André Harvey

[Division No. 12, October 21st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, members of our party will be voting in favour of this motion.

[Division No. 12, October 21st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to confirm that the members of our party will vote in favour of this amendment motion. They are prepared to delay it to allow the members of the Reform Party to adjust their vote.

[Éboulements Tragedy, October 20th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, on Monday, October 13, one of the worst highway accidents of this century took place in Quebec.

I would like to take the opportunity afforded me today to express to the families of the victims on my own behalf and on behalf of my colleagues in the Progressive Conservative Party my deepest sympathies and my support during this very difficult time.

We are hard pressed to find the words when such tragedies occur. Our sorrow is so great that our emotions become inexpressible. We must simply gather our thoughts and pray that our pain, especially that of the families affected, may soon be eased by the many happy memories that these victims leave behind them.

It is very difficult to provide answers to things that are beyond human reason. It is better to speak of the lives of the victims and of what awaits them.

Highway safety is everybody's business. Everyone in this country must be on the watch. I simply hope that, after an accident like this, everyone will pay even closer attention to highway conditions that are often difficult and that require co-operation from all levels of government.

In closing, I would like to say to the sorely tested communities of Charlevoix and Beauce that they are not alone in their suffering and that we are all here to share it with them.

[Free Trade Agreement, October 7th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, this week marks the 10th anniversary of the signing of the free trade agreement.

What did the Liberals say back then in order to win the election? They said, “The Americans are going to take our water”, “seniors are going to lose their pensions”, “we are going to lose control over gas, oil and electricity”.

What do we have to show for the free trade agreement ten years later? We have a 140 percent increase in our exports to American markets. But economist Alain Dubuc said it best in one of his editorials, which is worth a second read: “When the Chrétien government boasts about economic results that are beginning to look up, it does so as a government that owes much to the Conservatives, as a government that is acting on strategic decisions taken by its—

[Community Organizations, September 30th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, while the leader of the official opposition wants to communicate with Quebeckers, poverty is spreading in numerous regions across the country.

In the Speech from the Throne, I saw nothing that could be called a well thought out policy on social infrastructures. Community organizations help the poorest people. The Canadian conference of catholic bishops called those people the new marginals who are abandoned to themselves without any help from the government.

Can the Minister of Finance tell us if his government has provided for precise measures to support these programs, of which only the United Way, with means—

[Supply, September 30th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, if I may, I would like to congratulate my colleague on his speech. It was far more detailed and more balanced than the one we heard a few minutes ago from the representative of the Reform Party, which expressed almost universal radicalism. In fact, they engage in radicalism on the constitutional level, by attempting to provoke all regions of the country.

I feel obliged to remind them that all of us here are representatives of different regions of the country, co-owners of all that we have. With all that we have at stake, we are going to proceed cautiously.

It is exactly the same thing on the economic level, totally unacceptable radicalism. There is absolutely no compassion for the most disadvantaged. Our colleague has just referred to the great difficulties now faced by the near-majority of Canadian families, whose children go to school without breakfast. My colleague is absolutely right.

One of the things the present government voted against was adoption of the GST legislation. The ultimate purpose of the GST—and I take advantage of the occasion to ask the question of my colleague—was to arrive at an effective fiscal reform as far as income and other taxes are concerned. Such was the purpose of the GST.

He is right as well in his reference to the ruse of this government in using the battle against the deficit to its advantage, when we know very well it was the result of free trade and the revenues from the GST. As well, they are forgetting that, over the same ten year period, 1974 to 1984, they increased the national debt tenfold, while we doubled it during our time in office, because our structural measures such as free trade and the GST had not yet been adopted.

I am therefore pleased to congratulate my colleague and I would like to hear what he has to say on these questions.

[Speech From The Throne, September 29th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, thank you for recognizing me. It cannot have been an easy decision.

I would like to begin by congratulating my hon. colleague on his speech. In it, he spoke about the Bloc Quebecois's obsession with national unity.

Does he mean by this that it is not by asking our fellow citizens on a daily basis whether we are unique, whether we are distinct, that we will succeed in improving national unity? Or does he mean, as they have always said, that the issue will be sorted out within Quebec, following formal resolutions from the rest of Canada?

I look forward with great pleasure to my colleague's reply to this question.

[Free Trade Agreement, September 26th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, would the Prime Minister confirm that the changes made in the free trade agreement were very marginal ones?

Is he prepared to tell this House and all Canadians that the free trade agreement was a very progressive measure and a very important one for all Canadians and explain why he came out so vehemently against the free trade agreement in a number of advertising campaigns that were extremely damaging for the future of our country's trade?

[Free Trade Agreement, September 26th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps I may first thank my constituents for giving me this chance to come back to the Parliament of Canada to work on their behalf.

My question is directed to the Prime Minister. Throughout the past week, this government has been criticizing the former government. Considering that the free trade agreements helped us increase our exports to U.S. markets from $90 billion to $215 billion, an increase of nearly 140 per cent, would the Prime Minister tell us whether he has changed his mind on this issue?