Paul Bonwick

[Crimes Against Humanity Act, May 8th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I had to step outside the Chamber for a minute. I was not recorded for the last vote but perhaps you could record my vote as being with the government on this subsequent vote.

[Honda Insight, April 11th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, good news. It is indeed a pleasure to announce today that Honda will be introducing the first Canadian made hybrid gasoline-electric vehicle into the market this year.

This technological revolution is called the all new Honda Insight. The Insight is powered by Honda's advanced integrated motor assist system. Combined with its lightweight aluminum shape, the Insight goes an astonishing 100 kilometres on 3.2 litres of gas. As well, the Insight is designed to meet ultra-low emission standards.

On May 9 Honda officials will be showcasing this vehicle on Parliament Hill. I encourage all my colleagues in the House to visit the display and see this incredible vehicle and maybe even take it for a test drive.

I am sure that this exciting new Insight will be well received by Canadian consumers.

Congratulations to Honda and its entire team. Well done, Honda.

[Canada Post Corporation Act, April 4th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I was not sure, as the clerk was counting the votes, whether he recognized my vote in support of this motion. I would ask that the record be checked.

[The Budget, March 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I hope Canadians are truly listening to the right wing rhetoric of the member of the Canadian Alliance. Let us think about what he was saying.

He picked holes in and wanted to gut the social programs of the government that support low and middle class families who have children. Members of that party do not want to support that. They think that is not an investment and want to keep their tax dollars. It is a lot like their flat tax which will benefit the rich and not those who are in lower and middle class positions. It is absolutely ridiculous.

The member stated for the record that the government should take no credit for the financial picture the country is enjoying today. I simply ask the member to go back in time to 1993, if he can remember back that far when there was a $42.5 billion deficit. The deficit is now gone. Which party in the House brought forward the fiscal policies to eliminate that deficit? That is the only point I want to know from the member.

[The Budget, March 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Palliser for his question. I appreciate his clarification, because what he said was investment and ownership, and those are two different words.

I try to encourage many members of the NDP to listen to what economists and people in the country are saying. They are telling the government to build a foundation upon which foreign investment would be welcomed.

I appreciate the fact that the hon. member is speaking about white collar workers and the need to maintain and enhance opportunities for them. Based on the fact that the hon. member is representing the NDP, I am quite surprised that he does not recognize that there hundreds of thousands, in fact millions of Canadians, in my riding and in ridings all across the country, who are not white collar workers and who look forward to foreign investment. The people in our Honda plant, the satellite plants that feed it, and the countless thousands of workers throughout my riding and all across the country look forward to foreign investment because it provides good paying jobs.

Insofar as the hon. member's comments regarding white collar jobs, all he has to do is walk through some of the plants and he will see some of the best and brightest in Canada working in the riding of Simcoe—Grey. If he took a ride down Highway 417 and had a look at Kanata, for example, he would see some of the best and brightest in the entire world.

Some of the white collar jobs could be attributed to foreign investment. The reason they are occurring is because this government and the Minister of Finance have created an atmosphere in which investors from all around the world want to put their money in Canada and we are the beneficiaries.

[The Budget, March 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I rise today and address what I believe to be the best and the most effective budget speech that has been presented in the House in Canadian history.

Comparing it to previous budgets, there is close to unanimous approval in the House that the budget effectively raised the quality of life for Canadians and, more importantly, for their children. I think that was evident in the fact that the opposition party, the Reform—I have to get used to the new name but I will not use the acronym—simply did not ask any questions about the budget. Obviously, by virtue of that fact, it was in total agreement or almost in total agreement with the budget.

I had a prepared text today to present to the House that identified many incredibly great points for Canadians that were contained within the budget. As I was sitting here listening to my colleagues speak to the budget, I decided to break with tradition, fire that speech aside and talk straight from the heart about process, platform and policies, or lack thereof, from some of the opposition parties.

What I thought I might do first is give Canadians an opportunity to appreciate the process that goes into creating a budget and the amount of grassroots involvement that is involved in creating a budget, the calibre of which we recently saw on February 28.

I should first take this time to congratulate and acknowledge the hard work of my Liberal colleagues from all across this country, the one truly national party.

What happens is, as the member of parliament for Simcoe—Grey, I host exhaustive, extensive and very informative consultations within my riding, from Alliston to the town of Blue Mountain to Wasaga Beach to Collingwood, to allow constituents within my riding to bring forward their issues, directions and ideas on which direction this country should take both economically and socially. Like many of my colleagues in the Liberal Party, we spend exorbitant amounts of time to ensure that Canadians, the people within our ridings, have an opportunity to have their ideas, suggestions and values incorporated in the minister's budget each and every year.

We have had incredibly good and positive ideas come forward from the riding of Simcoe—Grey. However, the process only works if we have a minister who will do two things. The first is to listen. He certainly did that, by virtue of the fact that he presented such an incredibly positive budget, which speaks yards to the amount of involvement that all of my Liberal colleagues have participated in and contributed to.

The second, and equally important, is the fact that he incorporates these ideas, values and economic suggestions about how we might better the lives of Canadians in the budget. Again, the budget exemplifies how he has done that. My hat goes off to him. He has demonstrated over the past seven years a precedent that will be difficult to match. He has offered a balanced approach to governing the finances and the social priorities of this nation. We have truly seen what was at one point a country which was near economic ruin turned into one of the countries that is put on the mantle of the G-7 or G-8 countries. Again, my hat goes off to him for that.

However, the process at the end of the day only works if we have one person who facilitates caucus and members of parliament going to their various regions and ridings and who supports the Minister of Finance and involves himself with the minister's budgetary process. We are fortunate enough that the Prime Minister offers the Minister of Finance that kind of support on a day to day, week to week and month to month basis.

We talk about how the process works. At the end of the day, I believe that the people who we truly have to recognize are the Canadians who have taken the time to bring forward their ideas and suggestions. The key point that many constituents in my riding have brought forward is that they want a balanced approach. They realize that there are those on the extreme left who would have us do one thing. They realize that there are those on the absolute extreme right who would have us do another. What they are looking for is a balanced approach. They realize the gravity of the situation if there is not a balanced approach. The key word from my constituency was balance.

We talked about health care and the need for a collaborative effort in health care. There was no finger pointing, as has been done by the provincial Tories, that it was their fault or how Mr. Klein has said it is their fault. They talked about a collaborative effort. That is what they want. They did not want simply to increase spending, they wanted the provinces and the federal government, along with the municipalities, to work collaboratively to make sure that medicare, the thing we are so proud of both within our country and abroad, is sustainable, accessible and honours the five principles of health care. That is a message that I delivered loud and clear.

We also talked about such things as tax reduction and the absolute need for it, insofar as creating a competitive environment, not just within Canada but as we try to attract investment dollars outside Canada and to ensure that the brightest and best within our country stay here. On February 28, when I witnessed the largest single tax reduction budget in Canadian history, I could not have been more proud and more pleased to know that our country now has the foundation for incredible growth and incredible opportunity.

There were many other issues addressed through my consultation process with my constituents, the third I have conducted since being elected in June 1997. We talked about a children's agenda and, again, the need for a collaborative approach. We need to work with the provinces, the municipalities and non-profit organizations. Our ministers, including the minister responsible for homelessness, the minister for HRDC, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, have clearly indicated that that is exactly what they are going to and what they want to do.

When Canadians across the country are examining the budget and the processes leading up to and after the budget, they have to compare what our policies are as opposed to those of the opposition, or lack thereof. I might cite as an example the new party which was introduced in the House a few short days ago.

I might draw an analogy of how I view my role as a parliamentarian with the role of everyone else in the House, as well as the parties. Quite frankly, I view myself as an employee of the constituents. I believe that I am here to do good work for them. I view the role of the party as being the same. My analogy would simply be this. Imagine if an employer had an individual who for 10 years brought forward an enormous amount of rhetoric, changing from one day to the next, flipping from right to left, doing whatever he or she possibly could to try to satisfy or appease the electorate. At the end of those 10 years the electorate would finally realize exactly what the capacities and capabilities of that individual were. I speak most specifically to incompetence.

Imagine if one day that person, whom we will call Mr. X , walked in and said “It has all changed. My name is now Mr. Y ”. Would that provide some incredible level of comfort? Would that make it better? Has the platform changed? No. Has the party changed? No. It is the same person sitting across the way, with the same ideas, the same rhetoric and the same right-wing policies.

I ask Canadians when they examine that party, whatever the final name will be, to examine it on its platform and on its policies and, going back to my key word, to look to see if it has a balanced approach. I truly believe that this is one of the most balanced and most effective budgets we have ever witnessed in this great House of Commons.

I would like to direct my closing remarks to the future, something which the Reform Party, the alternative or whatever, fails to deal with, fails to focus on. My pledge to the future is simply this. I intend to make sure that from February 29 forward the constituents within my riding, in fact Canadians all across this great country, will continue to have an opportunity to bring forward their ideas, their suggestions and their values so that we might continue on this path of phenomenal success, not only building on the greatest country in the world, but also providing incredible opportunities for young people. That is what we are here to do. We are here to build a foundation. We are here to build a country which will be better off than that which we were handed by our fathers.

When I asked my first question today in the House of Commons about the budget and the focus on debt reduction, I was pleased to see that the Minister of Finance will be focusing on exactly that priority.

I look forward to any questions my hon. colleagues may have.

[The Budget, March 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I have a quick comment for my good friend in the NDP regarding foreign investment. He might want take a look at my own riding of Simcoe—Grey, at the billions of dollars that Honda has invested in a plant, and ask those 3,500 or so employees if foreign investment is a good thing or not.

Aside from that issue from the NDP about countries investing in Canada, I will now address a question to my good friend and colleague from Etobicoke—Lakeshore. I must first qualify that by saying that the member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore has truly been a role model for us in the class of '97 insofar as how vocal she has been in caucus and how she has truly demonstrated and carried forward a message, not only from her riding and not simply from Canada but from all across the world, on what the priorities of this country should be, both economically and socially.

Going more specifically to the question at hand, I wonder if the hon. member would, for my benefit and certainly for the benefit of the members of the Canadian Alliance, extrapolate on the benefits of extending the parental benefits from six months to one year, and if in fact she thinks this is a good thing for newborns and infants.

[The Budget, March 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.

First, I want to thank the minister on behalf of Canadians all across the country for one of the best and most effective budgets in Canadian history.

However, I do have one concern and that is the focus on debt reduction. I believe it is critical that we aggressively address our debt so future generations do not incur the same debt burden that we have had to.

Will the minister please expand on whether he supports an increased focus on debt reduction?

[Pakistan, March 22nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I am extremely proud to announce that March 23 is Pakistan's Republic Day. Celebrations will be held throughout Canada and Pakistan recognizing that on this day in 1940 the Muslims of the British-ruled subcontinent adopted a resolution to strive for an independent country which we know as Pakistan.

During the struggle for freedom the concept of an independent Pakistan was presented by the famous intellectual and poet Sir Mohammad Iqbal. His work and its underlining thought motivated the masses.

The political leadership of this movement was entrusted to Mohammad Ali Jinnah, or Qaid-e-Azam, meaning the great leader. His unwavering commitment, statesmanship, sincerity and belief in his cause won him the undivided support of Muslims in Pakistan.

It is for this reason I ask Canada's parliament to join me in recognizing and congratulating Pakistanis both here at home and in their native land on their special day, March 23, the day on which a great nation was born.

My friends, Pakistan Zinda Bad—long live Pakistan.

[Supply, March 21st, 2000]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would suggest that although it is likely that the hon. member does not appreciate parliamentary language, nonsense is not an appropriate term.