House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 1997, with 56% of the vote.
Unemployment Insurance February 15th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, in the absence of the Minister of Finance with whom I have had many interesting and co-operative discussions on this matter, if the hon. member could curb his patience the Minister of Finance will present one of the most important and significant long term documents this House has seen in a long time next Tuesday.
Social Assistance February 15th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, coming from a member who voted against the Charlottetown agreement it is no wonder she uses that as the model. We intend to do things very differently.
We intend to work in a co-operative way with all Canadians both through the federal and provincial governments. I say to the hon. member that this is not a matter of fighting over turf. This is not a matter of battling over jurisdiction. This is really a matter of how we can co-operate to get the best use of very scarce resources for the benefit of all Canadians.
That is our objective. I am glad to say it was one that was shared by all the provincial ministers at that meeting.
Social Assistance February 15th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, what I can confirm is that yesterday we had a very co-operative, collaborative discussion with all the ministers from the provinces. We agreed to undertake a major review and re-examination of a number of programs that affect Canadians. That was a clear demonstration of how federalism works well when you make it work well and when you want to make it work well.
We look forward to working together at both levels of government to ensure that Canada's social programs effectively meet the needs of all Canadians.
Job Training February 15th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to report to the House that yesterday we had a meeting of all the provincial ministers of employment, labour market training and social services, as well as those from the territories. We discussed a number of issues.
One of the things we agreed on was that we take immediate steps to end duplication of services, to look at where there are cost overruns, where we can begin to rationalize programs like training in order to save money and get better delivery of services.
The hon. member should be very happy we have now been able to achieve full scale co-operation of all the provinces, territories and the federal government toward the objective of achieving better training and employment for all Canadians.
Job Training February 15th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure where the hon. member has been but a week or so ago the House had three days of debate on the whole issue of employment, training and social security.
I would suggest he start reading his news clippings and Hansard so he can be up to date on what Parliament is doing before he asks a question.
Member For St. John's West February 11th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, as I already said, the money will be paid back. An acceptable arrangement will be made by the department and the companies concerned. There is no problem.
We have said clearly that an arrangement has been made for the moneys to be repaid on a regular basis according to the procedures that have been set out and which apply to hundreds of companies every year. There is nothing different or unusual in this case than what happens across the board throughout this country day after day.
Member For St. John's West February 11th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, the case in point was a commercial transaction between two companies that had contracted for training programs from the Department of Human Resources Development. Because of changes in the nature of the operation of the companies, the department felt there was an overpayment of some of the funds.
There were no irregularities. The hon. member is misusing the word. He should be careful with the language he uses. The fact is the repayment schedule has been arranged under the normal procedures of the department. It is a routine procedure that happens all the time.
Many companies throughout Canada are faced with that. As far as the government is concerned the matter has been handled in an honourable way.
Employment February 11th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I am quite prepared to make commitments to bring down the unemployment rate if members opposite from the Reform Party will also make the commitment to help us in creating a useful social program and a useful unemployment insurance program that will invest in people.
I suggest that rather than always talking about the deficit on the economic side, they might start talking about the human deficit which is just as important.
Employment February 11th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased the hon. member is able to get such inspired questions from Canadians. It certainly has elevated the level of questions we have been receiving.
I want to say to the hon. member and through him and you, Mr. Speaker, to the questioner that the Minister of Finance and I share the goals to bring down the deficit and to bring down unemployment. We all know that one is related to the other. We need to have fiscal stability to have good economic growth. However, we also must have good investment in people in order to have fiscal stability.
The government has embarked on a major effort to find ways in which it can reorganize programs like unemployment insurance, the Canada assistance plan and student aid so it can really invest in people. The best way of bringing down our deficit and the unemployment rate is to put more Canadians to work.
West Coast Ports Operations Act, 1994 February 8th, 1994
moved that the bill be read the third time and passed.