Mr. Speaker, you were in this House. Going right back to October 25, 1993, the valiant member for Saint-Jean rose in this House every week to ask questions, of Doug Young in particular, and then his successor, to get him to settle the matter of the former Singer employees as promptly as possible. Here we are in 1999, and it is still not settled. It is now May 25.
That member deserves recognition, and got it last June 2 from his constituents.
Do you know what the President of Treasury Board wants? He wants to set up a board with friends of the regime. But what sort of board will it be? One made up of cronies of the regime, of course.
One need only look at the quality and the savoir-faire of the Minister responsible for Francophonie last week—hon. members know they want to get rid of her—when she met with representatives and heads of state of the various francophone countries throughout the world in Paris, along with my good buddy Jacques Roy. They want to get rid of him too, in an exchange for the President of Treasury Board, in a sort of musical chairs.
I do not know whether the member from Acadia, who is here, has heard of the situation. They were talking about it this morning on the radio. The Minister responsible for he Francophonie—an insult to Acadians—did not even know the year the Acadians were deported. Our Minister responsible for the Francophonie dishonoured us in Paris.
Jacques Roy, fortunately, set the matter straight. In a few years, she will talk about a “small deportation”. What is going on now in Kosovo is exactly what happened in 1755 in Acadia, except there were no television cameras then. It is exactly the same thing. A people was destroyed. They tried to eradicate it.
The minister said “It was some time in the 17th century”. She is out by a century. When you're in the 20th century and you are out by a century it is a 5% error. For the Minister responsible for the Francophonie, this in unforgivable. Fortunately, Jacques Roy was there to set things straight.
I would, in the period reserved for questions and comments, like to give my colleague, the member for Beauséjour—Petitcodiac, the opportunity to add to this. She is entitled, while she questions me.