Jan Brown

[Breast Cancer, March 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it has come to light that a Montreal researcher fabricated information that has been used to shape treatment of breast cancer for the past decade. The same researcher also used patients who had not consented to participate in the study. We hear today that the Quebec Medical Association may have known about this for as much as three years.

The research determined that lumpectomies save just as many lives as the removal of the entire breast, and that the drug Tamoxifen can in some cases prevent the return of breast cancer.

Can women be certain that the conclusions from this study are valid?

How could such a thing happen? Last November the government received the final report of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. The report emphatically stated that the unethical use of knowledge is not permitted. This applies equally to all areas of medicine.

I strongly urge the government to investigate this serious incident to ensure the medical safety of women all across this country.

[The Budget, March 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I too congratulate the hon. member on her maiden speech. As I have said before, that is a very special moment in our political life in this House. I do congratulate the hon. member.

I am going to be very short. I am going to address the issue of jobs and job creation. In this budget, $725 million in UI cuts means 40,000 jobs. A $6 billion infrastructure program means 65,000 jobs. Sixty-five thousand and forty thousand certainly does not add up to 1.2 million. That is currently the number of people in this country who are out of work.

I am having a really hard time understanding how this disparity of 100,000-plus jobs is supposed to get 1.2 million-plus people in Canada back to work. I would like the hon. member to respond to that, please.

[Supply, March 8th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, this indeed has been a very long day. I have sat here for many hours listening to this debate. I have been quite impressed on all counts and the hon. member's comments are well received by myself.

I wish to ask the hon. member a specific question regarding pay equity. I stand here proudly as a humanist. I am not a feminist. In that view I present this question to the hon. member.

The whole pay equity issue is tied to the fundamental debate behind equal opportunity of employment. I cannot understand how we can separate the pay equity issue from several things, and I am going to mention these to the hon. member. Then I am going to ask how the hon. member can exclude these expectations from the whole concept of pay equity.

Our party, the Reform Party, believes that the improvement of education is a key to accessing an employment opportunity. One does this by giving greater priority to the development of skills, particularly those that provide for future job flexibility. That is my first point.

My second point is on the emphasis of individual achievement. Employers must treat people, that is men and women, as individuals in all phases of the recruitment process based on their merit, skills, capacities, and experience in order to fulfil a job function. It cannot be on the basis of one's gender.

I will leave with that and I ask the hon. member to respond.

[Farm Credit Corporation, March 8th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, I thank the Minister of Agriculture. I have a further supplemental. This is quite a specific issue.

Today in New Liskeard, Ontario, a family is living a nightmare as they await eviction from their family farm on Thursday, two days from now, March 10. This business enterprise represents a perfect example of a system gone wrong when 117 per cent of the farm's value has been offered but has been refused by the Farm Credit Corporation and no reason has been given for such a refusal.

Will the minister agree to an immediate cessation of any further action on this particular eviction until a full review with all of the parties present is held?

[Farm Credit Corporation, March 8th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Agriculture. My concern is for the small business sector, specifically the family farm.

The Farm Credit Corporation is designed to provide financial assistance to Canadian farmers to help establish viable farm enterprises. This purpose is strangely at odds with the outrageous statistic that the Farm Credit Corporation, a crown corporation, owns 1.250 million acres of indebted farmland.

Will the minister agree in the House today, based upon his election promise, to immediately undertake the long awaited review of the Farm Credit Corporation and put a stop order on further evictions until the review is completed?

[Sarajevo, March 8th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, this is written to acknowledge our collective responsibility to the human good.

It is called:

And Sarajevo Makes Me Cry

Hatred is not a contradiction

But a gruesome paradox

Cultures squeezed together no longer benign but malignant

Enmeshed in the bloodied pulp of accusation,

The living and the dead.

After-burner eyes that hold such surprise

A brief shock of pain

The sweet breath of fire

Savage passions, indecent, finally expelled

Like torched paper

To blow apart in the wind

And emerge as blood-pools

This withered generation

Small sad voices.

Our world sits on its haunches

Watching Evil's root

Envelop the thin veneer of civilization

And the deadly seeds of war scatter our history

Conflict becomes a relationship of severed parts

choking on its grief.

Our world of relevance gone mad

Where even the onlookers

Fully misunderstand.

[Supply, March 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge the hon. minister's comments. I would like clarification on one part of the hon. minister's analysis. To me there seems to be something of a flaw.

The hon. minister related a whole host of impressive statistics regarding the executive group of the public service from 1983 to 1993. They show an impressive movement for that executive group. The minister went on to say that men and women are equal. If we are equal I would like to ask the hon. minister why we as women must be strategically placed. That does not necessarily explain that enhanced equality of opportunity and recognition based on merit is achieved through strategic placement. I would like the hon. minister to comment on that part of his discourse.

[International Women's Day, March 8th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, today is a special day, International Women's Day.

It is a day to acknowledge together the wonderful opportunities that we have as Canadians as we strive to reach our full potential regardless of race, language, culture, religion or gender.

As I speak today I look to the vision and effort of the women who preceded me in the House and in politics in general. There were some courageous souls who toiled long and hard for the betterment of this wonderful country. Nellie McClung and Agnes Macphail are two of the more famous names that come to mind. These are women of strong character, strong will and moral integrity.

With role models like these, it is not surprising that women have aspired to accomplish great things. Women everywhere should be proud of their roles as homemakers, lawyers, bankers, university presidents, welders, prime ministers, hockey players, pastors, members of Parliament and many more.

When we remember Nellie McClung we remember the tireless effort to get women declared as persons, to get women the vote, to get women elected to provincial legislatures. These are the things we take for granted today but were hard fought for a mere 70 years ago.

Agnes Macphail broke ground for us in the House of Commons. She was a woman of vision who spoke for her constituents passionately and effectively. Agnes Macphail did not see issues as gender specific as she argued on behalf of all of her constituents: children, women and the coal miners she served.

There is no doubt that in our society women face numerous serious social challenges. However, special consideration has a weary habit of turning inward on itself. It does not guarantee equality but rather may generate resentment and hostility toward those who do make advancements, thereby diminishing their true potential.

It is a fundamental Canadian belief that all persons should have the right of equality of opportunity and the right to not be discriminated against in the workplace or society at large. This is not to negate the fact that women do face discriminatory practices in the workplace, child care concerns and violence within the family unit. The net effect of these concerns has implications not only for women but for all of society and therefore requires societal solutions.

Members of the House will notice that today the approach of the Reform Party to women's issues is different from what we will hear from others. We believe all Canadians, men and women alike, are entitled to equal rights. We also believe that the concerns of economic renewal, the deficit and job creation, the major themes of the government, belong to all of us.

Instead of setting up barriers to equal opportunity by picking out special interest groups, we should provide opportunities for women, ethnic minorities and the disabled by improving education, emphasizing individual achievement and dismantling unfair systemic barriers to advancement.

In 1982 Pierre Trudeau did just that. He patriated the Constitution to help eradicate injustices. Having done so, we have been given the opportunity to look beyond gender.

The secretary of state has cited the problems of poverty for single parent families led by a woman. Resolving such a difficult issue demands more than merely thinking there is a political will for change. We need to get to the root problems and take action.

It is time to look at our taxation system to see why it penalizes family when one parent chooses to stay home to raise the children. It is time to look at our judicial system to see why the families of divorce and the children of single parents are living in such abject poverty because of poor enforcement to secure maintenance payments.

It is time to look at our criminal justice system to see why abusers are permitted to continue to abuse rather than being removed from that situation. It is time to look at our education system to ensure that all students are given the same encouragement and support to pursue their dreams and their goals.

These issues, while most often affecting women, are not issues that fall exclusively to women. The Constitution values the importance of all Canadians and so should we as parliamentarians. The secretary of state for the status of women claimed that we are elected by the women of Canada to represent their needs and concerns in all of our decision making. The constituents of Calgary Southeast elected me to represent them collectively, not just the women. In all the debates and for all the issues that I will consider I will always consider all my constituents in my riding. They expect nothing more from me and nothing less. That is the point of difference in the 35th Parliament.

[Borrowing Authority Act, 1994-95, March 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I too extend my congratulations to the hon. member on his maiden speech. It is a very special moment in your political life when you stand before your colleagues and express yourself in that way. I do acknowledge that and I congratulate the hon. member.

I would like to give a slight preamble to my question. The member presented a fairly brisk overview of the initiatives in the budget. My assessment shows 18 new programs and 15 program reviews will be undertaken by the Liberal government. This is going to lead to pressure to increase spending.

It is incredulous to me that a realistic approach to deficit reduction is to borrow more money. I do not understand that kind of financial management. That is not how I manage at home.

I acknowledge all the consultation but consultation is not analysis. Therefore my question to the member is this. What analysis, if any, of the impact of the budget on sustainable job creation has been undertaken by the government?

[Excise Act, February 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have nothing to say except that those comments are well received and well said. I thank the hon. member for them.