Debates of May 29th, 1995

National Access Awareness Week

[Rey D. Pagtakhan, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, National Access Awareness Week, which begins today, is about learning, be it academic, vocational, or on the job training.

Halls of learning and new technologies that facilitate the learning process should be accessible to persons with disabilities. Technology, remember, enabled physicist Stephen Hawking, despite his disabilities, to share his brilliant scientific insights with all mankind.

Technology has allowed many Canadians with disabilities to share their special talents, one of whom is recognized annually with the Centennial Flame research award of Parliament.

All Canadians benefit when citizens with disabilities are integrated fully in our homes, schools, workplaces, and in sports. This special week reminds us of our national dream for our citizens with disabilities and of our will to realize this dream.

I am pleased this government has heightened its resolve to tear down the barriers that limit participation and to supply the tools that facilitate integration.

Reader's Digest Leadership In Education Award

[Bob Wood, Liberal, Nipissing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure today to rise on behalf of the District of Nipissing to congratulate Sunset Park public school principal Rick Ferron and vice-principal John Stephens for being named winners of the 1995 national Reader's Digest leadership in education award.

These gentlemen were selected from 197 nationwide nominations for their efforts in creating a living community where outside social agencies come into the school to counsel at risk students and their families in a warm, nurturing setting. Their approach is based on the old African proverb that "it takes a village to raise a child".

Each gentleman will receive a $5,000 award and the school will receive $10,000. This foundation award, initiated in 1989, is considered one of the top prizes from a non-educational or non-government body.

As word of the Sunset Park initiative spread, some of the province's top education researchers jumped in to support it and have held it up as a model for the rest of the country.

Peacekeepers

[Réjean Lefebvre, Bloc, Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, more than 370 UN peacekeepers and military observers have been taken hostage or are surrounded by Bosnian Serbs. Seventeen of them are literally being used as human shields.

We would like to express our deep concern for the Quebec and Canadian peacekeepers who are among the hostages and we wish to express our profound empathy with their families in this time of anguish and fear for them.

Of the 2,100 members of the Canadian military currently deployed in the former Yugoslavia, ten have been taken hostage. Eight of these ten are Quebecers, who are members of the third battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment from Valcartier. Forty-five other members of the armed forces are confined to their observation post.

We all hope that the current negotiations will quickly lead to their release.

Integrity In Politics

[Herb Grubel, Reform, Capilano—Howe Sound, BC]

Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign the Liberals emphasized strongly the issue of integrity. They claimed the Conservatives had callously broken election promises and destroyed public confidence in politicians. The Liberals promised to be different, but they were not. During the coming months you will see just how many promises they have broken. Reformers will parade them before you.

Reformers are happy the Liberals adopted so many Reform policies, but Canadians are rightly disappointed with the Liberals' broken promises. They are asking if the broken promises are a sign of Liberal incompetence or a sign of total disrespect for the intelligence of Canadian voters.

Crtc

[Simon de Jong, NDP, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, last November the Minister of Industry assured this House that the appointment of a panel to review the CRTC's decision on direct to home satellite services was "in no way an overruling or the setting aside of the CRTC decision with respect to the exemption order that was issued. That order stands."

Now the government is changing that order. The government should not hold things up by retroactively changing CRTC decisions and creating new hurdles. Already we have a large grey market. Many Canadian homes are pulling in U.S. signals without any Canadian content regulations and sending money across the border.

We welcome Canadian competition. We urge more competition and the public wants more competition. However, further delaying the entrance of regulated D to H services will make it more difficult to reintegrate grey market users into Canadian regulated services.

Fairness to the public and program producers would-

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Ottawa West.

Family Violence

[Marlene Catterall, Liberal, Ottawa West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for two children in my community the opportunity to learn, to play, to grow, and to love will never come again.

Last Friday, 10-year old Wilson and 8-year old Margret Kasonde were shot to death in their father's west end apartment. I can think of no greater horror for a family to face than the one their mother and little brother now face. Our hearts go out to them as they try to survive this terrible tragedy.

The children's school and others in the neighbourhood are seeking to reassure hundreds of children who have lost their sense of security and innocence with this tragic event. The pain of these two deaths permeates the whole community.

Tonight the people of Carlington will hold a candle light vigil in memory of Wilson and Margret and to declare their determination to end violence that destroys so many lives and to control the instruments of violence that can kill so quickly and so finally. I ask us all to join them in that determination.

Indianapolis 500

[Réginald Bélair, Liberal, Cochrane—Superior, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I also take this opportunity to congratulate Jacques Villeneuve on overcoming a two lap penalty to win the race and that coveted purse at the Indianapolis 500 over the weekend. At age 24, he is the youngest Indy driver in history to earn $1 million U.S. and the first Canadian to be victorious at the distinguished race.

Jacques Villeneuve has obviously inherited the courage, intrepidity and skill of his father, the famous Formula One racer Gilles Villeneuve. He already demonstrated in competition last year that he had a glorious future ahead of him.

I join all Canadians and Quebecers in congratulating him on this great first Canadian victory in a world class race.

Ontario Election

[Stan Keyes, Liberal, Hamilton West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Ontario Conservative leader Mike "just call me common sense" Harris says if elected he would offer $4 billion in tax cuts, $3.9 billion in spending cuts, and a balanced budget in three to five years. Imagine that.

Despite his slash and burn approach, Mr. Harris claims that he can gut provincial programs without damaging the delivery of essential services such as health and education. Furthermore, by forcing the needy to work for welfare the Ontario Tories are typically trying to carry out those massive spending cuts, as usual, on the backs of the most vulnerable people in our society. I wonder if Mr. Harris thinks a single parent struggling to survive with children while conducting a job search has the time and the energy to work for welfare.

Mr. Harris's numbers just do not add up. I am sure that on June 8 the people of Ontario will realize that what he is proposing is actually a nonsense revolution.

Poverty

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, hundreds of Quebec women are marching on Quebec City to draw attention to poverty, which is rampant in our society, particularly among women. These women left Montreal, Longueuil and Rivière-du-Loup to reach Quebec City on June 4, when 10,000 women will hold a protest rally.

One of their nine main demands is that the Quebec government substantially increase the minimum wage so that lower paid workers can break out of poverty. This is an exceptional show of solidarity that is worth mentioning and supporting.

On behalf of the Bloc Quebecois, I wish to commend these women, and particularly Françoise David, president of the Fédération des femmes du Québec, who had the idea for this march and organized it.

Reform Party Of Canada

[Diane Ablonczy, Reform, Calgary North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on May 29, 1987, a group of concerned Canadians made a decision that in a few short years would change the course of Canadian history. On that day delegates from the four western provinces gathered in Vancouver to discuss Canada's economic and political future. Most of these people had never met before, but they were united by their desire to build a better Canada and by a common belief that our political system was in need of urgent and fundamental change.

After much debate, this assembly made an historic decision by resolving to launch the Reform Party of Canada and thereby revitalize Canadian politics. On the anniversary of this event, I salute the visionary women and men whose courage eight years ago provided hope to Canadians that we could build a more prosperous and more democratic Canada for ourselves and our children.

Bosnia

[Len Hopkins, Liberal, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in Bosnia our peacekeepers and those of our close allies are being used as human shields by those who have no respect for humanity and no allegiance to international law.

At a time when the entire United Nations system is being put through a severe test, it is important that we remember Edmund Burke's words: "All that is essential for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".

As of this moment, when many Canadians are going through a trauma in the former Yugoslavia, it must serve to remind all Canadians of the necessity to fully support and understand what our Canadian forces personnel may well face on any day while serving their country and while serving humanitarian principles at the international level.

Our hearts go out to those soldiers and our support and thoughts must be with their families. We must change and improve the United Nations operations to deal with a vicious and unpredictable world.

Parti Quebecois

[Eugène Bellemare, Liberal, Carleton—Gloucester, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if we are to believe what the leader of the Parti Quebecois said at his party's general assembly over the weekend, the PQ is grappling with a communications problem. The PQ Premier tried to explain his party's decline in popularity among the electorate by saying that his government is better at taking action than at communicating.

By its lack of conviction, this remark is surprisingly reminiscent of the moral victories the PQ used to claim in the old days. The PQ Premier need not look very far for the reason why his government's popularity is dwindling. The people of Quebec do not want to separate and they are sick and tired of seeing their government waste time and money on trying to come up with one question after another.

Goods And Services Tax

[Jim Silye, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to question the statement of an hon. member who promised voters that she would resign if the GST was not killed within a year of the Liberals taking office. It has been almost two years now since the election and the Deputy Prime Minister and her cabinet colleagues have failed to follow through on their commitment to kill the dreaded GST.

Reformers believe that a promise is a promise and the time has come for the hon. minister to do the honourable thing, own up to her promise and resign. After she demonstrates that kind of honesty in politics I have no doubt in my mind that the Deputy Prime Minister will have little trouble establishing herself in the private sector. I am sure that the severance package and the $2

million pension plan will help her through that difficult transition to private life.

It would be truly encouraging to see a member of the government fulfil a promise. We in the Reform Party would be so overwhelmed with that display of integrity that we would volunteer to throw the Deputy Prime Minister's retirement party ourselves.

Bosnia

[Lucien Bouchard, Bloc, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, in retaliation against the UN air strikes, the Bosnian Serbs bombed civilian populations, in Tuzla in particular, and took some 370 peacekeepers hostage, including 10 Canadians. The Serb forces went so far as to keep some peacekeepers chained to ammunition depots to be used as human shields against further raids by NATO.

My question is for the Prime Minister. What concrete measures does the government intend to take to free the 10 Canadian peacekeepers being held hostage by the Bosnian Serbs?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to state that the Canadian population is appalled by the events mentioned by the Leader of the Opposition. As you know, all the troops engaged in the humanitarian work that needs to be done in that troubled part of the world are doing an exceptional job, and I would like to take this opportunity to tell the soldiers posted over there and their families that the government and Canadians are very concerned, and that we will make every effort to support them.

We are currently in contact with most of the 10 Canadian hostages. As members know, the same thing happened last year, and we managed to have the hostages released after two weeks. The current situation is no worse than last year's. We are now making arrangements to talk with the Serbs. We may be in a slightly better situation than the French or the British, because our soldiers, those who were seized are only a few kilometres away from the base at Visoko. We hope that, once the situation calms down, our soldiers will be able to return to their base, and to safety.

In the meantime, we spent the weekend in contact with our allies who have troops over there to try, through diplomatic means, to bring things back to normal in that very complex part of the world. I spoke with the British Prime Minister, the French President and the Secretary General of the United Nations over the weekend. In particular, we want to change the troops' mandate because of the imbalance between the resources at their disposal and the positions they must take. The mandate must be redefined to make it difficult for any one of the warring factions over there, especially the Serbs, to engage in such hostage takings.

[Lucien Bouchard, Bloc, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, if this can be any encouragement to our fellow citizens being held hostage, they should know that they have the support and sympathy of all Canadians and Quebecers.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Lucien Bouchard, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

As he just reminded us, the Prime Minister consulted with his French and British counterparts and with the Secretary General of the UN, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, over the weekend. In the light of those discussions, can he tell us what position his Minister of Foreign Affairs will defend at the NATO meeting tomorrow with respect to the peacekeepers' mandate and the safety of our fellow Canadians?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will meet with his NATO colleagues and defend Canada's position that the time has come for the United Nations to redefine the peacekeepers' mandate.

As I said earlier, the work to be done by our troops and the resources available to them must be reviewed so that small groups of peacekeepers are not as exposed as they are at present.

Through our ambassador to the United Nations, we outlined our position. I spoke with Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali yesterday to express Canada's views before he submits a new plan to the Security Council tomorrow. This position will be defended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the meeting of NATO foreign affairs ministers tomorrow.

[Lucien Bouchard, Bloc, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I understand that the government is surrounded by advisers, that the Prime Minister and his Minister of Foreign Affairs have the opportunity to talk with their counterparts in other countries, that they are well informed, and so on, but very complex questions are being raised.

Many people in Canada and Quebec are asking themselves whether we should keep sending troops over there, whether changes should be made to the peacekeepers' current mandate, and if so, what those changes should be. Will they continue to stand helplessly by and fall victim to the events? If we maintain a military presence over there, why, and on what conditions, will we do so?

In other words, Parliament must be consulted on this. In this context, can the Prime Minister tell us whether he will approve the opposition's request that an emergency debate be held today

on the safety of the peacekeepers in Bosnia and the mandate of UN forces?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the House had the opportunity to debate our presence over there on three occasions-and I am very glad that it did.

I do not know the status of the discussions between the opposition parties and the government. Tomorrow is an opposition day and would be a very good opportunity to raise this issue. There would be more time available, instead of holding a debate late tonight.

I think that tomorrow's opposition day is reserved for the third party, and I hope they will use the opportunity to debate this issue. I know that the British Parliament will debate its position on Wednesday. I would welcome a debate in this House tomorrow.

[Jean-Marc Jacob, Bloc, Charlesbourg, QC]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to remind the Prime Minister that it is important that the debate be held today since the meeting is to take place tomorrow morning. If we want the debate to be relevant, it must be held today.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Jean-Marc Jacob, Bloc, Charlesbourg, QC]

My question is for the Prime Minister. In the context of the mandate, the French Prime Minister set certain conditions on maintaining troops in the former Yugoslavia. First, that UN soldiers be regrouped in order to minimize the likehood of further hostage takings; second, that those soldiers be provided with heavy artillery and given permission to use it; and, third, that a standing response force under UN and NATO control be set up.

Can the Prime Minister tell us if he agrees with the French Prime Minister on redefining the mandate, which he just mentioned, for UN soldiers in the former Yugoslavia along these lines?