Mr. Speaker, it occurs to me that this afternoon's speech by the Prime Minister is one of the more revealing deathbed repentances I have ever witnessed in my 20 years in political life.
After so many years of the federal Liberal government tearing down, backing away from commitments and creating crises for many Canadians and many Canadian communities, what we heard from the Prime Minister this afternoon was potentially very good news, and I say that quite sincerely. It is also a reminder of why it serves Canadians well to have sufficient numbers of New Democrats back in parliament to be able to push back against that reform dominance of the federal Liberal government's efforts over the last six years.
On that very positive note I welcome the opportunity to enter the debate this afternoon on the throne speech that we heard yesterday.
The throne speech is an important opportunity for members of parliament to speak about their own constituencies. I will say a few words about my constituency of Halifax that I am privileged to represent in parliament. A portion of that constituency has been responsible for electing and re-electing me to public office for almost 20 years.
I am immensely grateful for the privilege my constituents have bestowed upon me and for the trust they have placed in me. I take that trust very seriously. I believe that it is my responsibility to gain and regain that trust each and every day I have the privilege to remain in office and to serve as their representative in the House of Commons.
The throne speech offers members an opportunity to note some of the particular contributions one's constituents have made to one's community and province. I will say a few words this afternoon about the sadness I feel, and I know the great sadness that many Canadians feel, about the recent deaths over the last 10 days of three very distinguished Canadians, Nova Scotians who have contributed enormously to the life of my province.
One was the long serving conductor of the Atlantic Symphony and more recently the Nova Scotia Symphony, Georg Tintner. He was a marvellous man who came to Canada as a refugee. He created joy and harmony in the community through the music that he contributed and through a wonderful philosophy on life. He was truly a leader who provided inspiration to all of us.
Second, I was very saddened to learn yesterday of the death of Reverend Donald Skeir, a leader in Nova Scotia and particularly on behalf of black Nova Scotians for over 40 years. He was someone whom I had the privilege of knowing personally and of observing his terrific commitment to creating harmonious race relations and advancing the status of black Nova Scotians. He will be sorely missed, but he has left a great legacy for all Nova Scotians.
Third, I was very saddened this morning to open my newspaper and find that Lee Creemo had passed away on the weekend as well. He will be known certainly to Nova Scotians who serve with me here in the House of Commons as a great Cape Bretoner, a wonderful Mi'kmaw who also provided music that will long be remembered. He was a fiddler, a champion in Canada and internationally. He will be missed sorely. I want to express my condolences to his family and to his community of Eskasoni.
I also want to take a few moments to speak about what for me have been several highlights in my past year. I will long remember them as among the most inspirational in my 20 years of political life.
We have many things that we are privileged to participate in as members of parliament in our own communities and across the country. For me it was a privilege that I will never forget to have been present in Nunavut on April 1, 1999 for the official launching of the newest member of the Canadian family, the territory of Nunavut. I was accompanied by my colleague from Churchill River who had many friendships and relationships over the years with some of those I had the privilege to meet while in Nunavut on that special occasion.
I think it was one of the happiest and most promising things that happened in the past year. It really is a testament to the many years of patient, persistent struggle by Inuit Canadians in working toward a dream that would not only provide for some reconciliation after literally centuries, of 400 years of exploitation and hardship, but would serve as a model of what people can achieve if they come together, if they work together toward a dream that they share. It was indeed a privilege for me to be in attendance at that very exciting event.
I want to make mention of an event that took place on Canada Day in my riding of Halifax. That was the official opening of Pier 21. Pier 21 will be known to many members of the House and certainly to millions of Canadians as the point of entry for over one million immigrants, many of them refugees, to Canada between the years of 1921 and 1973. My colleague from Sackville—Eastern Shore is a member of one of the immigrant families that came through Pier 21.
That occasion was a wonderful celebration of the contributions immigrant Canadians have made to Canadian society over not just that period of 52 years during which many immigrants and refugees came through the Halifax harbour, but the past, present and continuing contributions of the millions of immigrants and refugees who have come to Canada throughout all of our history.
Pier 21 is a very important living, breathing memorial to the contribution immigrants have made. It is a very timely reminder of that important immigrant history and that reality in Canada at a time when there have been some very unhappy sentiments aroused and fears generated around the arrival of Chinese refugees on our shores over the last several months. We have seen less than a welcoming, compassionate response to the plight of many of those people who in some cases are young children who have been exploited by a criminal element for reasons of profiteering. We need to be very much on guard against the kind of fearmongering that has been generated toward many of those exploited and desperate people.
Finally, I want to speak about a more recent event, the installation of Canada's newest Governor General on October 7, 1999. If I am honest about it, I attended that event without any terrific expectations. I attended it because that is one of the things one does as a member of parliament. I want to take this occasion to say that I found it to be a tremendously inspirational event. I believe the speech delivered by Canada's newest Governor General on that occasion was a great moment for Canada.
What we saw in the vision put forward by Canada's newest Governor General was one that will be long remembered. We would all do well to keep in mind the very powerful message she delivered about how there are two kinds of societies in this world, forgiving societies and punishing societies. She urged that Canada always remain and continue to strive to be a forgiving society in every sense of the word.
It brought to mind a similar image that I have always carried with me. Stanley Knowles used to express it when he talked about how one can accomplish much more with an open hand than with a closed fist. I think it is the same concept. Sometimes we do not build enough on those positive images as we try to go about dealing with the major challenges we face in contemporary political life.
It struck me that it was somewhat ironic, in a way a sad irony, but also a telling disappointment that a woman who came to Canada as a refugee, who has never held political office in this country and who has never to my knowledge sought political office nevertheless was able to put forward in her speech to Canadians last week a more compelling vision for the future of Canada, a more profound appreciation of Canadian history and Canadian culture and a better grasp of the challenges that we face in this country today than the current Prime Minister who has actually held office for over 30 years, and the current government that by my calculation has actually been in power in the country for 63 years during this century. One has to wonder what that says about the current government and the lack of leadership we have seen from the government over the six years since it was elected to office in 1993.
When I spoke in the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne on my first occasion in this House in 1997, I quoted from one of my favourite passages and one of my favourite authors and also a very accomplished actress, Anne-Marie MacDonald. She is best known perhaps for her epic novel Fall on Your Knees . Like all good literary references, I will again quote briefly from that book because it bears repeating:
There is nothing so congenial to lucid thought as a clear view of the sea: it airs the mind, tunes the nerves, scours the soul.
For a maritimer there is no question that references to the ocean, to the seaside, to our marine heritage are always very positive, particularly when one comes from a riding where so much of the way of life depends on our proximity to the ocean. There is shipbuilding, shipping, our naval history, marine related industries and so on, and of course fishing.
It occurred to me that maybe part of the problem with the lack of vision from the government and the Prime Minister is the fact that he spends too much time on landlocked golf courses and not enough time beside the sea where he could gain the kind of inspiration that is very much needed today in public office.
Nevertheless, the Prime Minister has made it clear that he intends to remain at the helm. Some of his colleagues would say it would appear to be forever. It is certainly creating some difficulties and some manoeuvring below decks among his colleagues. But he has made it clear that he wants to continue to be at the helm. It is becoming something of a long running soap opera, not to be outdone by the continuing national soap opera between the Reform Party and the Conservative Party in trying to decide whether they want to be a divided alternative, a united alterative, or split off in three different directions.
The Prime Minister wants to remain at the helm, but he is a bad captain. He has no vision and no idea of which direction to take. Consequently, he relies on pollsters and uses taxpayers' money to determine Canada's destinations for the 21st century.
Unfortunately, even with the range of destinations identified by pollsters and hoped for by Canadians, the Prime Minister and his Liberal crew are unable to safely take Canadians there, as they have demonstrated in the past.
Seven years ago, the Liberals told Canadians “Put us at the helm and we will set the course”, a course which was supposed to lead to the abolition of the GST. Not only have we not arrived at our destination, but Canadians continue to pay this charge, which is particularly unfair to the poor.
In 1993 Canadians were told that if they put Liberals at the helm, they would launch a national child care program. They said that they would add new child care spaces, 50,000 new child care spaces for every year in which economic growth exceeded 3%. In three out of four of the subsequent years, economic growth has attained or exceeded 3% yet we do not have one single solitary additional child care space as a result of the initiatives of the federal government. The result is that hundreds of thousands of children and their families remain stranded when it comes to access to affordable, safe and quality child care.
We were promised that we were on our way to home care so that families could care for their loved ones. We were promised that we were on our way to pharmacare so that families without drug plans could cope with inflated prescription drug costs. That ship has not even set sail. No wonder Canadians do not believe that Liberals can be trusted to keep their promises that have been set out in the throne speech.
Liberals pretend to care about our children. They talk in the throne speech about the importance of the early years of a child's life, to his or her own well-being. I want to say that we welcome the Prime Minister's announcement this afternoon of extending parental leave and maternity benefits. I congratulate my colleagues from Bras d'Or—Cape Breton and Acadie—Bathurst for having worked strenuously to achieve that kind of commitment from the government.
The question is what has the government actually done about children who are living in grinding poverty in this country? There were close to one million children living in poverty already when this Prime Minister came to office. What has the government done? It has added 500,000 more children to the ranks of poverty in Canada. When did the Liberal government decide that 1.5 million poor kids do not count in this country?
The throne speech shows clearly that the Liberal government has no intention of acting to help our young people gain access to the higher education they need.
The Liberals' laissez-faire attitude means more debt for our young people and more profits for the banks that finance their education.
Last year, the average debt of a graduate was $25,000. Yet, there is no mention in the throne speech of reducing students' indebtedness or of reducing tuition fees to make education more accessible.
Could it be that the government does not care about young people?
The government pretends that it wants to help Canadians flourish in a dynamic economy. Yet there is not one single solitary mention in the throne speech about the greatest crisis in farm income, the worse agricultural crisis experienced in the country since the Great Depression. When did the government decide that farm children and farm communities did not count?
There was not a word in the throne speech about the upheaval in families and communities in Cape Breton that are facing the shutdown of the coal mining industry or those who are facing uncertain futures in the steel industry. When did the government decide that the families in those communities do not count?
The government pretends that it cares about Canada's physical infrastructure. Yet we are experiencing a severe crisis with respect to the future of our airline industry. The government has decided to abandon any leadership. It has decided to allow the shareholders to determine absolutely the future of our airline industry. It has shown no leadership to bring together the other stakeholders in our airline industry: the travelling public, airline employees, and small and remote communities that need the assurance of continued service.