Art Eggleton

[Members' Pensions, February 17th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I think the Deputy Prime Minister said it all, but let me add that the government will acquit itself of its obligation with respect to the reform of MPs' pensions and it will be doing it mighty soon.

[Official Languages, February 16th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the official languages commissioner said that in 79 per cent of cases across the country the service was available and that 92 per cent of the time it was good quality service that was being provided.

We are not satisfied with those numbers. We are not satisfied with anything short of 100 per cent in meeting our targets under the Official Languages Act.

[Official Languages, February 16th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, even while the official languages commissioner was undertaking his survey the Treasury Board was consulting with managers in offices across the country to help ensure that they were carrying out their obligations under the Official Languages Act.

Furthermore, we have assembled information that we have provided to Canadians through minority language newspapers across the country so that they know where to find the offices and who to contact to be able to get services in the language of their choice.

Finally, let me say that this government is solidly committed to quality services in the official language of choice by Canadians and in meeting its obligations under the Official Languages Act.

[Canada Communication Group, February 16th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, as it applies to the particular agency the hon. member is mentioning, I would have to repeat what I am saying in terms of the public service overall.

[Canada Communication Group, February 16th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, we have said before in the House that we are going through a downsizing. Part of that downsizing will require that different programs and services are curtailed or completely removed from what we provide to Canadians. That is part of getting our deficit reduction targets met.

In the course of doing that it will be necessary to downsize the public service, but we will be treating our employees in a fair and equitable fashion in doing that, whether they are part of that agency or any other part of the government.

[Management Of Government Spending, February 15th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to table before this House a document on the expenditure management system of the Government of Canada, which describes the government's new decision-making process in matters of programs and expenditures.

With this overhaul, the first in 15 years, we ensure the system responds to today's economic and fiscal realities. It recognizes the way this government has been doing business since elected in October, 1993.

To reduce spending to meet our fiscal targets and to free up resources for reallocation to new priorities requires that we make tough spending and program choices. Our ultimate objective is to deliver quality programs and services within the resources that Canadians can afford.

We are demonstrating to Parliament and to all Canadians that we are fulfilling our red book commitment to fund new initiatives through reallocating expenditures, not with new money, not with adding further to the debt, but to set our priorities by reallocating for new expenditure items.

The document outlines the formal mechanisms that will foster greater fiscal responsibility and help this government to meet its targets.

I would like to bring to members' attention some of the system's major features, quite briefly. It formally eliminates central policy reserves. It integrates practically all decisions about spending into the budget planning process. The document clearly outlines the cycle that will now be followed.

We will deliver information on program performance to Parliament in better and more timely ways. Departments will produce documents on the outlook for their program priorities and expenditures over the next few years and provide them to Parliament. These documents will increase parliamentary involvement by assisting the standing committees in fulfilling their mandates to examine future year expenditures, trends and priorities. These outlook documents are new to this Parliament and expand the involvement and role of members of Parliament in the budgeting and estimates process.

We will adjust these processes over the next few years. It will take some evolutionary time as we gain experience with them.

I am confident that they will help us make the difficult decisions that are involved in providing quality services and reducing the cost of government.

[Government Expenditures, February 15th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to table, in both official languages, a document that outlines the expenditure management system of the Government of Canada.

[Public Service, February 15th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, this is a close encounter. The government does not have the bias of the past government with respect to the matter of contracting out. We believe in getting best value for the taxpayers' dollar and ensuring efficiency and effectiveness in how we spend those dollars.

In respect of the downsizing that will be occurring, certainly we will want to look at it very carefully and take into consideration the concerns the hon. member has raised here today.

It is our effort to treat our employees fairly and reasonably. We will make every effort to try to put them in other jobs if their current positions have been declared surplus.

However the whole question of contracting out is also a matter that is before the government operations committee.

[Infrastructure, February 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I have more good news for the House.

We are not even half way through the funding allocation of this program. Already some 4,700 projects have been approved in Ontario, creating some 31,000 jobs. This is going a long way to putting Canadians back to work and strengthening the infrastructure in our communities and well on the way to the creation of 100,000 jobs.

I think it says to the premier of Ontario that he is out to lunch when he says that we are not focused on jobs. That is our number one priority.

[Mps' Pensions, February 10th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, the hon. member has also had lively discussions on pension reform matters in the past. Certainly we are going through a discussion of the matter. As the Prime Minister indicated yesterday, there will be an announcement either during the budget or before the budget.

We will live up to our red book commitments with respect to pension reforms.