Patrick Gagnon

[Aboriginal Awareness Week, May 19th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, May 22 to May 26 is Aboriginal Awareness Week. The goal of this week is to heighten public awareness of the aboriginal culture and to honour its contribution to Canadian society.

In keeping with the spirit of this event I am pleased to inform the House that last April marked the 3rd anniversary of the implementation of the federal government's first nation policing policy. The policy provides a practical way to improve the level and quality of policing services for first nation communities through the establishment of policing agreements.

As of May 1, Canada and the provinces had reached and signed 41 tripartite agreements with First Nations communities.

These agreements represent concrete progress and partnership at work among First Nations, the government and our provincial counterparts. I am sure all Canadians will join me in celebrating aboriginal awareness week and congratulating the Solicitor General of Canada for the ongoing success of the First Nations policing policy.

I would invite all hon. members to acknowledge the contributions of aboriginal people, which are all too often ignored by the official opposition.

[Supply, May 18th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member says I described $333 million as peanuts, what about the $2.5 billion we send to Quebec every year?

[Supply, May 18th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the hon. member for Rimouski-Témiscouata while she kept hacking at federalism and the Canadian government. I would like to hear her criticize in the same way the threats made by the government of Quebec and its Minister of Education, Mr. Garon, to the university located in Rimouski, in her own riding.

Some people dare to accuse the Liberal members and to accuse me, the member for Bonaventure-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, an elected representative from grassroots Quebec, of not standing up for Quebec and my own area, and I find that totally unacceptable.

In my riding and in the vast majority of rural ridings in Quebec, people are mostly concerned about the economy. They are concerned about jobs. We are thinking about our future, but we know very well that the federal government, the Canadian government, is a worthy partner for us. I think the federal government has shown in the last few weeks or the last few months, in fact in the 18 months since it has been in office, that we want to get Canadians and Quebecers back to work. We set up an infrastructure program. In fact, the current government of Quebec is glad to use it. It is glad to show that it can get some of the workers in smaller localities in grassroots Quebec back to work.

By the way, on the native issue, I have not heard the hon. member say a word about their living conditions in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. They did not tell us about how dismayed the whole world was when these unfortunate events happened in Quebec and what it did to the reputation of Quebec and Canada. True, I was not in Canada at the time, I was in Japan and, for a while, in France. But, believe me, all my friends, my associates and my acquaintances kept telling me about this problem with natives in Canada. And it saddened me to know that the government could not find a peaceful solution to the problem. But the Quebec government did call on the federal government for help. The premier of Quebec has the right to call on the Canadian army in a very difficult situation.

That is what happened. It is Quebec that asked for the army's involvement, not the Canadian government. The federal government spent $133 million to send in the army and the RCMP.

The Canadian government spends millions of dollars every year to maintain the peace elsewhere in the world and to ensure that other countries will follow Canada's example. But I do not want to digress. About the natives, it is the federal government which takes on the responsibility of creating a healthy economy at the local level for these people. We build houses and even cabins for them. We do everything to help them.

All we are asking of the government of Quebec is that it stop playing politics to the detriment of the most disadvantaged people. Everybody here knows that natives are not the most spoiled people in our country. Nevertheless, we hear the opposition and even some government members say that natives are treated differently. The claim that they are better treated than most Canadians is false. Suicide, alcoholism and all the social ills imaginable are more prevalent in aboriginal communities.

I grew up one kilometre away from an Indian reserve. And believe me when I say that I saw with my very eyes how these poor people were treated. People were reluctant to give them jobs, to let them play on their hockey teams or to welcome them in our French Catholic schools. Unfortunately, I think we all should examine our consciences.

Today's debate was an example of negotiations to come between a sovereign Quebec and Canada. We got stuck on tiny details: who owed who $333 million, $79 million, $125 million and for what, and how Quebec has been taken for a ride for the past 125 years. How will we ever manage to negotiate? Now I ask the people watching us on television, do you think that we will ever be able to orchestrate a separation if, today, all they could do was condemn the federal government for wrong-doing? And they want to divvy up the debt, and share our currency and passport? They just want to coast on Canada's prestige.

The opposition should be told to go back to the drawing board. This new approach they are proposing to Quebecers is utterly unacceptable. They should just ask the question once and for all: "Do you want to stay in Canada, yes or no?"

[Supply, May 18th, 1995]

Not everywhere.

[Supply, May 18th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know where to start following the remarks made by the hon. member opposite.

It is really a shame that, once again, qualifications are made as to who is a Canadian and who is not, who can live in Quebec and who cannot.

It takes some gall to say that we are concerned only with those who settled here some 350, 400 years ago. I find it despicable that the hon. member of the opposition could claim that newcomers to Canada, and Quebec in particular, did not do well or contribute to the economic development of my province.

We must recognize one thing, Mr. Speaker, and that is that ours is a country built on immigration. And the first to settle this land were, to use the terms of the opposition motion, the aboriginals. They are the real, original settlers. Next in line are the French Canadians, Canadians of French descent, the Bretons, the Scots, the Irish, the British and the Loyalists. Then people from other countries came to Canada and Quebec, and put their talents to good use in our country.

In fact, if the hon. member of the opposition cared to check in his own ranks, he would realize that there are members who are not old stock Quebecers in his own party. There are newcomers, new Quebecers, not only within the Bloc Quebecois but also within the Quebec government. Are they not real Quebecers? I would like him to tell me.

All we are asking the hon. member of the opposition to do is to apologize formally in this House and withdraw his remarks. I think that the honourable man he is will recognize that the hon. member for Saint-Leonard and other newcomers, so to speak, people who left their country of origin to settle in Canada, have made an outstanding contribution to this country.

I personally have a great deal of respect for every newcomer who was admitted to Canada, who has elected to make Canada his or her home, to contribute to its development. One even had the qualifications and the courage to go before his peers and get elected, becoming a full-fledged member of the House of Commons. This gentleman was even appointed to cabinet. That is why I am proud to be a Canadian: I can see that, among us, there are people from various ethnic backgrounds, who are the pride and glory of this country.

So, I ask that the hon. member of the opposition withdraw his remarks on newcomers to Canada, nothing less.

[Supply, May 18th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, as you know, it was very hard for Quebecers and for all Canadians to see this aggressive confrontation with the aboriginal First Nations, watched by millions of people throughout the world. I found it very troubling.

And I think that this opinion, these feelings, are shared by thousands, even millions of Quebecers. It was very uncomfortable to realize that we did not get along with the first settlers of this country.

That is now history. According to the opposition, it is time to pay the bills. According to the Disaster Financial Assistance Program, the DFAP, the government has paid nearly $210 million in assistance since 1970, so that the bill we were sent by Quebec would represent nearly 40 per cent of the program's budget for the past 25 years.

I agree the bill is pretty steep. It takes time, as the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs explained, but the federal government always pays its share. We are ready to negotiate. We are ready to review. However, I do not think the opposition should politicize the issue like this, because we are dealing with Canada's First Nations, who arrived in this country long before we did. And I think we owe them something. That is why I ask the opposition to accept that 40 per cent of the federal program will be paid to the Province of Quebec.

[Supply, May 18th, 1995]

I certainly hope so.

[Supply, May 18th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, I would like to point out that they only captured 48 per cent of the popular vote, and that the Parti Quebecois only captured 44 per cent of the vote in the provincial election. If they had the honour, audacity and intellectual integrity to say to us tomorrow morning: "We are going to hold a referendum and the question will be: Do you want to separate from Canada, yes or no?", I assure you that they would be lucky if 30 to 35 per cent of Quebecers were to vote in favour.

Therefore, I ask the members of the opposition why they decided to go this route, if Canada really is the deadbeat they make it out to be. Why would they still want to remain associated with Canada if, according to them, the Canadian federation is not worth the trouble?

[Supply, May 18th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, in such a delicate matter that concerns not only our native people but also Quebec's honour, we must not forget that, in 1990, the media in Europe, Asia and all over the world criticized us for the way this dispute with our native friends had been handled. It was not something that Quebec could be proud of.

When I hear opposition members say that we, government members, are not protecting Quebec's interests, I would like them to tell me why they have decided to change their position with regard to the referendum. Now they want to have an association with the Canadian government even though they claim that it does not honour its fiscal commitments. Everybody knows that it is not true.

I would be curious to know the opinion of small municipalities which have received funding for infrastructure projects thanks to their support, to the co-operation of the province and to the federal government's determination to put Canadians and Quebecers back to work.

The members opposite say that the Canadian government has not responded to the Quebec government's demands, but it is absolutely false. It is the government of Quebec which called on the Canadian Armed Forces, and it is the federal government which spent $122 million. We must not forget that. You know, Madam Speaker, this bill will not be paid by the government of Quebec. It is through federalism, as it now stands, that we can share our resources. That is what gives our country its strength. The province of Quebec has a lot to gain by being part of our great Canadian family.

Of course, the fact that the federal government has paid $450 million for the education of natives in northern Quebec has already been mentioned. I could talk some more about all the programs which have benefited Quebec, but it is absolutely wrong to say that the members opposite are speaking for Quebec. I am a Quebecer, a Gaspesian and proud of it, and if an opposition party which does not even represent the majority in Quebec in terms of the popular vote thinks it can tell me-

[Supply, May 18th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, if we are going to talk about amounts, it should not be forgotten that the federal government paid out close to $450 million for Northern Quebec natives.

However, I would have another question. The point has been raised of Quebec's historic dispute with the federal government over the last ten years. We were not in power during this period, but I know that a certain Leader of the Opposition, here today, was a member of that government.

Yesterday, in fact, we learned, because we asked the question, that he was never aware, at the time, of the claims that were made by the province of Quebec. It is regrettable that the least fortunate members of society are being used to generate propaganda, to engage in grandstanding, as well as to promote sovereignty and independence at whatever cost.

I would like to ask the Leader of the Opposition where he has been for the last ten years and why he did not, when he was a member of the government in power, do something about the Quebec government's claim?