Jake Hoeppner

[Labour, March 16th, 1995]

That answer will not put food on the little processor's table, Mr. Speaker.

Negotiations in the railways are a disaster in waiting. Once again farmers may be called upon to-

[Labour, March 16th, 1995]

I have a constituent who has a shipment of over $200,000 worth of sunflower seeds in jeopardy due to the Montreal dock workers strike.

Now that he is the big guy in Ottawa, what immediate action will the Prime Minister take to provide transportation for this product to Halifax so that this little processor will not be forced into bankruptcy?

[Labour, March 16th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign in Manitoba, the Prime Minister said: "The little guy from Shawinigan will look after the interests of the little guy in Canada".

[West Coast Ports Operations Act, 1995, March 15th, 1995]

The member can scream and I can scream too. This is serious to me. I told my constituent today that I would help him to take legal action whenever he can to get this mess cleaned up.

We have tried to work with the government. We have tried to work with the minister to get that stuff out of there so that it will not be ruined. However what are we doing? Nothing, absolutely nothing. That is the type Parliament that has come about. I am ashamed. I feel like taking my citizenship and moving out of the country if this is the kind of justice we have. It is time that we change it.

My uncle was shot before a firing squad in the Soviet Union to get out of a system like that and that is what we are coming to. We had better realize it. When a man who is depending on putting food on his table cannot get his product out of the yard, something is wrong.

[West Coast Ports Operations Act, 1995, March 15th, 1995]

Mr. Chairman, I am astounded with what I hear tonight. I am totally astounded and ashamed to stand in this House and say what I have to say tonight. Yes, ashamed that I have to say it.

For a whole week I have tried to get some communications through to the port of Montreal. Today I am told that I am such a second class citizen that they will not even listen to me in this House.

I have a constituent who has $200,000 worth of sunflower seeds locked up in the port of Montreal and he cannot get them out without even trying to ship them. The bank manager is talking about foreclosing on him and we are joking around here about the lives of people.

When the House passes legislation where criminals can dictate to the judicial system and get paid for inconvenience and the people in my constituency have to go hungry, something is wrong in the House.

[Curling Championships, March 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in this House today to congratulate a fellow Manitoban on a great performance.

Manitoba's skip, Kerry Burtnyk, led his team to victory at the Canadian men's curling championships in Halifax over the weekend. The Manitoba team, which also includes Keith Fenton, Rob Meakin and Jeff Ryan, persevered through some tough competition to give Manitoba the Canadian men's curling championship.

This victory also solidifies Manitoba's claim to curling excellence. We now enjoy the men's and women's titles as well as the junior women's and men's titles.

Best of luck to the Manitoba squad at the upcoming world curling championships in Brandon starting April 8.

[The Budget, March 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed the parliamentary secretary's kind words, but there is a saying on the farm that kind words and good intentions do not feed too many animals.

I am just wondering how he can say that the government is after financial stewardship. At the research station at Morden, one of the most successful research stations in Canada, 40 per cent of the jobs were cut. It took away the buckwheat program and the potato program. It moved them up north where they could all freeze. Is that good financial planning?

I see their pension funds have not been cut too drastically. However, does he know of a program called the Canadian polar commission? The polar commission takes $1,081,000 from the government. It employs six people and half the money goes to salaries. The commission spends on the dissemination of information. The amount of transfers to people looking into this matter is $20,000.

Is it financial responsibility to spend $20,000 out of $1,081,000 on the actual work and the rest on salaries? I would like to see some improvements there.

[The Budget, March 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I always enjoy hearing the hon. member for London-Middlesex talk about fairness in the country and in the budget. I remind him that during the election the government promised to keep article XI of the GATT negotiations. It had to break that promise. Fairness is fairness; it could not do much about it.

In the federal budget the government announced a three-year withdrawal of funding for genetic evaluation and milk recording programs because they were contrary to GATT. It seems to me the same week the U.S. government announced an additional $600 million of funding toward these programs. Is that fairness? Is that the type of protection the government is to give its dairy farmers?

I know we do not need subsidies, but surely to goodness there should be some fairness. Or, are government members trying to make sure they have a good supply of chocolate milk from the president? We could be running short of fairness and I am wondering how he would justify it.

[Awards, March 3rd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in the House today to pay tribute to two of my constituents: Ivan Traill and Velda Bradley of Neepawa, Manitoba.

Ivan was awarded the Community Service Award. This former school principal started the student exchange program and the Fulford ski trail and worked on both the 1976 and 1992 summer games. He served on the elder hostel program and on the building committee for the Neepawa United Church. Ivan also helped bring cable television to Neepawa and is very active with the local access channel 12.

Velda received the Citizen of the Year Award. She is well known for her pastoral work throughout St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church and very active in the Neepawa Ministerial Association.

Both these individuals deserve congratulations for their efforts. They have shown that one of the greatest rewards a person can achieve comes with the satisfaction of helping others.

[Western Grain Transportation Act, February 13th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I always enjoy the hon. member's comments. We have served on the standing committee for awhile and I have always appreciated him and know he is also a good farmer.

The only thing I am surprised at is that he forgets we have calendars. There was a crop year on August 1, 1994. In the spring of that year the standing committee stated that it should be stopped, that it was illegal and it was costing us money. I would suggest that if this government is not going to work faster in implementing legislation, some day in the hon. member's chicken business all the eggs will be hatched and nobody will have eggs for breakfast, putting his whole industry in jeopardy.

I hope he will urge the minister to move a little faster because we need some action. I wonder how he would comment on that because this has been delayed a whole year.