Pierre Pettigrew

[Child Poverty, February 10th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as of July 1 this year a further investment of $850 million will go toward child poverty. We are committed as a government to adding another $850 million to that during the life of this Parliament. We will do that because it is a commitment of our government.

We have restored and added to the CAPC program of my colleague, the Minister of Health. It is a very good program. There is the head start program in the department of Indian affairs.

We are doing our very best and we will do even more in the future.

[Fisheries, February 10th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that today I am publicly releasing the post TAGS review prepared by Eugene Harrigan and his team. I want to thank Mr. Harrigan and his team for their very good work.

The objective of Mr. Harrigan's report was to get a sense of how the end of the TAGS program would affect individuals, families and their communities. The report provides us with a very good portrait, the best ever, on what will be the reaction when TAGS ends at the end of August. It will serve as a useful basis for discussions with my colleagues, the stakeholders and the provinces.

[Construction Industry, February 9th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

We indeed developed a joint industry-government working group to examine the issue of underground economic activity in the construction industry. The report is the result of the working group study. It contains a detailed description of where and how underground activity takes place. It will be used by the working group to create an action plan to reduce underground employment activity in the construction industry.

Copies have been released to people interested, but I must say that we do not want it to go beyond—

[Employment Insurance, February 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Laval Centre for her interest in this report, which we are required to file under the act.

As you know, when employment insurance was reformed, we committed to tabling annual reports for the first five years.

In fact, we are very shortly coming up to the time when the first annual report ought to be tabled in the House. I will let you know a more definite date in the coming weeks. With this report, which will be an extremely interesting one, we will be able to take a look, a preliminary one of course, at the initial effects of the reform on communities, individuals and the economy of our country.

[Post-Secondary Education, February 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, let us understand things clearly. The government is working on two fronts. We are going to improve the Canada student loans program. I have a good indication that this will reflect what the stakeholders have told us, the student associations. We are going to address the needs of students. The permanent Canada student loans program will be improved. I hope we can do something about the debt load.

The millennium fund is another great element of our strategy to address student loans and debts. We are doing both.

[Post-Secondary Education, February 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I keep saying the very same thing in both languages and in every region of the country.

There will be elements of both need and merit in the way the grants will be allocated.

[Youth Unemployment, February 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question and the Bloc's finally taking an interest in young people at the end of question period. It is about time we paid them some attention.

I will tell you that the figures announced this morning are disappointing. We regret the increase in youth unemployment.

However, if you are asking me to transfer money to Quebec, I have to tell you that youth programs are shared. We alone are not responsible for the situation. It means the other side is not doing a good job either, which I do not think is the case.

I think that the youth employment strategy is working because 85% of those who have taken part in our programs have gone back to work.

[Liberal Party, February 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I am flabbergasted by what they are making out of the story.

We are talking about a gentleman who did not have responsibility for $1 billion. We are talking about a part time job which on average was two to four days a month in terms of responsibility. Let us keep things in perspective. The gentleman has now resigned and we have accepted his resignation.

[Liberal Party, February 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, we learned about the situation just before Christmas. We were concerned and looked into the matter.

We found that his actions did not constitute cause for dismissal according to the legal guidelines. The matter is now moot as Mr. Morrison has resigned anyway.

[Student Loans And Grants Program, February 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, any improvement to the Canadian loans and grants system will be reflected in Canada's contribution to its Quebec equivalent at the permanent structures level.

The hon. member may be referring to the millennium fund. I received a letter from Minister Marois two days ago. What I can say is that we will make sure that Quebec students will be well served by this fund.

We will strive to avoid any duplication of the services provided by the Government of Quebec and work together in partnership to make life easier for students who are having a hard time staying in school as long as they should in this knowledge-based economy.