Madam Speaker, I wish to congratulate you on your appointment. It is certainly well deserved. I would also like to congratulate my colleagues on both sides of the House on their re-elections.
There are many old friends back along with new people who will hopefully become friends because in this place we find, despite our political stripes, that for the good of the country we must work together.
I wish to thank the constituents in St. John's South--Mount Pearl who returned me to this tremendous building where we have an opportunity to do so much for them, and hopefully for the country.
The name has been changed to St. John's South--Mount Pearl, which signifies most of my riding. I once had about 70 communities in the old riding. Now I have two cities with one extra town, Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove, a place very near and dear to me. That makes up the total riding.
Most of our speakers have gone over the issues in the throne speech. I am going to do a cursory run through of a number of them and then concentrate on a couple of issues which are of great concern to my own riding and province.
Perhaps we should mention the fact that we are speaking on the subamendment. There are people who have concerns about the subamendment. In fact, some of our premiers today expressed some concern because they were interpreting the subamendment a little further than it actually goes.
The concern is that the Bloc has asked the government to concentrate on the financial pressures provinces are suffering as a consequence of fiscal imbalance and that it should be alleviated, as suggested by the Premier of Quebec. Nobody has any problems with that.
Some of the provinces might have difficulty if the premier or the Bloc in its subamendment had demanded that we use the mechanisms perhaps as would be suggested. That is not the case. It is pretty straightforward and something that we can support.
The throne speech itself has an interesting sentence in it. It talks about creating a strong economy supported by a committed and excellent public service. There is no doubt that we have a committed and excellent public service and it is very supportive of the country and the work that has to be done.
The question is whether government is supportive of the public service because right now PSAC, the union representing the workers, is negotiating with the government and we wonder from some of the signals whether the government is negotiating in good faith. We hope it is and that a resolution will be found quickly so that we can get on with the work.
The speech talks about a review of the EI program. It is badly needed. We emphasized it in our amendment. I hope we concentrate on the plight of seasonal workers because of the downturn in the economies of agriculture and the fisheries. The infrastructure is falling apart in our country. We see very little construction which leads to a dearth of work in relation to seasonal workers.
We have people who need to get out of the workplace. We must look at an early retirement program for people who have been around so long, who have contributed so much, and are finding it so difficult. We cannot forget those who have already been displaced and whom we have ignored.
I hope we live up to the health care agreements that we signed with the provinces. That is extremely important and I hope we do it in the light of proper federal-provincial cooperation.
It is great to see the child care program mentioned, but it has been mentioned now for 11 years and I hope this time, with the minority government situation, that pressure can be put on government to deliver.
We can never forget the seniors, those who have done so much for us. The word is mentioned but we do not see much substance here. That also ties into affordable housing and drug costs because these are the people who are really affected.
Omitted entirely from the speech was agriculture. There was one little reference, three letters I believe, and no reference made to the arts. We have to remember that our heritage and culture must be preserved.
The municipalities will get a portion of the federal gas tax. We do not know how much, when, how thinly it will be spread and we have no idea if an arrangement has been made with the provinces for delivery so that the money given by one will not be clawed back by the other.
That takes me to the issues relating to my own area. During the election we had two major commitments made by the Prime Minister and I will read them to the House. These are not my words by the way but the words of the hon. Minister of Natural Resources. He said “the Prime Minister has given me the responsibility of finalizing the deal on the Atlantic accord as soon as possible. That will bring Newfoundland and Labrador 100% of its offshore oil royalties without affecting the provinces equalization payments”.
What the Prime Minister actually promised was 100% of total revenues. We hope that will be carried out. The minister said today that a a few i 's had to be dotted and a few t 's had to be crossed but he said the same thing at the beginning of the campaign four months ago. We hope the deal is being finalized but we hope it is being finalized as promised.
The other thing the Minister of Natural Resources said concerning Newfoundland and Labrador was “the Prime Minister came to this province and promised to do whatever it took to win foreign overfishing on the nose and tail of the Grand Banks, including custodial management. He has listened to the concerns of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and he is acting on these concerns”.
What a farce. The Prime Minister, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Minister of Natural Resources promised during the election to deal with this issue that has drawn so much attention in this hon. House. Just before we went in to the election, the House passed a motion telling the government to deal with this issue.
What has happened now? In the throne speech the Prime Minister and the government said, and this was the only reference, “we will enhance the rules of enforcement”. An extra boat will be sent out to issue extra citations so that more and more people will be frustrated with foreigners thumbing their nose at us as they bring our resources home. This is an insult to all Canadians. That is an issue that has to be dealt with.
The Prime Minister himself went to the United Nations. All the members said on both radio and television that the Prime Minister mentioned fish at the United Nations. He was trying to deflect the responsibility of dealing with this issue to an international circus. We know what will happen, which is what has always happened in the past, nothing at all. Our resources will be diminished and destroyed while the government twiddles its thumbs.
We are asking the government to step up and live up to its promises because if not there will be another government that will do it shortly.
One other thing I would like to mention in the short time I have left has to do with the issue of education. Many topics were mentioned in the Speech from the Throne, the cost of health care, child care, the health of seniors, the economy and the need to develop our resources. An educated population can do that but very little reference was made to education. We must ensure that every child in this country has the opportunity to receive a full education regardless of geography and regardless of his or her socio-economic status. We have to make sure we have a contributing population so that in turn the country can be developed by them.
I recommend that the government immediately appoint if not a minister at least a secretary of state responsible for the coordination of education. There is absolutely no coordination of education between the federal government and the provinces. Nobody accepts responsibility for the job that has to be done. We better get on with the job. We will do our best to cooperate to make sure the job can be done.
