Jim Pankiw

[Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, October 5th, 2000]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-502, an act to amend the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act (work for welfare).

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleagues for extending me the courtesy of introducing this bill today. The purpose of the bill is to require that every province will have in effect a work for welfare program.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Marriage (Prohibited Degrees) Act, October 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Unanimous consent was denied to my request to introduce a bill today, but I believe that the hon. member who denied it may have misunderstood. In any case, I believe I do now have unanimous consent of the House to introduce the bill today.

[Marriage (Prohibited Degrees) Act, October 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I realize now what has happened. Obviously as a result of the death of a former Prime Minister the House did not sit on Monday and Tuesday, so that is why this has happened. Rather than having to wait until tomorrow, I wonder if I could have unanimous consent of the House to introduce it today in light of the circumstances.

[Marriage (Prohibited Degrees) Act, October 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I gave notice of this on Friday. I am not sure exactly what number has been assigned to it. It is an act to amend the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act.

[Proceeds Of Crime (Money Laundering) Act, May 3rd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I believe we do not have a quorum.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2000, April 13th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, there are a couple of things here. First of all, the hon. member referred to the high percentage of aboriginals in prisons. When we look at the crime statistics in the province that I come from, in Regina the ratio of crimes committed by aboriginals to crimes committed by non-aboriginals is 10 to 1 and in Saskatoon it is 12 to 1, so we would naturally expect that the higher percentage of the prison population would be aboriginals.

I would like to say that a lot of social problems that plague the aboriginal community are caused by the failed policies of the Liberal government. Until we make all of our aboriginal people in Canada full and equal participants of society, we will not have racial tolerance or racial harmony, but instead, continued discriminatory views and the continued cycle of poverty and dependence among the aboriginal community.

I hope that hon. member realizes that and that he will support the Canadian Alliance efforts when we form the government to help aboriginals become full and equal participants of our society.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2000, April 13th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, he mentioned child poverty solutions. I submit to that member and to the House that the best solution for our children is to lower the tax burden on parents so that they have more money in their pockets instead of shipping it off to Ottawa to be wasted on Liberal patronage programs.

Although the member tried to suggest that he is a defender of families, his actions in the House in support of the government budget, in support of changing the definition of marriage and in support of the other anti-family measures the government insists upon embarking on, to that I say actions speak louder than words and his actions in attacking the family by the way that he votes is deafening.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2000, April 13th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the first thing the hon. member said when he got up to make his comments was that he felt I had said something inappropriate. As you know, Mr. Speaker, while I was speaking, that member made a bodily gesture to me that was very inappropriate and which you saw. I believe that is somewhat hypocritical of him to say that. He talks a mean talk.

I support family values. He mentioned some book he had written on income splitting but guess what, he voted for the government budget. He supports the government which does not allow that. Although he says he opposes the tax discrimination against families, he supports it. How does he justify the fact that he voted as he did on Tuesday night to change the definition of marriage?

He also mentioned a book that he said was a child poverty solution.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2000, April 13th, 2000]

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, we could have great respect for the Senate if it was elected and if we had an equal number of senators from each province, which would balance the problems we have in the country. Representation by population with regional concerns could very effectively be addressed and balanced by having an efficiently functioning Senate, with equal numbers from each province elected and, therefore, democratically chosen by the people, as opposed to being appointed, which only adds to that feeling of western alienation when an Ottawa-based Prime Minister appoints someone to represent us.

I know the people of Alberta feel the same way. They have a senatorial election act and they have elected two senators in waiting. They are asking the Prime Minister to respect their democratically chosen people, but the Prime Minister continues to excite western alienation feelings by ignoring the expressed will of the Alberta people and appointing his own people to the Senate.

I have been urging the Premier of Saskatchewan to enact a similar act so that we could elect our senators. We could have senators elect, or senators in waiting, so that the next time there is a vacancy we could plead with the Prime Minister to appoint our choice for Senate representation. I hope that the Premier of Saskatchewan will eventually come around to my way of thinking.

I also want to point out that there is an agriculture crisis on the prairies. It is a very severe situation, due to factors for which the government is responsible, such as an inefficient grain transportation system. The Canadian Wheat Board is an Ottawa controlled marketing system for our grain in the west.

Liberal priorities are skewed. Instead of lowering taxes for farmers and helping them through this crisis, instead of reforming our grain marketing and transportation systems and bringing forward responsible legislation, the government brought forward this budget which will continue to gouge Canadians, making us continue to pay excessive levels of taxation, and our money will be wasted.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2000, April 13th, 2000]

It was $316 million, and it is projected to exceed $1 billion. Just imagine the benefits taxpayers could reap if that money was left in their own pockets.

It is very insulting for hard-working Canadian families to pay such high levels of tax and then to see that type of waste.

I represent a riding in Saskatchewan. Last Friday the Prime Minister appointed a person from Saskatchewan to the Senate because there was a Senate vacancy. The Senate is another example of waste and patronage. I have been advocating an elected Senate for several years, as has our party since its beginning. The Prime Minister also appointed someone from Alberta that same day. I would like to point out to the House that not only is the Senate in its current form useless and a waste of money, but when the Prime Minister appoints senators—