House of Commons Hansard #118 of the 35th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was nuclear.

Topics

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to present today. The first petition is from Abbotsford, B.C.

The petitioners would like to draw to the attention of the House that our police and firefighters place their lives at risk on a daily basis as they serve the emergency needs of all Canadians.

They also state that in many cases the families of officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty are often left without sufficient financial means to meet their obligations.

The petitioners therefore pray and call on Parliament to establish a public safety officers compensation fund to receive gifts and bequests for the benefit of families of police officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Mr. Speaker, my second petition comes from Edmonton, Alberta. The petitioners draw to the attention of the House that managing the family home and caring for preschool children is an honourable profession which has not been recognized for its value to our society.

The petitioners therefore pray and call on Parliament to pursue initiatives to assist families that choose to provide care in the home for preschool children, the chronically ill, the aged or the disabled.

Mr. Speaker, my third petition is from Kentville, Nova Scotia-

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Two to a customer today, since there are so many people waiting.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Reform

Ed Harper Reform Simcoe Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present two petitions today on behalf of the constituents of Simcoe Centre.

The first group of petitioners requests that the Government of Canada not amend federal legislation to include the phrase sexual orientation.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Reform

Ed Harper Reform Simcoe Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, the second petition concerns the age of consent laws. The petitioners ask that Parliament set the age of consent at 18 years to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Reform

Leon Benoit Reform Vegreville, AB

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to table on behalf of several western Canadians, under Standing Order 36, a petition that calls for an end to the GST on reading materials.

Specifically, the petition asks the Prime Minister to carry out his party's repeated and unequivocal promise to remove federal sales tax from books, magazines and newspapers.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Reform

Jim Hart Reform Okanagan—Similkameen—Merritt, BC

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today on behalf of the constituents of Okanagan-Similkameen-Merritt pursuant to Standing Order 36.

The first petition deals with the concern that the national highway system is substandard. Therefore the petitioners call on Parliament to urge the federal government to join with provincial governments to make the national highway system upgrading possible.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Reform

Jim Hart Reform Okanagan—Similkameen—Merritt, BC

Mr. Speaker, my second petition deals with taxing reading materials.

The petitioners ask that the Prime Minister carry out his party's repeated and unequivocal promise to remove federal sales tax from books, magazines and newspapers.

The petitioners are simply asking the government to carry out its promise.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Lethbridge Alberta

Reform

Ray Speaker ReformLethbridge

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions and I will be very brief.

The first two petitions bear 2,889 signatures and call on Parliament to have our present laws on obscenity strengthened, demonstrating the will to protect the men, women and children of Canada from pornography's impact and thereby also fostering recognition and treatment for sexual addictions which most often have been fuelled by the use and impact of pornography.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Lethbridge Alberta

Reform

Ray Speaker ReformLethbridge

Mr. Speaker, the other petition with 25 signatures deals with a national highway system in Canada.

Questions On The Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Fundy Royal New Brunswick

Liberal

Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

Questions On The Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Is that agreed?

Questions On The Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Motions For PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Fundy Royal New Brunswick

Liberal

Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Notices of Motions for the Production of Papers be allowed to stand.

Motions For PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Is that agreed?

Motions For PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Motions For PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Zed Liberal Fundy Royal, NB

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to try a series of four travel motions, the negotiations on which have been happening during Routine Proceedings.

If it is agreeable to the Chair, I would like to propose them one by one.

Motions For PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

I take it that all parties are agreeable to this.

Motions For PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:30 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Committees Of The HouseRoutine Proceedings

December 11th, 1996 / 3:30 p.m.

Fundy Royal New Brunswick

Liberal

Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

moved:

That the Subcommittee on International Financial Institutions of the Standing Committee on Finance be authorized to travel to Washington D.C. from January 27 to 30, 1997, to meet with the president and officials of the World Bank.

(Motion agreed to.)

Committees Of The HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:35 p.m.

Fundy Royal New Brunswick

Liberal

Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

moved:

That the members of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development and the necessary staff be permitted to travel to Vancouver and Edmonton from January 26 to January 30, 1997, to conduct hearings on Bill C-65, an act respecting the protection of wildlife species in Canada from extirpation or extinction.

(Motion agreed to.)

Committees Of The HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:35 p.m.

Fundy Royal New Brunswick

Liberal

Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

moved:

That as part of its study of new technologies and privacy rights, six members of the Standing Committee on Human Rights and the Status of Persons with Disabilities be authorized to travel to Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Fredericton during the week of February 10 to February 14, 1997, for the purpose of holding hearings and that the necessary staff accompany the committee.

(Motion agreed to.)

Committees Of The HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:35 p.m.

Fundy Royal New Brunswick

Liberal

Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

moved:

That in relation to its study of the mandate and operation of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, four members of the committee and two staff members of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts be authorized to travel to the Republic of Ireland from April 6 to 13, 1997, to meet with members of Parliament and government officials of Ireland.

(Motion agreed to.)

The House resumed from December 9 consideration of the motion.

FinanceGovernment Orders

3:35 p.m.

Reform

Monte Solberg Reform Medicine Hat, AB

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak today to the report of the Standing Committee on Finance on the prebudget hearings.

I started speaking on this matter a day or two ago and, unfortunately, I was interrupted, so I am back again. I will begin where I left off. I left off by saying that, in my judgment, the government was searching for the answer but it would not tell people what the question was. I want to advance the debate a bit beyond that now.

This whole debate will be seen in a new light today as a result of the Prime Minister's town hall meeting last night. Last night we saw a side of the Prime Minister which I have not seen before. We saw a Prime Minister who seemed almost disdainful of the people who came forward, whose lives were in disarray because they were unemployed or because they had fallen on hard times. That stands in stark contrast to the words of the committee report.

The chairman of the finance committee is sitting across from me. I am certain he believes very strongly the words that are in his report which emphasize how much he cares about people who are unemployed, the poor and people who have fallen on hard times. However, I did not see that in the Prime Minister's responses to

questions from regular Canadians last night. Those people have fallen on hard times.

I want to talk about these issues one by one. These issues are very important to Canadians.

Last night at the town hall debate there was a graph shown on television which indicated that 42 per cent of Canadians said the number one priority they saw for government was unemployment. It is a huge problem. The Prime Minister brushed the whole issue aside.

In the finance committee report the government does speak of the unemployed, but mostly it boasts about the job the government has done in creating an environment so that the economy can create jobs. Last night I think that claim was really challenged by reporters at CBC when they pointed out that since the government came to power, only 109,000 jobs truly had been created outside of the natural growth in the workforce. Therefore it amounts to only about 30,000 jobs a year since the government came to power, which allowed the unemployment rate to come down to about 10 per cent, still a double digit.

I know I speak for Canadians when I say 10 per cent unemployment is completely unacceptable. When we look at the regional breakdowns it is even worse. In Saskatchewan there is 6 per cent unemployment; we are getting there. But in Atlantic Canada, Cape Breton, 22 per cent, as the lady claimed last night. That is unbelievable.

What did the Prime Minister say in response to that lady's queries about what can be done to help people get a job? He said "we have ACOA, some ACOA grants". I think we have been trying ACOA grants for 20 years and they have done nothing to fix the unemployment problem in Atlantic Canada.

He said "perhaps you can start a business". But as the lady correctly pointed out, when you are unemployed you do not have the money to run out and start a business. These are common sense responses. And with respect to the Prime Minister, after 33 years in this place and serving as a big city lawyer, I think has has become too far removed from the common people. I think he has forgotten what it is like to come from humble beginnings. The people who spoke last night were simply not satisfied with the Prime Minister's answers.

I think it would be irresponsible to criticize without offering some answers of our own. We have suggested there is another approach. We have suggested that the way to deal with the problem of unemployment is to create an environment, as the Prime Minister says, where the economy will produce real jobs. But the government has not done that. That is not done simply by reducing the deficit ever so slowly but not giving people any of the benefits of a balanced budget and surpluses.

We are proposing, and I think it is what a lot of Canadians want to hear, is balance the budget, shrink the size of government, get rid of the wasteful programs; and there are many of them. Give the provinces some of the responsibilities which are theirs in the Constitution and which the federal government has never done a good job with. When that is done, a surplus will be run. When that is done, people can be offered lower taxation.

The Reform plan is to download $15 billion in tax relief to Canadians across the country so that the people in Atlantic Canada, where taxes are unreasonably high and are going to get even worse under this harmonization agreement that the Prime Minister spoke of today in question period, will benefit tremendously from lower taxes. The problem with the Atlantic Canadian economy is it is so bound up by taxes that it cannot possibly create the amount of jobs necessary to help the people in Cape Breton, Newfoundland, all the regions of Atlantic Canada.

One of the saddest commentaries on the failure of the government to deal with the problems that seize the country is today's release from Stats Can that says an estimated 1.472 million children liven in "straitened circumstances" in 1995, in poverty, up 110,000 from the previous year. In the finance committee report government members pointed out that child poverty is a problem. It certainly is but words are not enough. During the last election campaign the words were jobs, jobs, jobs. What has happened? Virtually nothing. This time apparently it is going to be child poverty, but words do not put food on the table.

The government report says that not too much can be done. Maybe some money can be put into a working income supplement, maybe it could be enhanced. That is not enough. The Reform plan, $15 billion in tax relief, would take 1.2 million low income Canadians completely off the tax rolls. That is how people who are struggling just to get by are helped. That is how the poor are helped. That is how children living in poverty are helped. That is how 1.2 million Canadians would be taken completely off the tax rolls. That is the Reform fresh start.

Just a couple of minutes ago, as we went through Routine Proceedings, we heard petition after petition make reference to the GST. Probably a dozen or 15 members of Parliament got up with petitions in their hands saying that the government should fulfil its promise to get rid of the GST on reading materials.

Unless I missed it, I did not see that addressed in the finance committee report. Sometimes when things are not said it speaks volumes about the approach to an issue. This was a blatant promise

that was broken. Nowhere is it addressed in the finance committee report.

It is important that this is brought to the attention not only of Canadians who voted for the government on the basis of this promise but also the government MPs.

It is incumbent on government MPs to stand up and represent their constituents. They know very well that the Prime Minister wrote to the Don't Tax Reading Coalition just before the last election and said that he would get rid of the GST on books. It is still there. Yes, the government made some minor changes but it is still there. It is another broken promise. It should have been addressed.

The GST is barely mentioned in the finance committee report but Canadians had some hard questions for the Prime Minister last night. We had the spectacle of a waitress from Montreal standing up meekly at first, trying to challenge the Prime Minister on his GST promise, and what did he do? He attempted to dress her down. He tried to corner her and suggest somehow that she did not know what she was talking about. But she knew a lot better than he did what she was talking about.

She pointed out that the Prime Minister had said many, many times that he would scrap the GST and it was the basis on which she had voted for him. What did the Prime Minister do? He did not say: "You're right. I am sorry". He did not do what the Deputy Prime Minister had to do. He certainly did not resign. What did he do? He tried to deny that he had said all the things that a couple of minutes later appeared on the television news.

I would think, after having gone through the debacle of the Mulroney government and the myriad broken promises and the myriad times when people completely lost faith in government, the Prime Minister, the hon. member from Shawinigan, would have learned his lesson. Instead he let pride get in his way. He denied that he had said the things that ended up on the TV news a few minutes later and again, people have a very good reason to not trust government.

I wonder how many million people watched last night. I wonder how many million people saw a side of the Prime Minister that they had never seen before. We are all amused when the Prime Minister puts on his little guy from Shawinigan act. He is very amusing. He seems like a very nice man, but last night, although sometimes the words were there, there was a curled lip, there was an arrogant attitude. I did not see any sympathy at all for what the people out there were asking about.

After what we saw last night this whole debate has been put in a new light. I hope Canadians remember this as we approach the next election.