Peter Adams

[The Budget, March 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the member's remarks with great interest. I must say I heard very much of a mixed message. I do not know where she gets some of the literature she cites.

In the province of Ontario, which I know best but I am sure the figures are roughly the same, its population would have decreased every year of the last 10 years if it had not been for immigrants. The population of the province of Quebec would have decreased even more quickly. What is perhaps more important for us all is that while that was occurring, the population of the province of Ontario would already have been close to 25 per cent senior citizens. That is one aspect. How she thinks that works into the mix of our economy I do not know.

The other matter is that the immigrants-by that I mean new immigrants, not established immigrants like myself-in my riding are almost invariably contributing members of our community. They are people who often take jobs well below their qualifications and work very hard in those jobs. They rent first of all and then buy small houses and improve them. They see that their children get educated.

Also in the hon. member's figures she mentioned immigration of 1 per cent. She knows this country has never had 1 per cent immigration. There have been targets of 1 per cent. There is a target at the present time but there has never been 1 per cent immigration.

She mentioned Bosnia. She mentioned unemployment. She mentioned compassion and humanitarian feelings for people in other countries. Does she realize that in her lifetime the world population will double and will then double again? That assumes, by the way, that she lives an average life and I hope she lives longer. What are we supposed to do in this country while the world population doubles and redoubles?

For the member's information 1 per cent of our population, which is the target for immigration we have at the moment, represents at this moment one day's increase in the world population. Do we move into a bunker and let the world population grow around us and try and live as increasingly aging and wealthy people not reaching out to help these people in other countries?

[Supply, March 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have a very short question to ask. I also want to congratulate the member for Chicoutimi on his speech. I am very interested in what he had to say, since I too have a daughter, who studied at McGill University.

My question is about comments made by Reform Party members. Does my colleague believe that the issue of violence against women only implies a need for more or less organized action, or that it is rather a matter of legislation and policies giving the preference to women?

[Supply, March 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have heard a good deal with which I can agree but I became a little confused with the amendment. I listened to it as carefully as I could. Perhaps I did not get the full sense of it but any action we might take with respect to the motion on the Order Paper today might not involve gender bias. That is how I understood it.

The member was speaking of directing our efforts toward the people who need our help most. It seems to me that when we talk about child care, apart from the children, the people who need help most are women. When we talk about single parents we know the vast majority of single parents are women. Therefore they are the ones who need support.

We think of some of the areas that the members opposite mentioned in which women are moving and making progress but in which they are still behind. An example would be in science and technology, in colleges and universities and in the workforce.

It seems to me that at the moment, although goodness knows we do need improvements in science and technology and education of all sorts, the people most in need are female students. They have moved in other areas such as the arts and the humanities but they have moved least in science and technology.

Similarly, if we look at the professional schools of all sorts, we would discover that women are still in the minority. I realize that there are other groups that need our support but women are the people who need our assistance most.

In the general area of income, we can obviously break out all sorts of groups that are in the below average income category. However here is this mammoth group which is the majority in the country, females, and the statistics all show that it is significantly behind the other large group which is males as far as income is concerned.

In my constituency, over two-thirds of women with children of school age work at the present time. They represent a low income group in my riding. I wonder if the member or the members opposite would care to comment on this point. How do we proceed on these matters without identifying women as people who are at the present time in need of support so they can move forward in these areas?

[Borrowing Authority Act, 1994-95, March 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I too enjoyed the member's remarks. I wondered what he thought about the internship and apprenticeship program described in the red book.

This a national program under which people will get interprovincial licences. It is, as I understand it, focused on particular trades and areas of activity where we hope jobs will appear in the near future. It is also an apprenticeship program based on competence rather than time.

Some examples the member mentioned were in other countries where people spend many years learning a trade whereas in fact it appears in modern times that it might be possible to proceed more quickly. Then persons might not only have one trade; they might have two or even three.

On the question of funds, has the member given any thought to the idea of the apprentices paying fees as do students in colleges and universities?

[Apprenticeship Programs, February 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, co-operative programs are an approach to technical and technological education which is flourishing in Canada. In this approach students go out from their base in school to gain experience in the workplace.

However, another approach, apprenticeship programs, is doing very poorly here. In this case students are trained in the workplace, reaching out for school programs as required.

The number of apprentices and the quality and relevance of apprenticeship programs in Canada have declined drastically.

One industry in Peterborough which used to have hundreds of apprentices now has only four. One reason for this is that apprentices often receive qualifications which are restricted to

their province. Only 14 per cent of apprentices in Ontario earn licences to work elsewhere in the country.

This is a national disgrace and it is as tragedy for well trained people who find themselves trapped in a province in which the economy is slack.

I urge the government to move quickly on the national apprenticeship program. We need a highly trained, highly mobile, truly national workforce.

[National Youth Service Corps, February 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the National Youth Service Corps will each year provide 10,000 young Canadians with the opportunity to do valuable community and environmental work. It will bridge the gap between school and workplace.

Through their work teams these young people will gain friends from all parts of Canada. By working on projects in different regions they will get to know Canada in all its diversity.

While the work accomplished by the youth corps will amply repay our investment in it, I believe that the raising of national consciousness which will result from it and its contribution to the creation of a mobile national work force will in themselves make the corps worthwhile.

I congratulate the Secretary of State for Training and Youth for her work in launching the youth corps and I urge the entire cabinet to give this minister all possible support.

[Income Tax Act, February 14th, 1994]

What was the answer?

[Supply, February 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I make my apologies to you and to members present.

The motion today deals with confederation and we have heard a good deal of criticism about that form of government. Confederation it seems to me is a form of government which has developed particularly in North America, here and in the United States, as a very effective and powerful way of dealing with large and diverse countries. Overall, and I think members opposite will agree with this point, the method has been very effective in North America. We have produced two nations that have been among the most productive, however you define

productive, economically or in some other terms, socially for example, that have ever existed on the face of the earth.

In a debate like this, one could tend to forget the strengths of confederation. If I could give one example, one strength of the confederate approach to government is the fact that a process of trial and error can go on in different parts of the confederation and that process is a very creative and, I would suggest in the light of the comments this morning, also a very economical way of testing new ideas. Sometimes those ideas will work and they can be taken on by the confederation or sometimes they will not work and we will have saved the expense of a trial which would have failed across the nation as a whole.

A famous example is medicare being developed in Saskatchewan. Their system of medical health support was developed, it was tried, a substantial trial and error process, and then we were able to spread it to the rest of the country.

Another example is the work that is going on in New Brunswick in the area of our social support systems which were discussed this morning. In New Brunswick as we speak experiments are going on which look as though they will show that there are better ways to deliver the social services which are so important to our nation. In a debate like this the strengths of Confederation must be stressed as well as some of the weaknesses.

It seems to me that in a form of government like this there are inevitably overlaps. Some of them for a while are necessary and many of them are unnecessary. To that extent I agree with members opposite.

Wherever there is unnecessary duplication we must eliminate it and, as the President of the Treasury Board said, I hope the government is doing so.

Simply to recite things like fisheries, agriculture or environment and then point to the fact that those things are dealt with by two jurisdictions is not to show unnecessary duplication. It seems to me fisheries would be a good example. The fishery in Quebec would be very different from the fishery in British Columbia. It therefore seems appropriate that people who understand those fisheries deal with them in those regions. But it is equally appropriate that national and international aspects of the fishery be dealt with economically and without unnecessary duplication by a central government.

What has been lacking has been national leadership, proper leadership from this Chamber. The duplication which has arisen has been a result of that, not the result of a weakness in confederation but a weakness of previous governments to address the truly national issues.

[Supply, February 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I was interested at the beginning of the member's presentation to learn that the Reform Party has a whip. It seems to me that it is something they would not have in their type of organization. Looking at the attendance it seems to me that he or she needs some practice.

The motion before us today actually deals with confederation and we have heard a good deal of criticism-

[St. John's Church, February 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the people of St. John's Church, Peterborough are proud of their past and are planning confidently for the future.

A few years ago, the 150-year old church encountered damp and peeling paint on its walls. Studies showed that the proper cure involved major repairs to roofs and walls as well as repainting. Instead of simply trying to patch, members of the congregation embarked on an elaborate program to restore their church to the glory that it had a few decades ago.

Despite difficult economic times, the work has now been finished. The architectural heritage of the city of Peterborough has been greatly enriched. The new chimes bring a sound of hope to all citizens.

There is a lesson here for all Canadians. Like St. John's, let us be proud of our rich heritage and build on it not for ourselves, but for our children.