Mr. Speaker, in your usual non-partisan manner you announced that very well. I always enjoy working with you in your new role. I am sorry to see you muzzled, of course, of your former ability to parry and thrust in the debate in the House. Still, you are doing a fine job there and we appreciate your work.
I want to talk for a few minutes today about the financial institutions act, in particular because it is one of the areas that the Reform Party says that the federal government needs to be
involved in very aggressively if Canada is to have that common economic union that will strengthen the nation.
We have suggested that in our vision of what Canada should look like. There are some areas from which the federal government should dissociate itself. For example, the federal government should not be involved in tourism. That should be a provincial jurisdiction. Manpower training should be a provincial jurisdiction and all provinces should have responsibility for that. Municipal affairs is something best left with the provinces and the municipalities. Things such as housing, language and culture should be left with the provinces. The provinces and the municipalities are much closer to the needs in their regions and they will do much better job of managing things than will the federal government.
In our fresh start document we detail the areas that we think should be handed off to lower levels of government. It goes so far as to say that municipalities should be officially recognized as the level of government closest to the people and they should be included in federal-provincial arrangements such as the infrastructure programs that are being announced here on the cusp of the election. Once again, it is the municipalities that are going to have to contribute a third of the money in these infrastructure plans and they getting in on the deal after it is completed.
I can say from the last infrastructure deal, where about 82 to 84 per cent of the money went to ridings controlled by provincial MLAs in the NDP government of British Columbia, there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the fact that municipalities are treated as the weak sisters, or the poor brothers or whatever they can be called, but they do not have the influence on policy that they should have.
All that said, one of the things that should not be weakened in the federal government is regulation of financial institutions. That forms one of the 10 main areas where the Government of Canada should concentrate its efforts.
I should read those areas into the record. They include defence, foreign affairs, monetary policy, regulating financial institutions, the Criminal Code, facilitating national standards, equalization, international trade, domestic trade and reform of national institutions such as Parliament. On the last point I know, Mr. Speaker, as the co-author of a report that talks about reforming the national institution of Parliament, even going so far as recommending that the position that you now have be given to one of the opposition parties, for example, you would be, as many others are as well, in favour of reforming national institutions here in Parliament.
The reason that these 10 areas need to be emphasized is because these are the 10 areas of commonality that I think all Canadians can agree to and that all provinces can agree to, that if we are going to have a nation we need to have these areas under the control of the federal government.
There is no use in the power to regulate domestic trade disputes being held within a province. Obviously one province could say it is looking after its best interests so it will not give in or allow another province to buy supplies or whatever it might be. This cannot be and should not be.
In recent times the Liberal government attempted to put together an internal trade agreement in Canada. Whole sections of the internal trade agreement were left blank, including the section on energy. It is a completely blank page because the provinces cannot agree among themselves.
The federal government needs to step in more aggressively and take control of the 10 areas that I mentioned. The federal government should not acquiesce to any one province. It should aggressively use its constitutional right to regulate financial institutions and internal trade disputes and force them to a conclusion. If one province does not want to sign on, it will have to be pushed a little. One thing that makes a country is a common economic market. By extension we also need a common monetary policy. That is one thing a Reform government would stress. We need the regulation of financial institutions. We also need control of the Criminal Code and issues like international and domestic trade.
It is important for people to realize that a decentralized government or a rebalancing of the powers of the federation does not mean the federal government will not have a lot to do. Our view of what will happen under a Reform Party government is that some $94 billion will be used on program spending. Those kinds of dollars in 10 areas will focus our energies, limit the influence of the federal government and allow it to have a substantial role so that people are competent and know the roles. The provinces including the province of Quebec will see where we are heading, what kind of vision we have and so on.
Today in question period again I was a bit disappointed. The Bloc Quebecois raised the idea of where the country was heading. The Prime Minister was asked about a distinct society and what it means. His response was that Quebecers would stay because we have the best country in the world.
That is what he said during the last referendum campaign. The gist of what he proposed was that no one would want to leave because it was the best country in the world. I agree it is the best country in the world, but it is not a vision for the country just to repeat that ad infinitum. We need something to communicate to the separatists in Quebec, to the federalists who are disenchanted with the status quo and to others indicating that we have something better, a third option.
There is separatism, the status quo and a third option in the middle. Reformers want to tell Quebecers we want them to stay in Canada. They should know up front that the third option includes strengthening some provisions of the federal government to make them solid. It would also make many other things solidly provincial.
When they are concerned about their culture, we could say that by all means culture should be handed off to the provincial governments, lower levels of government, private institutions, individuals, private organizations and so on. There is a lot of support for cultural activities in many provinces, regions, districts and whatnot.
We want to make clear that we will give the provinces plenty of powers which I believe are theirs constitutionally. The federal government will hang on to certain powers. We are not prepared to sell the country by diluting those powers.
The reason the previous speaker spoke about financial institutions in such detail is that a Reform government would continue to regulate financial institutions. That mandate will not reside with the provinces. The provinces need to know that. There would be discussions with finance ministers, interest groups and other parties, but the federal government, led by the Reform Party, would continue to hold the trump card. Financial institutions would not be given away to a lower level of government because they come knocking on the door asking for it. They need to be regulated by the federal government if a a common economic union is to be maintained. That is something we need from coast to coast and we want to emphasize.
I believe the Liberal government would agree with me that it is obvious that a country must regulate the monetary policy of its financial institutions. We are asking the federal government, in the time remaining before the next referendum, not to play games like the Prime Minister did today in question period. He said that everything was good, that it was a wonderful country and that no one would leave.
If we continue to use that argument heading into the next referendum, it will be like going into a battle of wits unarmed. When we say to people who are determined to leave that we know they will not leave because it is a great country, they will say that it is not working the way they want it to. They will ask: "What is your vision of the country?" If the attitude is to stand and say it is a great country and no one will leave, I am fearful we will lose the country.
We need to indicate where we are, where we are going, a step by step plan to take us there, and a vision of the country we can grab hold of. If the Prime Minister could lay out the vision he holds for the country, where he would like to take Quebec and the rest of the country, what he is offering, the division of powers and his constitutional proposals, Quebecers might grab it. If he continues to keep the cards close to his chest, wait until a crisis and hope he has the right card to play at the right time, it is a poker game he will lose.
The separatists know exactly what they want. I do not agree with them in any way, shape or form. The only thing they are countering is more of the same. Brian Mulroney in his speech last night said that we had to go back to offering them what he tried a couple of times. I do not agree. There must be something in the middle, a third option. The Reform Party has one. Maybe they do not like it but at least it is an option.
The Liberals would be wise to come up with an option. They are playing a dangerous game. They are going to court. They are saying those people cannot leave, that it is the greatest country so no one will want to leave. If those are the two arguments they are using in the debate, I fear for the next referendum.
On the other hand the Liberals should say that the regulation of financial institutions is a federal mandate and will remain a federal mandate, and that is the way it will be. Canadians and Quebecers want it that way. They want a common Criminal Code. They want federal control over monetary policy, defence, domestic trade and international trade. If a bunch of this other stuff is given in a third option because the provinces deserve it, they have a vision to sell. They have something to put out there. They cannot say that maybe financial institutions are on the table. They cannot say that maybe it is a provincial matter. Who knows? The liberals do not lay it out. They come to the table with an uncertain list of things they are dabbling with. The people who know what they want play them like a fiddler plays a fiddle. They just play them along and ask what else they will be given.
The end result, as I mentioned earlier, is that we came within a smidgen of going over the cliff in the last referendum. Mr. Bouchard is rubbing his hands in glee at the thought of facing a Prime Minister who does not know where he wants to take the country. Unless he gets out of the mindset he came here with 30 years ago that playing along and hoping to get by will somehow get us through the next set of crises, all it will take is one wrong step or a misstatement at the wrong time and the 40,000 votes on the no side last time will be on the yes side. Then what? Then we will have a real battle on our hands, a real problem.
I am pleased to reconfirm for Canadians that some things under the federal government need to be strengthened and maintained in a federal Parliament. We cannot have a country unless there is a strong central government on some issues.
The people of Quebec need to know that on many other issues there is a party offering a third option. It does not have to stay the
way it is. Quebec does not have to separate. The third option is a clear division of federal and provincial powers. They take what is constitutionally correct to take provincially and the federal government keeps control of the things it needs to control to maintain the country.
If Quebecers hear that option they will embrace it. The federal government would be wise to put forward its vision of the country rather than just say: "I am okay, you are okay, everything is good". If the Liberals put forward their vision of the country maybe Quebecers and the rest of Canada will say in the next election they are willing to take a vote on it.
That is what the Reform Party will be doing. I challenge the Liberals and any other party to come forward with a third option that makes sense for all Canadians and certainly for Quebecers.