Parenting Arrangements  Moreover, I do not understand why a committee is being set up to review this issue, when everything is already in black and white. As I said earlier, I have never seen the federal government review something and then say that it does not make sense, that the government will not to come up with something. However, I will give other members an opportunity to address this issue and I am prepared to answer questions if there are any.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak on behalf of Her Majesty's loyal opposition concerning a matter of great importance. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act spells out in black and white what benefits the members are entitled to receive. The benefits pertinent to the act and thus affected by this amendment relate to the injury or death of an RCMP member. Bill C-12 addresses the issue of whether a member of the RCMP was on duty if he or she is injured or killed while serving outside of Canada's international boundaries in a peacekeeping role.

Supply  Sometimes, the victims are not completely innocent. As I said earlier, things are not always black or white. I can imagine a judge saying: “Sir, I must sentence you to two years in jail, because the act requires me to do so. In the old days, I might have given you just six months, with a possibility of treatment in some institution, because you have a serious alcohol problem and because you have children”.

Supply  We have to send a signal to the judges out there. They have a job to do. They have a responsibility. Unless judges are told in black in white that they must enforce the law as stated, we could bring in all kinds of the changes and nothing will happen. Does the hon. member have any suggestions on how to enforce the rules and the laws we are trying to bring forward?

Speech From The Throne  That we have never hidden. Now, in reading the throne speech to keep myself awake between coffees, I see in black and white that the federal government is prepared to form a partnership with the Quebec government to celebrate the new millennium. Of course we will have suggestions of activities to submit to the government, and we may even perhaps send an invitation to the head of state of the next country to come celebrate the new millennium with us in Quebec.

Supply  We feel this every day in Ontario: a mission of tax cuts; smaller government; survival of the fittest; no positive role for government; knee jerk, simplistic approaches; black and white with no shades of grey. Canadians expect us to do what we said we would do. We will put the debt to GDP ratio on a permanent downward trend. We will balance the budget by 1998-99.

Speech From The Throne  I can tell you right away that the Canadian heritage minister will soon cheer when she learns that her government has raised her budget by 3 percent. Beware. Take a good look at Statistics Canada's figures. You will see, in black and white, that the increase went to operating expenditures and capital expenditures and that it was used for severance packages given to employees laid off by the department and its agencies and not for the promotion of cultural endeavour.

The Environment  The idea for the gasoline tax comes from the same Liberal government that has repeatedly promised there would be no carbon tax to implement Kyoto. Will this broken promise be just another on the long Liberal list of broken promises?

The Environment  Speaker, we have repeated in the House, not only myself but many other ministers, that we would never consider a carbon tax in the past, or the present or in the future. The hon. member and his party do not hear very well. There is a process set up. The first ministers have asked for a joint meeting of federal-provincial-territorial ministers.

The Environment  The government has kept Canadians in the dark with respect to how good its intentions are in putting forward the Kyoto accord. It has sent up a trial balloon on a carbon tax. Would the Minister of Natural Resources please tell the House and Canadians today what it is that he has planned for the Kyoto accord, how he will pick the pockets of Canadians and what kind of taxes will be involved in that pocket picking?

The Environment  If such a meeting is convened, would the agenda include the discussion of any federal proposal for a carbon tax?

The Environment  They are meeting at the end of May. Once again the hon. member knows this government has never looked at a carbon tax in the past, nor will it now or in the future. He should not continue to raise this issue again and again. He should look at what work has been done. He should congratulate and commend the good work that has been done by the federal and provincial governments jointly on a very important issue for Canadians.

Supply  Nothing could be further from the truth. It reminds me of the Reform Party on the issue of a carbon tax. What is the only party in the country that talks about a carbon tax? As far as I know it is not the Liberal Party. I do not know anybody in the Liberal Party who wants a carbon tax.

Pearson International Airport Agreements Act  We object and say it makes no sense, but, deep down, we wonder what is true. Barring some exceptions, nothing is black or white. For example, there was the Malaroï case, where virtue was pitted against bureaucracy, and where my colleague from Québec-Est spared no effort. Normally, sensationalism is profitable, not subtleties.

Goods And Services Tax  It we fully apply the McKenna formula to Quebec, Ottawa owes Quebec $2 billion, which the Quebec government has been asking for, as was demonstrated in black and white in the last provincial budget. Why is the government persisting in not treating Quebec the same way as it is treating the maritimes?