Elsie Wayne

[Speech From The Throne, September 25th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Algoma referred to the strong voice of the government that is there for the people. That strong voice just was not there. It was a silent voice for the people in Atlantic Canada in the last Parliament.

Atlantic Canada has 8 percent of the population and it was taking 27 percent of all the cuts.

I have a shipyard, the most modern shipyard there is in Canada, in Saint John, New Brunswick. Four thousand men used to work there. None are working there now. I used to have all of my electricians working in the province of New Brunswick. Seventy-six percent of them are now gone. Seventy-six percent of them are not working. They have gone illegally to the U.S.A. to work so they can feed their families.

The government is selling off all the housing of CMHC. Do you know who lives in CMHC housing? All the low and middle income people live in those houses. When you privatize it, the rent doubles and triples and the people are out on the street.

I do not believe that the government understands what it has done. It is time for it to stop and take a look. The member talks about a crack. What is in the throne speech is a crack the size of the Grand Canyon. I appeal to the government to please tell us what it is going to do for the people who are hurting like never before. I do not want to hear about governments in the past who did this or that.

All I know is that when I was mayor our people worked and we had a low unemployment rate. I had 4,000 people working at my shipyard, some as plumbers, some as electricians. It was beautiful. However, right now it is a total disaster.

Please tell me what you are going to do for our people?

[The Late Hon. Stanley Howard Knowles, September 25th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the tributes the public paid to Stanley Knowles earlier this summer here in this building and in this city and in Winnipeg stand as a monument to a politician who cared deeply for his community and for his country.

Behind the legend there was a mortal who saw his public duty, who was prepared to engage in public life to change things, and millions of Canadians benefited from his efforts, the poor, the veterans, the aged, to name a few.

Mention has been made of the high honour the House gave to Mr. Knowles by making him an honorary officer and giving him a seat at the table. People who watched the proceedings of the House perhaps remember him in that capacity in his latter years.

As we set out at the beginning of this new Parliament perhaps it would be best to remember Stanley Knowles as a politician, a political warrior who was armed with the strongest armour that any of us can have, a writ of election and a seat in the House of Commons of Canada.

It gave him the ability to confront the issues of our time as he confronted the issues of his with determination, unfailing courtesy and hard work. The families of politicians inevitably pay a price for this dedication. I hope that the pride that they are entitled to feel at the end of Mr. Knowles' life tempers the sense of loss which, regardless of age and its infirmities, must still be great indeed.

He was a House of Commons gentleman, a politician, a parliamentarian, and we are better in this country because of his dedication to Canada. On behalf of my party here, our deepest sympathy goes out to Mr. Knowles' family. We want to say that we honoured him greatly and we still do in the remembrance of him.

[Speech From The Throne, September 25th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, firstly I would like to congratulate you on your new role as Acting Speaker. We look forward to seeing your smile up there every day.

I want to congratulate the hon. member for Nunavut. I want to say to her that I had an opportunity during the last sitting of the House to work with her people with respect to their needs. I look forward to working with them once again. She is absolutely right. She has a unique culture and she understands, like we understand over here, that there are regions of Canada with different needs. We are there to help them.

I look forward to meeting with the hon. member to discuss how we can assist her in creating the Nunavut territory and making it a better place for her people to live.

[Speech From The Throne, September 25th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, my question has to do with the number one issue that the member referred to. I would have thought the number one issue would be jobs.

When we look at Atlantic Canada, in some areas in the province of New Brunswick we have 40 percent unemployment. When we had the chamber of commerce take a look at our area and to ask what can we do, it said “we are not at a point at the present time whereby we can be independent of government assistance”.

I hear people in the Reform Party stand up and say no more government programs, no more government assistance, no more need for it across this country. There is need. We want to be independent. We will be independent. We will get there but we cannot do it now. The government programs that have been put in place for the last three years have hurt us dramatically. We have the breakup of families. It is very difficult for our people. They want their dignity. I would think jobs would be number one and we cannot just do that with tax cuts. We have to have government programs.

I would like to hear from the member of the Reform Party on where he stands on that.

[Canada Pension Plan, September 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's throne speech gives Canadians every reason to be worried about their future retirement plans.

Older Canadians have earned the right to a secure retirement. Middle class workers cannot afford to pay more for the same benefits. Younger Canadians want the CPP to be there when they need it.

The Liberals plan to fix the CPP will be a further $11 billion tax hike on working Canadians and employers if the government refuses to reduce the EI premiums.

This government has a hidden agenda with the proposed seniors' benefit. It hurts middle income Canadians the most. It disproportionately attacks women by basing it on family income and it discourages people to save for their retirement.

I ask the government to stop punishing Canadians who have worked and saved for their retirement and urge them to put the seniors benefit on hold until there are full consultations on the proposed plan.

[Questions Passed As Orders For Returns, April 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Pursuant to Standing Order 39 I placed QuestionNo. 108 on the Order Paper on March 3. This was 53 days ago. As the rules permit I requested the answer be provided within 45 days. It is my understanding that with all Order Paper questions the government tries to meet that 45-day period.

Could the parliamentary secretary tell me if I will receive an answer today? If not, when will I receive the answer as the House will probably prorogue very soon?

[Petitions, April 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I rise pursuant to Standing Order 36 to present a petition given to me by one of my constituents, Mrs. Kim Dunlop, who is very concerned about the safety of baby carriers.

This petition is signed by 334 people in my riding of Saint John, New Brunswick. The petitioners draw the attention of the House to the fact that personal baby carriers such as baby backpack carriers, slings and snugglies are not regulated by the Government of Canada.

They call upon Parliament to urge the government to regulate these personal baby carriers for the safety of our children.

[Le Courrier Of Saint-Hyacinthe, April 23rd, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, Transport Canada recently privatized the ferry service between Saint John and Digby, Nova Scotia. I have spent the last few weeks trying to correct this deal gone bad for the former Marine Atlantic employees.

The winning bidder, Bay Ferries, let all 230 Marine Atlantic employees go on privatization. They were told to go home and wait for a phone call. Many of the employees were not hired back, even though they were fully qualified with 20-plus years of service.

I have tried unsuccessfully through the Department of Transport to get a copy of the final contract between Bay Ferries and the government. My access to information request was returned to me explaining that I needed to send an extra $100 because it would take the department 15 hours to find a copy of its own contract.

This is a stalling tactic and tells me the Minister of Transport has something to hide. If the minister has nothing to hide, I ask that he live up to the government's promise of more open government and table a copy of the contract in this House immediately.

[Canada Marine Act, April 14th, 1997]

moved:

Motion No. 99

That Bill C-44, in Clause 96, be amended by adding after line 7 on page 56 the following:

"(4) The Minister shall ensure that, within one month from the day on which a port authority begins to operate a port, the port authority will provide officers for the enforcement of the laws of Canada or any province in so far as the enforcement of those laws relates to the protection under the administration of the port authority or to the protection of persons present on, or property situated on, premise under the administration of the port authority.

(5) In hiring police officers for the purpose mentioned in subsection (4), a port authority shall give preference to persons who have previously performed policing duties at the port.

(6) The Minister shall not issue letters patent to a port authority unless the Minister is of the opinion that the port authority will, within one month from the day on which the port authority begins to operate the port, make suitable arrangements with the local municipal police force to provide police officers for the purpose mentioned in subsection (4)."

[Copyright Act, March 17th, 1997]

Madam Speaker, I will be voting no.