Bob Mills

[National Unity, March 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.

In my constituency in central Alberta as I travelled around this past week outright disgust was expressed for the separatist message delivered to our major trading partner, the United States.

Could the Prime Minister please tell me what action he intends to take to assure the United States that a united Canada is not only likely but one which the government is dedicated to maintaining?

[1994 Labatt Brier, March 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to announce to this House that the 1994 Canadian Brier is currently being held in Red Deer, Alberta. The Brier began on March 5 and will continue until March 13. The people of central Alberta welcome with open arms all those who will attend this Canadian sporting and cultural tradition.

The Brier includes teams from each of the 10 provinces and the two territories. We can thank the 850 volunteers for their hard work in organizing the games, which we are confident will be the best Brier to date. The Brier is being held in the beautiful Red Deer Centrium and the event is entirely sold out. The Brier is definitely a boon to central Alberta. For this I thank the Labatt Brier.

I wish good luck to each and every competitor in the 1994 Labatt Brier.

[Oldman Dam, February 18th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of the Environment.

I made available two letters to the minister yesterday, one from the former leader of the opposition, the present Prime Minister, and the other from the former environment critic, the present Minister of Finance. These letters relate to the environmental assessment review panel's report on the Oldman dam project.

Would the minister please clarify the government's current position on these letters?

[Petitions, February 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of presenting to Parliament a petition signed by some 1,900 people in my constituency.

In this petition my constituents state their concerns regarding the relocation of the RCMP training centre from a location near Bowden, Alberta.

The police dog service has been in central Alberta since 1965. The centre is open for public tours and trains police dogs for service across Canada. The services resulting from the training centre are a very important part of our local economy as well as the surrounding area. In addition their role as goodwill ambassadors is much appreciated in our community and we do not want to lose them.

Therefore the petitioners humbly pray and I support their call on Parliament to urge the government not to move the RCMP dog training centre.

[Taxation, February 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I visited my riding this weekend and I must report to you and through you to the finance minister that the message I received was clear. People are prepared to see a fair and equitable cut in services but do not, and I repeat do not, want to see taxes raised or the tax base broadened.

I pride myself in being able to understand and work with people and I must state today that my constituents feel that any increase in taxation will sew the seeds for the financial ruin of this great country.

I came here to try to save Canada. If taxes are raised this will not be possible. Canadians are not going to take it any more.

[The Budget, February 4th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.

Earlier this week the minister stated that virtually everybody at the pre-budget consultation conferences supported augmenting the revenue side.

Mr. Jason Kenney, national director of Canadian Taxpayers Federation and a great many other people have advised me that as participants at the Calgary conference, every workshop called for no increase in taxation. How does the minister explain this discrepancy?

[The Budget, February 1st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it seems the idea that a group of people out there want an increase in taxes has been attributed to the hon. minister. Could the minister identify these people and who they supposedly represent?

[The Budget, February 1st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.

The minister has just completed a series of cross-country meetings to consult with Canadians about the upcoming budget. Could the minister tell the House what proportion of participants favoured increasing federal revenues and what proportion favoured decreasing federal spending?

[Foreign Affairs, January 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have to agree with an awful of what has been said. Of course one of the matters that has made this problem so difficult is that the United Nations does not seem to have shouldered the leadership role the way they should have.

We went through probably seven or eight briefings in preparation for today. One of the things we heard over and over again, particularly from the military, was the great difficulty in not having someone really in charge. Other difficulties were having different troops, different training.

I suppose that is where my international academy for peacekeepers comes in. With the United Nations having input in that, it might help solve some of those problems and at least the troops would be trained the same. If we could get the leadership the same, it would make the United Nations stronger.

In defence of the United Nations, it has had great difficulty getting people to participate, getting other countries to provide troops and so on. It is a two-way street and we must solve that problem.

[Foreign Affairs, January 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I think the wonderful part of this day is that we can express our points of view taking into consideration all of our constituents and all of our fellow MPs.

I would say that withdrawal is something that is done when the safety of our forces cannot be guaranteed. That position is one that would be decided by the people in the field. I think the counterbalances, the humanitarian efforts that we are providing, offset whether we should leave or not.

Initially, I said that we had to get out. It is a civil war and we should be out of there the sooner the better. However, for the reasons I have given I would now say I have modified that position to say that it is only a last ditch thing to pull out. I think it is good that within our caucus we have this range. Through the rest of the day we will hear that range being developed. The main thing this leads to is that we must develop an overall policy for Canada both short term and of course very long term. The minister alluded to that earlier. I believe that is really what we are trying to accomplish today.