Nelson Riis

[Petitions, November 6th, 1996]

Madam Speaker, it is my honour to present a petition, pursuant to Standing Order 36, on behalf of a whole number of constituents who are not interested in merging the GST and PST but are actually asking the Liberals to keep their promise and not proceed with the GST any longer. After all, that is what they promised and that is why people voted for the Liberals in many respects. The Liberals simply broke that promise. These people are infuriated. I suspect they are all Liberals on this petition as well. However, that is just the way it goes.

[Taxation, November 6th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. He will know that the minister of revenue was recently in Nova Scotia pointing out that the legislation enacting the blended 15 per cent tax is not etched in stone.

She goes on to point out that the government is open to accepting a number of changes and then says that the Canadian public wants this tax.

Can the Minister of Finance point out what evidence he has to indicate that the Canadian public wants this tax? If he cannot prove that, is he open to scrapping the whole notion?

[Public Works, November 5th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Labour who will be aware that a number of working men and women on Parliament Hill have been locked out of their jobs. They have been asked to roll back their pay of $7.25 an hour. They were forced to train their own scab replacement workers and some say now that they have no money to buy food for their children.

What is the minister doing to stop Bradson from using scabs to work on Parliament Hill and other federal properties and to end this terrible dispute?

[Native Veterans, November 4th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I commend today's announcement to build a national monument to recognize the heroism and valour of aboriginal peoples who fought bravely for Canada in the first and second world wars, the Korean war and in peacekeeping missions.

While this commemoration is fitting, it does not address the outstanding grievances of many native veterans. Thousands were treated as equals on the battlefield but suffered neglect and unfair treatment at the hands of the federal government when they returned to Canada. They were not allowed to vote until the late 1950s. Benefits such as pensions, health care and educational training were available, but many native veterans were never informed that they were available.

They suffered discrimination. For example, to collect normal benefits, a returning native veteran from the second world war was asked to renounce his or her status under the Indian Act and live off reserve. If they chose to stay on the reserve they were no longer under the administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs. They were not offered the $6,000 loan available for land to non-Indians under the Veterans Land Act but received only $2,330 at the discretion of the Department of Indian Affairs.

Such stories of unfair treatment and other difficulties were told to a 1994-95 Senate committee. Yet many of the committee's recommendations remain in limbo, including instructions that the Department of Veterans Affairs-

[Rocky Mountaineer Railtours, November 1st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, when VIA Rail cut back on its passenger rail service in western Canada, Rocky Mountaineer Railtours stepped in to offer first class passenger service to those who wished to see the Rockies, the interior plateau and the Coast mountains from a train. Unlike VIA, the Mountaineer travels through the western majestic mountains during daylight hours so that travellers can enjoy the breathtaking mountain vistas and experience the hospitality of the great city of Kamloops during their overnight stay.

Rocky Mountaineer Railtours has proven to be an exceptionally positive contributing corporation. It has provided hundreds of jobs in the Kamloops area and is presently investing heavily to expand its service and create more jobs.

A recent decision by VIA to offer unfair competition will seriously impact on the Mountaineer. I urge the Minister of Transport to come to Kamloops to meet with those affected in order to head off what could be a very serious blow to the local employment opportunities presently provided by Rocky Mountaineer Railtours. This blow would curtail much of the service which is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of visitors to western Canada.

[Parliament Hill, October 24th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, on the eve of the Liberal convention, something rather sinister and mean is happening here on Parliament Hill.

The Deputy Prime Minister hails from a steel workers town. She will be aware that members of the steelworkers on the construction site on Parliament Hill were paid $7.25 an hour with minimum benefits. They are now locked out, having been asked to train scabs to replace them here on Parliament Hill.

My question is for the Deputy Prime Minister. Does she feel it is appropriate that scabs are working here on the front lawn of Parliament?

[Tax Harmonization, October 23rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals in Prince Edward Island have called an election and remain the only Liberal government in the Atlantic provinces not to sign into the GST/PST harmonization scam.

The P.E.I. Liberals know that the people of P.E.I. oppose harmonization. The people of Prince Edward Island know that a harmonized tax will actually cost them more since all sorts of goods and services presently exempt from the PST will now be fully taxed under harmonization. They also know it will cause confusion for businesses that operate in different provinces since there will exist one consumption tax in Nova Scotia and a different tax in most other provinces.

Also, the people of Prince Edward Island remember the Prime Minister's quote in the Globe and Mail when he said: ``I am opposed to the GST. I have always been opposed to it and I will always be opposed to it in the future. It is a tax that is both regressive and discriminatory''.

Based on this quote, maybe the people of Prince Edward Island should not trust the Liberals' promise not to impose a harmonized GST/PST.

[Canada Post, October 22nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pathetic response to the 17,000 people who are going to lose their jobs six days after Christmas. Is that the best she can do?

If the small business sector is expected to pick up the slack and provide alternative delivery service, will the minister acknowledge that in many cities between 10 per cent and 30 per cent of the households will not receive these distributed pamphlets and so on because they are either dependent on postal mailboxes or mailboxes in apartments? The market will be excluded for perhaps up to 30 per cent of the small business operators?

[Canada Post, October 22nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the minister responsible for the post office.

At a time of tragic increases in the number of jobless in Canada, will she admit that just six days after Christmas, the result of her decision on regular ad mail will result in up to 17,000 people losing their jobs, another 1,500 supervisors losing their jobs, that most of these 17,000 people work less than 15 hours a week and therefore are not eligible for EI? The majority are women living below the poverty line.

Is this the minister's idea of a Christmas present to the people who presently work for Canada Post?

[Petitions, October 11th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to rise, pursuant to Standing Order 36, to present just over 4,000 petitioners from across Canada, the majority from Burlington, Hamilton, Windsor, Calgary and the great community of Lac-la-Biche, Alberta.

They point out that corporate contributions to public revenues in Canada are already the lowest among the seven major economies, the G-7 countries. They also point out that the share of federal

revenue has risen to 60 per cent from ordinary Canadians while corporations have been reduced to less than 10 per cent.

They make a whole number of other points, but the general thrust is that they are asking the Government of Canada to undertake a fair comprehensive tax reform program so that personal consumers do not suffer even more from financial insecurity and unfair costs at this critical time.