René Canuel

[Youth Criminal Justice Act, October 21st, 1999]

Madam Speaker, I listened attentively to my colleague, and he caught my ear when he said “We must talk about poverty”.

I have known many delinquents personally. I asked myself “How can a 12, 13 or 14 year old become a delinquent? Nobody is born a delinquent”.

I have an answer, and I would like everyone to listen. If one becomes a delinquent, it is obviously for one of many reasons. The most important reason could be that the delinquent was not loved enough or not loved at all. It has nothing to do with the young person; it depends on whether the family circle give that person the most important thing in life, love.

When someone grows up surrounded by hatred and violence, there is little doubt that that person is going to become a delinquent. Is it possible to legislate an end to the problem? Absolutely not.

We have to take this young person and introduce him to somebody who is going to love him. It might be a streetworker, someone who works for the social services or a friend. By friend, I do not necessarily mean another young person, it could be a teacher or a friend who will take him under his wing.

I will give an example. In France, a man called Guy Gilbert takes in certain delinquents on his farm. There are a number of animals there: deer, cows, pigs, chickens and others. The young delinquent chooses an animal, and the animal is his. Sometimes, this young person, who is seething with anger, may try to mistreat the animal. He is told in no uncertain terms “Listen, you do not do this”.

He is made to understand that one does not hurt animals.

If he understands that, how will he be able, later on, to hurt an old lady just to get $50? He will have understood. Very few come back or go back to prison because they have understood that if they are not to mistreat animals, they are certainly not to mistreat a human being.

We have to think in terms of prevention. And I submit that we have to put up the money, especially at the elementary level. Even in elementary schools children aged six, seven or eight are sometimes tough, very tough on others, almost violent.

I hope my colleague is now going to tell me he favours prevention over a more drastic measure.

[Speech From The Throne, October 14th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the member would have us believe that there are no problems in Canada or almost none. She is certainly on the same wavelength as the Prime Minister, who is constantly saying that Canada is the best country in the world, that we are rich and that everything is fine. He keeps repeating that like a parrot. It is not necessarily true.

How is it that the government is offering so little, and nothing before the year 2001? Between now and then, what is it offering children? What is it offering the many teenagers across Canada who take their own lives because there are problems? We must not bury our heads in the sand. The truth must be told.

There are a lot of problems in Canada but the government prefers not to see them, because that is less painful. What will be done between now and the year 2001 since most programs will kick in only after 2001?

[Speech From The Throne, October 14th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I have also listened to my colleague. She said that there was absolutely nothing for seniors. I say that this is scandalous, when we are in the International Year of Older Persons.

Last week, I saw some publicity on seniors clubs while watching television at home. Mr. Boulianne from my riding was on the program—and this very honourable gentleman did a very nice job, I might add—but they paid to get some coverage. There are other equally honourable people who cannot get on TV and they are forgotten. Why are only a few people shown on television while others without a cent to their name are forgotten?

There are many seniors living in almost dire straits. I will let the hon. member respond to that shortly.

Reference is made to youth and children. In 1988, the House of Commons voted unanimously for there to be no more poor children by the year 2000. There were a million of them at that time, and today there are 1.5 million. That is shocking. A policy has been announced. I am not saying it is not helpful, but it is not applicable until the year 2001.

I am asking what the hon. member for Saint John thinks of this.

[Fisheries, May 7th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has once again been very unfair to Quebec fishers.

In spite of a 25% increase in the total quota for the northern shrimp fishery, Quebec fishers will only get 1.6% of it.

The minister had pledged to consult the provinces but did not do it. Can he explain to Quebec fishers why he is trying so hard to help Newfoundland fishers? Is it because of his good friend, Mr. Tobin?

[Budget Implementation Act, 1999, May 6th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the hon. member for Verchères—Les-Patriotes, who found the right words to describe an unfair situation.

I am convinced that our fellow Quebecers who listened to him will share his views. Why is it that we, sovereignists, really want to have our own country, while they do not want us to leave this country? The government claims that it gives a lot and that it is fair. As for us, we say that something is not working. Even in the budget, one can see that the regions are not getting anything. The government collects a lot of money from the unemployed, but it does not give them back that money.

I have a question for my colleague. What would he call a situation like this, where the poor are getting poorer, where 1.5 million children do not have enough to eat, and where the government keeps saying that everything is just fine? What would the hon. member call such a situation?

[Organ Donations, April 23rd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, with 14 donations per million inhabitants, the rate of organ donation in Canada is among the lowest in the world.

As a consequence, only one person in two will benefit from an organ transplant and have a longer life expectancy as a result, while 140 less fortunate persons will die.

In 1989, the rate of organ donation in Spain was comparable to the present Canadian rate. It is now at about 30 per million inhabitants. Besides ranking first in the world for organ donations, Spain also has the lowest mortality rate in the world for people waiting for an organ transplant.

National Organ Donation Week, which is coming to an end, allowed us to raise public awareness, but we must also give ourselves the means to identify rapidly potential organ donors.

This social issue must be supported by real political will. We must be responsive to all those people waiting for a transplant, because the gift of an organ is a gift of life after life.

[Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act, April 22nd, 1999]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would appreciate it if the hon. member addressed the bill. Right now he is all over the map.

[Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act, April 22nd, 1999]

I withdraw the word “theft”, Madam Speaker. I will use “spirited out” instead.

Can we not draw a comparison between what the government is going to do to public servants and what it did to other workers with the EI fund?

[Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act, April 22nd, 1999]

Madam Speaker, I congratulate the hon. member for Mercier, who has left her mark as a remarkable unionist. She speaks of workers with the voice of experience.

We are talking about $30 billion in surpluses: $14.9 billion in the public service superannuation plan, $2.4 billion in the RCMP plan and $12.9 billion in the Canadian Forces plan. That is a lot of money.

When we buy life insurance, we do not like it if, at some point, the company changes the rules. This is money taken from the pockets of these people. My colleague put it very well: the government is indirectly setting up—it is even sneakier in a way—some kind of committee that will not be independent.

Money was taken from the employment insurance fund, and the minister opposite must have some regrets about that. He could at least make amends by putting some money back in the workers' pockets. In my riding of Matapédia—Matane, workers come to my office and say “What is going on? In the spring, we are three or four weeks short”.

Can we draw a comparison between this and the theft in the employment insurance—

[Bilingualism, April 16th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian federal policy on bilingualism is a failure.

Out of one million francophones who were living outside Quebec in 1996, 350,000 have been assimilated by English speaking Canadians in their daily activities.

This is not the opinion of Quebec sovereignists, nor even of representatives of Canada's francophone minority, but of Neil Morrisson, who was the secretary of the royal commission on bilingualism and biculturalism, 30 years ago.

In spite of the superficial changes made over the past 30 years, there has never been a concrete and effective plan of action to reverse this tendency, which leads directly to the integration of hundreds of thousands of francophones in Canada.

Quebec, through Bill 101, which was sponsored by the late Camille Laurin, passed effective legislation to ensure that French would thrive in Quebec. Will the federal government have the courage to take concrete action before it is too late?