Dennis Mills

[Social Security Program, November 21st, 1994]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Kootenay West-Revelstoke for his comments on my earlier remarks.

I assure the member that we are sincere. The Minister of Human Resources Development is someone I have watched in this town since 1980. He is someone who respects good ideas. Without ideas we are dead around here.

The members opposite should feel that any good ideas they put forward here, no matter where the members come from, if they will make the fabric of this country better we are going to take them.

I want to pick up on the member's comments about the unemployment insurance ski team member. I have problems with the UI ski team. I have problems for a number of reasons. I think the member said this person was making approximately $40,000 in three months working in his forestry career. If someone is doing that in three months and then all of sudden going on this unemployment insurance system, I think of the ski unit, if it happens at a time when it might displace someone else who needs more than the basic minimum wage that a UI cheque would give I think we are putting that other person at a disadvantage.

In other words if I were looking for a job on the ski slopes and needed to get $15 or $20 an hour because I did not have the $40,000 income for the three months, and if all of a sudden I do not get the job because here is a fellow who is volunteering his time and it is not costing the employer a nickel, we are working against ourselves.

Does the hon. member not think that when a firm receives the benefit of having someone contribute toward the health and viability of his business where it is being funded by the taxpayers through the UI system perhaps there should be some accountability so that we are not working at cross purposes?

[Social Security Program, November 21st, 1994]

Madam Speaker, first I want to answer the question about welfare.

I knew my grandmother because she looked after me. Probably she would have figured out a way to avoid the welfare option. However that is my own declared bias for my grandmother. Maybe she could have fallen into that trap as well.

That is one of the real problems we have in our society today. The system is set up in such a way that it becomes the thing to do, and people are not challenged to their depths in terms of their work ethic or their creativity. We have to redesign this program in a way that the basic inner strength of people, their creative

skills and work ethic are maximized. By changing the welfare system that will happen.

As to the second question, I do not differentiate because we are all equal. However society is much more receptive to men who are involved in the business realm than women. As a government we have a chance to do something unique in this mandate by moving women in business from the back burner to the front burner. If we were a House of Commons that did that, it would be one of the great experiences we could leave this place.

[Social Security Program, November 21st, 1994]

Madam Speaker, I want to say to my colleague this is when a debate becomes most enjoyable. We are advancing ideas. We are building on ideas.

The idea of taking a counsellor assistance program, not unlike the one in the Federal Business Development Bank, and marrying that with the youth and my pet project, women in business, is a great way to go. That is a way of using up the great wisdom and experience that exists from people who have taken perhaps early retirement from a 70 to 80 hour a week job but want to only work 10 or 12 hours a week.

I would certainly support that idea. It is a great one. That is the kind of thing I believe our minister needs to hear.

[Social Security Program, November 21st, 1994]

Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking the member for his question.

As I stated in my opening remarks, the minister responsible for human resources is calling for a debate where we advance ideas on how we can take the current $38 billion expenditure and redesign it in a way that we can get a better bang for the taxpayers' buck.

I believe that education is paramount in this debate. No one is questioning that. In fact there are no further cuts. It is a redesign of the current system.

I share the member's view. Education is something to which we must continually commit ourselves and of course the R and D that the member mentioned as well.

In order to make sure that the resources are there, to make sure our educational system can handle not only the R and D aspect but also make sure that our younger people have access, we have to create an economy where they have income so that they can afford to pay for their tuition rather than take student loans. The greatest problem that our young people have had, especially in the last three years, is they have not been able to get decent work to pay for their university education. The whole economy has been flat.

The member knows full well that if we can create a more vibrant economy where younger people can get work it does not take long for a student, working part time and in the summer, to raise $6,000, $7,000 or $8,000 a year which goes a long way toward paying for his or her education.

We are going to have to put more emphasis on the macro economy rather than just the old system where we would automatically write cheques.

[Social Security Program, November 21st, 1994]

Madam Speaker, it is nice to have you back here in the House. We have not seen you for a while.

I would like to begin by reading from the conclusion of this working document that was given to us by the Minister of Human Resources Development. It is the chapter entitled "What can be accomplished by reform?".

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate interest and debate among Canadians over the coming months about how together we can reform one of our great national institutions, the social security system.

It is a system, a set of programs and services that reflects the best of who we are, our compassion for those less fortunate in our society and a commitment to equality of opportunity and our belief in the dignity of work.

As times change, so must our institutions. Without exception provincial governments have recognized this and many of them have launched discussion papers of their own, setting out reform priorities. This is the federal government's contribution.

I want to congratulate the Minister of Human Resources Development for undertaking such a comprehensive push on reform to our social security system. I believe, quite frankly, that very few men or women in this House could actually take this challenge on other than the minister. I say that because I think most members of this House and most people in the country who know the minister realize that his history, his tradition in public service over the last 25 years has characterized him not only as a strong Canadian nationalist but also as someone who has always been there for the most disadvantaged in our communities.

I can remember in the last government when we were in opposition whenever the minister would speak it would drive the Conservative Party nuts because many viewed his vision, his feeling, his caring for the country as a sort of radical left position. I never viewed his position as radical left. It is very important that someone who has won the trust of our communities in caring for people who are disadvantaged lead this charge. This is a very comprehensive review.

We are talking about reviewing a program of reform that is almost $39 billion in taxpayers' money. We are talking about the Canada assistance plan of $8.2 billion; the Canada student loans program of $.5 billion; the post-secondary education established programs financing of $6.1 billion; the UI administration of $1.2 billion; UI maternity, parental adoption and sickness, $1.7 billion; unemployment insurance regular benefits, $12.4 billion; employment programs for developmental uses, $1.9 billion; employment programs consolidated revenue fund, $1.4 billion; vocational rehabilitation for disabled persons, $.2 billion. That is a total of $38.7 billion.

Obviously I cannot in this short time take on every aspect of this particular reform initiative. I would like to address my remarks to a very special, very tight area of this debate, women in poverty.

All the statistics of children in poverty and women in poverty have been talked about in the last few months before this House. I believe it is incumbent upon all of us who are involved in this creative exercise of reform to really make sure that when the recommendations for renewal come forward at the end of this debating exercise, we make sure we have the most enviable program in the world for women who are involved at the lower end of the income spectrum.

We cannot miss this opportunity. I say that because I believe that women in the entrepreneurial sense and in the business sense are one of the great untapped markets of opportunity to help revitalize the economy of this country, and in so doing bringing dignity not only to themselves but to their own families, especially their children.

I want to remind colleagues in the House about something that is happening in the United States right now. Women owned or partnered businesses in the United States are employing more

Americans today than all the Fortune 500 companies combined. That is a staggering statistic.

The force of women in the United States is becoming a recognized fact. I do not believe that it has hit the consciousness of this country yet or sunk in to all of us in this Chamber who are presently charged with redesigning the social security system.

As the minister has asked us for ideas during this debate, I would like to present the idea that we consider as a Chamber and as a government to set up women in business centres all across Canada. I am talking about centres the purpose of which would be to offer women training and support in developing businesses. We are talking about centres that would facilitate access to capital for women in business, centres that would be test sites for innovative, educational and technological efforts. These centres would also act as a catalyst for business and entrepreneurial opportunity. It would ultimately improve the business and entrepreneurship capability in Canada.

I have to talk about a personal experience for a moment that is driving me in this direction about women in business. My grandmother was a widow at age 48. She had 14 children but at age 48 she still had eight of those children at home. Four of her sons had gone off to join the RCAF, one of them being my father.

This single mother was left with eight children at home. We are talking now about the early 1940s. She had a small, home based business. It was a very simple business. She rented tables and chairs for banquets, weddings and social functions. My grandmother managed, because of her own creativity and her hard work, to raise that family of eight children under her roof and to provide a respectable living for all of them. As time went on she eventually developed the business and it grew into something that looked after many other families other than her own children.

My point in bringing this example up is that this happened at a time when there was absolutely no unemployment insurance and no welfare system. There was no social security system to look after a single mother in the early 1940s who had eight children. They had to use their own creativity, their own work ethics and had to rely on their friends and neighbours. Certainly there was not a lot of support from the banks for a widowed mother with eight children. That just was not part of the scene in those days.

That example of what an individual can do under great stress for me has always been testimony that if there is a will there is a way as long as there is some kind of support system from your friends and community.

I think what the minister of human resources is saying to us in this debate is that defending the status quo which is not working is not in the cards and by wanting to defend the status quo we are defending a decline, not to mention the fact that we are spending almost $40 billion a year and we are not getting the results.

When we go through this exercise we have to look at every idea presented to us. I use as an example my grandmother who was a single mother with eight children at home. She built a family business from her home with no government grants, no support. It shows me that if we give a little bit of support to women in business throughout the country, we can probably get a lot more Canadians working. The most important thing is to raise the standard of living of a lot of women who are currently trapped in a welfare system that is certainly not working. It is a system that none of us in the House wants to defend.

I welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate. It is a comprehensive challenge that the minister has placed before us but if we use the premise that we put all of the ideas on the table and keep an open mind concerning those ideas, then I believe at the end of this exercise we can create a new social security system that will be the envy of the world.

[Social Security Program, November 21st, 1994]

I watched it on television.

[Department Of Canadian Heritage Act, November 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to have the opportunity to speak on second reading of Bill C-53, an act to put into law the organization of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

This bill, as previous members have stated, includes responsibilities in the areas of cultural development, multiculturalism, official languages, heritage conservation, national parks, national historic sites and amateur sport.

I would like to address from this responsibility of the department two areas that are particularly sensitive in my riding of Broadview-Greenwood, which is downtown Toronto. The first has to do with cultural industries.

I have in my riding close to 14 motion picture sound stages. This is where Canadians are busy working sometimes two and three shifts a day manufacturing motion pictures mostly for export, and not just the North American markets. As of just recently, as you know, Mr. Speaker, "Degrassi Junior High" can be watched in China. When you are in your hotel room you can use your channel server. There are not very many channels in Beijing. When a group of us went there a few months ago, we noticed that Degrassi was being aired in China.

I want to talk about this industry because I think there is a great misunderstanding in the minds of Canadians about the value that the motion picture industry brings to the economy of Canada. Quite often Canadians will only focus on that part of the industry that they tend to see in lights. They tend to see the actors and actresses, the Academy Awards and the long limousines. Yet there is very little time and energy spent on appreciating what goes into making up that great industry which is so much a part of our culture.

We are talking about cameramen and women, set designers, costume designers, costume makers, lens grinders, carpenters.

These are craftsmen recognized right now as being the best in the world. The Canadian motion picture factories are recognized by the Germans, by the Americans as being an elite manufacturing force. It has taken many years to build that industry in this country. It has been this department of heritage that has really traditionally provided a lot of the seed money that went into supporting the artists and the craftsmen and women who go together and who today have made a world class industry.

I think it is important for all members of this House to realize that when we are speaking to the importance of this bill we never forget that the motion picture industries, the cultural industries, are a tremendous economic impact in a positive way to our GNP. The fact that this bill is going to make this department of heritage much more efficient is a credit to this government because with such limited fiscal resources these days we have to make sure that we do not do anything to diminish the support for this industry which is integral to the job creation commitment we made in the red book during the last election.

The second part of my remarks, Mr. Speaker, is something that is a little closer to your heart and it has to do with amateur hockey. I believe that Canadians need a wake up call when it comes to amateur hockey. It is not just hockey, it is amateur sport generally. Too often in the past amateur sport has been taken for granted in this country and once again we are facing a crisis with sport in this country. As most Canadians can see right now we are going to have our first ever Grey Cup final as a Canadian and American event. We have watched the demise of the Canadian Football League.

I know that is professional but the reason I think it is important is that the underpinnings of whatever sport we have in this country at the amateur level must be sustained because ultimately if our amateur level is in good shape then that will have a profound impact on the professional experience that happens in our country with whatever particular sport it is.

I would like to spend a minute or two on amateur hockey. More than ever at this moment in our history Canadians have to rally around hockey in our country because we have actually no set of books on what is going on in hockey. We do not know the number of jobs involved in Canadian hockey at the amateur level. We have no complete analysis of this. We have no idea in terms of what is happening in terms of exports related to the hockey industry.

As you know, Mr. Speaker, we are in danger right now of losing hockey as one of our prime movers and as one of our prime galvanizers. Let us take for example the teams in Atlantic Canada, in Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton and there is also a team in New Brunswick. I think those teams are vulnerable and I think we stand a very good chance of losing them. I link the relevance of that to amateur sport because once again I think that we as Canadians have to make sure that we do not do anything in this country to diminish our commitment to amateur sport in general.

Sometimes when we get involved in sport or cultural industries we enjoy them so much that we do not focus on the economic side of it. I believe we have always taken these industries for granted. If we are not very careful we are going to be in danger of losing these industries and the next thing you know, Mr. Speaker, you are going to see hockey not being run out of Canada, but out of New York.

I think one way we can ensure that industry along with all the other cultural industries that are part and parcel of this bill is for Canadians to look at them not just in terms of our Canadian identity, not just in terms of holding this country together, but also looking at them in terms of the economic impact they have in making sure we have a very vibrant economy for Canada.

[Tourism, November 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month the Minister of Industry along with eight provincial ministers of tourism and 20 senior members of Canada's tourism industry undertook a nine day mission to Japan. The visit included participation in the first World Conference of Tourism Ministers in Osaka and the second Canada-Japan Tourism Conference in Minabe.

At the Canada-Japan conference the minister presented the Canadian response to Japan's tourism challenge, calling for co-operative efforts to triple the number of Japanese visiting Canada annually. With input from a broad cross-section of tourism stakeholders, the response represents the kind of collaborative effort that will be a cornerstone of our tourism success in the years ahead.

We look forward to the successful implementation of this undertaking. It would result in an estimated $1 billion of additional revenue for Canada each year. It would create more than 20,000 new jobs for young people entering the workforce for the first time and for those re-entering the workforce.

[Standing Committee On Industry, November 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the designation of Gaspé cured has appeared in the federal fish inspection regulations for many years.

The current regulations permit the labelling of any saltfish as Gaspé cured provided that the fish meet the specific quality characteristics of Gaspé cured, light salted fish. It is recognized that there is a long tradition in the Gaspé region associated with the production of this unique type of salted fish.

In an effort to address the concerns of the Gaspé saltfish producers, the inspection branch of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has consulted with the saltfish industry and has made considerable effort over the past few months to develop both sensory and chemical criteria which will more precisely define Gaspé cured. It is expected that this work will be completed by December 1.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans will then meet again with the saltfish industry to review this issue and finalize the standard for Canadian saltfish products by early 1995.

Once the standard has been completed, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will implement a comprehensive training program for all inspectors involved in the inspection of saltfish in Atlantic Canada. The combination of a finalized, written product standard, specific chemical and sensory criteria and uniform application of the standard by inspectors will create a regulatory environment which will be fair for all producers of saltfish cod in Canada.

[Standing Committee On Industry, November 14th, 1994]

They are all businesses.