Walt Lastewka

[Supply, February 13th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the member opposite understands when there are 32,000 hits a day those are not only people looking for jobs, but employers searching the web to interview people.

That is what is happening today. Employers, whenever they have time to search the Internet, scan it to get resumés and information on people who are looking for jobs. It makes it easier for them. We put it in place so that the people looking for jobs and the employers who are going to hire the people can do so very quickly.

On the matter of C-91 we are in a period where information is required. The regulations have been gazetted. We have another two weeks to go before the end of the gazetting. I make it very clear that the C-91 debate was held openly. Almost 200 witnesses were in attendance. The member's party was absent most of the time. As far as I am concerned there was very little attendance by his party.

[Supply, February 13th, 1998]

Something had to be done about the deficit. My colleague across the way wants to talk about the debt but I am sure he understands that you work on the deficit first and then on the debt.

Canada is poised to be a leader in this new economy. We have put our fiscal house in order. Interest rates are at historic lows and our inflation rate is among the lowest in the industrialized world. From a trade standpoint, we are one of the most open economies in the world. We have many improvements to make in terms of trade. We must get into the details and make sure the rules of trade are well understood and applied.

We have an opportunity to build upon this economic foundation to create a knowledge economy for the 21st century. We have the people and the resources, we have the institutions and we have research excellence. But having such assets is not enough. We all understand that. We must mobilize our resources toward a clear objective of being the best in the world.

When Parliament convened in September, our government set out its priorities for seizing the opportunities presented by the new economy. Our priorities focused on setting the conditions to create jobs and wealth in economic sectors ranging from high technology to services and primary resources.

One of our key goals is to make Canada the most connected country in the world and to make sure Canadians have access to the electronic highway and information economy by the year 2000.

Connecting Canadians is essential for jobs and growth. By being the most connected nation in the world, we will be helping youth, workers and firms acquire the skills needed for the knowledge economy. Improving competitiveness and productivity of Canadian firms in all sectors of the economy is most important. It is a real must that we make Canada a choice location for investment and create new markets and opportunities in a global economy. We must open these opportunities to our rural areas and the remote areas of our country. This includes our aboriginal communities.

Connecting Canadians will allow us to build from strength. It is well recognized that we have the overall best communications infrastructure among the G-7 nations. We are among the leaders in terms of penetration, quality, market development and rates. We have the lowest rates in the G-7.

Connecting Canadians will also redefine how governments provide services and interact with citizens. It will open new ways for citizens to express their views in a democracy.

Connecting Canadians has a strong social, cultural and unity element. It brings citizens together from coast to coast to coast in either official language. It gives our creative community a new vehicle for cultural expression.

We have already put in place many of the pieces for the connecting Canadians agenda. These initiatives embrace our government's commitment to help all Canadians access the information highway and develop the skills to use it no matter where they are.

There is the community access program, better known as CAP. By the year 2000-01 every Canadian rural community with more than 400 people will be plugged into the Internet. That is over 5,000 communities.

Our community access program is giving people in Canada's remote areas access to municipal, provincial and federal information services. It is helping them to learn the skills needed to compete in an information based economy. It is becoming a focal point for community partnerships and building on ramps to the information highway.

Another initiative is SchoolNet. By the year 1999 this joint program with the provincial governments and the private sector will make Canada the first country in the world to have all its schools and libraries connected to the Internet. SchoolNet is also about content and connecting Canadians.

Our SchoolNet web site includes a collection of Internet based educational services and resources for both teachers and students. It includes career guides and university and college course calendars, information readily available at their homes. There are thousands of teacher designed projects and lesson plans and virtual tours of institutions that range from the Louvre to the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

The SchoolNet digital collections program is also training young Canadians to provide innovative education material on line. To date, young Canadians across the country have participated in projects to digitize some 180 collections of historical and cultural significance.

Computers for schools is another initiative. Working in partnership with provincial governments and private sector partners, including the Telephone Pioneers, we are recycling used computers in schools and libraries. Later today the Prime Minister will celebrate the delivery of the 50,000th computer under this program. We have challenged corporate Canada to help us reach a target of some 250,000 computers by the year 2000. This program will allow people from all walks of life to have access to computers and to be able to learn about computers at a very young age. This is a must for the future.

The student connection program will hire 2,000 university and college students to help some 50,000 small and medium size businesses get connected to the Internet and train them how to use the Internet for their business. Many of the SMEs are learning that by being more flexible and being able to use the Internet they are actually getting into more business and more exports. The students have the opportunity to earn wages to defray their education costs while gaining valuable work experience with a community business.

Another initiative designed to help Canadian youth find jobs is the national graduate register. This Internet database is already becoming a valuable way for young people to post their resumés and for employers to find the skilled young people they need. It is getting more than 32,000 hits per day. May I repeat that it is getting 32,000 hits a day.

In the months ahead Canadians can look forward to new initiatives to expand our agenda for connecting Canadians and to build on the successes we have achieved and the partnerships we have forged with the provinces and with private enterprise.

Canada is well on its way to becoming a world-class connected country. We are accelerating our efforts to be the best in the world. Connecting Canadians is an integrated package where the whole is greater than the sum of its components and each element helps build the capacity of the others.

The agenda will enable Canada to be the recognized and acknowledged as the most connected country in the world. It will enable us to create new opportunities for learning and cultural expression, job creation and economic growth; economic growth by being aware and being right up to date on trade around the world, being up to date on technology around the world, and being closely connected with research being done around the world.

In a knowledge based economy our most important resources are people. That is why connecting Canadians is very important. It is about empowering Canadians and enabling them to take full advantage of all the economic, cultural, social and educational opportunities that the knowledge economy offers us.

[Supply, February 13th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry, but it is Friday afternoon.

I welcome this opportunity to respond to the motion of the hon. member for Qu'Appelle. The motion urges the government to introduce measures in the upcoming budget to ensure that every Canadian has an opportunity to share in new prosperity.

Indeed, creating opportunity for Canadians has been a hallmark of this government since it took office. Over the last four years we have worked with Canadians to overcome our nation's economic challenges and to put in place a strong foundation for success in the knowledge based economy of the new millennium.

It is clear that when this government first took office the deficit was hovering around $42 billion.

[Supply, February 13th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I noticed there was a bit of a contrast between the previous two speakers. One member of the NDP talked about prosperity and how Canada is an enviable country, and then we heard the doom and gloom.

I want to ask the member a question on a specific item. I do not want her to go all over the place with her answer.

I am not clear on her comments with respect to overtime. Is it her position that there should be no overtime?

[Supply, February 13th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I listened very carefully to the member opposite in the Conservative Party speak earlier. I understand the Mulroney years is something they want to put behind them.

I want to relate my questions directly to two points. Does the member opposite agree or disagree that when his party was in office it raised unemployment four times and that since this government has been in office it has been reduced three times?

In addition, if I remember correctly, in the fall of 1993 the member opposite's party was forecasting the deficit to be around $30 million and it really came in at $42 million. Does he agree that really happened and that over the four years we have been able to take that deficit close to zero and hopefully soon to zero?

[Supply, February 13th, 1998]

I did not interrupt you when you were speaking.

[Supply, February 13th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the hon. member for Quebec's comments. She talked about many things.

I want to remind the member and members of this House that when it was time to get our house in order, when it was time to make sure we could get the deficit down to zero, and hopefully we will see that soon, measures were taken. For example, we introduced a new tax treatment of child support.

[Year 2000, February 11th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to raise awareness on a crucial issue for Canadian businesses and to give them a call to action.

The issue is the year 2000 computer problem. The Minister of Industry appointed an industry led task force to review the state of readiness of Canadian businesses. The task force has reported that the current economic outlook for Canada in year 2000 is now at risk because too many businesses have failed to start the repair and replacement of technology. Too many businesses are putting this off. Too many are ignoring the inevitable.

The all party industry committee is reviewing the task force report. We will be working together to raise awareness of the issue and to send an urgent call for action.

All of us must work to ensure Canadians are prepared for the year 2000. We must take action and take it now.

[Supply, February 5th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, I am sure that the member opposite realizes that when this government took over from the previous government we were $42 billion in debt. I am sure he realizes very clearly the amount of transfer cuts versus total spending cuts in the federal government. The federal government cut well over 14% of its own spending. It more important at that time to cut spending at the federal level in order to get our house in order.

I do not think the member needs to be reminded, but maybe so, where interest rates were and where they are today, where inflation was and where it is today.

Let us look at the number of times that investments have been put into companies in order to get jobs. There have been a number of jobs created, whether it be Technology Partnerships Canada, in research, in the Canada Foundation for Innovation with which I understand there has been some difficulty in Quebec with the Bloc and the PQ as far as making sure the scientists get the money. That will be resolved shortly I hope.

It is by putting money into these programs which has created the jobs to put more people off the poverty line and into earning a higher amount of money. That is how we get the economy going again.

Why are people saying outside of Canada, outside of North America, that Canada has been on the right course to develop its business plan to make sure that we will be having a better future? That is what is happening today. The member needs to understand that and needs to recognize that.

[Supply, February 5th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Ottawa—Vanier. It is a pleasure to respond to this motion. The motion contains a rather confusing reference to a reckless commitment by our government to dramatically increase spending. That is not unusual to hear from the opposite side which makes statements like that with no basis at all.

This is a highly speculative statement but at the risk of jumping to conclusions I assume it relates to the fact that our government is on the verge of delivering the first balanced federal budget in nearly 30 years and Reformers just cannot take hearing the facts. That is what it is.

We have our fiscal house in order, interest rates are low and our rate of inflation is among the lowest in the industrialized world. From a trade standpoint we have one of the most open economies in the world. We have an opportunity to build on this economic foundation to create a knowledge economy for the 21st century. We have the people, we have the institutions and we have the research excellence.

However, having such assets is not enough. We have to mobilize our resources toward the clear objective of being the best in a knowledge based economy. I will address this point shortly but first I will devote some time to a discussion of our achievements over the past four years which I am sure the opposition will want to hear.

After more than a decade of high deficits a balanced fiscal situation is in sight in Canada. We have achieved this by sticking to a rigorous deficit reduction plan that relies on the help and support of all Canadians from coast to coast, having budgets set and two years of planning to make sure we stay on target.

We all recognize that our fiscal progress is more than a federal effort. The Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister have repeatedly said this. It is a national effort supported by Canadians across this country. It relies on the efforts of every province and territory from coast to coast which has set a goal of returning us to full fiscal health.

The results are striking. With the provinces' plans in place the total government deficit is expected to be eliminated by 1998-99, right on target. We have consistently hit all our deficit targets. In 1996-97 our deficit was $8.9 billion, about $20 billion lower than in 1995-96. Canada was the only G-7 country to be in a surplus on a federal financial requirement basis in 1996-97.

Our fiscal progress is so great that we are on the verge of a national debate, a debate that is happening here in the House. We often talk about what will be done with the surplus. We are on the brink of a post deficit era which was unimaginable four years ago.

Our government has not relied on across the board tax increases to hit its deficit targets. We have not relied on rosy forecasts. We are maintaining the same prudent approach we adopted from the beginning and it is starting to bear fruit.

Canada's inflation rate has gone from one of the highest among the G-7 economies to one of the lowest in the world with 1.5% annual inflation over the last four years. We outperformed the U.S. during this same period. Our interest rates are three points lower than they were in 1995 and Canada is poised to experience sustained economic growth. The OECD predicts that Canada will grow by 3.5% in 1998 and 3.3% in 1999, the best two year performance of any G-7 country.

But it is not enough to say that we are meeting our financial targets. Canada must also rise to the challenge and become a leader in the global knowledge based economy. Our government is investing in innovation and knowledge itself. We are targeting the knowledge based sectors where we are already strong and where the opportunity for growth is the highest.

This will spur job creation and sustain growth in our standard of living in the 21st century. We are helping to build a leading edge national system of innovation with programs like the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Our $800 million investment will draw up to $1.2 billion in additional public and private sector investments to create a total R and D investment of some $2 billion over the next five years.

This fund will renew and expand research infrastructure at Canadian hospitals, colleges and universities. This will create better research infrastructure and facilities for researchers and students. It also ensures that our best and brightest stay in Canada to pursue their studies and careers. We are helping to bring new innovation to market with the Technology Partnerships Canada. We are making repayable investments at the commercial end of the R and D spectrum.

These are real investments where the government and the private sector share both the risks and the rewards. Investments to date have ranged from aerospace to environmental technologies. We are building on the success of the National Research Council's IRAP program to help small and medium size businesses develop and commercialize new technologies.

The Business Development Bank has been refocused to better meet the financial needs of innovation in small and medium size businesses. In a knowledge economy, the only true competition advantage lies in developing the brains and skills of our people.

The Canadian millennium scholarship fund will invest in economic excellence and provide thousands of scholarships to give young Canadians access to colleges and universities.

These are part of our efforts to prepare our society to meet the challenges of a knowledge based economy head on.

In closing, let me repeat that we have invested our money wisely. We have reined in the deficit and we will continue to wage our battle against the debt. We have made a firm commitment to ensure that all Canadians can benefit from the new economy.

For the hon. member to suggest that we are on the verge of reckless commitment to dramatically increase spending is utterly ridiculous. As far as I am concerned, the motion by the opposition today is political hogwash. The same party said just a few years ago that Canada was going bankrupt. The same party said that Canada was part of a third world nation.

The Reform Party needs to recognize the reality of the last four years. It needs to understand the challenges of tomorrow. Like this Liberal government, it needs to see the limitless potential we have before us as we move Canada into the 21st century.