Suzanne Tremblay

[Broadcasting, October 11th, 1996]

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

Last March, the Minister of Canadian Heritage asked the CRTC to review the licences of Power Music Choice and DMX, because these audio programming businesses were not complying with the Canadian and French language content rules in broadcasting. Last

August, the CRTC maintained its decision and renewed Power's and DMX's licences even though these businesses had not changed their programming one bit.

Does the minister recognize that the conditions that prompted her to return DMX's licence to the CRTC still prevail and that DMX still has a major problem in terms of the Canadian and French language content requirements?

[Access To Information, October 8th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the access to information request concerning the former defence minister goes back to August.

How does the Prime Minister explain that he stood up for his former minister throughout this period, when he was fully aware that his minister might have violated the code of ethics for cabinet members?

[Access To Information, October 8th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.

According to today's issue of the Globe and Mail , the government has devised a parallel system enabling the Prime Minister's Office to organize as it pleases the management of information requested under the Access to Information Act.

Will the Prime Minister confirm the existence of such a system?

[Point Of Order, October 4th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask you to take this point of order under advisement, for his first reply just added insult to injury. If stating that the minister is a francophone and an elected member for Quebec is false, than I wish he would reveal his true identity.

[Point Of Order, October 4th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order under Beauchesne, which is very clear. The President of the Treasury Board said earlier that my colleague made false statements, which is tantamount to accusing the member for Richmond-Wolfe of lying in the House.

The member came at this honestly, referring to remarks made by the minister, which can be found on page 5059 of Hansard:

In Quebec, the proportion of anglophones and allophones is nearly 20 per cent, and consequently we have a proportionate number of bilingual public servants which reflects the needs of the province.

We are quoting the minister. So my colleague made no false allegation. Mr. Speaker, I ask the President of the Treasury Board to withdraw his remarks.

[Job Creation, October 4th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I wish some day you would make sure she understands what was said.

The Deputy Prime Minister refuses to face the facts. Not only has the labour market not returned to what it was in 1989, the real labour force participation rate is in free fall and the job-population ratio is stagnating. Even worse, Canadians are 7 per cent poorer than they were after the last recession, in 1989. If that is what you call doing well in this country, I wonder what the future will be like.

Does the minister realize that the labour market situation is a disaster and that the few jobs created by her government have failed to add to the wealth of Quebecers and Canadians? It is high time the government created stable, well-paying jobs.

[Job Creation, October 4th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I thought the Deputy Prime Minister had a poor memory, but now I wonder whether she hears what is said.

I said that the Bloc supported the infrastructures program, provided there were durable, well-paying jobs. Did you hear me, Madam?

[Job Creation, October 4th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct a tendency of the Deputy Prime Minister to misquote people. The Leader of the Opposition said that he was prepared to support an infrastructures program, provided that, unlike the first program, which created temporary jobs,

this one would provide stable and well-paying jobs. That is what the leader of the opposition said.

How can the Deputy Prime Minister say, with the Minister of Finance, that Canadians are doing very well, when according to the Conference Board, two million people are still jobless and the figures of Statistics Canada indicate the government has created only 153,000 jobs since early 1996? These figures come from Statistics Canada, not from the Bloc.

[Job Creation, October 4th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Deputy Prime Minister.

As he vaunted his government's performance on job creation, the Minister of Finance said that Canadians were doing well. However, in its latest report, the Conference Board estimates that in 1995, two million Canadians were jobless and 500,000 had left the labour force. This means, according to the Conference Board, that the real unemployment rate in 1995 was not 9.5 per cent but 12.5 per cent.

Considering the government's triumphant statement on job creation, could the Deputy Prime Minister explain why the real unemployment rate in Canada, which includes those who have given up looking for a job, is now 12.5 per cent?

[The Italian Community, October 1st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, on September 9, 1996, fourteen leaders of Quebec's Italian community representing various political stripes, including the director of Montreal's Italian women's centre, three past presidents of the National Congress of Italian Canadians, the president of the Italian-Canadian business people and professionals, and even Liberal senator Pietro Rizzuto, have signed a manifesto asking, in regard to Quebec's future, that a clear and responsible political debate take place, in keeping with democracy.

These people support the position held by Quebec and they feel that all must accept the majority decision reached democratically. We must be grateful to these leaders for stating a clear position in saying that "Quebec's Italian community will remain an integral part of Quebec, regardless of the outcome of the constitutional debate".

I ask Liberal members from Quebec to follow the example set by Quebec's Italian community and to publicly dissociate themselves from their government's legal action.