Suzanne Tremblay

[Status Of Women, March 8th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, my question is directed to the Deputy Prime Minister.

Liberal unemployment insurance reforms will set us back 20 years, because to establish benefit levels, public servants will have to determine the number of dependent children. This means that women on low incomes will be the first to suffer as a result of these reforms.

Would the Deputy Prime Minister agree that these changes aggravate the injustice to women by putting the onus on them to prove they have dependent children?

[Supply, March 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, we were advised that since the hon. member for Québec was the mover of the motion, there would be no limit on her speaking time and no period for questions and comments. Subsequently, the secretary of state would be able to speak to the motion as well, and then other members would have a 20-minute maximum, and so forth. That is what we were told, if I am not mistaken.

[Supply, March 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order.

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

Mr. Speaker, on February 22 last, I put a question to the Minister of Canadian Heritage concerning the $350,000 in severance pay awarded to the Director General of the National Arts Centre following a putsch organized by the Mayor of Ottawa.

As a supplemental, I asked him whether it was true, and I quote:

that the person responsible for the placement agency in the Prime Minister's Office, Mrs. Collenette, is desperately looking for a new job in the federal public service for Mr. DesRochers?

The minister answered as follows, and I quote:

there is...an announced vacancy that is not yet effective but will become so a little later in the year.

What are we to make of the minister's response? He listened to my question and he answered it. I must therefore interpret it and draw a connection between it and my question. So, by informing me that there will be an opening later this year, the minister led me to conclude that the director of appointments in the Prime Minister's Office intends to keep this position for Mr. DesRochers.

If my interpretation of the minister's answer is correct, then we in this House have the right to wonder whether the Liberal government plans to replace all senior public servants with Liberals because, if it is so, we will be paying compensation for a long time. Let us just remember all the political appointments made by the previous government in its dying days.

I sincerely hope that, even though the answer was written in advance, the minister will reassure the House and make a commitment to take the necessary steps to address the problem of mismanagement in government agencies, which is extremely costly to Canadian taxpayers.

We have to remind ourselves of the difficulties encountered in 1987 in securing the appointment, for the first time, of a French-speaking director at the National Arts Centre. As Mr. Leroux, the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Francophone Affairs for the City of Ottawa, mentioned, and I quote: "The dismissal of Mr. DesRochers is a step backward for the Francophone population which can no longer deal with the senior management of the National Arts Centre in its own language". Mr. Leroux resigned to show his disapproval, and we can expect further resignations.

Furthermore, the minister hides behind the managerial autonomy of these agencies to avoid responding to the real questions and the real issues raised by the Bloc Quebecois. If the minister wants to be responsible, he must tell us clearly without further ado what concrete measures he intends to take to address the problem of mismanagement in government agencies, particularly in the Canadian Museum of Nature and the National Capital Commission.

The minister must regain control of these agencies, ensure a more transparent form of management and, this time, answer the questions that are put to him with all the intelligence that I am willing to give him credit for, otherwise he could very well lose his credibility once and for all.

[Publishing Industry, March 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the minister will agree that meanwhile the Baie Comeau policy was changed to make it possible.

Is the minister aware that he is losing his credibility as a defender of Canada's cultural interests and can he reassure the House that he intends to review this unacceptable decision?

[Publishing Industry, March 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

The Canadian Development Investment Corporation has just agreed to sell its 51 per cent share of Ginn Publishing Canada, a Toronto company specializing in the publication and distribution of educational materials, to the American company Paramount Communications. This sale has caused an outcry of indignation in the press and the publishing world.

Could the minister confirm the suggestion made by Maclean's magazine that the secret agreement made it possible for the American company to take control of Ginn Publishing as soon as the book publishing policy was changed? If not, how does he explain the fact that the government has used certain unresolved questions such as the distribution agreement as excuses for not actively seeking potential Canadian buyers?

[National Arts Centre, February 22nd, 1994]

Besides the $350,000 severance pay, Mr. Speaker, can the minister tell us whether it is true that the person responsible for the placement agency in the Prime Minister's Office, Mrs. Colle-

nette, is desperately looking for a new job in the federal public service for Mr. DesRochers?

[National Arts Centre, February 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

The government does not seem to be troubled at all about giving $350,000 to the National Arts Centre's director general, after he was fired following a putsch organized by the Mayor of Ottawa. The Minister of Canadian Heritage is washing his hands of the whole affair by invoking the management autonomy of the federal agency.

Does the minister recognize that it is up to the government to determine the working conditions of crown corporation directors, including severance pay, and that in this instance it is the inordinate amount of this severance pay that we find outrageous, just a few hours before a general tax increase for all Canadians?

[National Arts Centre, February 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am a little surprised to hear about the confidentiality because, although the director general is appointed by the board of directors, his salary is determined by the governor in council. So I am a little surprised about the confidentiality.

Does the Deputy Prime Minister not agree that this kind of waste could further undermine Canadians' trust in government institutions?

[National Arts Centre, February 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister.

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We have been informed that the hasty departure of the National Arts Centre's director general, Mr. DesRochers, has cost taxpayers over $350,000. On January 14, the board of directors decided to spend this staggering amount to fire Mr. DesRochers before his term had expired.

Does the Deputy Prime Minister not think that this $350,000 pay-off is a shameful waste of public funds?