Pierre Pettigrew

[Retired Singer Employees, December 3rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, you know, we showed a great deal of compassion for Singer's retired employees. This is an extremely complex situation, and the case has been brought to my attention in recent weeks. It has been examined from every angle.

What I obviously said was that, had we reached an out of court settlement, as Singer's lawyers were requesting, any such settlement could have had an impact on other cases before the government, because it would not necessarily have reflected the very complex reality with respect to the rights, which are justified in this case.

[Employment Insurance, December 3rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, we are moving toward a new employment insurance program precisely to break some old patterns that kept people in a state of dependency.

We chose to base the system on the number of hours worked, so that people can be protected, starting with their very first hour of work. People will no longer have to put up with employers who, in the past, would not provide more than 13 or 14 hours of work per week, because they did not want to pay premiums. I say to these workers that, as of January 1, this system will no longer exist and they will be covered from their first hour of work.

[Employment Insurance, December 3rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the transitional period started last January. It is time the hon. member for Mercier realized that the reason why some provisions of the act were implemented on July 1 while others will take effect January 1 is precisely to give people time to adjust to the reform.

Last week, I provided the hon. member with an answer concerning regulations. She asked whether there would be additional regulations. I am telling her again that the additional regulations will be minor and have a minor impact, particularly on relations with clients. These regulations will be made public in the coming weeks, but they are not very significant.

[Persons With Disabilities, December 3rd, 1996]

Oh, come on!

[Persons With Disabilities, December 3rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the measure of a society is based on how it includes all of its members in an active manner and how it allows them to participate as fully as possible in life.

Government, communities and individuals must recognize the important role they have to play in addressing the needs of Canadians with disabilities. The issues facing them are not theirs alone.

The Government of Canada has traditionally taken a leadership role in addressing the interests of persons with disabilities. My department offers an array of programs and services geared to providing the support necessary to allow persons with disabilities to live and work with dignity and as independently as possible.

We all have a shared responsibility, all levels of government, all political parties and all Canadians, for providing positive assistance to enable persons with disabilities to participate in the mainstream of society as full and equal citizens.

The contribution of persons with disabilities is a valuable one and as a government it is inherent upon us to do our utmost so that they are never excluded from our society. The loss to Canada would be too great.

Together, the federal, provincial and territorial governments, as well as communities, must look at how best to develop and deliver the programs and services that ensure voices of people with disabilities will always be heard.

Last Wednesday, I took part in the federal-provincial-territorial council on social policy renewal. It was a great day for all Canadians. For we witnessed a new spirit of collaboration between levels of government.

In that room, ministers and representatives from across our country identified Canadians with disabilities as one of our key priorities.

I assure members the ministerial council is seeking practical and concrete ways to meet their needs. Through this environment of trust, openness and mutual respect, we will be able to work in partnership to develop measures that will improve programs and services for persons with disabilities.

My federal, provincial and territorial colleagues are committed to working together to harmonize our approaches to better serve the needs of Canadians with disabilities. Federal, provincial and territorial working groups are looking at various options that we can bring back to first ministers in the coming months.

The task force on disability issues, chaired by the member for Fredericton-York-Sunbury, is another valuable contribution on which we can build. It provides the Government of Canada with some valuable information and direction for its activities as well as those it undertakes in partnership with other levels of government.

I am looking forward to developing some substantial measures in collaboration with my federal, provincial and territorial colleagues in response to the issues identified in the task force report.

I am continuing to discuss with my cabinet colleagues actions we can take in collaboration with provinces and the disability community to meet the needs of Canadians with disabilities. Progress is being made on a continuous basis.

Canada can play a leading role in the international community to ensure that the needs and aspirations of people with disabilities

will be met. We have made great strides in the past few years, but we all recognize that much more must be done.

[Retired Singer Employees, December 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the way to ensure fairness is precisely to go before the courts. There are complex legal issues involved. It will be up to the courts to decide what constitutes fair treatment. It is because of the complexity of the case that we decided to go that route.

Had we reached an agreement based on humanitarian grounds, we might have been forced to reopen 2,000 other cases affecting an additional 70,000 people. It is precisely to make sure we respect the law that we decided to go before the courts, instead of reaching any kind of agreement.

[Retired Singer Employees, December 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the compassion we feel for retired Singer employees is very real. The issues they raised are extremely complex. These are legal issues which are complex and also very important.

As the minister, I have a duty to make sure the plan is administered in accordance with the law. It is for reasons of justice that we could not reach an out of court settlement, as Singer employees may have wished, given the very complex legal issues involved.

We could not do this, because depending on the agreement reached, as many as 70,000 other retired people could have been affected, based on the information I have. This is why we have to go to court.

[Child Poverty, December 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, very often low income families do not pay taxes which is the reason we are looking for a more sophisticated system.

We have done our share. I am very pleased to belong to a government that has doubled the working income supplement for low income families. This is what we have done and we are proud of our record, but we will do more.

[Child Poverty, December 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I am very glad to see that the opposition will be working with us to improve the lot of children in Canada. This is a very important issue and I thank the member very much.

We were very successful last week at the ministerial council with the provinces. We identified child poverty as something we really wanted to work on. We are looking into an integrated child benefit. That was a prominent issue on all of our agendas. We were quite pleased to see that the provinces welcomed that initiative. They could see that we could work in a complementary fashion with them.

[Child Poverty, November 28th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, yes, the government is presently answering the needs of children.

Yesterday Mr. Ned Shillington of the Government of Saskatchewan was part of the ministerial council that identified children as the priority of our ministerial council's work. I was extremely pleased with that.

There seems to be a consensus on a national benefit for children. The government will consider it and I will certainly inform my colleagues of the ministerial council's evolution in that favour.

We are extremely pleased at the great mood of co-operation which was a very good start for the ministerial council and I am proud of its priority on children.