Foreign Affairs  Decisions are to be made on the facts and representations such as the one in which it was made clear by the hon. member from Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca that he was making a presentation representing the feelings of his constituents. As this debate is expected to continue certainly well into the hours of the evening, I can assure the hon. member that I and other members of the government will be paying very close attention to what it is the members have to say so that when decisions are made this will be taken into consideration.

Foreign Affairs  In this way the kind of command and control operation that takes place in NORAD or in NATO headquarters where instantaneous responses can be given and political input can be received, analyzed and weighed with respect to decisions, would take place in a much more clear-I hesitate to use the word efficient-and more effective manner than happens now. I can assure the hon. member that those of us who are involved in these kinds of activities on this side of the House are imbued with their importance and wish to make our mandate more clear.

Regional Development  I have a supplementary question, Mr. Speaker. If it is clear, given that Quebec has adopted a general strategy for regional development, including assistance to businesses, would the minister not agree that, in the interest of avoiding all duplication and overlap, as the Prime Minister has said, he must recognize Quebec as the sole authority in terms of regional development, including assistance to businesses?

Foreign Affairs  However, considering Canada's reputation as a peacekeeper, a threat of unilateral Canadian withdrawal would unquestionably draw world attention and hopefully impact strongly on Serb, Croat and Muslim leaders. If this were to be our decision, it must be made absolutely clear that Canada is not withdrawing because the going is rough. Canadians have demonstrated their mettle in two world wars, the Korean war and many peacekeeping actions over the years. They have demonstrated it in Bosnia.

Pictou Landing Indian Band Agreement Act  In making that decision I would ask my hon. colleagues to keep the crown's honour in mind. I would ask them to remember that this legislation is the product of a clear and genuine commitment which was made at the request of the Pictou Landing Micmac more than a year ago. I would remind them that the government's word was accepted by the First Nation in good faith despite the problems it has endured over the past 25 years.

Supply  Because in each of these solutions, the government saw an opportunity to decentralize its powers to the provinces, which it does not want to do, because its leitmotiv is to further centralize powers and to leave the provinces with their problems. It is clear today that this government does not intend to make concessions to the provinces. On the contrary, it intends to give them more responsibilities, without the tax points which would go with those responsibilities.

Supply  And in order to reach these objectives, it is essential, and Canadians themselves are demanding it, that we put in place an effective financial reform strategy. Our government believes that winning the debt challenge starts with laying a clear, concrete and credible foundation. That means keeping to the deficit track we set out on to bring the deficit down to 3 per cent of GDP in three years. That is exactly what we will do, as the minister said, "come hell or high water".

Gun Control  Mr. Speaker, I have already made it clear that we will put the details of our calculations before the committee. In so far as the wisdom of the registration system is concerned, first we rely upon the advice of the experts, the police chiefs across the country who have been asking for this for years.

Justice  In that case the federal government argued that the Supreme Court of Canada should adopt and strengthen guidelines stipulated by the Court of Appeal of British Columbia to protect sexual assault centres from harassment. The court reserved its judgment and we will await the disposition. Let me make it clear to the House that if necessary the federal government is prepared to introduce legislation under the Criminal Code to ensure that we strike the right balance between full answer and defence on the one hand and the freedom of sexual assault centres to operate without harassment.

30Th Anniversary Of Canadian Flag  Speaker, instead of clumsily justifying himself, why does the minister not just admit that we have a clear case here of a vast federal propaganda campaign gearing up in Quebec during the year of the referendum?

Taxation  Between urban Canadians and rural Canadians, in fact between Canadians in each region of the country the budget must be fair. If we are to face up to the tremendous problem of the debt and the deficit, it is clear the budget will only be accepted if Canadians feel that everybody is bearing their fair share of the burden. I can assure the hon. member that is our intention.

Public Service  Speaker, my question is for the President of the Treasury Board. The previous government had a clear bias toward contracting services within the public service, with little control on the costs, numbers or quality of this shadow public service. What means will the minister take to rigorously examine and restrain contracting so that public service employees do not lose their jobs while the shadow public service continues to prosper and grow?

Transfer Payments  Mr. Speaker, in our last February budget, we made it very clear to the provinces that we intended to examine the matter of transfer payments in 1996-97. In other words, what we did yesterday was entirely in line with what we said in our last budget.

Canadian Armed Forces  The Minister of National Defence has acted prudently, expeditiously and decisively in order to send a clear message from the bottom to the top of the military establishment that these activities are a disgrace to our proud military tradition and that they will not be tolerated now or ever.

Speech From The Throne  When I see my colleague, the Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, my colleague for Bramalea-Gore-Malton and other colleagues in this place, it is clear this is one Parliament where we are beginning to reflect the real face of Canada. For that I think the governing party can take some credit. As the Prime Minister said, all government policies are aimed at creating a just, fair, human, decent and prosperous country.