Jane Stewart

[Terrorism, March 12th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague said, we are very concerned about the issue of terrorism and how funds are given to charitable organizations. I will be working with the solicitor general and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to target these in response to the motion that was tabled in the House by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

[Taxation, March 4th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the member has put his finger directly and clearly on a key focus of Revenue Canada which is to find the strategies that make it as easy as possible for Canadians to pay their taxes.

Certainly the member is aware that we are using new technology, E-filing and electronic transfer of funds. Most specifically, I am pleased to announce the expansion of a pilot in the member's own province of New Brunswick whereby 65,000 residents of his province can now use the telephone to file their tax returns.

I look forward to working with the member and others in the province of New Brunswick and their constituents to streamline that program to make sure that it is available to all Canadians in the near future.

[Goods And Services Tax, March 4th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to respond to the question because nobody is weaselling out of a commitment to reform the GST.

We talked about harmonizing that tax. I know the Minister of Finance is working diligently with all the provinces to find a solution. I worked with members of the hon. member's party on the finance committee and we agreed that finding a harmonized tax is what Canadians want, and we will do that.

[Finance, December 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I begin my remarks by noting that this is the third year in a row that members of the House have been invited to participate in a prebudget debate. They have been asked to share with the Chamber and certainly to

share with the Minister of Finance their particular points of view, their advice and their concerns about the direction and the hopes for our country and its fiscal circumstances.

I will make my remarks from two points of view today; one, as a member of the Standing Committee on Finance and, second, as the member of Parliament for Brant. I have recently met with my constituents at one public meeting to talk about the budget and will meet with them again early in the new year to collect more input and advice.

From the point of view of a member of the committee there are three things that have struck me over the course of the prebudget consultations that have been under way since September. First of all, it is very clear to me that there is a different tone in the representations that are being made at the committee table this time around.

If members recall, last year at this time the newspapers were full of the issue of the budget and the fiscal circumstances. As members of Parliament, we were receiving all kinds of representations from constituents, from lobby groups about what we should and should not do, what our strategy should be and what our approach should be.

Very soon after that, in fact as soon as the budget was tabled, all that frenzy melted away because the Minister of Finance had listened. He responded to Canadians. He addressed their concerns with a very effective budget.

That calmness, that understanding, that support for the approach to budgetary strategies continues. The tone since September has been a measured tone, a very supportive tone, one that shows appreciation for the approach the government has taken. It shows appreciation for the strategy of rolling targets. It shows acceptance that the government is going to make its commitment of reducing the deficit to 3 per cent of GDP. It shows support for the fact that conservative assumptions are taken into consideration when preparing the budget package. It shows acceptance of the notion of having a contingency reserve so that as the economy's cycles work their course, that fund will keep us on target to meet the goals that have been set.

The Minister of Finance came to the committee recently and indicated that for 1997-1998 the deficit goal would be improved to 2 per cent of GDP. I strongly support that strategy. I would encourage him again to use conservative assumptions as he prepares his budget for 1995-1996.

The committee was told in several ways and several times over the course of the budget hearings, by economists, by members of the business community, not to forget that Canada is in a cycle and we can anticipate somewhat of a downturn in the near future. I would encourage the minister to consider maybe increasing the contingency reserve that has been addressed to date.

This is all good. The tone is solid. It is supportive of our approach.

There is something else that is interesting. In this set of prebudget debates the focus has turned away from being solely on the deficit to actually talking about the debt. What that says to me is that Canadians are quite confident that the first strategy, the first hurdle; the hurdle of the deficit has been managed and now they want to continue on with good, sound fiscal management and start to attack the debt.

The minister spoke about that, as did many witnesses as well. It is a process, an evolution, a confidence that the government is moving in the right direction.

Third, I would like to point out the issue of quality. The presentations that have been made to the committee over these last few months have been exceptional. They were even better than last year. We in the committee are starting to learn more effective uses of the consultative process. We used the round table as the hon. member before me noted. It is a very effective way of getting Canadians to come together and understand the different perspectives and concerns that people have, their needs and requirements.

However, I would point directly to some of the sectors in our community which have worked so hard to pull themselves together and build a consensus before they come to committee. When they come to the committee they have a single voice. They are very clear in what they are looking for and they make a very pointed and accurate intervention.

The health community came together under HEAL and presented its suggestions to us so that a strong and healthy Canada Health Act can be maintained.

The voluntary sector has done an incredible job over this last year bringing dozens of groups together to build a consensus. It stated that these groups were building so they could be considered as a voluntary sector in this economy. It made some very good representations and suggestions to us that will help us to encourage donations at the moderate level and at the high level from businesses. We have to listen very carefully to this group's representations and give it some time because it is coming together and will provide Canadian society with very valuable contributions and partnerships that should be supported.

I also think of the coalition for private and public partnership where the private sector has come together with public partners and said that they can work together in this notion of privatization-commercialization in identifying where the effective partnerships can be built.

These are the kinds of things that Canadians are doing now as a result of the government's approach to managing the country's fiscal requirements. They are moving in the right direction and I am proud of it.

I would now like to turn to the messages that my constituents are giving me back in the riding of Brant. As I said, we met late in November with a very interesting group of people from all sides of the political spectrum. The message was loudly and clearly heard that Canadians in my community want us to continue on the deficit reduction track, to move toward dealing with the debt, to do it without raising personal income taxes and to manage it on the spending side.

In Ontario, people in my riding are now able to juxtapose the different strategies. The government's strategy is of a balanced, measured, thought out approach that is timed and pitted against goals that are set versus the strategy of the provincial Tory government, in fact almost Reform government, taking a slash and burn approach. There are two different ways of getting to the end and Canadians are saying to do it in the Liberal way.

I need to tell members about individuals in my riding who have suffered as a result of the Tory strategy. They did not know that their social security cheques were going to be cut by 20 per cent. They were not told. If they had been told they would have had to read it in the newspapers and not everyone has those facilities or capabilities. It is unconscionable, inhumane and not what governments are about.

Despite those that say that governments should be managed like businesses, it is just not true. Governments are here for people. Governments have to manage in that fashion. Therefore, I am very proud and certainly support the strategy of the government to take a balanced, measured and stable approach to managing our fiscal house.

One gentleman in our conversation, Mr. Dave Levac, brought up an issue that people are concerned about which is the issue of government accountability. We know we have to do a better job at letting people know what our goals are and about measuring ourselves against our goals. Mr. Levac suggested that ministries, when they do not spend all the money allocated to them over the course of a budgetary period, contribute that directly to deficit reduction. That is not a bad idea but there may be some very complicated and technical administrative costs that are associated with that. However, what my constituents are saying is that government still has a way to go in assuring the Canadian public that it is truly accountable in spending tax dollars effectively. I accept that input. We do have to work more effectively in that regard.

Finally, on a detailed level my constituents very much were supportive of a government that supports the social side, the side that speaks to individuals, the Canadian public. They said that government support to the economy, to industries and business through subsidies, is probably one place where the government should continue to make cuts. Let the market look after itself.

We heard that at length over the course of the hearings in the finance committee where members of the chambers of commerce and different organizations representing business said they could manage more effectively without subsidies. We should, as a government, cut where Canadians are saying they will take cuts. That should be our strategy. I think of Mr. Lobb at the town hall who said: "I appreciate the fact that where the government made cuts was more on the side of business and the economy and less on the side of the social budgetary agenda". That made sense to him.

I suggest that we continue with that strategy. We must remember that governments are here for Canadians. As a government we are opening the back rooms so that Canadians can participate in the budget debate, which is critically important to each and every one of us. We are taking a measured approach, with targets and commitments and we are meeting those commitments. We are creating stability in the marketplace, which is buying us credibility. We must focus on providing social support to Canadians across the country.

[Constitutional Amendments Act, December 11th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, let me begin my comments by saying that through these naive and inexperienced eyes, I view the debates on Bill C-110 and our resolution that calls on the House to recognize Quebec as a société distincte as some of the most important debates we have had in our 35th Parliament.

We have just completed another chapter in our collective history and in our search for ourselves. We know that chapters talk about the Vikings. It is absorbing to read about our First Nations, about Jacques Cartier and about New France. When I think about the chicken tracks that really are the depictions of Champlain's voyages across the map of North America in the 1600s, I find that the interest is nowhere near as exciting as the interest which is created when we study the human intrigue we see beginning with the conquest in 1759.

That word conquest is such a terrible misnomer. Our Canada was never conquered in the traditional British fashion. Canada was never a classic British colony. In fact it was quite the opposite. Look at the demographics at that time. There were some 65,000 French living along the St. Lawrence River, compared to only 5,000 or 8,000 British. The first British governor, Murray, had very little opportunity to quash the French culture, its language, its religion, its customary civil rights, its civil approach to property management and property exchange; nor did he want to.

The history books tell us that Governor Murray Murray at the time indicated: "I will govern by the dictates of my heart and my heart dictates clemency and understanding". Those were some of the very first notions of the British governors in Canada. That commitment continued and it became much more formalized in 1774 with the Quebec Act.

The British needed the support of the French against the rise of republicanism in the United States. They needed to ensure that the French were on side. Therefore, with the Quebec Act in 1774 there were very strong and real commitments that allowed for the free exercise of religion, for customary property and civil rights.

Those words are not very different from the words which included in this resolution which calls on the House to recognize Quebec as a distinct society in its religion, language and its right to civil institutions. I do not see the resolution as being anything special, unique or new. Rather, it is a very important reaffirmation of the commitments made to Canadians so very long ago.

Distinct society was understood in a very real sense by my ancestors. They were United Empire Loyalists, loyal to the crown. They came up from the United States after losing the revolution. They United Empire Loyalists came up through the walnut trail into southwestern Ontario and found a society different from that with which they were familiar. Catholicism was being practised. The French language was being spoken. There was no responsible assembly. They did not understand the method of transfer of property. The fee simple method, which was so much a part of the British culture, was not a part of society in Canada.

I suppose my ancestors were the first separatists. The United Empire Loyalists, who just could not make sense of the new community, the new situation, were successful in achieving the split into upper and lower Canada, right along the Ottawa River.

As time went on the issue and the need for responsible government was felt very clearly in both upper and lower Canada. We know about the Papineau revolution of 1837. We know that Lord Durham was sent over from England to complete a royal commission. His decision was to unify the two Canadas. He felt it was the right thing to do. He thought it was appropriate because in his mind it would create a homogeneous society by bringing the two cultures together. However, that is not how it works in Canada. It does not now and it did not then.

When the two first prime ministers, Baldwin from upper Canada and LaFontaine from lower Canada, came together to form the first great ministry, English was not the only language of Parliament. LaFontaine spoke in French. He and his colleagues from lower Canada were encouraged to speak French. As the Parliament moved from community to community, because there was not a set location, its members spoke in both English and French, without translation. Somehow they worked together. They understood each other. They took steps backward. They took steps forward and kept Canada together with two cultures and two languages working together.

I would suggest that it is that very heritage which has made this country what it is today. The acceptance of two cultures coming together to forge a common foundation has created Canada as we know it today: compassionate, humane, understanding, fully cognizant of the fact that to get along, to make progress, one does not have to deny a person's culture or an individual's history.

While it is very difficult to do, we can encourage people to keep what is so important to them, that is, their own sense and understanding of their personal history. It is this that has made Canada different from Britain, different from France. It is what has made Canada the best country in the world in which to live.

We still have difficulties and concerns. We look back and understand that shortly after Canada's 100th birthday in 1968 was the first comprehensive constitutional review. It was just a year after we celebrated Confederation.

From then on, we know the history. It is a litany of referenda, patriation of the Constitution, constitutional commissions, committees. We have been through 20-some years of discomfort, confused about where we are as a country.

Perhaps it is just the 100-year itch. Perhaps it is just a country anticipating a great future in the 21st century. If we step back and contemplate that, pull ourselves out of the reality as we understand it today, we may be able to find some important solutions for ourselves.

As we have noted with the extension of the veto to five regions, Canada as a result of social, economic and technological changes is regionalizing quite effectively. I look to my colleagues in Dartmouth and Moncton and consider the work they are doing to encourage the people in Atlantic Canada to think about a different kind of political unity, the unification of the Atlantic provinces.

Now may be the time and place when Canadians can step back, look at ourselves and ask the question, are we being paralysed by a paradigm of administrative doctrine of provinces that is constraining to us, that is making our clothes fit too tightly? Are we ready to break out and think of our country in a different way?

Can we actually contemplate a Canada of five regions: a strong Atlantic region; a strong region of Quebec with its deep cultural heritage that is so important to making the country unique; Ontario, which leads the industrial engines of the country; the prairies that have such great natural resources and truly are the bread basket not only of our country but perhaps even of the world; and of course, British Columbia, a different and unique part of the country.

Can we step back and allow ourselves to think of streamlining our country, bringing it together so that we can focus on our capabilities, on our strengths to build for a future, to make Canada not the slow moving, happy leviathan that has been treading water both calm and rough, but create ourselves into a darting and flexible space ship with five regions. We would add, of course, our very important First Nations, all under the umbrella of a strong federal government that could direct a comprehensive, cohesive, united Canada into the 21st century.

These are my ideas. We have so much to offer as a country to the people of Quebec, to the people of Ontario, to the people of British Columbia. I have great optimism that we have a strong future together and I would encourage the House to consider that as well.

[Taxation, November 28th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of National Revenue.

Last weekend I met with constituents in my riding of Brant to begin our prebudget consultations. Among many, many topics of interest my electors registered their continuing concern about the underground economy and its impact on our ability to manage the deficit.

What has the minister done to date to control the leakage of millions of dollars in revenue into the underground economy?

[Health Of Women, November 23rd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, in my riding of Brant we are very concerned about the high incidence of low birth weight babies, about the increasing impact of heart disease on women, about osteoporosis, about breast and uterine cancer.

What is the minister doing to resolve these concerns and make good our promises in the red book to attend to the health issues of women?

[The Late Yitzhak Rabin, November 6th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, when a man of war becomes a general of peace, we have surely witnessed a miracle. When a man can turn a hawk into a dove, we have surely witnessed a miracle. When a man can learn to give instead of take, we have surely witnessed a miracle.

This miracle will be remembered as Yitzhak Rabin. The history he has written will become a beacon of hope, a symbol of peace, a miracle of humanity for all the world to share.

As but one who has watched his leadership and listened to his words, I share the grief, I feel the sorrow and I know we have lost someone rare.

[National Housing Act, November 3rd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, it has been interesting to listen to the comments of my colleague and others who have spoken on the bill and to understand the intricacy of this legislation. It touches the aspect of social housing, to which my colleague has just referred. Previously we heard how it will impact the building trades and local economies across the country.

We also understand that this legislation will have an impact on our ability to trade in foreign markets. As the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs knows, this is an important aspect of this legislation as well. Here we have a bill presented in the House of Commons that is prepared for the national good and yet we have the third party challenging it, wanting this responsibility for housing to be devolved to the provincial level.

I would like to ask the parliamentary secretary if he can see any real value in that kind of solution, given the kinds of things that we are hearing and the facilitative role that this particular and single piece of legislation has for all Canadians in so many different ways.

[Trade, November 3rd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Industry.

This week the House has been debating at second reading an act to implement an agreement concerning Canada's internal trade. Certainly in the province of Ontario members of the business community and consumers strongly support the legislation because it is good for our economy.

Will the agreement be as good for Quebec?