House of Commons Hansard #49 of the 35th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was budget.

Topics

Budget Implementation Act, 1994Government Orders

1:55 p.m.

The Speaker

This seems to work out well. I ask the hon. member for Trois-Rivières to commence.

You can start now for about two or three minutes and then resume later.

Budget Implementation Act, 1994Government Orders

1:55 p.m.

Bloc

Yves Rocheleau Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate your giving me the floor at this particular time. I feel privileged. I am anxious to discuss this government's lack of vision in greater detail after question period-because I will not have time to do so now, unfortunately. I will tell you about this lack of vision in relation to numerous commitments made by the government in its red book regarding the fight against unemployment.

Last fall, the Liberal Party of Canada seemed aware of the reality facing Canadians and emphasized in a very convincing way-and, in fact, succeeded in fooling a few million Canadians, especially in Ontario and in the Atlantic provinces-that there were 1.6 million unemployed people in Canada, a situation which was unacceptable and attributable to the lack of vision, the lack of competence and the lack of political will of the Conservative government.

Now we can see what kind of innovative solutions the government has come up with. It wants to implement an infrastructure program which will create 45,000 temporary jobs, while there are currently 1.6 million people out of work. Such an initiative requires a lot of imagination indeed. It illustrates how this government, which was wise enough to hire good freelance writers at the right time, does not have the wits to devise innovative solutions which would significantly reduce the number of unemployed. I cannot believe that unemployment will significantly drop in the Atlantic provinces with the creation of 45,000 jobs, nor with 15,000 of these new jobs in Quebec where some 800,000 people are out of work. This shows a lack of vision regarding the unemployment issue.

There is a lack of vision but there is also a lack of consistency, considering what is written in the red book regarding the reconversion of companies from military to civilian production. There again, the Liberals had good intentions, but we have not heard anything since regarding this issue, whether in the Throne Speech, in the Budget, or from the Minister of Industry.

Yet, there are concrete examples such as Oerlikon, Paramax and MIL Davie, which has its own conversion strategy. So far, the government has steadfastly refused to get involved and ensure that MIL Davie, among others, which has its own conversion plan, can get federal support with the ferry to the Magdalen Islands and the smart ship which would be used everywhere.

Budget Implementation Act, 1994Government Orders

1:55 p.m.

The Speaker

I am sorry to interrupt, but the hon. member may continue after three o'clock. It being two o'clock, pursuant to Standing Order 30(5), the House will now proceed to statements by members pursuant to Standing Order 31.

Government TravelStatements By Members

1:55 p.m.

Liberal

Janko Peric Liberal Cambridge, ON

Mr. Speaker, many of my constituents have expressed their displeasure over recent media accounts of parliamentarians and government officials flying first class when travelling on government business. While business class seating is slightly more comfortable than economy, those wider seats carry a higher price tag.

Given that there is a genuine concern among all Canadians about our nation's financial situation, every penny that is saved on government travel will help to eliminate the burden on our country's finances.

I urge all parliamentarians, all civil servants and all others who are required to travel on government business to fly economy class. Let us all do what we can to save taxpayers' money.

Situation In RwandaStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Bloc

Jean H. Leroux Bloc Shefford, QC

Mr. Speaker, the first survivors of the massacre in Rwanda arrived yesterday at Mirabel Airport, leaving behind roads littered with corpses, friends who had been killed and years of work wiped out in only few days by a senseless, murderous rampage.

While not forgetting the suffering of the people of Rwanda, I would like to pay tribute to the various religious communities who work with the poor in Africa.

I was happy to learn that my friend, Brother Irénée d'Amours, who is a member of the Order of the Frères de Sainte-Croix, is safe and sound. Since the end of the war, Rwanda had been the cherished destination of Quebec missionaries. I admire the commitment of the men and women who devote themselves tirelessly to making our world a better place.

Young Offenders ActStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Reform

Werner Schmidt Reform Okanagan Centre, BC

Mr. Speaker, Jennifer Schuller and Tammy Carvallo are two grade 10 students from Mount Boucherie Secondary School in Kelowna, B.C., who have organized a petition on their own initiative to demand changes to the Young Offenders Act.

Jennifer and Tammy began the petition out of frustration at the inaction of police in responding to threats from another student. They were told that nothing could be done because the person issuing the threats was a juvenile. To date the students have collected over 950 signatures.

Our children are sending a loud and clear message to the government. It is time to take action and provide a Young Offenders Act that reflects the concerns of every member of our Canadian society.

Despite what the Minister of Justice has said in the House about attaching too much panic to this issue when the very people the act applies to do not think it is working, we have a very grave problem on our hands.

Law DayStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Liberal

Russell MacLellan Liberal Cape Breton—The Sydneys, NS

Mr. Speaker, I draw the attention of hon. members present to the fact that today is Law Day across Canada. Law Day recognizes the anniversary of the charter. This year is the 12th anniversary.

The theme of Law Day 1994, Access to Justice, is one that I strongly endorse. It reflects the right of every Canadian to have equal access to information about the laws and the legal institutions of Canada.

Information and education activities have been organized across Canada involving the Canadian Bar Association and hundreds of lawyers to make the law more accessible to all Canadians and to expand their knowledge of their rights within Canada's justice system.

As members of the House we should offer our active encouragement to the Canadian Bar Association as well as to the many Canadian groups across Canada in their endeavours on Law Day.

Please join with me in extending best wishes to all involved for a successful Law Day 1994.

Michelin Tires Canada LimitedStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Liberal

Roseanne Skoke Liberal Central Nova, NS

Mr. Speaker, people are working hard in the province of Nova Scotia and in my riding of Central Nova.

Michelin Tires Canada Limited has provided stable employment for 4,000 Nova Scotians, an annual direct Nova Scotia payroll of over $175 million and spinoff employment for thousands more Nova Scotians.

Congratulations are being extended today to the dedicated Michelin employees for reaching a significant milestone in Nova Scotia.

The Nova Scotia employees are proud to announce that 100 million man-made in Nova Scotia tires have been produced since the first tire rolled off the line in 1971. This achievement is a tribute to the dedication of all Michelin employees and management working together over the past 25 years.

We look forward to Michelin and its employees continuing the tradition of excellence and progress in Nova Scotia for years to come.

Global VisionStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Liberal

Bob Wood Liberal Nipissing, ON

Mr. Speaker, Global Vision is a non-profit organization jointly funded by the private and public sectors.

This organization is dedicated to providing young Canadians with a solid understanding of the international marketplace in order that these future business leaders are able to succeed in the highly competitive global market. This is accomplished through regional seminars which are held across the country. These seminars not only equip the students with a solid educational background in national and international economics. They also provide critical exposure to business and trade practices.

From the regional seminars some students will be selected to participate in the junior trade core program. In addition to more extensive academic training the program also provides participants with the opportunity to visit some of Canada's trading partners in the Pacific rim and in Latin America.

As chairman of Parliamentarians for Global Vision, I invite all members of Parliament to support this worthwhile program and to participate in the cross-country regional seminars that

will be held in their areas. This is a great opportunity for members of Parliament to meet young leaders from their ridings and from across the country.

Labour RelationsStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Bloc

Bernard St-Laurent Bloc Manicouagan, QC

Mr. Speaker, in my riding, over 300 employees have been in a lock-out situation since January 14. Under federal legislation, their employer, a mining company, is allowed to hire strike replacements. This way, the company can avoid any form of bargaining with its employees despite the fact they want to bargain.

I wish to give the House notice that I will be tabling a bill similar to Bill C-201 presented by my colleague, the hon. member for Richelieu, a bill which was introduced in first reading on April 1989 and rejected by the Conservative government of the day. The Liberals, including several ministers from the present cabinet, voted for the bill at the time.

Let us hope that I will have the support of this House to pass this important bill to provide a "civilized" framework for labour relations and restore in many cases labour peace.

CommunicationsStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Reform

Jan Brown Reform Calgary Southeast, AB

Mr. Speaker, as members of the 35th Parliament entering the merge lane on the information highway, our government vehicle can be fairly compared with the Model T. Offices which are still equipped with the 286-based computers and no modems make for a very slow entry, and slow travellers better get out of the way for surely they will be run over by communicators using more efficient hardware and software.

We are expected to govern in the nineties and into the next century. Using equipment from the eighties makes us less efficient in governing. Rather than becoming road kill I suggest we make the system on the Hill user driven by ensuring that we have the tools to communicate effectively. With more effective communications we can better serve our constituents.

This means a minimum of 486-based modem equipped computers. Let us together make the 35th Parliament one to be remembered for having made smart computer based connections that put us in the passing lane on the super information highway.

Official LanguagesStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Liberal

Warren Allmand Liberal Notre-Dame-De-Grâce, QC

Mr. Speaker, this week the Commissioner for Official Languages presented his annual report and with it we have heard proposals from the Reform Party and the Bloc Quebecois to cut back provisions in the act or abolish it altogether. The Reform Party is suggesting that official language rights should be put entirely under provincial jurisdiction.

History shows that would be a complete disaster. The Bloc Quebecois supports the act for francophones outside Quebec but not for anglophones in Quebec. In this case there is a double standard.

The purpose of the act is to protect minority language rights in Canada and provide linguistic justice to the more than one million francophones outside Quebec and the more than 800,000 anglophones in Quebec.

As the commissioner points out in his report, the act is not always applied as it should be and there have been some setbacks. Without the act and without the commissioner things would be much worse. We should work to improve the Official Languages Act, not to destroy it.

Merritt G. HendersonStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Mr. Speaker, from time to time Canadians are fortunate to be served by outstanding leaders who have distinguished themselves through consistent high quality performance over a long period of time. On the occasion of the retirement of one such outstanding Canadian from the city of Mississauga, I am honoured to pay special tribute to him.

Merritt G. Henderson is the president of the Mississauga Hospital and after more than 35 years of dedicated service he will be retiring. The measure of one's success is not a matter of where one is but rather of how far one has come from where one started. Mr. Henderson worked his way up the ranks and earned the respect and recognition of his peers.

Under his leadership the Mississauga Hospital developed into one of the most respected health care institutions in Ontario and in Canada.

He is held in very high esteem by those who know him for consistently providing the necessary guidance, wisdom and knowledge we look for in our leaders.

To Merritt G. Henderson we extend our sincere gratitude for his outstanding contributions to Canadian health care.

Citizenship WeekStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Liberal

Anna Terrana Liberal Vancouver East, BC

Mr. Speaker, Canadian citizenship is a very important gift bestowed upon those who live in this country.

Many of us coming from different parts of the world chose to become Canadians and often lost their original citizenship because they felt that Canada had become their country. They wanted to be true citizens of this country. At times it is not easy to deny one's own citizenship but Canada is well worth it.

Canadian citizenship deserves to be celebrated. The week of April 17 to April 22 will be Citizenship Week in Canada. Events will occur all over the country.

I congratulate all those who chose to become Canadians over the years. I also thank all those people and organizations that will contribute to celebrating this important event. All Canadians should participate in the celebration of their own citizenship.

Manpower TrainingStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Bloc

Paul Crête Bloc Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup, QC

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister and his colleagues from the Liberal Party demonstrated once more that they are incapable of understanding the legitimate aspirations of Quebeckers, when they described as a "whim" the formidable consensus achieved in Quebec around the need to patriate all powers relating to manpower training.

This consensus was achieved among educational networks, labour confederations, the Forum sur l'emploi, the Mouvement Desjardins as well as the Conseil du patronat du Québec, which can hardly be accused of being infiltrated by "big, bad separatists".

Far from being a "whim", this demand is one of the cornerstones of a real employment strategy to finally free Quebec from the state of dependency it is kept in by inefficient federal programs. It is essential to Quebec's development.

AgricultureStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Reform

Elwin Hermanson Reform Kindersley—Lloydminster, SK

Mr. Speaker, farmers have been very disappointed with the performance of the government so far. They have been ignored. There was no mention of agriculture in the throne speech. There was no mention of agriculture in the budget. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has been a virtual non-participate in the House so far. It is no wonder farmers have grave doubts about the government.

The minister appears to be losing a war of words with the Americans. Farmers are worried and they have good reason to be. The government is giving in to unfounded allegations of unfair trade from our friends to the south. The Financial Post reported:

"Canada to soften position in farm battle with U.S."

In a free trade agreement with a trading partner, we should demand that the principle of free trade be upheld. We shouldn't have to sell out on free trade by imposing quotas on ourselves.

Farmers are not asking for special favours. Farmers are not asking for more programs. Farmers are not even asking for more government money. Farmers simply ask that the government show a little backbone and go to bat for them.

The message from farmers is clear. The government had better not strike out this time.

Citizenship WeekStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Liberal

Sue Barnes Liberal London West, ON

Mr. Speaker, with national Citizenship Week starting on April 17, I would like to highlight the important contribution of immigrants to Canadian society.

Canada is a nation of immigrants. The country as we know it would not exist without the struggle and determination of millions of people of diverse origin and background who have landed on Canadian shores in search of a better life.

The bilingual and multicultural character of Canadian society is a source of wealth. Immigrants also contribute to the Canadian economy through the actual inflow of capital investment, the setting up of self-employed businesses and the importation of required skills.

In time many immigrants become Canadian citizens and share willingly the privileges and responsibilities that citizenship bestows. As one immigrant Canadian I am both proud and thankful and I look forward to next week's celebration of Canadian citizenship.

ViolenceStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Liberal

Jean Augustine Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my profound concern about the recent shocking crimes of violence that have taken place in both our nation's capital and in metropolitan Toronto.

As the member of Parliament for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, I share the concerns expressed by other hon. members of the House. Violent crime affects us all. Many of my constituents have expressed to me their outrage and their fear of the rise of crime in their neighbourhoods.

We must acknowledge that the incidence of crime, the proliferation of guns, substance abuse and racial intolerance are all related to instances of poverty and the lack of economic opportunity for many in our society.

I therefore urge all the ministers responsible, and in particular the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Human Resources Development, to look at the root causes of this increasingly disturbing phenomenon in Canadian society.

I convey my sincere condolences to the families and many friends of those who have lost their lives through unprovoked-

ViolenceStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

The Speaker

The hon. member for Regina-Lumsden.

Heavy Oil UpgraderStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

NDP

John Solomon NDP Regina—Lumsden, SK

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to request that the Government of Canada do what is right and give urgent and favourable consideration to the financial plight of the NewGrade Heavy Oil Upgrader in Regina.

What is at stake is 500 jobs at the upgrader in the oilfields, plus a $275 million loan guarantee from Canada and a $360 million loan guarantee from the province of Saskatchewan.

An independent commission in 1993 recommended a federal financial contribution of $150 million is needed to save the project from failure. Although negotiations with the federal government continue, no resolution has been reached.

The NewGrade Upgrader is in imminent danger of shutting down if a financial restructuring program is not reached very soon.

I urge the Government of Canada to proceed in all haste to reach an agreement with the province of Saskatchewan and the Federated Co-ops Limited to save these 500 jobs as it promised in its red book.

Conflict In Former YugoslaviaOral Questions

2:15 p.m.

Lac-Saint-Jean Québec

Bloc

Lucien Bouchard BlocLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. We were shocked to hear that this morning in Sarajevo, 50 UN observers and 16 Canadian peacekeepers belonging to the 12th armoured regiment from Valcartier were taken hostage by Serbian forces. This is indeed alarming news, especially for their families with whom we all sympathize.

Could the minister comment on the hostage situation and the dangers involved, and inform the House whether UN spokespersons have managed to contact the leaders of the Bosnian Serbs to negotiate the release of the hostages within the next few hours?

Conflict In Former YugoslaviaOral Questions

2:15 p.m.

Papineau—Saint-Michel Québec

Liberal

André Ouellet LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question and for giving me this opportunity to say that we deeply regret what happened a few hours ago.

Apparently, attempts by UN representatives and by the Americans and the Russians to get all parties to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia to agree on a durable peace process has met with a number of problems. Although considerable progress have been made in negotiations between the Croatians and the Muslims, the Bosnian-Serbs apparently refuse to fully commit to this peace process.

According to our information, our peacekeepers are not at risk, at least for the time being. Negotiations for their release are continuing, and we are confident they will be released.

Conflict In Former YugoslaviaOral Questions

2:15 p.m.

Lac-Saint-Jean Québec

Bloc

Lucien Bouchard BlocLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, we know that a total of 150 UN peacekeepers have been taken hostage by the Serbs. I hope the minister is taking seriously the potential risk to our Canadian soldiers.

Could the minister also confirm that negotiations between the Serbs and the UN spokespersons will not start until tomorrow, and could he give the House the assurance that Canada will have a representative on the UN delegations to negotiate the release of the hostages?

Conflict In Former YugoslaviaOral Questions

2:15 p.m.

Papineau—Saint-Michel Québec

Liberal

André Ouellet LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Speaker, Lord Owen and Mr. Stoltenberg who previously negotiated successfully with the Serbs are now on the spot. We are counting on their good offices to bring these negotiations to a successful conclusion. We believe that reason will prevail. Although the UN representatives are at risk, the Bosnian Serbs are as well, and in this kind of situation, there is no doubt that reason will prevail and that the soldiers and the other UN representatives who are being detained will be released.

Conflict In Former YugoslaviaOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Lac-Saint-Jean Québec

Bloc

Lucien Bouchard BlocLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, in so far as this incident underlines the security problems which face the peacemakers, I would like the minister to tell us if he agrees that there is an urgent need for the UN to take more efficient protective measures in order to guarantee the security of the peacemaking personnel while carrying out their duties.