House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • Her favourite word was children.

Last in Parliament April 1997, as Liberal MP for Nepean (Ontario)

Won her last election, in 1993, with 60% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Tobacco Taxation January 31st, 1994

Mr. Speaker, many calls and letters I am receiving are saying "do not reduce the tax on tobacco". They believe there are better methods to combat tobacco smuggling.

For example, Canada's tobacco tax levels represent 70 per cent of the selling price as do every other industrialized country in the world except the United States. Why does the U.S. not increase its tax?

They suggest a reinstatement of the export tax. In the few weeks it was in effect in 1992 the flow of smuggled tobacco dropped from a record level of 737 million to 146 million cigarettes.

They suggest licensing tobacco retailers and increased enforcement. It has taken 50 years to lower the number of persons smoking and thereby decrease health hazards.

One of our roles as a government is to protect the health of Canadians. My callers urge the government not to cave into the tobacco industry and immediately host a forum where all ideas can be heard while at the same time allow the government the opportunity to hear and weigh all factors in the equation.

Speech From The Throne January 28th, 1994

The federal contribution to the infrastructure program will be very tangible and very significant. We are providing the provinces and municipalities with a total of $2 billion over the next two years. For the most part the federal contribution will be matched equally by the provinces and municipalities. This will provide for a total joint program of $6 billion and that is a very significant sum of money.

Another issue that had a major impact on me during the campaign concerned women at home. These were mothers who stayed at home. Over and over again it was repeated to me at the door by mothers who choose to stay home with their children

that they were not being given equal status to their counterparts who are mothers who went out to work.

There were two or three particular areas. One was with regard to child care. The mum who was at work was able to claim this on her income tax. The mother who stayed at home was not able to claim the child care on her income tax. The woman who went to work was able to pay into the CPP. The woman who was home was not able to and thus was not able to collect a pension. There are inequalities in the system that we must recognize. We must work to negate those inequalities.

I heard from small businesses about how they are overburdened with taxes. The amount of paper work just consumes far too much time, effort and money.

We heard about the banks and how they were just putting the arm lock on businesses and not allowing them to expand as they should. We know that they create 80 per cent of the jobs in this country. We know there are approximately 800,000. Would it not be wonderful if all of them could each hire one person? We must work with our investment institutions to solve the problems of inadequate capital in small and medium sized business.

The other evening I was at a dinner and the guest speaker was the human resources director for a local high tech company. He said the universities today are not graduating engineers suitable to his high tech company or they are not graduating enough engineers. They were going to the U.K. to hire engineers for a Canadian high tech company.

I find that absolutely disgraceful. I hope that our government will work with our schools, colleges and universities to ensure that we are putting out engineers or whatever profession is needed in the market today. The market is changing from day to day so our universities must make sure that our young people's education is headed in the right direction.

It has been a real pleasure to speak here on such short notice in this House of Commons this afternoon. I thank you very much, Madam Speaker.

Speech From The Throne January 28th, 1994

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to stand in the House representing the people of Nepean and starting my second term along with you.

In the last few days I have heard many members speak of how beautiful their ridings are. I am sure they are all beautiful. I am not going to claim Nepean as being the most beautiful riding in the country but I will claim that its inhabitants are the most beautiful people in the country.

Over the years I have represented the people of Nepean first as a 10-year municipal politician and before that as an 11-year employee of the city of Nepean. Now I am their federal member. I have been representing the same people for 26 or 27 years. It is a very great privilege for me to be again representing them. I want to thank them for giving me this great honour to be in the Parliament of Canada.

One of the things that we members of Parliament have to do is be very flexible. I was not on the Speaker's list to speak today but our whip said: "Could the member for Nepean please be put on the Speaker's roster". I had to suddenly scurry around, get some notes together and sound reasonably intelligent. I hope I can do that and keep members awake at the same time.

When listening to Canada's Governor General deliver the speech from the throne on January 18, I was struck that just about every area where changes would take place would not only have a positive effect on the country as a whole but they had a

very specific interest to the people who I represent in the city of Nepean.

While I was a municipal and regional councillor a few years ago, as I mentioned, I chaired the region's health committee. I am pleased this government considers preventing illness is just as important as caring for people with illnesses.

This government is committed to the Canadian health system as we know it, one that is cost effective and sensitive to the needs of all Canadians. To show just how serious we are in this area, the Prime Minister will personally chair a national forum on health. We are cognizant of the fact that health care is under the purview of the provinces, and yet at the same time we know that the Canada Health Act clearly outlines the federal responsibility.

I was especially pleased this government recognizes there are gender differences in the health area. We are creating a centre of excellence for women's health to ensure that women's health issues receive the attention they deserve. As well, prenatal nutrition programs for low income pregnant women will be created and expanded.

I would like to express to the 37 women in the Liberal caucus how delighted I am to have them as colleagues in the House of Commons. They represent a diversity of backgrounds, reflecting the true Canada. At the same time, I welcome the women in the other parties, the Reform Party, the Bloc Quebecois, the New Democrats and the independents. I welcome them all to the House of Commons. I look forward to getting to know them better as members of this House. I believe that regardless of party, we as women have a common goal in ensuring that our gender is properly represented in this country.

This government will address the staggering problem of poverty among aboriginal children through our specific head start program. This is something I am very excited about. It is something that has been absent forever and it is something that should cause us all to hang our heads in shame, that we have allowed this to go on as long as it has.

During the election campaign the Liberal Party in our red book-and we all love to quote the red book-stressed the importance of job creation and economic growth. The speech from the throne again stresses its importance. As I went door to door in Nepean during the election campaign, just about every household had a story to tell, and they were not happy stories. It might be a son or a daughter or a husband who had been laid off, or a university or college graduate unable to find employment. I was greatly bothered by this. The despair they felt with the economy and high unemployment deeply affected me.

It is very important to me that this government continues to view job creation as its main priority. Yet I do not know of anyone who is not concerned with this country's indebtedness. We have to get the economy moving and get people back to work and at the same time we also must address our indebtedness. For these reasons and despite extremely difficult fiscal restraints, the Liberal government has chosen to undertake a major co-operative program of infrastructure renewal in this country.

As I mentioned before, when I was on municipal council I was also on an organization called the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. I was a director representing the regional municipality of Ottawa-Carleton. This is an umbrella group representing approximately 900 Canadian municipalities. The organization for years had been petitioning the federal government to be part of a tripartite agreement in infrastructure renewal.

When I was elected to Parliament in 1988 I, along with my colleague from Ottawa Centre, formed a national Liberal task force on infrastructure. We travelled the country and met with individuals. We met with the business community and we met with the civic leaders, inviting their opinions on such a tripartite agreement.

We as co-chairs presented our report to the Liberal caucus and it was as a result of our findings along with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' recommendations that the infrastructure program was put in place.

Why do I make this point? I am not making it to blow my own horn or to bring attention to myself. I am bringing this point forward to you who are backbenchers or to you who are in opposition-and I am still a backbencher here-I want you to know that every person in this Parliament can make a difference. Never be afraid to stand on your feet and say what you really believe you can do in this House, because you can make a difference. You have got to keep pressing it.

Speech From The Throne January 28th, 1994

Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member for St. John's West for her maiden speech in the House of Commons. At the same time, I would like to congratulate her and the people of St. John's West for electing her to the House of Commons. As stated previously by the secretary of state, I welcome all the new women in the House of Commons. It will be a pleasure to work with you for the next few years.

I visited the province of Newfoundland on a couple of occasions. It is one of the most incredibly beautiful provinces in this country. I know the people of Newfoundland are going through very difficult times, especially in the fisheries industry. Through my experience of going from door to door and talking with families who had a family member unemployed, I know the amount of despair being felt by each household. Yet the level of unemployment here in central Canada, as a member for central Canada, is not nearly as high as what the province of Newfoundland, and in particular the member's riding of St. John's West, is experiencing.

I would like to ask the member for St. John's West if the people of her riding have a sense of hope. Do they see that Canada is going to be able to pull out of this recession or economic morass we appear to be in? The fisheries industry is certainly down, but are they prepared to move in other directions and re-establish themselves in other distinct fields within Newfoundland?

High Alcohol Content Beer January 27th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, on December 14, 1993 the city of Nepean passed a resolution supporting restrictive pricing and marketing measures with respect to high alcohol content beer.

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Addiction Research Foundation, and the Canadian Medical Association all have demonstrated their opposition to high alcohol content beer.

Research shows that for a typical 19-year old, two drinks in one hour would produce a blood alcohol content sufficiently high to violate the impaired driving provisions of the Criminal Code.

I ask that the federal government express to the Ontario legislature the need to regulate high alcohol content beer.

Foreign Affairs January 25th, 1994

Madam Speaker, I noticed that everybody has been congratulating you that you are now in the chair. I would like to say that it is nice to see a woman in the chair and I say kudos to you.

I have not been on House duty today but this is one debate I have been watching on my TV monitor in my office all day with a great deal of interest because the variety of the discussion and the difference in thoughts have been very interesting to me.

All of us who have spoken on this issue today are representative of all Canadians. We have represented all different points of view which will certainly give our government at lot to think about, in particular the role of our peacekeepers in Bosnia-Hercegovina and the former Yugoslavia and should we bring our troops home.

However, I believe the issue is much broader than just simply bringing our troops home. I believe other issues are at play here. We need to look at redefining the role of the United Nations and we need to address Canada's foreign policy relative to our defence policy.

Canada and its soldiers have participated in UN peacekeeping missions in many areas around the world since shortly after World War II. In fact, Canada was the founding member of both the United Nations and NATO and in both cases has worked to develop these institutions into effective bodies that could prevent and manage crises and provide a forum where countries could work together and collectively solve the crises.

As I stated at the outset, the issue at hand is much greater than simply bringing our troops home. For example, what would be the cause in effect or the risk if Canada did that? Would we be sending the wrong message to the other world participants? Would it cause other nations to pull out thereby abandoning the UN role and our support of the Secretary General's agenda for peace developed in 1992? Would it cause a spillover of hostilities into other regions of the Balkans?

I wish I had the time to request a broad range of opinions from my Nepean constituency. I have been fortunate because quite a few have phoned and quite a few have written me. I would like to quote from only four of them.

One World War II veteran said: "There is no peace to keep. There is no need for them to be there to defend Canada. Our forces should be withdrawn".

Another said: "In the spirit of Lester Pearson's vision, the UN should get out and return only when the combatants arrive at a peaceful settlement amongst themselves.

Of the opposite point of view was the comment from another Nepean constituent who said: "As my MP, this message is to inform you that I strongly support Canada's contribution to the United Nations protection forces in Bosnia. We should continue our efforts in the international arena by trying to convince other nations to accept their responsibilities in resolving the unfortunate situation in Bosnia. A withdrawal at this time of our support to the UN sends a negative message to other nations when we should be demonstrating positive leadership at the international level".

A fourth is a retired colonel who wrote a paper entitled "The Perils of Peacekeeping". The article suggests that a reasonably sufficient defence establishment is an important block in Canada's national foundation. Moreover, peacekeeping is but one component of that block, which is what I said initially.

The key point is that Canadians need to accept that a coherent defence policy and an effective armed forces to implement it are essential for advancing their national interest. Needless to say, sufficient resources have to be made available for the policy to succeed and to protect the soldiers, sailors and aviators who carry it out.

In a briefing available to us all yesterday by the Canadian military and external affairs, we were advised that Canada has 2,400 troops in the former Yugoslavia. At one point during this mission Canada was contributing 10 per cent of the troops in the mission. He said that by April of this year it could be as low as 2.4 per cent.

The UN mission has two objectives. The first is to contain the conflict from spreading beyond its current borders. The second is the protection of people through humanitarian aid to the people of Bosnia-Hercegovina. This could be through food or through medical supplies. In this respect at least 2.5 million civilians have been assisted directly by UN intervention.

The military advisers at yesterday's briefing believe the merits of the UN forces in the former Yugoslavia are:

They have been able to contain the fighting. An agreement of sorts has been reached between the Serbs and the Croats over borders in Croatia and in Srebrenica, and the fighting has been contained.

They also have been reasonably successful in delivering humanitarian aid which is their prime mandate, including medical evacuations and the protection of hospitals.

I questioned the general. I asked him if in his opinion more civilian lives would have been lost had we not been there. He responded that many more surely would have died, especially the elderly and the children who cannot fend for themselves.

The military advisers went on to say that the solution to the problem in the former Yugoslavia must come from within the country by the heads of the warring factions, probably brought on by international pressure. A UN military solution would simply be too costly, both in terms of equipment and manpower. It would require over 100,000 troops to enact a peace enforcement mandate. There are not enough countries willing to offer the number of troops required. While our Canadians are adequately equipped to carry out their role as peacekeepers, they do not have the offensive equipment necessary to carry out a peace enforcement mandate.

In speaking with my constituency, I have not spoken to anyone who would want to send their son or daughter into a full conflict situation in the former Yugoslavia.

As the former Minister of External Affairs said in a recent commentary: "Canadians must search their hearts to see whether they will accept the wholly different risks of withdrawal. The cynics view is that the killing, the atrocities, the ethnic cleansing can get no worse, but that is not so. Vengeance killing and localized thuggery are just as likely to soar beyond contemplation as they are to end. Canadians would be here at home, safe, but at the cost of shattered lives, ideals and values and bearing

that uneasy burden of having abandoned a vulnerable civilian population.

Considering the unsatisfactory alternatives, Canada's best bet," said the former external affairs minister, "is the unsatisfactory status quo". To further quote Ms. McDougall: "It was Canada, and we were the only country, that called for early UN intervention in 1991, when it could have limited the devastation that followed.

Today, western leaders have decided that the defence of our values is not worth the casualties that would result from the tougher actions. Canada initiated the process that led to the war crimes tribunal. We have a responsibility to ensure our presence, that war crimes are prevented and that criminals if necessary are punished".

This brings me to the issue of the United Nations reform. I managed to take a few weeks of holidays at the beginning of January and took along the book "Peacekeeper: The Road to Sarajevo" written by retired Major General Lewis MacKenzie. It was a pretty heavy book to read on the beach but I managed to get through it all.

He states that "the international community gets a good deal when it borrows a nation's soldiers. Peacekeepers carry out the job they are trained to do without questioning. UN soldiers risk their lives every day in an attempt to create conditions whereby political discussions can take place, leading to peace in areas of armed conflict or tension". He was very critical of the UN's role.

This is where I commented again at the outset. Reform of the UN must be one of the parameters. The UN is apparently incapable of providing adequate logistics to support the many missions around the world. No one is on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Heaven help you if somebody in Sarajevo or in Somalia wanted some help from the United Nations on a weekend. There is no one there. They go home at five o'clock on a weekday and there is no one there on the weekend.

The third point in my equation is Canada's defence policy and how it ties in with foreign affairs. The centre of Canada's foreign relations must be an effective United Nations. This is still the best way to protect our nation's ties in with defence. We spend $2.5 billion on foreign aid. Is it being well spent? Should we be concentrating on the basic needs of third world nations? Do we have a responsibility to spread prosperity and can this be done without pushing our country further into debt? I think we can with an equitable defence policy.

In summary, I applaud our peacekeepers. Their dedication and commitment to their job is unsurpassed. To an extent, we have let them down. Our government must move quickly to work with the member nations of the UN to reform the institution.

The Canadian government must define our foreign policy objectives in relation to a defence policy. Canada is in a position to lead if we knew where we were going. Our peacekeepers are the professionals, they deserve nothing less from us.

Registered Retirement Savings Plan January 25th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, RRSPs provide self-financed pensions for Canadians who do not benefit from government or company sponsored plans.

I would like to quote a Nepean resident, Mr. Denis Deschenes, who states:

I am 42 years old and I do not enjoy the benefits of a registered pension plan sponsored by an employer. My future retirement income depends solely on my contributions to a personal and spousal RRSP; thereby ensuring that my wife and I will not have to rely on government during retirement years.

That our government would now consider altering this to generate more revenue today is disastrous and self-defeating.

I recognize that our country is facing difficult financial times. But, I resent having penalties imposed on my hard work and financial planning. The RRSP is the only pension vehicle my wife and I have.

If the government wishes to restrict those of us who depend solely on an RRSP as a source of future income, then I strongly suggest that it apply this restriction fairly to all.

Election Campaign January 21st, 1994

I wish to extend my thanks to the people of Nepean for again placing their trust and confidence in me.

Many of the major issues presented to me during the campaign have already been implemented by my government. Employment and job creation was the number one issue. Where would people find jobs? How would they be created? What does the future hold for secondary and post-secondary graduates? There was also job security for public servants and women and pay equity.

I heard about over-taxation and that deficit reduction must be achieved through a means other than tax increases. I heard from mothers at home who believe they are unfairly treated in Canada's taxation policies compared to mothers who work. I heard from the business community and the high cost of doing business due to overtaxation, a crippling GST and unresponsive and uncaring banks.

The government of Jean Chrétien places honesty and integrity as one of its highest priorities and it is a privilege for me to serve in this government. Again, my thanks to the people of Nepean.