Dennis Mills

[Supply, December 10th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I listened attentively to the remarks of the member from the newly named riding of Hilstrom—Interlake. I am a member from downtown Toronto and not a rural member.

I am not fully aware of the complexities surrounding the issue of agriculture and agri-food, but earlier this week I had the privilege of speaking at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture summit. One fact that came out at that summit was the need to debate mobilization and getting more focused on the problems and challenges surrounding rural issues. We must start with a new beginning and engage a larger number of consumers and city residents.

Because the member for Selkirk—Interlake is very sensitive about government resources, I would like to ask him if he would support the notion of the Government of Canada and Agriculture Canada investing some dollars in mobilizing city residents to become more engaged and more involved in rural agricultural issues.

He seems to be very concerned about taxpayer money being spent on arts, culture, et cetera. I personally believe that a lot of money should be spent on mobilizing city representatives because we represent 80% of the votes in the House. Perhaps the member could speak on behalf of his party and indicate whether they would support such a campaign.

[Supply, December 10th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I want to applaud the member for West Nova for his intervention on this particular issue.

As the member knows, we have been working together on this side of the House to get those people who live in urban areas involved in the issue of agriculture and agri-food. The reality is that 80% of the population in the country live in urban areas and those consumers have very little knowledge of the difficulties, the challenges and the complexities that surround matters of agriculture, the family farm and so on.

Does the hon. member feel that it would be a useful exercise to engage the people of urban Canada in a very thoughtful, constructive way, so that ultimately they could participate fully in these agricultural issues, the family farm problem, and especially young people moving away from the farm? Does the member think that would be a good exercise? If we did something like that, would he and his party get behind the exercise?

[Dr. Robert Birgeneau, December 1st, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, St. Michael's College School has done it again. The Basilian fathers can be proud.

Dr. Robert Birgeneau has just been chosen to be the 14th president of the University of Toronto. His appointment has been acclaimed as brilliant by the Ontario Council of Universities.

Dr. Birgeneau is a Toronto native and a citizen of Canada. He received his B.Sc. in mathematics from the University of Toronto and his Ph.D. in physics from Yale. He was on the faculty of Yale for one year and then at Oxford University for a year through the National Research Council.

Dr. Birgeneau has been the dean of science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1991, and while there he brought MIT's physics department to the top. He said yesterday “One of my deepest commitments is to ensure that every qualified student who wants an education from the University of Toronto gets one, regardless of their financial situation”.

We welcome him back to Toronto, to the University of Toronto, and we wish him and his wife Mary the very best.

[Cape Breton Development Corporation Divestiture Authorization And Dissolution Act, November 15th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I want to put some thoughts on the record. As a downtown Toronto member, I think it is important that people realize we are just as sensitive to these issues as members who come from the region.

The greater Toronto area in the last two and a half years has been blessed with one of the most exciting economies the country has seen in the last 20 to 30 years. Having said that, we should make sure that some of the reasons our economy is booming are applicable and that the opportunities exist in other parts of Canada. It is important to examine some of the good luck that Toronto has had and see if it can apply to other parts of the country.

I want to start with the easiest sector of all, and the fastest growing sector in the world, the tourism industry. Anyone who has travelled to Cape Breton knows that it is an absolute slam dunk. There are all kinds of instant tourism possibilities in that great part of Nova Scotia.

The member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough talked about his community needing work immediately. In that particular sector, with just a small portion of that $70 million, we could mount a very serious tourism campaign, not just for those who want to travel within Canada, domestic tourism, but we could target areas of the United States. Overnight we could enhance and create jobs in the community with bed and breakfast enterprises and tour companies.

That is my first point. I raise it because believe it or not, in the last three years one of the fastest growing sectors in Toronto has been tourism. It affects everything, not just hotels and motels, but restaurants and all the other subsets under the tourism rubric.

Another area that is exploding in Canada, and not just in Toronto but in Vancouver and Montreal and which has potential in Atlantic Canada and Cape Breton, is the motion picture industry. I am sure most members saw The National last night or the night before. The motion picture industry in Canada is one of our most rapidly growing sectors of the economy. The preferences that exist right across the country to attract and grow that sector are amazing. This is something where instant opportunity can be created in Cape Breton. Sometimes we are so close to the problems that we do not realize some of the advantages of the natural assets we have around us. That sector could be utilized immediately.

These are ideas where we do not have to wait. The premier of Nova Scotia, the industry minister or the heritage minister can make instant requests of people in the motion picture industry. They can tell them of the preference package under the Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation, to take a look at what Cape Breton Island is all about and use it as a site for shooting motion pictures. Those are instant jobs. They are highly paid and good solid jobs, not minimum wage jobs. They are skilled jobs and semi-skilled jobs. History will show that once people are exposed to a region like Cape Breton, they will come back for repeat business.

Another area is information technology. There is not a part of our country that cannot take advantage of the opportunities within information technology and of what we have in terms of the educational thrust in Cape Breton and the whole province of Nova Scotia. There is absolutely no way we could miss if part of that extra $70 million for special projects in Cape Breton, the Devco divestiture, could be targeted toward information technology including computer assembly and e-commerce. These are all lay downs in my mind.

Interestingly enough, because of the way the information highway has changed the world, the people of Cape Breton Island can have as much opportunity on the Internet as the people in downtown Toronto.

Our responsibility in the House is not to stand up and be anti everything. We should not be a coalition of antis here. We have to deal in hope. I recognize that there are people right now who are in pain and who have lost their jobs. One cannot imagine the slap on dignity when one does not have work. But at the same time, with money ready to roll in those various sectors, if we put positive energy into this right away, some things could start right away. If we were more positive in our action on Cape Breton Island, we could create a momentum. That is what our responsibility is in the House.

[Cape Breton Development Corporation Divestiture Authorization And Dissolution Act, November 15th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough on his tone in approaching this problem. Quite often if the tone is constructive, then there is a willingness on this side of the House to resolve these issues.

In terms of pension benefits and health fairness, I cannot believe that the minister is not going to make sure that the pension benefits and those issues relating to health are not included in the package. If the member's point is that we are not communicating clearly what that package is, then that is something we can work on.

I stand to be corrected, but my understanding is that this package ranks with some of the best settlement packages around. If there is room for better communication or minor improvement, then the member has brought up a very important point. In other words, we should not have a similar divestiture in Sudbury, which is in my province, where the miners are getting preferential treatment over the miners in Cape Breton. I cannot imagine that we would do that.

On the other options, the member has brought up a very interesting point of looking at the notion of keeping a window in the industry. I think the member spoke about the Prince mine or the Donkin mine. If there is a way we can keep those mines, it is worth exploring. I am no expert in this area but I see that the minister is nodding his head that the member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough has brought up a useful and constructive idea.

I want to refer to Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation. The reality is that every region in this country over the last seven or eight years has had to reinvent itself. Does the member not see the possibilities through the Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation with this enhanced economic package of the extra $70 million on top of its existing pool of funds? There are opportunities for enhanced tourism, entertainment, motion picture and knowledge based industries. Information technology is exploding all over the world. We know of the academic achievements of most people in Nova Scotia and how Acadia and all the other universities are ranked. Can we not see opportunities for real economic development if we have a positive approach on this?

[Cape Breton Development Corporation Divestiture Authorization And Dissolution Act, November 15th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I asked a very direct and humble question of the member on what some of her specific, constructive ideas would be, and I would ask her to answer.

[Cape Breton Development Corporation Divestiture Authorization And Dissolution Act, November 15th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, if we had a blank cheque sitting here today, or if we had direct access to the treasury, what are some of the constructive thoughts and initiatives the member thinks the House should explore on behalf of her constituents? I ask her to give us some ideas on how we could make things better.

[Supply, October 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the member knows full well that he has never had any debate with me on the notion of comprehensive tax reform. I have spent 12 years on the issue and I pray and hope that one day the executive of the government will become seized with that issue.

We all have issues that we feel passionately about. I agree with the member that comprehensive tax reform is something we need. However, I am not separating tax reform from any part of any issue in the House of Commons. It is critical and it needs dealing with.

The question the member for Yorkton—Melville asked me today was what can we do to make city folk realize the family farm is in this deep pain, and that is where I was coming from.

[Supply, October 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to be constructive in the debate. I will not get diverted from where I am coming from. I feel passionate as a member of parliament that we should do something to help the family farm in the country, especially those that are in deep economic and psychological pain right now.

What I am saying is that if we educate a majority of people in the country on just how the family farm is getting screwed—I will put it in direct terms of getting screwed—my sense is they will understand that through education in a way that is sort of understandable. City folk are not going to understand. I heard everybody stand up here today to talk about AIDA. How many people in the city understand what AIDA is? I am trying to help here. Using that language is not the way to help.

The way to get city people mobilized to help the family farm in the country is to educate them on how they are getting screwed. Once that becomes a reality in their minds, then I think we can deal with all those other things very quickly.

[Supply, October 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to participate in the debate. I remind members that I represent a riding in downtown Toronto. There is not a single farm in my riding.

Having said that, I have always believed that national politicians should be sensitive to issues not just in our own riding or our own community but in every region of the country. Today is an example where this debate affects the people of my riding, not only in an indirect way but in a direct way.

I listened attentively to the member for Yorkton—Melville earlier. He described in very dramatic detail what was happening in his community. There were families with children facing the stress of watching their mothers and fathers working 80, 90 to 100 hour weeks and not making ends meet. He said that this was not a faceless problem, that these were real people.

He also asked one question I want to try to answer. What can we do to make the people who live in cities understand what is happening on the family farm? That was the question he asked.

As a downtown Toronto member of parliament I will attempt to answer that question. The basis of my answer comes from an experience that I had in the House 10 years ago when I sat in opposition. We had an agriculture critic from Lambton—Middlesex, the hon. Ralph Ferguson, who is a farmer to this day. He developed, at his own expense, a program entitled, “Compare the Share”. When I go into a store and buy a bag of cookies for $5, the program shows what the retailer gets, what the wholesaler gets and what the manufacturer gets. The family farm gets two pennies on that $5. On what we pay for a quart of milk the farmer's share is 11 cents. On a loaf of bread the family farmer gets six cents. When we buy 10 pounds of potatoes for $1.50 the farmer gets 12 to 15 cents.

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Egmont.

As someone who has spent most of my life as a city person, I had never seen that package before. One day we decided to put up a display at my constituency office, which is on a very high profile street in downtown Toronto called the Danforth, showing the various shares on a quart of milk, a bag of cookies, a package of pasta and a loaf of bread. We then showed how much a farmer pays for his land, machinery and equipment.

I can tell the member for Yorkton—Melville that the city people were shocked. They had no idea the number of hours that farm families put in to get the two cents out of that $5 bag of cookies.

We kept the “Compare the Share” display for about a month to six weeks and then obviously we had to change it. That was one little section of a downtown area in Toronto, one of 22 sections.

The member asked what we could do to make city folk understand. We have to revive “Compare the Share”. Even for our own rural members in the House, there are probably a lot who would not be up to date on the current share that exists on a whole line of products.

We also have to go as far as re-examining the packaging that goes on products. Maybe we should not just be doing “Compare the Share” in our offices. Maybe we should use our power in the House of Commons to explore the notion of putting the approximate share that a farmer gets on all of the packaged goods. What is wrong with that?

The reality is that if we, in three, four or five years from now, lose the contribution of the family farm in the country, or if we discover four, five or six years from now that we no longer have any young people who want to work on the family farm because they are tired of working for $2 or $3 an hour, what will we do as a nation? Without the family farm, the quality of food, which today is second to none, and even in terms of consumer price is as competitive or more competitive than most places in the world, we will find ourselves stuck.

This is a good debate today but we must not treat it as a partisan debate. I know most members have not. Let us get together and do something constructive. I really believe the way to get the city people mobilized is to educate them about exactly what the farm family gets for every little contribution they make to the quality of life we have in our cities and in the whole country which is ranked number one in the world.