Suzanne Tremblay

[Right To Education In French, May 31st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the site already exists, but they want to change the zoning to allow a company to build a treatment plant, instead of the school. Those are the facts which should have been told to the Prime Minister. Mr. Speaker, francophones have paid $4.2 million; yes, $4.2 million!

Will the Prime Minister personally take action to ensure that francophones in this country are treated fairly?

[Right To Education In French, May 31st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. Yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister justified the decision of the Kingston city council to block the construction of a French-language high school by stating, and I quote:

-city council decided to oppose the relocation of the school. The proposed site was only steps away from a dangerous toxic waste treatment site-

Yet, a verification reveals that this dangerous toxic waste treatment site simply does not exist.

Does the Prime Minister endorse the statement made by the Deputy Prime Minister, who justified the decision of the Kingston city council by using reasons which, as we now know, do not exist?

[Budget Implementation Act, May 26th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, while the government bill proposes to amend the rules pertaining to unemployment insurance, Canada Assistance Plan and collective bargaining by imposing a salary freeze upon its employees, while the government is making cutbacks everywhere and taking money in the taxpayers' purse, it is still granting the CBC a borrowing authority of $25 million which could be increased under an appropriation act.

First of all I would like to denounce the omnibus bill which in the hands of the government becomes a way to disguise important policy changes. This bill is a soup containing to many ingredients and too spicy to the taste of the poorest.

That being said, I would like to emphasize the borrowing authority that the government intends to give the CBC. According to the rule book, a line of credit is generally granted to individuals and to financial institutions that know how to add up figures, how to administer their business, that have expansion plans based on market research studies or who know how to balance their books. In other words, individuals and institutions that have a financial reputation that can justify their request.

Yet, this is far from being the case with the CBC. Let us have a closer look at the facts. Based on data prepared by senior officials of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the CBC will see its deficit grow from $41 million this year to $78 million next year and this does not take into account the budgetary cuts of April 1993. You must add to those projections an amount of at least $100 million that the Minister of Canadian Heritage intends to recover from the CBC over the next five years.

The minister also stated that he would like to see the CBC less dependent on advertising revenues. Those revenues will account for 26.3 per cent of the total revenues of the CBC in 1994, that is almost $400 million on a total budget of $1.5 billion.

Up until now, several drastic measures have been taken by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to redress its structural deficit. With a document published by professor Lauzon, I want to remind you of some of those measures which in the end did not solve anything and, above all, did not allow the corporation to balance its books. Yet, we still suffer from some of those measures. There have been 2,800 jobs lost since 1984, including some lay-offs, French and English television services have been restructured, three local television stations have been converted to satellite stations, and all regional programs have been cancelled except for news bulletins. That measure should bring about an economy of $46 million.

Incidently, it is impossible for me, as a citizen, to find out how much it costs to operate the French CBC station in Quebec City. People in Eastern Quebec have the vivid impression that that station profited from the savings that were to result from the closing of the Rimouski, Matane and Sept-Îles stations. But when we ask for information in Quebec City, the answer is: "Sorry, we have competitors, we cannot give you that information".

Let me go on with the list of cuts the CBC made in order to reduce its deficit: $12 million in expenditures for the television network. Another apparent cut affects precisely the office of the Speaker of this House; the parliamentary channel has been transferred to the budget of his office. Such a measure seems to result in an economy of $5 million but in reality the service still costs taxpayers $5 million; it has simply changed envelopes.

Another cut was the reduction of Radio Canada International services abroad and the transfer of its financing to Foreign Affairs. This might look like a $20 million saving for the corporation, but it is costing $20 million to Foreign Affairs. Such measures are deceitful for the public; they are a real disgrace.

But not all services have been cut, not all services have borne their share of budget cuts. The amounts withheld from the regions have simply been transferred to the networks.

According to a study conducted by the Syndicat des journalistes de Radio-Canada, contrary to what they would have people believe, the closing of stations in the regions in 1991 has not reduced the costs of television programming. It has led to a transfer of funds to the networks. If you compare the costs of television programming for 1991 with those for 1992, you realize that they have decreased by $40 million in the regions and that the costs of the regions' contributions to the network have also decreased by $7.1 million. One regionally produced program we all know very well is "SRC Bonjour" which originates right here in Ottawa.

Therefore, you will say, there was in fact a cut of some $47 million. Quite the opposite; if you look at the figures, the network costs have increased by $60.7 million. There you have another example of the kind of cover-up this government and that corporation are carrying out. The final cost was $13 million higher than the anticipated cuts. Therefore, the network benefited from the closing of our regional TV stations and it hurts even more. We are still reeling from it.

I would like to mention something that was promptly dismissed by the president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, namely the funding discrepancies between Radio-Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

On April 5 last, the Coalition pour la défense des services Français de Radio-Canada, which, I will remind the House, is made up of technicians, journalists, musicians, researchers, and in-house artists, published a report showing that the funding discrepancy between the two networks now totals $76.4 million. SRC gets $69 million, whereas CBC receives $146.1 million.

One hour of TV programming costs on average $37,400 on CBC, and $18,390 on SRC. Producing the news on the French network costs on average $7,000 an hour, whereas the same thing on the English network costs $18,000. And yet, news are news, no matter the language.

Comparing average drama production costs is just as shocking: $68,000 on the French network against $99,000 on its English counterpart. In spite of such disproportionate funding, which can only be due to cultural racism, CBC and the Société Radio-Canada have comparable audiences. With a BBM audience rating of 13.6 per cent, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reaches approximately 2.8 million viewers whereas the Société Radio-Canada, with a rating of 33 per cent, reaches an audience of 2.2 million. Therefore, such funding discrepancies between the two networks cannot be justified.

Recently, the CBC bought the broadcasting rights for the Olympic Games in Atlanta for $28 million. Its competitors were offering $10 million. The corporation believes that it can sell $35 million worth of advertising, which experts in this area tend to doubt. Does the corporation intend to use its new line of credit to make up for any revenue shortfall? It is a question every citizen is wondering about.

In view of such financial mismanagement, the Bloc Quebecois, on behalf of Canadian and Quebec taxpayers, wants the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to be accountable to Parliament for the use of its line of credit. That is the reason why we proposed an amendment which would make it compulsory for the corporation to explain to Parliament the purposes for which it plans to borrow money and its plans to repay the borrowed money. What sense is there in giving the corporation borrowing authority if it is unable to manage its affairs?

[Budget Implementation Act, May 26th, 1994]

moved:

Motion No. 21

That Bill C-17, in Clause 20, be amended by replacing line 37, on page 9, with the following:

"year, including indication of the purposes for which the Corporation plans to borrow money and its plans for repayment of the borrowed money."

[Amateur Sport, May 24th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, will the minister commit to fully maintaining the level of assistance provided to athletes and will he agree to focus his cost-cutting efforts instead on the real waste within his department, particularly the waste associated with the Canadian Museum of Nature?

[Amateur Sport, May 24th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the minister of heritage has just received the report of a committee which looked into the funding of amateur sport in Canada. In particular, the report recommends that the grants awarded to several federations representing sports such as the biathalon and freestyle skiing be cut. These are sports in which Quebec athletes excelled and won gold medals at the Lillehammer Games.

Can the minister of heritage tell us if he intends to follow up on the Best report?

[Pearson International Airport Agreements Act, May 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to participate again in this debate on Bill C-22.

First of all, I would like to tell you how surprised I am to see a government that, just weeks ago, contended it was bound by a secret verbal agreement-more bounded than that, you choke-now be able to get out of a written, signed agreement.

I notice also that the government refused categorically to provide us with any information whatsoever, not one single document, on the verbal agreement regarding Ginn Publishing. In the case of the signed agreement between Her Majesty and T1 T2 Limited Partnership however, it produced a schedule attached to the bill listing 24 agreements and leases, as well as 7 other agreements and 19 other documents, for a total of 46 different documents. But again this was an agreement the Prime Minister had signed herself with her Minister of Transport.

How the government can so easily break that many agreements and leases while the Minister of National Heritage is incapable of getting out of a verbal agreement remains a great mystery to me, a mystery I hope we will be able to clear up someday.

That being said, I would like to address two questions: first, did the government negotiate a secret, possibly verbal, agreement with regards to compensation that could be paid under clause 10? Second, does the government intend to favour unduly, as it has in the past, Pearson Airport at the expense of other airports in the Toronto region and elsewhere in Canada?

Let us start by looking at a possible secret deal. This bill makes use of the well-known Liberal technique of concealment. For example, clause 9 reads, and I quote:

No one is entitled to any compensation-

That sounds clear and simple. Finally, we think, the government is taking a firm stand.

Wrong. Again, the government is concealing its real intentions, because paragraph 10(1) of the bill states, and I quote:

If the Minister considers it appropriate to do so the Minister may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, enter into agreements on behalf of Her Majesty to provide for the payment of such amounts as the Minister considers appropriate in connection with the coming into force of the Act, subject to the terms and conditions that the Minister considers appropriate.

In other words, for my hon. opponents who have not yet understood, the government is giving itself the authority, without telling anyone, as is its way, to pay its friends what it wants, without reporting the amount.

Because remember, several friends of the Conservatives and also of the Liberals, of course, are in the T1 T2 Limited Partnership. For the information of some Liberal members who always made it a duty under the former government to point out the shadow of a doubt about conflicts of interest, I remind them that several of their fund-raisers and affiliates took part in the limited partnership in question, which will benefit from clause 10(1) of the bill which we are discussing.

Since the lunch hour is often a time for game shows on television, I suggest we play a game of Jeopardy.

Here are the clues for the first question: He owns Claridge Properties Inc., which controls T1 T2 Limited Partnership; he is also a great Liberal and contributor to the party's election fund. You are right, the question is: Who is Charles Bronfman?

Second question: He is a lobbyist for Claridge Properties and a former organizer for Jean Chrétien. Once again, you are right: Who is Herb Metcalfe?

Third question: He is a Liberal senator and held a $1,000-a-plate benefit supper during the election campaign; coincidentally, he is on the board of Claridge Properties, the majority shareholder of T1 T2 Limited Partnership. You are right: Who is Leo Kolber?

And I could go on.

Again I ask: Is there a written or verbal agreement guaranteeing payments to shareholders of T1 T2 Limited Partnership that this bill would implement?

I want to pay particular attention to the written or verbal agreement as one of the people involved in the Pearson Airport case is Fred Doucet, the lobbyist who managed to convince the Liberal minister of heritage to sell part of the Canadian heritage to foreign interests by invoking a verbal agreement.

The Minister of Transport must table all the documents kept secret on this bill, and especially its virtual or potential agreements to prevent the government from wasting public funds, as it seems to be doing, to thank its friends and compensate them for an election promise that cost them a juicy contract. It must be as transparent as it claims to be and set up a royal commission of inquiry to shed light on the case and its history.

Otherwise, Quebecers and Canadians will know that under their Liberal government, a beer drinker can have his benefits cut without qualms while a distillery owner gets breaks such as Clause 10 of this bill.

Bill C-22 does not say anything about the government's intentions regarding Pearson airport. We already know that the government intended to favour this airport at the expense of other Metro Toronto airports by prohibiting Transport Canada from making, at any airport located within a 75-kilometre radius of Pearson airport, investments likely to decrease traffic at Pearson. In Montreal, Transport Canada forced the Montreal airport society to keep Mirabel and Dorval airports open as a requirement for privatizing airport operations. Unfortunately for Montreal, while Jean Chrétien and his then colleagues were plunging the country into an astronomical deficit-the last of which, in 1984, has never been matched in constant dollars-, they did not choose the same path as that taken for Toronto, that is expanding the existing airport instead of creating two lame ducks to Toronto's great delight.

I will quote Jean Lapointe, the spokesman for the Reaction group that includes airline and aircraft industry employees as well as the Canadian Manufacturers' Association. Mr. Lapointe made the following comment regarding the decision of the Montreal Airports Advisory Board to keep both airports in operation: "It is clear that Ottawa has opted in favour of Toronto. Can Quebec have a competitive airport system? The answer is no. Quebec will only manage to do that through sovereignty, because its hands will no longer be tied by the decisions made in Ottawa". So, what is that decision made by Ottawa all about?

Claude Picher, who is a journalist with La Presse , tells us that entrusting the management of Dorval and Mirabel airports to a non-profit corporation was conditional upon maintaining two major airports for the greater Montreal area. This is a case of double standard.

There is also the issue of investments. Does this government intend to invest massive amounts of money in Pearson Airport, to the detriment of other airports which must be self-financing? Let us not forget that the cancelled contract provided for investments of some $700 million for terminals 1 and 2 at Pearson Airport. We still do not know if the government will make these investments before entrusting the management of the airport to who-knows-whom. By contrast, the Montreal Airports Advisory Board, which does not have the financial means of the government, will invest some $150 million, or $30

million annually over a five-year period, to modernize and improve the infrastructures and facilities at Dorval and Mirabel.

The previous and current governments chose Toronto, and Montreal is still paying the price. According to the daily Le Soleil , in 1990, 20.5 million passengers were processed at Pearson Airport, compared to 8.9 million for Dorval and Mirabel combined. In the same editorial, Michel Audet points out that, in 1952, Montreal had 20 per cent more head offices and financial institutions than Toronto. But by 1988, it had 60 per cent fewer. Mr. Audet also mentions the fact that between 1975, which is the year Mirabel opened, and 1980, the number of passengers increased by only 13 per cent in Montreal, compared to 37 per cent in Toronto. This pattern has persisted and is even more pronounced now. This bias also led to significant job loss in the greater Montreal area. For example, an official of the Public Service Alliance mentioned that he now represents only 900 employees in the Montreal area where he used to speak for 1,200 workers in 1978.

I leave you with the conclusion Claude Picher came to while reviewing the study conducted by Aéroports de Montréal, a study which concluded that the greater Montreal should keep both its airports. Mr. Picher said, and I quote: "Hundreds of millions of dollars have been thrown in this venture which did nothing to improve the competitiveness of Montreal. Quite the opposite in fact, since the Mirabel fiasco is partly responsible for redirecting traffic to Toronto."

Since airports in Dorval, Mirabel, Edmonton and Vancouver were handed to non-profit corporations, why should we have something different for Toronto? Is it that what is good for the rest of the country is not good enough for Toronto? The government does not seem to want to answer to the requests made by the greater Toronto area, why is that so? Why does the government not entrust the management of Terminals 1 and 2 to a non-profit organisation immediately?

[Canadian Museum Of Nature, May 5th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, does the minister realize that this museum has a unique responsibility in Canada to perform basic, theoretical and applied research, and that any delay, given the time it will take the Auditor General to conduct an audit and elected representatives to hold a public inquiry, seriously jeopardizes the mission of the museum and its reputation in the scientific community?

[Canadian Museum Of Nature, May 5th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

There has been more troubling revelations regarding the Canadian Museum of Nature. This morning, at a press conference, representatives of the science community asked that the questionable lay-off of several scientists be investigated in view of the fact that it has far-reaching consequences. It gives a bad name to the museum and jeopardizes its research activities as a whole.

Given these new facts, is the Minister of Canadian Heritage willing to reconsider and, without delay, ask for a public inquiry with a view to hearing the testimony of all the people involved in this matter?

[Petitions, May 4th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to submit a petition on behalf of citizens of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! who want cuts in postal services to stop. These petitioners ask that postal services be restored to past levels.