Roger Simmons

[Special Olympics World Winter Games, February 10th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, they are all winners, the more than 2,000 athletes from 76 countries who took part in the Special Olympics World Winter Games last week.

Three cheers for Team Canada and especially for those athletes who represented the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. All three Newfoundlanders went home with medals from this major multi-sport event.

For nordic skier Janet Hanham of Fortune, a gold and a bronze medal; for snowshoer Louise Wall of Codroy Valley, a silver medal; for Gordon Reddy of St. John's, two bronze medals in nordic skiing. This is another fantastic accomplishment for our athletes, for our province and for the country.

Congratulations to all, the Olympians, their coaches, their families and all the volunteers who made dreams come true last week.

[Committees Of The House, December 12th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), to present in both official languages the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Health.

This is as a result of a decision that was made in the committee earlier today, recommending that the Minister of Health consider some transitional provisions relating to the sponsorship clauses of Bill C-71.

[Finance, December 11th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, you have to hand it to me, I know how it feels to the Reform crowd.

Deficit reduction is not by itself an end in itself. It is just a very important, pivotal, crucial way to an end, but we should never lose sight of what the end is because the end is all about people. It is all about those 670,000 who got jobs in the last three years but it is also about those people, 10 per cent in some provinces, 25 per cent or so in parts of my province, those large numbers of people who are kind of camouflaged by near percentages, those people who are hurting every day because they do not have jobs.

For them we must see to it that not only is the deficit reduced but that the interest rates are low, that they have more access to capital if they are in small business. If they cannot start a business because they do not have the first bit of capital we have to find a way to get them to a job so that they have an income. An $800 mortgage cannot be paid if there is no job in the first place to put food on the table.

For those who suggest that somehow with a wave of a magic wand suddenly all is right with the world, it does not work that way, even a couple of weeks before Christmas.

I am sharing my time with my friend for Annapolis Valley-Hants. Before I sit down let me say I believe the committee, through its recommendations on children and poverty, people with disabilities, the old question of productivity, a better deal for the volunteer and charitable sectors, has done a marvellous job.

[Finance, December 11th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I was viciously attacking all the people who go around suggesting that the Reform Party has not brought new politics to this place. I said that the people who suggested that are spreading malicious lies. We all know it is the non-shouting party. We all know it is the party that never maligns anybody.

I want to talk about this marvellous report of the Standing Committee on Finance.

I say to the hon. member for Medicine Hat that it is not the government, it is a committee of which he is a member. Not one single person on that committee, including my good friend from Willowdale, the chairperson, is a member of the administration. They are all MPs from various parties.

That committee went to St. John's. When in St. John's it heard concerns from seniors and from small business. It heard concerns about youth and about job creation. It heard concerns about deficit reduction targets, social programs and the fishery. The hon. member for Medicine Hat, the hon. member for Willowdale and the other members of that committee from all parties heard those concerns. Then the committee responded to those concerns.

On the issue of seniors, the report points out that as of the 1996 budget, thanks to the Minister of Finance, those 60 and over, along with their spouses whatever their age, are guaranteed no less than current pension payments.

On small business, the total lending ceiling under the Small Business Loans Act has been raised to $12 billion.

For youth, over the next three years the government is going to put out $1.2 billion including an additional $350 million announced in the last budget a few months ago.

On job creation, over 600,000 jobs have been created.

On deficit reduction targets, we are meeting them and we are beating them. That is performance. Let us stop right there.

Mr. Speaker, you are looking at a person who never particularly got his jollies out of deficit reduction. I had to tell you that. I have never seen deficit reduction as an end in itself. I never go to bed and say "thank the dear Lord I have reduced the deficit some more today". It is never in my prayers at night because it is not an end in itself. If it were an end in itself we should shut the government down and all go home.

[Finance, December 11th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot take this, all this business of attacking that party for shouting. Talk about spreading malicious lies about people. I want to come to their defence.

[Finance, December 11th, 1996]

What will not put food on the table is all that shouting. That will not put any food on the table.

Let me say it for them one more time slowly. All the shouting, all the screaming, all the maligning, all the character assassination, all the talking out of both sides of their mouths; none of the above would create one job in this country and none would put food on the table. Low interest rates will do it. They are doing it for people all across the country, particularly the 670,000 who have jobs because of the mandate of this government.

Of course the hon. member for Medicine Hat is right. We have not employed everybody but there are 670,000 more jobs now than there would have been.

[Finance, December 11th, 1996]

Like I said, Mr. Speaker, no shouting. We have just heard from the no shouting party again.

The extra 200 bucks could put some food on the table. Or maybe if a car payment is $250 instead of $275 or $300, thanks to low interest rates, the lowest interest rates in this country in over 40 years, maybe that would put some food on the table.

[Finance, December 11th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I have my Christmas tie on because I am in a very Christmas mood. My friend from Medicine Hat has just had some things to say and I will be responding to some of those.

Given the tone of his speech and watching the House during the afternoon, I wanted, in the Christmas spirit, to get something on the record.

There was a party back in 1993 that was going to come here and do politics a new way, I say to my friend from Red Deer. I was excited and said: "This is marvellous". "There will be no more shouting, no more screaming and no more nastiness," that party said. This is a light at the end of the tunnel. "Rational debate. No talking out of both sides of your mouth," that party said. "No maligning people. No character assassination".

In the Christmas mood, let us give them credit where credit is due. They have not shouted. I have not heard them scream once. Mr. Speaker, have you heard them malign anybody? Even this afternoon in the last speech, have you heard them malign anybody? Have you, Mr. Speaker, heard any character assassination? Have you heard them speaking out of both sides of their mouth on the issue? Let us have the Christmas spirit. Let us give credit where credit is due. If anybody has brought a new kind of politics, it is the people who said they would bring a new kind of politics.

The member for Medicine Hat made a lot of sense. He said that words do not put food on the table. He is absolutely right. My friend from Bourassa is right. Words do not put food on the table.

I will suggest something which does put food on the table, in a way. If a house mortgage is now $800 a month instead of a $1,000, I would suggest that the extra $200 could put some food on the table.

[Committees Of The House, December 11th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour and pleasure to present in both official languages the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Health. Pursuant to its order of reference dated December 5, your committee has adopted Bill C-71, an act to regulate the manufacture, sale, labelling and promotion of tobacco products, to make consequential amendments to another act and to repeal certain acts with amendments.

I thank the committee and the staff for the support we had on this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I also have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Health. In accordance with its order of reference of June 4, your committee has adopted Bill C-24, an act to amend the Tobacco Products Control Act, without amendments.

[Questions On The Order Paper, December 5th, 1996]

With respect to the management of hazardous wastes, what action has the government taken in response to the following findings of the auditor general in his May 1995 report: ( a ) there is ``no national plan or federal fund-for cleaning up--

contaminated sites that pose risks to human health and the environment", ( b ) the department has not proposed amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (1988) or developed regulations under the act that could help ensure adequate control of environmental risks associated with federal facilities and lands, including the clean-up of federal contaminated sites'', ( <em>c</em> )comprehensive and consistent information on the number and characteristics of contaminated sites in Canada is not available'', ( d ) the department has not provided Parliament with adequate information-'', and ( <em>e</em> )the government's ability to ensure safe and cost-effective storage and timely destruction of federal PCB wastes-could (be) seriously impede(d)'', given that the ``federal PCB destruction program-ended on 31 March 1995''?