Art Eggleton

[Infrastructure, September 30th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I notice the member did not mention the arena or the library in his own riding which he did not get any-

[Infrastructure, September 30th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the red book promise has been fulfilled and the infrastructure program is a great success.

This program which started only a few months ago has had terrific support from every municipality and every province across this country to the point where 70 per cent of the $6 billion allocated has now in fact been approved in projects, putting 100,000 Canadians back to work.

We said that we would get our $2 billion of the $6 billion from reallocation. We outlined in great detail in the red book exactly how that is being done. I have seen municipalities and provinces right across this country pick up on that spirit, reallocate funds, find ways of providing funds to get Canadians back to work without further burdening the taxpayers of this country and that is what we have done with this program.

[Special Interest Groups, September 29th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it will be part and parcel of the program review which is in turn part and parcel of the consultation process that the Minister of Finance will be engaging in. When the budget is out next February members will see those cuts and how they are going to be made.

[Special Interest Groups, September 29th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, there will be no announcement tomorrow if that is what is anticipated by the hon. member.

However, I will say that the staff of the Treasury Board has been working on guidelines. We will issue guidelines to the various departments with respect to dealing with the issue of special interest groups and their funding. We will be asking the different departments to address this issue in the framework of the program review.

I do anticipate, like all other aspects of the program review, that there will be cuts because we do need to have these cuts to get our spending in line and get the deficit down. Therefore, we will be issuing those guidelines to the various departments to examine their grants.

[Family Patrimony, September 23rd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, as I said just a moment ago, when I came upon the regulation requirements, not a lot of work had been done by the previous government. We have expedited the matter and it is nearing completion. A lot of work has been done in a very short period of time because we are anxious to make sure that the provisions are in place to better serve our retired employees and their successors.

[Family Patrimony, September 23rd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have now signed and recommended to the Governor General the Pension Benefits Division Act which helps to bring into effect the very regulations that are of concern to the hon. member with respect to implementing Bill C-55.

Bill C-55 was put into effect by the previous government. It required a lot of detailed examination as to the regulations. We moved as quickly as we could. We have already made changes which I announced previously with respect to incorporating part-time employees and marriage after retirement into the pension provisions and the further regulations are about to come into effect.

[Infrastructure Program, September 23rd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of interest in Alberta.

This program is moving very rapidly right across the country. With the co-operation of the Government of Alberta it is moving quite rapidly in that province as well with some 719 infrastructure projects investing over $422 million and creating some 700,000 jobs in that province. This is only the beginning.

I am pleased to say that we have to this point in time allocated more than two-thirds of the money under the $6 billion infrastructure program. There are over 6,500 projects across the country and so far we have put some 70,000 Canadians to work. That is only the beginning.

There are more jobs to come in Alberta. There are more jobs to come across the country. It is attracting additional investment dollars in helping to do what this government wants to do, get Canadians back to work.

[Canada Communication Group, September 19th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I suppose if at the time the Auditor General had called the mayor of Toronto then maybe I would know about it today.

The deputy comptroller general in our department has issued very clear guidelines to various departments that Treasury Board rules and regulations must be followed. The deputy minister, the secretary of the Treasury Board, has also similarly sent a letter to various deputy ministers and has asked for a report within 30 days. When I receive those reports corrective action will be taken and I will be reporting further to this House.

[Canada Communication Group, September 19th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, we do not sit idly by even if it is in matters that were undertaken during the last government. We get to the bottom of them. This is a serious issue. I want to have this matter thoroughly investigated and in fact that is under way. I made an announcement to that effect earlier today.

The internal auditors in the various departments and of course the internal auditors in the Department of Public Works and Government Services are looking further at the matter of Canada Communication Group. We will get to the bottom of this and will take the appropriate corrective action. We will report further to this Parliament.

[Infrastructure, June 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, as this House nears summer recess I am happy to bring more good news.

On the national infrastructure program, we have reached the $2.3 billion mark and by the end of this month we will have reached the half-way point of the $6 billion program that we initiated just some seven and one half months ago.

I was asked about jobs. To date we have created over 36,000 jobs, over 2,300 of those being long term. We are well on the path toward the 90,000 jobs that I have announced to this House before that we would be creating in this program.

This program is hoping to attract new investment into our community.