Maurice Godin

[Access To Information, February 5th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government promised to be transparent; now it is hiding even the most insignificant information.

Last week, the Bloc Quebecois tried to find out from Heritage Canada the cost of operation Take It to Heart , an initiative to highlight Canadian citizenship.

At the minister's office, we were told this information could only be obtained under the Access to Information Act. Obtaining information from Heritage Canada has never been easy, and the lengthy response times testify to that.

What does the government have to hide that it will not provide basic information that should be available through a simple telephone call?

If the government sees fit to hide this kind of information, it is no wonder that it does so for more serious and complex issues, such as Somalia, Airbus and Pearson Airport.

[Fires In The Riding Of Châteauguay, December 9th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, last Wednesday evening, I received the sad news that some residents of the riding of Châteauguay had suffered the loss of major farm buildings in deliberately set fires. Eight buildings in the Sherrington region were lost within a perimeter of six kilometres, with a resultant loss of over $1 million.

With the holiday season approaching, this is a heavy blow to the affected farmers. I wish to express my sympathy to them in these most difficult of circumstances.

Such situations demand solidarity and mutual assistance. I am sure that the people of my riding will rise to the occasion. In closing, I would like to express thanks, on behalf of my constituents, to the 200 or so firefighters who came from eight Quebec municipalities, and several others in New York State, for their efforts in fighting these fires.

[Violence Against Women, December 6th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, on this national day of remembrance and action on violence against women, it is with sadness that we remember the tragic event at École Polytechnique in Montreal in which 14 young women lost their lives.

That event has deeply marked the collective memory of Quebecers and Canadians. It compels us to think of the actions we must take to counter violence against women.

Too often, men use their physical strength to force women to accept their points of view. We must act on ingrained prejudices which perpetuate the inequality of women at home and in the community. Mentalities are changing but not fast enough. We must act in our families and in our communities to make sure that women always feel safe everywhere.

We must say no, loud and clear, to violence against women. From now on, it is zero tolerance.

[Un Secretary General, November 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The United States refused to give a second mandate to current UN secretary general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, whose term will end on December 31.

Since Washington used its veto power to go against the will of the 14 other countries forming the security council, and against the will of most members of the United Nations, what does the Canadian government intend to do to convince the United States to reconsider its decision?

[Constitution Act, 1867, November 19th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of November, I questioned the Minister of National Defence about his intentions regarding the major defence procurement project under which new submarines will be bought and the next batch of shipborne anti-submarine warfare helicopters will be equipped.

I was asking him more specifically whether he was prepared to drop once and for all the idea of spending several hundred million dollars on submarines whose usefulness has yet to be proven. Second, I asked if he could soon share with us his plans for defence equipment procurement. My third question was the following: Will the minister commit to having a debate in the House of Commons on his procurement plans so that the urgency and usefulness of such procurement can be publicly discussed, according to our priorities and financial capability?

In response to my questions, the Minister of National Defence indicated quite candidly that they were not ruling out anything in terms of defence procurement. I found that this was not a very substantive answer from a minister administering a $10.5 billion budget, especially after his predecessor and General Boyle had resigned, the problems encountered in Somalia and the issue raised about the lack of leadership in DND.

This government should show some good sense and announce that it has given up the idea of buying or leasing submarines, in whatever manner. Such an acquisition is certainly not a priority, given the cuts in social programs. It is even less necessary in the present international context. The same goes for shipborne helicopters. The government should forget about equipping them with anti-submarine and other sophisticated devices for which there is absolutely no need in the present world context.

Why a debate in the House? If we look back at last year, the government, without any justification, went ahead and bought new armoured vehicles by awarding a contract of over $2 billion to GM in London without going to tender. It also announced that it was

going to buy 15 new search and rescue helicopters at a cost of $600 million, without requiring any Canadian content whatsoever of those tendering for the contract.

Another bit of madness by this government was the purchase, for $23.6 million, of 1,600 new anti-tank missiles, which have apparently never been used except for training.

It will be recalled that during the election campaign the Bloc Quebecois suggested cutting the defence department's budget by 25 per cent, which would have represented a $3 billion reduction. At the time, this was considered ridiculous. But thanks to pressure brought to bear by the Bloc Quebecois in the House since 1993-94, when the budget was $12.032 billion, it will be $10.5 billion in 1996-97.

In my view, that was the reason-

[Jacques Lacoursière, November 8th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, on November 9, Canada's national history society will give the Pierre-Burton award to Quebec historian Jacques Lacoursière.

A talented interpretive writer, Mr. Lacoursière has several works to his credit. He is the author of the famous Canada Québec: Synthèse historique du journal Boréal Express , a real newspaper, with headlines and advertisement, published from 1963 to 1973, which related the history of Quebec and of Canada.

Mr. Lacoursière is also the author of the series Nos racines , whose 44 issues were published from 1979 to 1982, and, just recently, of L'Histoire populaire du Québec . Jacques Lacoursière has never stopped making people learn and love history'' to use his own terms. In his opinion, and I quote:A people with no history is like a tree with no roots. It cannot stand''. In other words, to forget our past is to forget who we are.

The Bloc Quebecois congratulates Mr. Lacoursière for obtaining this award-

[Speech From The Throne, November 7th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the speech given by my colleague. I can assure you I do not fully share his satisfaction with the throne speech. If I may, I would like to recap in my own words the points he made and show the other side of the coin.

He spoke about safety, about modernizing the Constitution, about employment. He talked about social security in Canada, but he forgot to tell us whether social programs will remain unchanged despite all the federal cuts in transfer payments to the provinces.

On the subject of modernizing the Constitution, he spoke about national unity. He told us that, since the referendum, the government understands the desire for change. Not only has the government failed to table anything to meet Quebecers' demands, but the Prime Minister refuses to talk about the Constitution. He recently said he had done enough but, in our eyes, all he did was table a meaningless motion on distinct society.

As for employment, the government's record is not much better. They claim to have created 600,000 jobs, but the hon. member forgot to tell us that 800,000 have since been lost. And the unemployment rate proves it, averaging between 9.4 and 10 per cent.

The hon. member admits that many young people are unemployed but that they will create summer jobs. In fact, summer jobs simply enable young people to earn the money they need to pursue their studies. It is mainly young graduates who are unemployed. That is where the future starts for young people. There is absolutely nothing for them in this.

We are told exports have gone up. Many of these exports are natural resources. In fact, it is the value added to natural resources that will create jobs for young people. The hon. member speaks about prosperity but forgets to mention the debt. What is slowing the economy down? Why is our unemployment rate so high? Simply because of the debt. I would like the hon. member to talk about the debt and how it could be reduced in the near future.

[National Defence, November 1st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, will the minister commit to having a debate in the House of Commons on his purchasing plans so that the urgency and usefulness of such purchases be publicly discussed, in view of our financial priorities and means?

[National Defence, November 1st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of National Defence.

Since his appointment, the new defence minister has kept rather mum about his intentions regarding plans for major purchases of military equipment. As we know, his predecessor had not ruled out buying new submarines and wanted to equip the next class of shipborne helicopters for anti-submarine warfare.

When is the minister going to make public his intentions regarding plans for major purchases of military equipment, and will he once and for all drop the idea of spending several hundreds of millions of dollars on submarines of dubious usefulness?

[Quebec's Economy, October 23rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, like Saturne Solutions, Quintiles and Ericsson recently announced major investments in Quebec. Highly sought by other provinces, not to mention other countries, these companies chose to invest in Quebec. This testifies to Quebec's ability to compete at the international level.

But how to explain that, every time a business decides to rationalize its Canadian operations, as CIBA did, Quebec gets the short end of the stick. It is not because Quebec is not competitive, as everyone recognizes its expertise in the pharmaceutical area. There must be other reasons.

We, for our part, feel that federal comments maintain an unhealthy climate for the Quebec economy. These comments, which were probably inspired by the famous plan B, hinder the Quebec government's efforts. Clearly, renewed federalism is not a panacea for Quebec. The time has come to move on to sovereignty.