. They know full well that is the truth.

Another motion that was put forward, I believe it is No. 11, suggested that the new contribution rate schedule be deleted and the old unsustainable schedule remain in effect. That would be absolutely devastating. This motion would put the financial sustainability of the CPP at risk, which is the very thing our bill addresses. We want this plan to be sustainable. That is why Bill C-2 is before the House.

This motion most certainly should not be considered, as far as we are concerned. It would bankrupt the plan by the year 2015. I realize that some members opposite are bankrupt of ideas with respect to the CPP, but the plan would actually have no money in it by the year 2015 if we went along with this motion.

We are talking about money. The Greek philosopher, Sophocles, once said that there is nothing so demoralizing in the world as money or the lack thereof. I say to members opposite that if we went along with some of these motions there would certainly be a lack of money in the pension plan. Therefore we cannot endorse them.

Motion No. 22 would delete the requirement for increased contribution rates to cover the costs of new or increased benefits.

That is an important statement of principle, but the federal and provincial governments agreed that any future benefit enrichments must be paid for and that we should never ever again put the security of the CPP at risk by enriching benefits without being able to pay for them. We must have the money to pay for these benefits. We will ensure that because we want to ensure that our young people most certainly of all are not saddled with this unbearable burden.

This leads to leadership. As you well know, Madam Speaker and members opposite, leadership is not necessarily a leadership act. On many occasions it is a moral act. It is not merely the assertion of power, but the assertion of vision. It is having the moral integrity and the intellectual courage to make this vision compelling.

I know the Leader of the Opposition and I believe the leaders of some of the other parties when referring to the throne speech brought forth and quoted fairly liberally from a great Canadian. I know the hon. Leader of the Opposition most certainly did. It was Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Sir Wilfrid Laurier over a hundred years ago had this to say, and I will paraphrase it, about liberalism. Before some of the members opposite start indulging in idle rhetoric and yelling at me, it is small “l” liberalism.

“Liberalism is inherent in the very essence of our nature. It is that desire of happiness with which we are all born into the world. We constantly gravitate toward an ideal which we never attain. We dream of good but never realize the best and thus it will be as long as people are what they are. As long as their immortal soul inhabits a mortal body, their desires will always be vaster than their means”.

The means by which we are going to set a plan that is viable and is sustainable for the youth of this country is this Canada pension plan because we and I believe all members in this chamber care. We as federal members of Parliament must lead the way. We must get Canadians to look beyond the Teflon and the show biz of perhaps question period and perhaps of some of the things we do and say in this House. We must get them to look at the reality of life.

This will not be done by each and every member in this House standing up and reading a speech that has perhaps been penned by hired guns, a speech that perhaps sounds good. We need speeches that are good and sound. We do not need speeches that bring people to their feet. We need speeches that bring people to their senses.

To do this each and every one of us as parliamentarians must make sacrifices. We must give up a little bit of our self-interest. On occasion we cannot get exactly what we want. The truth of the matter is that this truth must ring loud and clear. It must not be muffled by crass manipulation.

The truth of the matter is that in order to proceed as parliamentarians, in order to proceed with this bill, our people must be more intelligent, more highly organized, our social standards more just and each and every person in this chamber, in the House of Commons, must be more united in our cause. We must not fail in our duty at this time.

As parliamentarians we must believe in a country as blessed as ours, and blessed we are with the riches of our natural resources, be they gas, oil, water or timber. The richness we really have is our human resources. All members in this House, irrespective of their race, creed, colour, religion or political affiliation, must come together and do what is best for our country Canada.

We must believe that we will be able to reach out to those people, reach out to the hungry, the homeless, the sick and the destitute. How do we do that? By bringing forth a bill such as Bill C-2, a Canada pension bill that is good for all. It is time that we stood up and shaped our own Canadian identity, that we stood up and did what we have to do.

What we have to do is endorse Bill C-2 because it is a tremendous bill. By following this bill, we can and will lead the entire country into a brighter, more prosperous, more beautiful future.

[Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act, December 1st, 1997]

Madam Speaker, the member opposite has a beautiful wife. She is a very good friend of my wife. I really do not know what she sees in the hon. gentleman, but I guess he does have some redeeming qualities.

The hon. member opposite indicated that it was a payroll tax. All hon. members opposite know full well that it is not a payroll tax. It is a pension plan.

[Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act, December 1st, 1997]

Madam Speaker, I rise to speak in favour of Bill C-2. I also rise to speak to the motions in Group 6.

One of the motions put forward by a party opposite indicates that the proposed amendment would remove new investigative powers and administrative penalty provisions designed to prevent fraud and to allow for remedial action outside of court processes.

We oppose this motion for the simple reason that client rights are protected by the availability of full appeal rights pertaining to all matters within this bill and arising from the imposition of an administrative penalty.

These new investigative powers align the Canada pension plan with old age security and with current provisions of the EI act.

The previous speaker spoke rather scurrilously about Bill C-2. I was reminded of something which Mark Twain once said. He said that there are lies, there are damn lies and then there are statistics. The hon. member for Cariboo—Chilcotin played fast and loose with the statistics.

He was making disparaging remarks about the CPP and endorsing RRSPs. RRSPs are not guaranteed. People can invest their money in RRSPs and lose it, but if they invest their money in the Canada pension plan it is guaranteed by the federal government. It is a pension plan.

[Donkin Mine, November 21st, 1997]

The leadership side, the side that ultimately makes decisions in consultation with all members of the House.

As the parliamentary secretary has made clear Devco's mandate is still commercial viability. We expect projects to go forward on the basis of commercial viability. In other words, if the Donkin mine is to be developed it will have to be on a commercial basis.

The word true has a certain air of quality about it in this hallowed Chamber. It is a versatile word. This is particularly true given the government's record of fiscal responsibility to all Canadians.

In his magnificent, magnanimous, munificent budget last February, the Minister of Finance indicated that the government would stay the course on its effort to eliminate that terrible and dreadful thing called the deficit.

Canadians recognize and appreciate that progress has been made in this regard. Far be it for me to pre-empt our fantastic Minister of Finance, but deficit elimination will more than likely be achieved in fiscal year 1998-99, but that does not mean the government can abandon its policies of fiscal restraint and accountability.

Hon. members will recall that the previous minister of natural resources, during an appearance before a special Senate committee this past March, indicated that she would entertain private sector proposals to study the feasibility of developing the Donkin mine. The government fully supports Devco's decision to allow the private sector to explore development of the Donkin mine on a commercial basis.

As hon. members have been informed, a private company, Donkin Resources Ltd., is currently conducting a feasibility study to examine the availability and quality of the coal deposit, the market opportunities and the technical details associated with opening the mine. The study was financially supported by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency through a contribution to the Cape Breton County Economic Development Authority. This contribution—

[Donkin Mine, November 21st, 1997]

If I were on the other side I would really be in deep or out of it. We are on the government side, are we not?

[Donkin Mine, November 21st, 1997]

There is a difference of opinion on the pronunciation of Phalen. I am from the upper Ottawa valley and I believe it is pronounced Phalen. I knew a Phalen who he was kind of an incorrigible person and Sister Mary Florence made him stand in detention.

Notwithstanding that the corporation will also look at the potential contribution of its full resources including Donkin coal prior to submitting its annual corporate plan update earlier next year.