Jim Pankiw

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 29th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the government is wasting $44 million to move a small band of Indians from Lynn Lake, Manitoba, where they already live, and build a brand new town for them just down the road. It should be noted for the record that the NDP member for Churchill, whose riding encompasses that area, has publicly indicated support and has endorsed this outrageous waste of money.

Why waste $44 million to build a brand new Indian only town just because the band does not like its current non-Indian neighbours?

[Petitions, October 28th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from individuals of St. Brieux's parish in which they ask Parliament to focus its legislative support on adult stem cell research instead of embryonic stem cells to find the cures and therapies necessary to treat debilitating illnesses.

[Public Service, October 28th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, in defending racist government hiring schemes, the Treasury Board minister confirmed the use of racial targets and quotas. Although political parties endorse racial profiling for civil service hiring, the vast majority of Canadians are opposed to using skin colour and ethnicity as employment criteria. The truth is that we cannot discriminate in favour of someone on the basis of race without unfairly discriminating against someone else because of their race.

Why is the Treasury Board minister refusing to respect equality of opportunity by instead imposing racial targets and quotas?

[Louis Riel, October 24th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation subjected Canadians to an unprecedented effort in rewriting the history of a murderous traitor, Louis Riel.

In one of the most rabid examples of political correctness, the CBC has attacked and blackened the eye of Canadian history, particularly the memory of those who were murdered in cold blood by Riel and his fanatics during the 1885 Northwest Rebellion.

The fact that Riel was justly convicted and executed for hatching his terrorist rebellion is shamefully ignored by historical revisionists at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

This is nothing new for the CBC which delights in drive-by smearings; witness the McKenna brothers' defamation and insult to the memory of Canada's World War II veterans.

Since the Liberals shovel almost a billion dollars a year into their propaganda machine, is it too much to ask that they leave our nation's history intact?

It is highly offensive and purely outrageous that hard-earned money from Canadian taxpayers is routinely wasted on historical revisionism.

[Medically Unnecessary Abortion Referendum Act, October 23rd, 2002]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-242, an act to provide for a referendum to determine whether Canadians wish medically unnecessary abortions to be insured services under the Canada Health Act and to amend the Referendum Act

Mr. Speaker, this bill would provide for a referendum to be held on the question of whether public funds should be used for medically unnecessary abortions. If electors agreed that this should not be the case, an amendment to the Canada Health Act would be brought into force which would allow a reduction in fiscal transfers to provinces that allow such funding.

I note for the record that prior to prorogation the bill was numbered Bill C-452. I request the consent of the House that that designation remain unchanged.

[Employment Insurance, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, employment insurance premiums are 25% more than what the EI fund actually requires. This overcontribution from employers and employees amounts to a whopping $5 billion each year. As a result, the total amount of money taken by this annual rip-off will reach $46 billion this year.

Does the government plan to ever repay the money that has been unfairly confiscated from the paycheques of hardworking taxpayers and businesses?

[Petitions, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition here from Robert Hook and others in Saskatoon.

The petitioners request that Parliament focus legislative support on adult stem cell research to find cures for serious debilitating diseases.

[Petitions, October 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have petitions here from one of my constituents in Cudworth. The petitioners are requesting that Parliament take all necessary steps to protect our children from sexual predators by outlawing materials which promote or glorify pedophilia or sado-masochistic activity involving children.

[Public Service of Canada, October 8th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the government is intentionally ignoring the fact that it is impossible to discriminate in favour of someone on the basis of race without unfairly discriminating against someone else because of their race. Doing so is racist.

The Liberals' embracing change program imposes a race based hiring quota on the federal civil service. Skin colour and ethnicity have replaced merit as the hiring criteria for jobs within the federal government.

Since the vast majority of Canadians oppose affirmative action programs and the Canadian Alliance is too spineless to raise the issue, I will ask. Why is the government imposing a racist hiring quota?

[Public Safety Act, 2002, May 27th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the auditor general she did not say that these individuals appeared to have broken procedures. She said senior public servants broke just about every rule in the book. That is why she referred the matter to the RCMP.

My question has still not been answered. When the Liberals were in opposition, in response to allegations of corruption, political kickbacks, payoff schemes and conflict of interest, they demanded that full independent public inquiries be conducted. Today the Liberal government is ridden with scandals such as the breaking news over the weekend and the resulting resignation of the Minister of National Defence, who clearly broke guidelines by awarding an untendered contract to his ex-lover.

In light of all these scandals, the advertising schemes and all the apparent conflict of interest allegations, why do the Liberals not take their own advice from when they were in opposition and order a complete, thorough and transparent public independent inquiry?