Divorce Act  This kind of provision could prevent a great number of legal disputes and is better than using court cases to settle them. I also think that we could use our vote on a bill like this one to send a very clear signal to the courts which must interpret these laws, and that is to listen very carefully to the petitions of grandparents before declining their requests for the right to pick up their grandchildren to take them out from noon to four for a pop and a Big Mac and to bring them to a park to play before being forced to take them back home.

Divorce Act  This proposal is problematic because private and confidential information such as this is normally only available to parents. It is not clear that there are valid policy reasons to allow grandparents with access rights to obtain this information, especially since other grandparents, those with grandchildren in intact families, may have no such right.

Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act  If the government arranges it so that no members can opt out, I suppose Liberal MPs can continue to show sympathy for overburdened taxpayers who complain about MP pensions without having to make any sacrifices themselves. The only way to solve the problem and clear up the mess is to elect a Reform government and create a modest and a respectable pension plan, one of which we as MPs can be proud. We would not have to hang our heads in shame because we contribute to such a plan and, even worse, collect from such an outrageous plan.

Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act  If I had to retire after 22 years in the House on my gold plated pension, the euphemism often given by the Reform Party of $46,000 without additional income from a job, I would be in tough shape. The record is very clear about what we are talking about. What we are talking about is the remuneration of people who have given up their careers or whatever to come into this great House. In some ways I see MP pension as a form of danger pay.

Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act  Speaker, you saw what happened when MPs went back and told the people that the top down message was the way to go. The message was loud and clear. It is not us across here that are giving politicians a bad name. It is one of many things that have happened. Take the example of gun control. Gun control is being dealt with as a message from on high.

Government Spending  Mr. Speaker, maybe I did not make my answer clear the first time. Health Canada and the government have not donated a single penny to the conference in Italy.

Atlantic Groundfish Strategy  It is not an easy get-on. Applicants must demonstrate a long term attachment to the fishery, which is a very clear requirement. They have to have actual weeks of employment in the fishery to determine it. If there are other criteria that are objected to, we will not accept it. I have just told the hon. member that I will not accept abuse of the program.

Interprovincial Trade  Mr. Speaker, I want to make this very clear. This week, when we were discussing cuts in social transfers, the Minister of Finance rose in the House and said that they were going to change the bill, that it is not what they wanted to do, although that is what it says in the bill.

Interprovincial Trade  Since that is not the government's intention, I would like to ask the Minister of Industry whether he could make a clear commitment to amend the bill so as to exclude retaliatory measures in the form of suspending or reducing transfer payments for social programs financing in the case of a province that did not comply with the agreement.

Interprovincial Trade  Mr. Speaker, I think the bill is quite clear. It concerns only the amendments required in federal jurisdictions to ensure that our statutes reflect our obligations under the agreement on internal trade. If the Bloc wishes to propose amendments, it will be able to do so in the course of the parliamentary process.

Interprovincial Trade  Mr. Speaker, I want to make very clear what the federal government's position has been throughout the negotiations last year on the internal trade agreement and as we bring forward the legislation which will implement that agreement with respect to the federal level.

Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act  Now it will all have to be done again. My point is that now that we have a clear definition of double dipping and we know what double dipping is, maybe the members of the government themselves had better find out what that definition is and stop giving the cheap shots to the hon. member for Lethbridge.

Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act  Madam Speaker, I gather the member opposite said he did not understand my logic. I do not understand how that could happen. Let me try to be really clear. I talked about a double standard. I talked about a method of politicians paying themselves remuneration that is excessive and that is different from what is available in the private sector.

Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act  Madam Speaker, just under two years ago Canadians sent a clear message to Ottawa that they were tired of the status quo, of hypocritical politicians and subsequently voted in 205 rookies. My speech is to those rookies and my message is, let us not let the veterans corrupt us.

Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act  The portion the government puts into a legitimate registered pension plan has been sheltered from taxes. I do not know if I am making myself clear enough. It has taken me ages to figure this out and so I do not expect somebody watching television to figure it out immediately. The 11 per cent I am putting in is broken into 7 per cent and 4 per cent, with the 4 per cent sheltered from taxes.