Petitions  Pursuant to Standing Order 36, the petitioners, 2379 in number, are calling upon Parliament to take steps to abolish the Senate.

Employment Insurance Act  Speaker, I am happy to share my time with the member for Saskatoon-Clark's Crossing, to give as many people as possible the opportunity to participate in this important debate. This debate is on the reform of the unemployment insurance program, a reform that has been anticipated for some time by Canadians. What Canadians want from an employment insurance program is some certainty that the program will provide help for those people who are unemployed through a time of crisis in their lives for a short period of time until an adjustment can be made to find a new job and make those adjustments.

Canada Elections Act  There may be a perception in British Columbia on the part of some people, and a little disappointment, particularly as it happened in the 1993 election. We were expecting that Reform was going to break through in Ontario, as we will in this coming election, but we were expecting that in the 1993 election. Naturally there was a lot of disappointment for the people in western Canada that the people of Ontario had not quite woken up to the fact of what Reform was about.

Canada Elections Act  Group 3 contains a number of motions and I will try to address all of them in my comments. There are three Reform motions, two Liberal motions and one presented by the Bloc Quebecois. All these motions deal with the attempt to incorporate provisions in this legislation that would stagger voting hours.

Canada Elections Act  But I still do not think the Reformers' argument is valid. The existence of such a list is not the kind of factor that would encourage people who have a predisposition towards sexual harassment to act on their impulses.

Aboriginal Peoples  That is what the Reform is suggesting.

Aboriginal Peoples  Mr. Speaker, it is mistruths or misinformation that the Reform is putting out. I will go slowly or maybe we can put it into cartoons so the Reform will understand it. When a school is built worth $10 million to $12 million, the Reform has taken that money for that school vis-à-vis Indians and said that every Indian gets $15,000.

Criminal Code  I have listened to the justice minister on various occasions say that tough cases make bad laws. As a matter of fact, he used that argument when the Reform Party and others were pressing his department to make changes to section 745. How is this situation any different than that? Certainly all Canadians agree that organized crime should have very severe restrictions placed on it.

Income Tax Budget Amendments Act, 1996  I have never heard such a bunch of nonsense in my whole life as what has just been spouted by the hon. minister from across the way. He referred to western economic diversification and then attacked the Reform Party, saying that we would cut out all these great and wonderful things. How many people out there know that the western economic diversification program is subsidizing banks? He says we would shut down the Abbotsford air show.

Income Tax Budget Amendments Act, 1996  The Liberals believe in big government, big spending, big taxes. It has been tried for over 130 years and it is time for a fresh start with Reform.

Taxation  Let me quote exactly from false start: "The federal government contributes about $3.5 billion each year to provincial welfare programs through the transfer payment known as the Canada health and social transfer. A Reform government will eliminate these payments". That is a direct quote; 3.5 billion out of the pockets of those who need it most. That is not a misquote, that is what Reformers would do.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, the minister is up to his old tricks of misquoting the Reform Party's policies. For the last 78 months the unemployment rate has been high in this country. At no other time has it been this high except during the Great Depression. If, as he claims, they are creating jobs, how is the minister prepared to explain to the 1.4 million unemployed Canadians that his policies are working?

Member For Surrey North  I wish to thank the citizens of Surrey North for providing me with this opportunity to be their member of Parliament. I am honoured to represent them in the House of Commons. I also want to thank my Reform colleagues for their support and encouragement over the past 3.5 years. It has been a phenomenal growth for all of us and has been interesting to watch. I thank the other members of Parliament and the Hill staff for their friendliness and co-operation in our deliberations in Ottawa.

Taxation  That day I was able to answer their questions with conviction because that is exactly where I come from and that is exactly why I aligned myself with the Reform Party. The Reform Party listens to the individuals, the families and the grassroots of the community. That day again affirmed my decision to take on the risk of political life. Those families are not skilled at the lobby table.

Supply  As a government we would like to implement a lot of things and do more with tax but our job is to reduce the deficit. It is quite intriguing that the member talks about the Reform plan to first balance the budget and then put money into social programs. It was only six or eight months ago that the Reform Party was talking about reducing or completely eliminating the national debt.