Elsie Wayne

[Access To Information, March 22nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I should like to take this opportunity to pursue a question that I asked of the minister responsible for ACOA last week.

I asked him if he would explain to the House why he cut millions of dollars from a national defence program set up to help Atlantic Canadian communities hurt by base closures.

The Department of National Defence transferred the $30 million program to ACOA because the regional agency is believed to be in the best position to deliver such programs in Atlantic Canada. The ACOA minister has turned around and slashed $10 million from the program.

When I asked the minister to explain the cuts, the parliamentary secretary to the ACOA minister said that the government would take my concerns under advisement.

That is not a good enough answer for the people's whose lives will be affected by the minister's actions. Maybe the reason the minister cannot offer an explanation is that he knows there is no way to justify what he has done. He is playing with people's livelihood. Even members of his party are appalled by his antics. The hon. members for Dartmouth and Moncton, just to name a couple, are on the record in their opposition to the ACOA minister's actions.

The Minister of National Defence has said:

The $30 million is for base closure. The $30 million was given by defence to ACOA for base mitigation. Thirty million will be spent for base mitigation.

The money was given to ACOA in trust to help people hurt by the base closures imposed by the government. It was supposed to help hard hit towns and cities attract industry to replace lost armed forces jobs and military spending, which is known as permanent infrastructure in the communities.

The Prime Minister made a commitment to help these communities. It is not ACOA's money to take away, even if the finance minister has asked ACOA to make cuts to its own budget.

In fact an editorial in an Atlantic Canadian paper put the minister's actions in very clear light. It said: "If your father gave you $30 for your brother, you would have no right to keep $10 for yourself because your father also asked you to cut back on your own spending".

The same is true of ACOA and the minister responsible for ACOA. ACOA was asked to do a task and does not have the right to redefine the terms of that task after the fact. However, it seems the minister believes he does not need to answer to anyone, at least not to the people who will suffer at his hands.

The minister has cut the ACOA board, which is supposed to represent all of Atlantic Canada, and has put the focus of the board in his own riding of Cape Breton-East Richmond, known as the Cape Breton Enterprise Board. According to reports, he has handed out over 183 projects to his riding, totalling at least $15 million last year. He did that before he announced a change to the ACOA funding to allow for repayable loans.

The minister has refused to tell the Saint John Telegraph Journal the findings of a 1992 company by company job survey for ACOA, even though the federal information commissioner ruled in the paper's favour. Perhaps the minister believes that taxpayers do not have a right to information paid for with their dollars.

I placed a question on the Order Paper about the financial assistance provided to each federal riding and Atlantic Canada by ACOA on October 4, 1994. That was 172 days ago and I have yet to receive an answer.

Does the minister responsible for ACOA believe he should be accountable to anyone? Does he believe he should be accountable to Canadian voters who are also taxpayers? If he does believe this, then he would not only explain to Atlantic Canadians why he cut $10 million from a fund designed to help communities hurt by base closures, but he would also tell them how he plans to rectify the situation.

[Motions For Papers, March 22nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, pursuant to Standing Order 39, I placed a question on the Order Paper on October 4, 1994. That was 172 days ago.

As the question required a detailed response, I did not request that I get the answer within the 45 days as the standing orders allow. However, it is my understanding that with all Order Paper questions the government tries to answer them within 45 days.

I am seeking information on the financial assistance provided to each federal riding in Atlantic Canada by ACOA. One hundred and seventy-two days is an unacceptable length of time to respond-

[Petitions, March 22nd, 1995]

These petitions state that the opening prayer in the House of Commons should retain the traditional reference to Jesus Christ and that the traditional Lord's Prayer be reinstated at the closing of the opening prayer.

Therefore, the petitioners call on the House to close the prayer, "through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." They call on the House to act on this request. I wholeheartedly agree with the petitioners and would request-

[Petitions, March 22nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great honour and pleasure that I rise pursuant to Standing Order 36 to present a petition regarding the parliamentary prayer in this House. The petition was originally signed by 20,593 people. The majority are from my riding of Saint John, New Brunswick, as well as from Newfoundland, Ontario, Saskatchewan, B.C., across this whole nation.

Due to various inaccuracies some were just certified today. I am presenting a petition signed by 15,268 names. I find the process to be a little questionable in that we decertify some petitions because of a lack of an-

[Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, March 21st, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I will be voting yea.

[Supply, March 21st, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I will be voting nay.

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

[Rail Strike, March 21st, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the present railway strike has already had a severe impact on many manufacturers and producers all across the country.

In my province of New Brunswick there are many lumber mills dependent on rail. As well, our ports have been greatly affected as they also depend on the rail lines.

I ask the House to allow legislation to be passed with unanimous consent which will quickly put an end to this labour dispute. I also ask the government to undertake a consultative process between labour and management that would result in a settlement that is fair and equitable while at the same time ensuring CN and CP are not at a disadvantage compared with their transportation competitors in the U.S.

I recommend to the government that a human resources sector consultative study be established for the Canadian railway sector. This would allow both management and labour to jointly study the changing business environment and the challenges facing the railway industry in Canada now and to the year 2000.

[Base Closures, March 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for ACOA.

Will the minister advise the House how he can justify cutting a $30 million trust fund by $10 million? This trust fund was specifically transferred from the Department of National Defence and earmarked for the Atlantic communities affected by the base closures announced in the 1994 budget. What steps will the minister take to correct this situation?

[The Budget, March 1st, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I have some questions for members of the government. They talk about wanting to be fair and treating all regions of Canada fairly. I would like them to take another look at the budget and what they have really done to the Atlantic region.

The Atlantic region last time around took 27 per cent of all the cuts in the last budget and we have 8 per cent of the population. This time around someone has to tell me how they can justify taking away the freight rate subsidies to get our product to market. When they brought down the budget on Monday, 15,000 jobs were jeopardized in the Atlantic region. Members do not know this and backbenchers do not know this, but the Minister of Transport knows it. He made promises to the people in the Atlantic region. They held public meetings. Our people said they would give up ARFAA, the interprovincial subsidy, but that they must have the westbound one in order to keep working. They were led to believe the Minister of Transport agreed.

Does anyone know how they heard that the ARFAA and MFRAA were to be taken from them? They heard it from Peter Gzowski on CBC interviewing the Minister of Transport. I have a list of companies in the Atlantic region that will be affected. The Canadian Manufacturers Association wrote to the Prime Minister about the fact that there had been no dialogue from the Minister of Transport.

We want to be fair and responsible in the Atlantic region. I get tired of hearing people refer to us as have not provinces. Our people believe in the family unit and in work. They want to work.

What are they going to do for all the people in manufacturing? What are they going to do today? I represent a city that has a nuclear power plant and the largest privately owned oil refinery in Canada, and the government took away the weather office. Does the government not know what it is doing? I do not believe it does. This is a very serious situation.

I ask hon. members to revisit what they have done. What has happened to the Atlantic region is devastating to our people. The people are sitting at home today wondering what is going to happen tomorrow because they have not had all the bad news yet. They took the bad news the last time and said: "We are good Canadians. We will accept it". However we cannot accept any more.

I ask members to take another look at it. Where are the 31 members in government from the Atlantic region? Why are they not speaking out for good, honest people who want to work? That is all they are asking for. Government members say they will create jobs; we are still looking for them. They know our transportation costs have been increased by 40 per cent with what they have done by taking away the freight rate subsidies. They cannot compete. They are finished.

I ask hon. members to take another look at what they have done to the Atlantic region, a part of this country. They did not state that the St. Lawrence Seaway would no longer be ice free. When that project came into play it affected my international port. What will you do for the Atlantic region?

[The Budget, March 1st, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. I ask the Prime Minister for a clear answer about his government's intentions on a question he was asked yesterday in the House.

Will women 65 years of age and older lose their OAS because of their spouse's income as implied on page 58 of the budget plan? Yes or no.