Crtc  When he heard that his action was being interpreted as bringing pressure to bear, he made it clear to the CRTC that he had not intended to support or oppose the application, but that he had merely referred it, as a member of Parliament, to the Commission.

Crtc  I have eighteen years experience as a minister, and I have seen other complex situations. As for this one, I think the minister made it clear that he had made an honest mistake and corrected it in short order. I am surprised to see the Leader of the Opposition in such a furor, when his head office in Quebec summons its bureaucrats and tells them to knuckle under and change their political views if they want to keep their jobs.

Crtc  Subsequently, when his letter was interpreted as a letter of support, as soon as the minister heard about this, without any pressure from anyone, he immediately wrote to this person, and a copy was sent to the commission to make it clear he had not supported the application in any way. He had simply asked the commission to do its job. This is always a problem for ministers. The Hon. Leader of the Opposition must have had that experience himself.

Department Of Canadian Heritage Act  We asked the government today and it cannot give us any answers. I think that is very unfortunate. During the election people made it very clear that multiculturalism is not a priority and that official bilingualism is not a priority. They feel that the government should be looking at these areas. When I was in the constituency last week I listened to the radio.

Department Of Canadian Heritage Act  Preferably the honourable thing will happen here in the next few hours and we will see a minister step forward with his resignation. It is unfortunate but I think to clear the air this will be necessary. What is the cultural background of the country? We on the foreign affairs committee, of which I was member for a few months, found this to be a very controversial issue.

Department Of Canadian Heritage Act  Perhaps the minister is naive, but I believe the objective here is more politically motivated. It is clear that all these special interest and lobby group grants are being done in a crass old style politics attempt to buy the support of Canadians with their own money. It is the old politics.

Department Of Canadian Heritage Act  Such comments seem unwise, to say the least, considering the current political context in this country. I want to make it clear that the federal government's role in cultural matters is a fundamental and entirely legitimate one, and I hope that this short speech will reassure opposition members. Why is this role so important?

Parliament Hill  Given the current climate, we are not talking about a Cadillac renovation here. I want to be very clear on this. Consistent with our Chevrolet approach we have prioritized and addressed only the most critical of the health and safety issues that affect the parliamentary precinct. If not, that figure would have been in excess of $450 million.

Criminal Code  I agree that the Constitution provides for the rights of the provinces in certain jurisdictions. In this particular case, the federal government has made it very clear where the difference lies between the two jurisdictions in Canada. One of the elements of the federal government's agenda is in fact the rebuilding of Canada's social security system.

Criminal Code  It is worth noting that there are a number of other proposals in Bill C-41 which deal effectively with other concerns of victims. I would like to make one thing very clear. Because an offender is allowed to apply for early parole this in no way means that it will be granted. The jury has the absolute power to say no to an offender who applies for a reduced ineligibility period.

Criminal Code  As has been mentioned the bill would remove the 15-year review with respect to parole eligibility for convicted murderers. I want to make clear that the provision we are talking about does not deal with the reduction of sentence. It deals with a change in the parole eligibility date, that is the date at which an individual offender can go before the parole board and request parole or release on to the street.

Criminal Code  They feel duped by the delays and doublespeak of the bureaucrats. By making available section 745 the judicial system is sending out a very clear message to society that murder indeed will be tolerated. It conveys a very sad statement about the value of our lives, yours and mine, as Canadian citizens. Fortunately for Canadian society and the Kaplinski family, justice was served in the Kinsella hearing.

Criminal Code  To this day, 36 juries have determined that the parole ineligibility period should be reduced for some applicants. Is this not clear evidence that this section is both fair and desirable?

Department Of Canadian Heritage Act  A final illustration of the program which I will describe as low national priority in the Department of Canadian Heritage is amateur sports. However, I want to make it clear that this list of three, multiculturalism, bilingualism and amateur sports is by far not inclusive. There are presently 88 sports organizations that are solely funded by the federal government.

Department Of Canadian Heritage Act  Section 40 of the Constitution, which was unilaterally patriated in 1982, states that when an amendment is made regarding education or other cultural matters, Canada shall provide reasonable compensation to any province to which the amendment does not apply. In fact, the constitutional acts are clear and give the provinces exclusive legislative powers over cultural matters. Had it not been for the spending power of the federal government, we would not be witnessing today this futile fight, the main victim of which is the specific cultural identity of Quebec.