House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was land.

Last in Parliament May 2004, as Liberal MP for Oxford (Ontario)

Won his last election, in 2000, with 36% of the vote.

Statements in the House

First Nations Land Management Act March 1st, 1999

Mr. Speaker, I think it will be difficult, after what I have heard today, to deal in any direct way with some of the ramblings of the opposition.

My friend from Elk Island said they are not able to speak to it. We have been speaking to it since 10.15 this morning and I have not heard a great deal that is on the bill, the purpose of the bill, or why the bill has been 11 years in the making. In fact, it has probably been 30 or 40 years in the making.

Some of the enlightened first nations of the country have been trying to become responsible, have been trying to get out from under the paternalistic Indian Act for many years. Three times in fairly recent history the government has offered to scrap the Indian Act and to bring native people into full partnership in Canada. It has never been accepted, partly because it was too big a chunk to swallow and partly because first nations were at various levels of expertise or capacity for economic development of their reserves and their peoples. They suffered from that paternalism. They all recognized it, and we recognize it.

We are trying to take a step at the behest of 16 first nations and more that sought a review of federal policy on delegated land authority as part of a broader exploration of alternatives to the Indian Act. They began work on the legislation in 1991. In the last parliament it was Bill C-75 which unfortunately died on the order paper.

As vice-chair of the aboriginal affairs and northern development committee I have been dealing with this problem on behalf of the government, my fellow members in the House and the aboriginal people of the country for about five years. It is not very long, as the native people count their seven generations, but I have been struck by the capacity of these people to look after themselves, to take a hand in their own development. I have seen evidence where they have been given some encouragement in terms of what they can do.

I have read a good deal of the royal commission report on aboriginal peoples which talked about four things that were important if we were to bring first nations as citizens of Canada into Canada where they belong. They were respect for their values, for their spirituality, for their history, for their sense of land and for their sense of community; recognition that they are in fact citizens of the country; responsibility, which we had been summarily taking away since the passing of the Indian Act; and sharing, to share in the future of the land because we realize this is the second largest country in the world in area, much of it north of the 60th parallel.

In less than a month, on April 1, we will be celebrating the founding of Nunavut, a land, a territory, the northeastern arctic territory of the country which is one-fifth of Canada's land mass. It has fewer residents than the town of Woodstock, the county seat of Oxford, but it will have control and responsibility for its people, its land and its laws.

The first language of the territory will be Inuktitut. Cree will be a language as will English. They will start off on this great adventure and I wish them well. It would be too bad to go on carping about what other first nations want to do with their land in concert with the provincial governments which they must respect in terms of environmental matters, the Constitution and the charter of rights and freedoms that they fully accept.

I hear opposition members railing that they have not had enough time to speak to it. If they had stuck to what was in the bill we might agree with them but they have not. They have talked about it being slightly flawed. I would like to know what legislation introduced in parliament since 1867 has been perfect.

I have heard from the opposition that it has to be right, that we have to do it right. Nonsense. We have to do it and do it the best way we know how with the best brains and co-operation we have. We have to give aboriginal people the right to go on and make some mistakes as we have done. We seem to think it will be perfection overnight. It will not be, but we will move along the road in the way those responsible for the aboriginal people want us to go.

As a new member in the House I sat beyond where the member from Perth is sitting and my colleague, Elijah Harper, addressed the House. He said to all of us including the opposition: “You don't get it, do you? You just don't get it. We were the first people here. It was our land”.

Contrary to what a member of the opposition mentioned two weeks ago, they did not have a feudal system of government. The feudal system of government was something created by the Anglo-Saxon race in England.

The Indians had a communal, co-operative system of government. They traded the length and breadth of this continent and the South American continent. They have been here for 10,000 years. They existed in the face of the harshest conditions that the world knows. They were never defeated in battle in this country. They welcomed the white skinned people. They taught them how to survive in the wilderness, how to survive the winter, and they expect to treated with some respect. That is what the report of the aboriginal people's commission said, and Gathering Strength which the minister published last year says how we will do it.

We need to pass the bill today. Members of the opposition worked with me in committee. They approved the bill in committee. They listened to the witnesses, to the people. They struggled with it. We asked for an amendment which we got. They said that was fine and they would support it.

A lot of good work is done in our committees. We match wits and we deal with a problem before us. Politics normally stay out of the way if there are a good committee chair and good committee members like we have on our committee. We came to an agreement.

Then I came in this morning and found that my colleague from Prince Albert was worried about giving band leadership more power. He agreed to the amendment. He agreed to the bill, but the big boss from Kootenay—Columbia came in and said “No, you can't do that. You can't go along with your colleagues and bring in a good bill because we are going to make some trouble”.

If I had heard some enlightened discussion on what was wrong with the bill, I might not be so passionate about it. I have spent a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of work on the bill. I want it passed. I want the chiefs to be proud of it. I want the 14 nations to get on with running their own affairs. I want us to get on with Gathering Strength. As one of my colleagues said earlier, the four principles of that document are increased governance, partners, new fiscal arrangements and strong community.

What could be more important to the aboriginal people of the country? I rest my case.

The Budget February 18th, 1999

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, the member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie, has made an impassioned speech. He uses a lot of fine language. He used the word “hypocritical”.

Twenty-three per cent of the funding is for 23% of the population. That is not hypocritical. My colleague has talked about fair play. I find it passing strange that the leader says that they have not found a good way to say it in French. I wonder if that is because the Bloc Quebecois, the real—and I say that facetiously—Quebeckers, do not really understand fair play?

Rbst February 11th, 1999

Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister of Health and Health Canada for their decision to reject the use of rBST in Canadian dairy herds.

As the federal MP for one of the largest dairy producing counties in Canada, I can assure the minister that this decision is a welcome one for dairy farmers in Oxford County. I am especially impressed by Health Canada's diligence in reviewing this product over an nine year period.

The Minister of Health has consistently said that rBST would not be approved if it posed a threat to human or animal health. After studies showed that rBST caused a significant increase by approximately 50% in the incidence of lameness in injected dairy cattle, the department made a clear decision to reject rBST use in Canada. It is a decision which and I and the dairy farmers of Oxford applaud.

Supply February 9th, 1999

Mr. Speaker, I have listened with interest to my colleague across the way. I agree with much of what he says, certainly about conservation, the environmental nature of water and so on, and let us not be self-righteous. I do not think we are doing nearly a good enough job on looking after our water.

We understand that we have about 25% of the world's freshwater. Our population however is minuscule compared to that. I know my friend is compassionate and concerned about everyone and about Canada's place in the world. I would like to know what he thinks the eventual outcome will be. Are we going to build a wall? Are we going to mount machine guns? Are we going to stop the rivers flowing south? What are we going to do when people outside our borders need freshwater, as they will in a few years or more and we have it all?

Social Union February 5th, 1999

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister and the provincial premiers agreed on a framework to ensure Canada's health and social programs are strengthened as we enter a new millennium.

Canadians are tired of seeing their leaders mired in partisan wrangling. They want us to work together as representatives of the people, regardless of our political party, to improve programs and services for all Canadians. The successful meeting yesterday proved that we can do it.

While I am unhappy that Premier Bouchard felt he could not sign, I hope he will ensure that the people of Quebec benefit from this spirit of consensus building.

As an MP from southwestern Ontario, I want a Canadian federation that reaches out to all corners of our beautiful and great nation and includes every citizen. Yesterday we made an important step and I congratulate the Prime Minister and the premiers for putting the interests of Canada first.

Petitions December 8th, 1998

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by 400 constituents of Oxford who ask that parliament enact legislation such as Bill C-225 to define in statute that a marriage can only be entered into between a single male and a single female.

Agriculture December 3rd, 1998

Mr.Speaker, during the emergency debate on agriculture last Monday evening the Leader of the Opposition said:

Basically our position is this: If the finance minister will clearly declare that the forthcoming budget will contain broad tax relief for all Canadians... then the official opposition would be prepared to support a temporary aid package as part of that long term solution.

This sounds to me as if the Reform Party is ready to hold farmers hostage in exchange for its partisan agenda. The party across the way makes poignant statements about the plight of individual farmers, frequently quoting and reading from constituent letters. It acknowledges the farm income crisis and urges a timely response. However it appears it will only support a solution if it is on its terms.

This situation is too serious for the official opposition to threaten to hold Canadian farmers hostage.

Petitions November 25th, 1998

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I have two petitions which are signed by 375 residents of my riding of Oxford. Both petitions ask that parliament enact legislation such as Bill C-225 to define in statute that a marriage can only be entered into between a single male and a single female.

Oxford County November 23rd, 1998

Mr. Speaker, on October 30 I had an opportunity to visit telecommunications projects in my county with a number of distinguished international visitors. Visitors from Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Honduras, India, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, the Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, Suriname, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam visited Oxford county.

The tour showcased Canadian expertise in rural telecommunications and provided the international visitors with firsthand insight into how groups in the county are using new information technologies to improve their services to our citizens.

Oxford County is a leader in rural connectiveness. In the first round of community access program funding Oxford County libraries received 25% of the total approvals in Ontario. Now we are building an integrated network across Oxford County.

I am pleased to see the county expertise shared with representatives of this international delegation. The visit was a success due to the hard work—

First Nations Land Management Act November 5th, 1998

Mr. Speaker, I would be interested in any factual information the member has on that issue. I am aware that there are problems because individual members of native bands have come before the committee and told us about them.

On investigation, however, some of them proved to be not very well founded. They also proved to be a matter of opinion, just as we have in many of our municipalities regarding whether the mayor did the right thing.