Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to rise today to speak in favour of Reform's motion on the subject of B.C. land claims.
I have been listening to the preprinted, standard run of the mill, say the right thing style of speeches emanating from members opposite. Frankly, anyone in touch with the feelings of B.C. can see straight through the facade of the Liberal political correctness going on.
The hon. members for Vancouver Centre and Vancouver East spouted exactly the line we would expect from old line politicians completely out of touch with reality. I have no doubt whatsoever that the speeches of any other Liberal B.C. members are equally as irrelevant. They must have some sort of big sausage machine upstairs. They turn the handle and crank out all this meaningless stuff.
Last Tuesday in Vancouver radio talk show host Rafe Mair read out the names of the six Liberal MPs from B.C. three times. He emphasized the voters of B.C. have to remember the six names. He said: "Remember exactly how out of touch these people are with the voters of B.C.".
Even the hon. member for Richmond, who had a meeting in his riding last Saturday, supposedly to get the feelings of his constituents on the issues, told his voters he would vote against their wishes and that he put their interests after the Liberal Party of Canada. He insulted his own constituents. This is typical of the attitude we hear on issues such as land claims and unity. If it does not fit into the Liberal Party agenda, Liberal members are not interested in hearing what the people have to say.
We can see the same pattern of debate in the motion before us today. Instead of coming to the House with meaningful speeches about the concerns of British Columbians, government members have read from canned speeches prepared by their political masters who live and work thousands of kilometres away from the problems of the native land claims of B.C.
Some government members whose ridings are also thousands of kilometres away from B.C. have claimed or implied that Reform members are meanspirited or that we have some inappropriate motive for bringing this motion before the House. That is balderdash.
Here is some important news for government members. The Reform member for Beaver River taught and lived on an Indian reservation before she became an MP. The leader of the Reform Party worked for Indian bands as a consultant for a number of years before he was elected. The Reform member for Yorkton-Melville has taught on an Indian reservation. The Indian affairs critic for the Reform Party is married to a status Indian.
Mr. Speaker, anytime you hear someone say we are not in touch with the problems, the injustices or the difficulties with Indian land claims, please tell them they are wrong. We probably have more experience and knowledge about the problems than the entire Liberal caucus, certainly a lot more than the minister.
There are large Indian reservations in my riding. I have lived there since 1979. I have had plenty of opportunity to listen to and understand the concerns of both natives and non-natives in my riding.
A government member earlier today quoted from Mr. Hume, an editorialist with the Vancouver Sun . He quoted Mr. Hume as if he were some sort of expert on B.C. opinion. He fell right into a trap. The people of B.C. watching today will laugh. Mr. Hume does not represent the ideas of the people of B.C. Mr. Hume has a special interest of his own and his rantings have no relevance whatsoever to the opinions of B.C. voters. He regularly criticizes Reform, but if his rantings had any relevance we would not have 32 Reform MPs from B.C. He is completely out of touch, just like the government members.
It would be much more productive if government members would abandon their politically correct position, their canned speeches and their closed minds and listened to what we have to say as the true representatives of B.C.
It is not just us; both opposition parties in B.C. have made it clear the whole land claims deal is going off the track as B.C. approaches the next provincial election.
Government members should stop for a moment to say to themselves: "Maybe these B.C. MPs are trying to tell us something important. Maybe I should stop and listen. Maybe I should trust the majority from B.C. telling me there is something wrong here". Maybe they would just say that they should support what we are trying to do here, which is to prevent a terrible disaster from happening if things are rushed through on the eve of a provincial election.
What a treat it would be if government members would abandon their party lines just for one day and help us with a major problem in our province. It is a problem which they cannot understand because they do not have the unique set of circumstances in their province that we are experiencing in B.C.
Allow me to repeat the text of the motion before us today so that members can hear again our deep concern for the problems we have to face. We want the federal government to hold off making any treaties in haste on the eve of the provincial election because there is so much uncertainty surrounding the B.C. government. Everybody has heard of the bingo scandal. The government that is there right now might make some very unwise decisions. Our motion really does not call for too much. It just says:
That the House urge the government to not enter into any binding trilateral aboriginal treaty or land claim agreements in B.C. in the last year of the current provincial government mandate in order to respect the views of British Columbians on this issue as expressed by both major provincial opposition parties.
That is not too much to ask. I urge hon. members to please support us this one time.