Jean-Paul Marchand

[Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Suspension Act, 1994, April 12th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I was anxious to rise and speak on Bill C-18, a bill that proposes a review of electoral boundaries. I must say that the current proposals for readjustment are very favourable to my riding of Québec-Est, since it would add to it the beautiful town of Loretteville. Québec-Est is a rather large riding with about 80,000 voters, which also includes the two small municipalities of Vanier and Ancienne-Lorette. They are within the territory of Quebec City, the capital of the future country of Quebec. It is entirely logical to add Loretteville to the riding of Québec-Est.

One of my problems is with the name Québec-Est, because the riding is not on the east side of Quebec City, but rather to the northwest. The name has been kept for the sake of tradition, because the riding has a long history. Several Prime Ministers were born in that riding and at least one has represented it. This is a riding I love, a riding I am proud to represent.

I have no objection to taking Loretteville, that would be an asset for the riding. Québec-Est does not have the ski runs of the Laurentians, we do not have the Rockies, we do not have any geographical feature which would set us apart, but we have a quality of people second to none in Quebec or Canada. It is important to talk of the quality of the people, because a riding links groups together, and in this case it links three municipalities which work well together, and have a special drive because of the quality of the people.

In the town of Ancienne-Lorette-a town I like, and where I live-there is a group called Solidarité Emplois . It was set up by two retired persons, Mr. Dubé and Mr. Déry who said: ``We are fed up with unemployment. We are not going to wait for the Liberal Party to do something, because when the time comes to create employment you don't wait for the government. We are going to act now''.

These people have put in place a program called "Solidarité-Emploi". They have brought together a number of volunteers and have made representations to find unemployed people in the city of L'Ancienne-Lorette. With the assistance of volunteers, they have found some employers and served as contacts between the employers and the unemployed. This is what a number of people in L'Ancienne-Lorette, in my riding of Québec-Est, have achieved.

This is an example of the quality of the people who live in Québec-Est. Surely we could add the city of Loretteville because I have no objection to this revision of the electoral map.

The other example comes from the town of Vanier. The town of Vanier is completely surrounded by Quebec City. This is a small municipality which is pretty dynamic. Vanier also has its own problems of unemployment, among others. Perhaps it is one of the municipalities which has to struggle the most against unemployment and yet, it surprisingly shows lots of dynamism.

There is a particular organization called "l'ADEC-V". We still have volunteers, some good citizens of Vanier, who campaign every year to raise funds to help people on welfare and give Christmas gifts and food baskets to the needy.

In this group called l'ADEC-V run by a certain Mr. Lemoyne, there are 65 volunteers who carry on a whole series of activities all year round.

[Budget Implementation Act, 1994, April 11th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I listened attentively to the hon. member's remarks and I feel that they represent the views of the Liberal Party. He is content with the budget initiatives put forward by the federal government and I find his speech extremely dangerous, despite his eloquence. He may be trying to lull people into a false sense of security. You know about the current crisis in Canada. I saw the poverty in my riding two weeks ago. One does not have to look very far to see that poverty is widespread; unemployment is very serious and people are concerned about the confidence they placed in the current government because they know that it did not do much in its last budget. It tried lukewarm measures that lack conviction, that lack direction.

For example, to reduce the deficit, the hon. member seems content with the deficit reduction that was announced and with the fact that the goal may be achieved, but I feel that several

other measures could have been proposed to reduce this extremely alarming deficit that shook the stock market and sent the dollar tumbling.

We in the Bloc Quebecois have proposed several measures to bring down the deficit, including cutting the fat from the federal government. There are hardly any measures in the budget to reduce waste in the federal government.

Would the hon. member agree to help reduce Canada's deficit? Would he agree to set up a parliamentary committee to examine spending and waste in government?

[Health Care, March 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Health. Public hearings on the marketing of somatotropin have recommended that the introduction of this controversial hormone be delayed.

In view of this recommendation, does the Minister of Health intend to allow this hormone to be marketed in Canada?

[Supply, March 14th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, I have a very brief question. I am very impressed by the form of the speech from the minister, maybe not the content but certainly the form. I was just wondering whether he has recently made an application to join the Shakespearian troupe in Stratford.

[Parliament Of Canada Act, March 14th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, many things have been said this morning about Bill C-201. I cannot comment on all the points raised. Perhaps I could just correct or qualify a number of remarks like this one, to the effect that to effectively sustain Canadian unity, all ten provinces must be equal.

That is the problem, this lack of understanding of the fact that Quebec is slightly different. We have been trying for a long time to make English Canada understand that Quebec is not like any other province. Actually, it was one of the things we tried to do with the Meech Lake Accord and again with the Charlottetown Accord. It was in good faith, I think, to seek recognition of the fact that Quebec is different from the rest of Canada. It is absolutely obvious to me, even a blind man could see, be it only at the cultural level, how rich the French language is in Quebec and how many cultural industries it sustains, as compared to English Canada.

Quebec is different in many regards, not only culturally, but also economically. Quebec has been trying for thirty years or so to be recognized as a distinct society or at least as a province which is not like any other. That is part of the problem with Canada in fact. As long as Quebec's distinctiveness is not recognized-because of the failure of Meech and Charlottetown-we will find ourselves stuck with an amending formula which prevents the Constitution of Canada from being amended to recognize Quebec's uniqueness, and that is a shame, of course.

It is a shame, but only to a point because it sets us on a course where we will be forced to readjust our relationship with English Canada. I think this will do Quebec much good, and English Canada as well, judging by another remark made this morning, to the effect that Canada was a distinct society. The fact of the matter is that Canada is made up of a number of distinct societies. Just as British Columbia is completely different from Atlantic Canada, English Canada is different from Quebec. And I believe that by setting off on this course, by restructuring Canada, we will be able not only to better define ourselves, in Quebec, but also to develop better relations with English Canada, at least that is what I think.

Basically, we must bear in mind that we are part of a truly great democracy. The Bloc members were elected with quite substantial majorities. This show of will from the people of Quebec was not artificial, it was not fabricated. It is not the kind of thing that happens all of a sudden, by surprise. It must be recognized that the people of Quebec massively supported the Bloc Quebecois and this is a reality that we respect and live by. If we at least want to respect the democratic principle, we must recognize the legitimacy of the Bloc Quebecois as representative of the distinct character of Quebec here in the House of Commons. This is not to insult anyone. This is not to irritate English Canadian nationalists-on the contrary, I find it is a very fine thing to affirm the beauties and virtues of English Canada. Is that opposed to recognizing the distinctiveness of Quebec? I think not.

Someone mentioned the diversity of Canada. I too am a great believer in it. Furthermore, it is a principle found in nature, all the diversity found in gardens-there are many examples of it. Indeed, diversity is a richness. That is what nature teaches us and of course we in Canada have great diversity.

However, this government, like previous governments, has tried instead to make Canada uniform. I think that is a bad idea. I think that it is very good to recognize the diversity of Canada, since it makes our country richer.

[Borrowing Authority Act, 1994-95, March 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I also appreciated what the minister responsible for the status of women had to say. But I also did not quite understand what the government means to do to improve the status of women in Canada. It is a well-known fact that women are disadvantaged in many ways, that they earn less money than men and that they support a chunk of the social and economic burden in this country. However, the minister had nothing concrete to offer, no initiative directly focusing on women.

The minister did mention changes in the unemployment insurance area. But these changes do not necessarily affect women. In fact, they hurt the unemployed.

The minister mentioned that 30 per cent of small businesses are controlled by women, as it should obviously be. Still, there are not a lot of women in that field. The system generally hurts women. What did the minister responsible for the status of women have to offer to change that? What concrete measures can be found in the budget which specifically focus on women?

[Petitions, February 23rd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to submit a petition signed by more than 4,000 residents of my riding of Québec-Est and several other areas of the province of Quebec. Their names should be added to the 5,000 which are on petitions already submitted, and I will add 13,000 more tomorrow.

The petitioners are asking Parliament to urge the Minister of Immigration to reconsider the decision of his department to expel the Maraloï family from Vanier, and to allow this family to stay in Canada where, after three years, it is very well integrated. I wholeheartedly support this petition and I urge the government to follow up on it.

[Health, February 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, we know the effects of BST, but the fact remains that the dairy industry is very worried.

Could the minister give us guarantees that the interests of consumers and the dairy industry will take precedence over the interests of the pharmaceutical industry?

[Health, February 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, there seems to be unanimous support in the dairy industry for demanding that the federal government prohibit sales of the BST hormone in Canada, since Canadians are worried about the effects of this growth hormone on human health.

My question is directed to the Minister of National Health and Welfare. Considering this unanimous position, could the minister guarantee that there will be at least a six-month moratorium on the sales of BST in Canada?

[Petitions, February 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have the great honour to present a petition signed by a few thousand residents of my riding of Québec-Est and several other areas of Quebec.

The petitioners ask Parliament to urge the minister of immigration to reconsider his department's decision to deport the Maraloï family of Vanier and to allow the family to remain in Canada where, after three years, they feel completely at home.

I give my unqualified support to this petition and urge the government to act on it.