Pierre Pettigrew

[Job Creation For Young People, October 11th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to confirm to the hon. member that I will give him a clear reply. The amounts announced in the last budget for youth employment totalled $315 million, to be spent in the next few years.

The unemployment situation among young people is unacceptable, and we are keenly aware of this. This fall we intend to announce a youth initiative. But we are trying to be a responsible government; just because the money is there does not mean we are going to waste it. We will have a youth initiative, to be announced this fall.

I intend to discuss this in cabinet during the next few weeks. I can inform you that this initiative will be used to create durable jobs for young people. We want to give them the kind of experience that will help them become better integrated in the labour market. Young people need experience, and we need their enthusiasm, and we intend to do something about this in the weeks to come.

[Employment Insurance, October 9th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, it is not $200 million but $800 million that will be injected over the next few years. That is a fairly large amount designed, as I said earlier, to provide assistance in the years to come to those previously not covered by the system.

The women of Papineau-Saint-Michel certainly appreciate it, because they were not covered under the old system , and they are very grateful to the government for it.

[Employment Insurance, October 9th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her first question to me in this House. I am delighted.

I can assure all Canadians that our goal in introducing this new employment insurance system is to move away from passive measures and toward active measures that make work more attractive, thereby helping workers go from unemployment to employment.

This is a much more positive approach. And I would like to draw the hon. member's attention to the fact that a larger number of Canadians are covered under this system than the old one and that a larger number of women are benefiting in particular.

[Employment Insurance, October 8th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, Canada needed a new and modern system of employment insurance. We have actually ef-

fected a very dramatic shift from a passive role to an active role in assisting people to go back to work, which was absolutely necessary. The changes are about getting people back to work, allowing people to help themselves and responding to the way people work today in the new economy. It was important for us to address the issue with the new economy.

The goal is to help people to go back to work when there is work available and for employers to accept a larger responsibility to create more employment for these people.

[Business Contracts, September 27th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I am amazed at the persistence of this Reform member to always come back to one single issue.

He knows very well that I have toured Canada. I went from coast to coast last July. I organized seminars and did business with CIDA as it had never been done before in such a professional, clear way.

We want to provide the Canadian International Development Agency with the best expertise that exists in Canada. There are members in the west who are extremely pleased. If I could cite a small but important quote, the president of Agriteam Canada Consulting Ltd., Bob Francis, said: "As a western firm, we find CIDA is like any other client. If you do your homework, submit first rate proposals and have people on the ground to sell your product where the decisions are being made, you get fair consideration. We at Agriteam Canada are definitely westerners, yet we have won a number of CIDA contracts. We do not do it by crapping on Quebec. We do it by showing that we have more to offer than firms from Quebec or Ontario". That is the way it works.

[Jerusalem Tunnel, September 27th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs before the UN Security Council today is very important, and at this time I would not wish to commit Canadian diplomacy as specifically as the hon. member for the opposition would have us do, since these discussions are now taking place in New York.

Consultations are proceeding at extremely important levels, and I believe we would not be acting very responsibly by making a commitment at the very moment the Security Council is discussing this question.

[Jerusalem Tunnel, September 27th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is very concerned about the surge of violence in the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank. I very much appreciate the concern shown by the hon. member of the opposition.

We are dismayed by the increasing number of casualties over the past few days. Canada is asking for an immediate ceasefire.

I can also inform you that today, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs is attending a special session of the UN Security Council on this important question. My colleague, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, will present Canada's position, which is to ask Israeli and Palestinian representatives to resume direct negotiations and take immediate steps to restore calm.

The minister also met with senior Israeli representatives yesterday in New York to press them to refrain from any pressures that may be unhelpful to the Middle East peace process. I can also inform the member that some senior officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs met yesterday in Ottawa and gave the same message.

[Canada Marine Act, September 27th, 1996]

Two countries?

[Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, September 26th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to recognize the excellent work done by

the hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, who has been an advocate of international disarmament for many years.

In fact, just this week, Canada became one of the first countries to sign the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty. With this treaty, a long-standing objective of our foreign policy has finally been achieved. Canada will continue to play a leading role in implementing the treaty as soon as possible. A binding international standard banning all tests is already in place under the treaty. This standard will provide strong political and moral leverage in the coming years, leverage that will also be brought to bear on non-treaty countries.

[Committees Of The House, September 19th, 1996]

That is what the people want.