Ovid Jackson

[TEACHINg EXCELLENCE IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS, February 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring to the attention of the House and to give our congratulations to the 17 national level winners of the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence in Science, Technology and Mathematics.

I would especially like to mention Mr. Douglas H. Cunningham of Bruce Peninsula District High School in Lion's Head, a village in my riding of Bruce-Grey. He is a recipient of the award at the local level.

Mr. Cunningham is an example of excellence and enthusiasm in instilling in our youth those skills critical to the future of a healthy Canada.

I know that the Bruce Peninsula District High School in Lion's Head is known for the outstanding students it produces, especially in the field of science. The people of Bruce-Grey riding salute Mr. Cunningham for his outstanding contribution.

I know that members of this House will join with me in recognizing and congratulating, on behalf of all Canadians, all the winners of this well deserved award.

[Supply, February 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the opposition for addressing the matter of whether or not we should set up a separate committee for finances.

I remind the hon. member that he said he was trying to eliminate duplication. The very nature of what he is proposing actually is duplication.

There is no question that the Auditor General's report is a significant document. I hope every department will use it as a tool to try to get rid of those deficiencies as alluded to by the hon. member.

Canada is a Confederation, not a unitary state. As the member put it Canada is not a country of states that do not care for one another. Those provinces that are doing quite well assist the other provinces through equalization payments and so on. This is unique. We enjoy a good status in the world. We are respected. We enjoy a high standard of living. Our kind of democracy and our kind of government are examples for many countries.

To separate or to tear the country apart is the subliminal message coming from the members of the opposition. It is probably not a very good way. I can say that quite firmly coming from a country where independence was achieved. After independence our standard of living went down and was not as good as we thought it would be. We ended up with a great deal of enemies. We thought they were not our enemies but economically they were bigger and forced more kinds of restraints on us.

To get back to the question we are debating today, we do need to look very seriously at government records and the way it spends its money, but the mechanism is already there. We have government and opposition members to do this. That is the mechanism we should be using in order to achieve those goals.

[House Of Commons Standing Orders, February 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, to the member for Ottawa West, the leader of the Reform Party said that there was almost a form of recall when he said that Burke never got re-elected.

One thing that concerns me as a new member of Parliament is that all of us, for whatever reason, want to reinvent laws, rules and regulations.

I will come to my question. I want to make a quick preamble here.

General Robert made rules. We have a book of rules here and there are other things. I come from a municipal council where we stopped reading bylaws simply because what happened in the old days was that some people could not read. Sometimes they only had one written part and one had to read those things clause by clause. Now we have the electronic media and we have to fine tune it. That is what the government is trying to do.

What bothers me in this place both with the committee work and with its rules and regulations and talking about laws is that we are spinning our wheels. We spend a lot of time at it. Somehow members of Parliament always want to do something and they think doing something is changing the rules. I know that rules are for making something happen.

I want to ask the member for Ottawa West, how do we reconcile the permanent government, which is the civil service, integrating with the rules and regulations we have? We make a rule in committee, and it has been done before. I have seen this kind of thing as a mayor when six members of council asked the administrator to do six different jobs. They spin their wheels and never get anything done.

How do we reconcile making a committee function properly with the civil servants who are there? How could we make that better by using these kinds of rules?

[Border Crossings, February 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of National Revenue.

Over the last number of weeks the minister announced in his proposed legislation some savings from the amalgamation of two departments. I would like to ask the minister today what part of that revenue, if any, is being used to make sure that our borders are more secure from criminals and the abduction of young people who are crossing the border.

[Department Of National Revenue Act, February 4th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, to comment on the customs Act, Bill C-2, basically customs is there for two major reasons. The first one is to make sure there is a good flow of traffic across the border. It is also there for the safety and security of Canadians.

One of the things that was alluded to by all members is that there always have to be savings in federal departments, or any department run by government. We have some 90 departments that crown corporations and we have always said that we want to look at them. There are reasons why we have them. If we cannot run them efficiently we look at turning them over to the private sector.

In this case the minister is amalgamating two departments. Obviously there are going to be problems with staffing. There is always going to be some staff simply because if they have territorial problems they will go to members opposite and make presentations.

One of the things that I want all members of this House to remember is that whenever we work with departments the people who work for government are servants of the general public. We hear it time and time again that most of the problems that are encountered, that frustrate the taxpayers of this country, relate to the fact that bureaucrats or people who work for government slow the process down. They get into some kind of a culture in which all of sudden they have extra powers and they impede the progress of citizens. We get a lot of examples of that.

One of the things that all members should remember is that we should not inflame it by being in bed with any person who works for any department with regard to territorial matters. All of us who work for government must recognize that the taxpayer is the person who funds all these programs. If there are any efficiencies to begin with, they should be there and there should be common courtesy for all.

I hope that when we examine any bill or any scenario in which governments are downsizing or right sizing, as the case may be, which is the term being used now, as the member who seconded my motion on the throne speech said, we should be lean but not mean.

As a government we should remember that and also remember that when we are trying to do these things we are trying to do them for the general taxpayer and we are trying to give efficiency notwithstanding the fact that this jobless recovery is a very significant and important thing that everyone has to deal with, including government.

[Wiarton Willy, February 2nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to speak about one of the residents of my riding of Bruce-Grey, the famous Wiarton Willy. He resides in the town of Wiarton which is a short distance away from the beautiful Bruce Peninsula Park of Tobermory.

Wiarton Willy has a unique characteristic in that he was born on the 45th parallel which is between the equator and the North Pole, and because of this he has the facility of forecasting. Wiarton Willy happens to be a white albino groundhog and this morning the mayor of Wiarton and a group of dignitaries, all dressed in white tuxedos, ventured out to speak to Wiarton Willy at his burrow. They brought with them a space heater and Willy came out and did his thing.

Unfortunately I have to inform the House that he saw his shadow and so we have another six weeks of winter. I visited with Willy before the election and I want to tell the House that his predictions are good nine times out of ten. He predicted that I was going to win the election.

Congratulations to the Wiarton Lions Club for the kickoff of the 38th Groundhog Festival.

[Petitions, January 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition on behalf of Delores and Edward Howey of Owen Sound with regard to the Young Offenders Act.

Their daughter Karen Howey Black was brutally murdered in British Columbia on February 15, 1993. They are asking that the act be amended to include young offenders who commit these heinous crimes.

[January 18th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure and humility that I move the motion on the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne.

I would like to pay my respects to His Excellency the Governor General and thank him for delivering the speech to both Houses.

I would also like to pay my respects and congratulate you, Mr. Speaker, on your election as Speaker of this venerable body, the House of Commons. We appreciate the fact that you are going to be guiding us. I know personally you are going to do a good job.

I hail from the riding of Bruce-Grey, home to two important and outstanding Canadian feminists. One was Nellie McClung who was a lecturer, author and defender of women's rights. As well we had another outstanding woman, the Hon. Agnes Macphail, the first woman ever elected to the House of Commons.

My riding is the birthplace of Billy Bishop, the famous world war flying ace. We are immensely proud to be the home of Tom Thomson, a famous Canadian artist who was a member of the Group of Seven.

Walter Harris, who was born in Kimberly and now resides in Markdale, was the finance minister during the session of 1954-57. I want to remind the hon. Minister of Finance that Mr. Harris balanced the budget twice.

The riding of Bruce-Grey is bound by the south and east coast of Georgian Bay. It includes the entire Bruce peninsula which includes Tobermory though to Wiarton, home of Wiarton Willy, the groundhog famous for weather forecasting. The Americans had to invent a groundhog in order to compete with our Wiarton Willy who does such a good job.

In the south of the riding are the towns of Walkerton and Hanover and to the west of the riding is located beautiful Sauble Beach, a destination point and resort area.

The city of Owen Sound, my home town of which I was mayor for the last four terms, is the regional centre for the area. It houses the famous Owen Sound Little Theatre.

On the east is the town of Meaford and in that surrounding area we have our famous Georgian Bay apples. The towns of Durham, Hanover and Chesley have an enviable history for their quality furniture manufacturing.

In my riding there are also two reserves, the reserves of the Saugeen and Cape Croker.

In Bruce-Grey, agriculture is an important economic way of life for many of my constituents. For the most part farming is focused on beef, sheep, poultry and dairy products.

The fact that I am standing here today proposing this motion of acceptance is a very significant event in the national policies of the Canadian government. I say that because somebody once mentioned that Canada was half-sister to the world.

I am from the Caribbean. Many people elected to this House are from that general area. This country of Canada has had great relations with Guyana and many countries around the globe.

Twenty-six years ago, Barbara Ward, environmentalist, thinker and distinguished writer described Canada as possibly the world's first international nation.

Canada more than lived up to that description in the years that followed. Its government and its citizens have shown a mature and sensitive concern for global security in all its aspects-political, strategic, economic, social and environmental.

Our international development assistance programs are evidence of that concern. Canadians have shown compassion for the welfare of the peoples of developing countries with whom they have mutual interests.

The fact that I am standing here today emphasizes another important Canadian characteristic and that is its ethnic diversity.

If Shakespeare had known Canada as it is now he probably would have written "sweet are the uses of diversity". Now that our country is truly a global village, Canada's multi-ethnic character fully coincides with that reality.

At no other time in human history have the peoples of the world had a greater opportunity to observe each other's values and belief systems as now. In Canada, on a daily basis, our very diversity accommodates meeting and sharing ideas and differing ways of viewing the world. This is an enormous Canadian strength because such dialogue is fundamental to us as Canadians. It is the base of our democratic process.

I entered federal politics because Canada, this wonderful democracy, allowed me to be Canadian. Canada has been good to me, my wife Verona and our two children, Andrew and Sonja. I feel that this country has given me a lot and I hope that in this House I can give back some of what it has given to me.

On October 25, 1993, the Canadian people gave us their trust with a mandate to govern our great country.

What I heard them say in the message to us was that they would like to see honesty and integrity in their national government. Not for one moment, as I look around this room, do I doubt that the men and women established here today are capable of that chore.

I also firmly believe that if we work together to maintain our heritage and cultural diversity, if we manage our resources both human and natural, Canada can continue to be the best country in the world.

I am noted for telling stories. I am reminded of a story of the great Italian Metropolitan conductor Toscanini. He was in New York at the famous Metropolitan Opera House; they were rehearsing for an up and coming performance.

A young soloist was not doing very well so Toscanini thought maybe he could give her some advice. The young woman scoffed at the advice and told Toscanini that she was the star of the show and in fact did not want any advice. Toscanini thought for a little while and then reaffirmed to the young woman that in a symphony there were no solo performances.

In this House one person cannot pass a motion. In this House all 295 of us were elected by the Canadian people to do a job and I hope we work collaboratively, not separately.

As outlined in the throne speech this government has stated its intention to keep its promises, specifically the agenda of the red book. That is why so many of us are on this side of the House.

A commitment to the principles of universal health care, a new apprenticeship program, restoration of literacy funding, the Canadian youth corps, assistance to small and medium sized business and a total redesign of our social programs was stated in the throne speech.

As mayor I handled economic development. I travelled to Europe and to the United States. I want to make a statement to all the members of the House. I believe that small businesses are extremely important to us. We must take the monkey off their backs. We must take away all the red tape from them. We must allow people to imagine, to dream and to get those businesses going. That is from where we will get the jobs and the hope for the Canadians we are talking about.

Since the election our Prime Minister has shown an example of frankness and frugality in our government. We announced a number of cuts the other day. The government whip announced that we were going to try to cut down on some of the perks to save millions of dollars in the coffers for Canadian people.

In conclusion I want to say sincerely to all members of the House, regardless of their political stripes, that I would like it if all of us would not work solo but would work hard for the taxpayers of the country. They are the ones who put us here. They are the ones who voted for us. None of us were elected by solo flights. Each one had a wife, a family, an organization and commitment to doing work for the Canadian people. I hope this Parliament will be the best ever.

Mr. Speaker, you will be glad to know that finally I come to the motion. I move, seconded by the hon. member for Madawaska-Victoria, that the following address be presented to His Excellency the Governor General of Canada:

To His Excellency the Right Honourable Ramon John Hnatyshyn, a Member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order of Canada, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Military Merit, one of Her Majesty's counsel learned in law, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY:

We, Her Majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects, the House of Commons of Canada, in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Excellency for the gracious Speech which Your Excellency has addressed to both Houses of Parliament.