Lost her last election, in 2004, with 26% of the vote.
Job Creation April 11th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development.
The government has said again and again that it attaches the highest priority to job creation. To that end the minister has lowered UI premium rates and will soon announce the government's strategy on youth.
What other results can the minister point to that really show Canadians particularly those in Nova Scotia that the government's job creation policies are working?
Supply March 22nd, 1994
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member speaks about Quebec youth and their vulnerability to federal Liberal programs.
I would have to differ. I have great respect for the Quebec youth. I believe the young people of Quebec are just as intelligent, if not more so, than the rest of our young people in Canada.
We have smart, competitive, aggressive, intelligent young people throughout this country.
He would suggest that the young people of Quebec are vulnerable, they are susceptible, they are less than knowing of what kind of program they might get into if they pay allegiance to the youth corps program. I disagree. I would give them more credit. The young people of Quebec are very intelligent and they will decide whether it is a good program or not. It is not incumbent upon us to suggest that they are not that intelligent.
Supply March 22nd, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I have a brief comment. As the hon. member was speaking about rapid transit, modern communications and rail fast track, I too could sympathize with those thoughts. Coming from Nova Scotia, we would like to have a better transportation system. We believe that rail is far more sustainable than highway. We are looking in those same directions.
However, what puzzles me is that as the member talks he sounds as if he is talking as a federalist, as a complete Canadian nationalist. He wants railways to go from Quebec to Ontario. He wants them to be sustainable, to serve all Canadians. I am wondering how this serves Canada and at the same time how he can separate his thoughts from the country.
Supply March 22nd, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I could hardly contain myself sitting in this seat when the hon. member talked about the infrastructure program. I am afraid he does not understand the legislative structure of the Government of Canada, the provincial governments and the municipal governments.
If he were to understand that municipal governments are those people elected by the grassroots citizens, the taxpayers of Canada, and it is the municipal governments, whether they be city governments, rural towns or very rural county municipalities, those local governments are responsible for the maintenance of their own highways, snow removal, their bridges, their sewers, their water treatment plants, that entire fundamental basic infrastructure that keeps Canadians doing their day to day business.
It is not the federal government which has been squandering its money. Its money comes from property taxes at the very basic level. The reason the infrastructure program was brought in arose from those municipal governments. I was part of one. Many of the member's colleagues in this House were also. We lobbied through our FCM to the federal Government of Canada for the past decade to get the government to cost share in infrastructure projects because they were falling by the wayside and property taxes could no longer afford to maintain basic infrastructure.
I reiterate that it was not the federal government squandering money. It was the lack of property taxes by all Canadians that could sustain our basic needs. We have shown the generosity, the fulfilment of that need from municipal councils to cost share so that we could build up those basic needs and maintain their industries, their citizens, their competitive edge and provide those jobs through a solid infrastructure. I would challenge the member to debate and refute the municipal councils across this country.
Supply March 17th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I will be brief.
In terms of charging the parents under the Young Offenders Act if they cannot charge the child, what is the hon. member's recommendation as to punishment? Quite often we find that the parents have very little asset or ability to pay or to compensate the victim.
I work closely with the Citizens United for Safety and Justice in my community and we see that there is no real asset or opportunity to make the parent pay.
Supply March 17th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to the comments of the hon. member.
As a model prototype of the penal reform system we are in the process of building a women's prison in Truro, Nova Scotia. That prison will be built on the model of a small home where women will learn to cook nutritionally with the guidance of a dietitian. They will take care of the home properly. They will have their children brought to them. They will be integrated into our community; into community recreation, into community education and into community training of various types. This is an integrated model so that when these women are free to be released to society they will be productive, sensible, mature women in the sense that they can be self-sufficient and go back to a so-called normal life. I hope this will be the model the country will establish and follow so that we do have results for the tax dollars invested.
The second point I would make is that in his comments the member appears or seems to project the notion that moral values can be legislated. We on this side of the House and I believe the people of Canada will watch with great interest and anticipation as his leader takes on the role of delegating moral activity and moral responsibility with regard to their own membership.
Canadian Junior Curling Championships March 16th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud and very pleased to rise in this prestigious House today to welcome young Canadian curlers to Truro, my hometown, where they will compete in the 1994 Canadian Junior Curling Championships.
I wish to congratulate the Truro Curling Club in hosting this national competition and Pepsi-Cola Canada Ltd. in sponsoring the Canadian junior curlers. I congratulate as well the young athletes as they are already winners to have qualified at the national level.
Some 24 teams from the provinces and territories will enjoy Nova Scotian hospitality this week. I invite members of this House to join me in wishing these young Canadian curling champions a week of good friendship, good competition and good curling. This is Canada at its best.
Women Entrepreneurs March 14th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, although last Wednesday was specifically designated as International Women's Day I would like today to acknowledge women entrepreneurs.
In 1989 women founded 50 per cent of all new Canadian businesses. In Atlantic Canada between 1984 and 1990 the percentage of women owned businesses employing five or more full time employees increased from 16 per cent to 28 per cent. Women are also succeeding in existing businesses.
In my riding in 1990 a former bank worker, Lois Robarts, took over Advocate Harbour Seafoods. She has since expanded her sales and her processing plant and now employs five people. That is significant considering that small businesses created 90 per cent of our region's new jobs in the 1980s.
It is imperative that the joint government-business committees we are establishing to encourage small business be particularly sensitive to the economic potential of Atlantic Canadian women.
Supply March 14th, 1994
Madam Speaker, in response to the two hon. members who have just spoken I suggest that the 400,000 youth who have been unemployed for the last two years are looking for employment. The budget deals with that in creating the youth corps.
The infrastructure program which is in progress arose out of concerns for municipalities which cannot fund the infrastructure work alone.
The rehabilitation assistance program has arisen out of the needs of seniors on fixed incomes.
That is why this budget addresses fair, realistic approaches to all Canadians. Today's headline is: "66,000 jobs return". That is leadership and it is coming from this government.
Borrowing Authority Act, 1994-95 March 7th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge the hon. member's credentials from municipal politics, from the parish councils. I too have a background.
Having said that, we must realize that the member's experience would indicate the reason this government brought in the infrastructure program was that the municipalities requested it. For some 10 years the municipalities requested that the federal government cost share with the provincial governments and the municipal governments in infrastructure development.
If the municipalities are so jealous or so negligent as to not want to share, I am sure that the other provinces would gladly accept their allotment of money for infrastucture programs. We have found in all of the provinces that the requests far outnumber the ability to begin infrastructure. I would remind the member as well that this is not short term work, it is long term infrastructure that every town, every municipality in Canada requires to sustain economic development.