Jean Dubé

[Canada Lands Surveyors Act, May 6th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, let me begin my comments by giving some background on Canada Lands Surveyors. Canada Lands Surveyors performs surveys required for the legal transfer and registration of rights to real estate properties in Yukon, Northwest Territories, Canada's offshore, Indian reserves and Canada's national parks.

Currently provincially regulated lands surveyors perform these functions in each province except for Canada's offshore, Indian reserves and national parks. The Canada Lands Surveyors at present operates under the authority of the Surveyor General of Canada which is part of Natural Resources Canada.

This bill will change this relationship, transferring responsibilities for the regulation to the Association of Canada Lands Surveyors.

This bill would authorize the Association of Canada Lands Surveyors to be a self-regulating association with responsibilities for all aspects of commissioning Canada lands surveyors.

The bill would authorize the association to establish the standards of qualification, knowledge, skill, conduct and practice of Canada lands surveyors.

Furthermore, this bill would authorize the Association of Canada Lands Surveyors to grant commissions to persons who have acquired the appropriate educational qualifications and work experience.

This bill will also give the Association of Canada Lands Surveyors the power to hear complaints and institute a discipline process concerning the conduct of Canada lands surveyors. Some of these discipline powers would include the removal of licences, as well as memberships and commissions of Canada lands surveyors who have been found guilty of professional misconduct or incompetence.

The bill also requires Canada lands surveyors to maintain a membership in the association and a licence to practise in order to be able to perform surveys on Canadian lands.

As well, this bill gives the Association of Canada Lands Surveyors the power to make regulations concerning professional examinations and professional standards for Canada lands surveyors.

This bill also provides for the appointment of a board of the association. The board would be comprised of five members. The current board of examiners under the old act would become redundant.

The Minister of Natural Resources would make appointments to this board. Remuneration for board members would be set by guidelines fixed by Treasury Board. Members that would be required to travel to meetings of the board would have their living and travel expenses covered.

The Surveyor General of Canada will continue to manage surveys under this legislation, as well as establishing standards for those surveys.

Also remaining under the authority of the surveyor general is the management and maintenance of the survey system and survey frameworks for Canada lands.

The Surveyor General of Canada will also retain control of the boundaries of Canada lands. The custody and record of the surveys will also continue under the auspices of the surveyor general.

The Progressive Conservative Party views this bill as a housekeeping matter. The possible exception is that the Minister of Natural Resources would make appointments to the five member board of the association. With that in mind, we support in principle the thrust of this bill.

[Hepatitis C, May 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk about those experts.

The fact remains that it takes no less than six months, and sometimes up to two years, before a disability pension is approved. Time is a luxury that many victims simply do not have.

If victims cannot rely on the disability program, what can they rely on in order to survive?

[Hepatitis C, May 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health and his parliamentary secretary both indicated to the House that our social safety net is able to meet the urgent needs of hepatitis C victims.

This sort of promise worries me, since we know that there is already a backlog of 4,000 CPP disability files.

Given the current delays, how can the minister assure us that victims' immediate needs will be met?

[Judicial System In Restigouche Region, March 27th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, at times I understand how people can become frustrated with politicians. Take for instance a matter I have raised in this House: the backlog of legal cases in the Restigouche region.

In this region, delays in court proceedings are so long that an extra judge should be appointed to turn the situation around. What are the Liberal politicians doing about it? They are passing the buck from one level of government to the other.

On February 18, the Minister of Justice of New Brunswick made the following comment “As you know, appointments to the Court of Queen's Bench are the responsibility of the federal government.”

In Ottawa, on March 19, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Justice made the following comment: “the matter is a provincial responsibility.”

While the two levels of government are busy washing their hands of the matter, delays at the Campbellton Court keep getting longer. The people of the Restigouche region are being denied their fundamental right to justice.

I urge the Minister of Justice to show leadership on this issue.

[Youth Employment, March 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, a study done by the CIBC bank states that more than 200,000 youth out of school have dropped out of the labour market. When combined with those who are registered, the figure jumps to 450,000 unemployed youth in this country.

What is the Minister of Human Resources Development prepared to do to prevent our youth from being caught in the cycle of no experience, no job?

[Canada Labour Relations Board, March 24th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, under section 10 of the Canada Labour Code a person is not eligible to hold office as a member of the Canada Labour Relations Board if they hold any other employment. Yet the Minister of Labour has recently appointed Mr. Paul Lordon as chair of the CLRB, even though he is still chairperson of the RCMP pay council.

Can the minister explain why this was allowed?

[Budget Implementation Act, 1998, March 24th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I agree with him entirely.

As he knows, at my first committee meeting, I moved that we study the impact of the employment insurance reform, because I come from a region that is hard hit by unemployment.

I am disappointed by the committee's decision this morning, because this matter warrants study urgently, in fact more than study, because the employment insurance reforms have already been studied. The study did not reveal much. What needs to be done is for us to visit the regions, like those of my colleague and myself, to see what the employment insurance reforms have meant for the people. That would be much better for everyone. order

[Budget Implementation Act, 1998, March 24th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I agree that we have to attack the debt. We have said this all along. We need to have a balance. We need to balance debt reduction with our social responsibilities. If we can do that, we will find a way to please all Canadians, including those in central Canada and all the people in need. There is a balance to be found and we should look for it.

[Budget Implementation Act, 1998, March 24th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank you again for giving me another opportunity to get up and speak on this.

I would like to ask a question of the hon. member. What planet is he on? We all know that we are the highest taxed country in the G-7.

He also mentioned that I should visit his riding. I would like to bring to his attention my riding, the people I represent. He mentioned 19.5% or something like that. I will give him the number from my riding. How does 50% unemployment sound? It does not sound very good. I hear comments of bravo from the other side, but I would not say that to the people of New Brunswick, the people of Madawaska—Restigouche who are suffering today because of the cuts in transfer payments that the government has made.

The cuts to the EI, the reform of the Employment Insurance Act have put these people against the wall. I invite him to come to my riding and see these people, maybe consult with them. I invite the government to come to my riding and consult with these people and maybe find solutions to this chronic problem. It is not more EI. It is to find solutions.

My Reform colleagues next to me would do away with EI and do away with Atlantic Canada. That is what they would do. It would start in Ontario. We know what they think.

We have a responsibility to all Canadians. We have to study what has been going on in different parts of the country. It is not just to throw money at the regions with the highest levels of unemployment. It is to find solutions.

I invite the hon. member to my riding as well.

[Budget Implementation Act, 1998, March 24th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for giving me a chance to get back up to speak on this point.

One good thing about the budget is that it is balanced. Why is the budget balanced? Is it because of Liberal government procedures? I do not think so and people know that is not what it is all about.

It is about measures, sacrifices made by Canadians. We are talking about free trade, which they voted against. We are talking about GST, which was unpopular. They also voted against that. We are talking about surtaxes, where the money comes from.

I cannot say that the government has not done anything. I will be honest. I could not say that. I would be lying and I do not like to lie. I am not a liar. The government has done something. It has cut transfer payments to provinces which affect social programs, education and health care.

Nobody knows more than Canadians the effect of these slashes. People are looking for beds in hospitals throughout Canada and cannot find them. Students are trying to obtain post-secondary education to compete in the global market and are unable to finance it. This is what the government has done.

Social programs in regions in great need of social programs have been slashed. People are starving. People are suffering. To say that you have done nothing, I could not do that. There is a lot that we can do. I hope that we have the ability and the political will to do so.