Jesse Flis

[Olympic Winter Games, February 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, in a world rife with conflict it is easy to overlook the fact that the Olympic games were created for the purpose of gathering nations together under a banner of peace. The five rings of the Olympic flag symbolize the joining of all five continents in the spirit of athletic competition.

Despite the bitter war in former Yugoslavia, hope for peace in Europe now rests in Lillehammer, Norway.

I am therefore very proud of one of my constituents from Parkdale-High Park who is representing Canada at the 17th Olympic Winter Games. Kennedy Ryan will compete in free-style skiing in which she will join young athletes from around the world.

Let us not overlook the spirit of the games. I congratulate the Ryan family and friends who are just as proud as I am of all of our Canadian Olympic athletes.

[Income Tax Act, February 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I listened very carefully to the hon. member. What caught my ears was his comments about small business being harassed by government bureaucracy.

He mentioned that 20 per cent of energy went to fill out government forms and what not. He also mentioned that small businesses provided jobs on a local level. I could not agree with him more. If we want to kickstart the economy, if we want to stimulate the economy, we have to help small and medium sized businesses stimulate the economy and create jobs. Then I think we will see the recession behind us.

In canvassing my riding of Parkdale-High Park, which is in the city of Toronto, the complaints I get from small businesses are about the lack of co-operation they get from the banks. Yes, I get some complaints about bureaucracy or red tape, but if they want to modernize their plants and expand to export their products-and he mentioned such products as doors, windows, et cetera-they go to the bank and the bank refuses them capital loans. Under the Small Businesses Loans Act small businesses can borrow up to $250,000 and 90 per cent of the risk is guaranteed by the federal government. Even with that motivation, that stimulus, the banks are not co-operating.

Just yesterday an angry constituent with a small business in real estate called me. He had a client who used to pay him by cheque every month, a $1,000 cheque he would deposit in the bank. The service charge for that was 75 cents. The other day he was paid in cash. He took the cash to the bank and the bank had the gall to charge him $2.20. The principle is that small businesses get angry because of this kind of attitude on the part of banks in Canada.

Is it just businesses in Toronto, businesses in my riding, that have these problems with banks? Or, does he experience the same difficulties with the banks as do small businesses? If so, would he have any recommendations? How can we get after these banks to co-operate in stimulating the economy and not throwing roadblocks in the way of small businesses?

[Income Tax Act, February 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I was very interested in the hon. member's comments on clauses 9 and 11 that pertain to scientific research and experimental development. He did not like the changes being recommended in the bill.

I thought any movement toward targeting money more efficiently for R and D would be welcomed by the hon. member. If he feels these specific clauses are not good amendments to the bill, I am wondering whether he would recommend alternate clauses to replace them.

[Supply, February 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to remind the hon. member for Laval-Est that the Government of Canada remains concerned about the conflict in Chiapas State of Mexico in early January, particularly the loss of life and allegations of human rights abuses.

We have conveyed these concerns to the Mexican government, both through our ambassador, David Winfield, in Mexico and through the Mexican ambassador here in Ottawa, Sandra Fuentes-Berain.

The Government of Canada is encouraging the Mexican government to continue the open and conciliatory approach it has taken since the second week of the crisis to address the situation in Chiapas, including the following important steps: the appointment of Manuel Camacho, the former foreign minister and former mayor of Mexico City as the chief conciliator for Chiapas; the appointment of Dr. Jorge Carpizo, the former President of Mexico's human rights commission as the new interior minister; the involvement of Bishop Samuel Ruiz in negotiations to resolve the situation in Chiapas; the ceasefire; the meetings of President Salinas with indigenous groups in Chiapas; the amnesty offered to the Zapatistas by President Salinas, which was ratified by the Mexican Congress; and the appointment of an ombudsman responsible for human rights in Mexico.

The Government of Canada trusts that the Government of Mexico will address and resolve the fundamental underlying causes of the conflict in Chiapas, including social, economic and human rights issues.

[Department Of National Revenue Act, February 4th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the parliamentary secretary and her minister for bringing this bill in so quickly and congratulate the parliamentary secretary for her emphasis that this bill will look into and put a stop to the illegal entry of criminals, the entry of illegal immigrants and will provide more resources to combat the smuggling of the drugs and the liquor that are coming into this country.

I have said many times before that there is a criminal element taking over the economy of this country. I am glad that this minister and this parliamentary secretary are acting so quickly.

I would like to pose a question based on representations I have received from constituents and other people. When Canadians return to Canada if they have been out of the country a very short time they can bring tax exempt goods back with a maximum value of $20. If they have been out of the country for 48 hours they can bring goods back worth $100. If they are away for seven days they can bring back goods worth $300.

I wonder if this bill does address this. If not, would the parliamentary secretary take representations about looking into increasing the exemptions? Many families come back and they cannot even buy goods for their children for $100.

My recommendation and their recommendation would be to increase those exemptions perhaps to $50, $200 and $500, or something like that.

[Department Of National Revenue Act, February 4th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. The hon. member may be recognized but does she not have her full time after Question Period?

[Petitions, February 2nd, 1994]

Concerning my second petition, these petitioners all reside in High Park in my constituency. They state in their petition that they are very satisfied with the service and location of sub-post office number 166, located in the High Park Pharmacy, which the previous government tried to close.

Therefore, the petitioners humbly pray and call upon Parliament to urge this government to keep post office number 166 located in High Park Pharmacy operating in its present state and location.

[Petitions, February 2nd, 1994]

Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, it is my duty to present a petition signed by petitioners living in Parkdale-High Park and in other parts of Ontario.

The petitioners state that the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is continuing to violate all fundamental and civil rights of the Vietnamese citizens through arbitrary arrests, detention without trial and the censorship of peaceful expressions of political or religious beliefs.

The petitioners urge the government in their prayer to continue to make full normalization of relations with Vietnam contingent upon (1) the unconditional release of all political and religious prisoners in Vietnam; (2) the immediate cessation of punishment of critics through detention without trial; (3) the abolition of all political prisoners and re-education camps throughout the country; (4) the elimination of all regulations, codes and constitutional provisions prohibiting organized opposition activities that are commonly used to repress peaceful expressions of dissent; and (5) a formal commitment by the leaders of the communist party of Vietnam to create a pluralistic and democratic environment with free and open national elections under international supervision so that the citizens of Vietnam may determine the future leadership and orientation of their government.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

[Pre-Budget Consultations, February 1st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment the Reform Party speakers in their philosophy of bringing the views of their constituents on to the floor of the House.

We saw them try to do this in question period. I wish they would do more of this in their debates. I have been using that practice for the 10 years that I have been representing Parkdale-High Park.

To begin input into this debate to help the Minister of Finance and the government reduce our public debt and deficit, I sent a questionnaire out to each household in Parkdale-High Park with a preamble about how Ottawa spends its money, where it gets its revenues and so on. I asked: "Do you agree that deficit reduction is one of the top priorities for the federal government?" The results are preliminary but already 88 per cent said yes. They agree that deficit reduction is one of the top priorities for the federal government in addition to job creation.

The second question I asked was: "Which of the following approaches would you support to help solve the deficit problem?" I asked them to check: increased personal income taxes; decreased government spending; or, a combination. Eighty-one per cent said that they support decreasing government spending to help solve the deficit problem. If they agreed to a decrease in government spending, I asked: "Are you willing to accept fewer government services in order to reduce the deficit?" I am pleased to say that 84 per cent of my constituents said yes, that they are willing to accept fewer government services in order to reduce the deficit.

I would like to ask the hon. member this. In his constituency which kinds of services would his constituents be willing to either eliminate or reduce? If we can do this in every riding, then we can help bring down the deficit and the public debt.

[Foreign Affairs, January 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I will be very brief. I draw the attention of everyone in this House to the fact that I have asked the parliamentary Library to do research into this whole topic.

Mr. Vincent Rigby, Political and Social Affairs Division, did put out a paper called "Bosnia-Hercegovina: The International Response". It is available in our parliamentary Library if anyone is interested.

Mr. Rigby mentions that Bosnia has demonstrated that the world's structures are not prepared to deal with the type of violent, ethnic nationalism that is rapidly becoming endemic in the post cold world war. The nation-state may no longer be the basic unit of international politics. Conflict within states rather than between them has become the new threat to international security.

Because of his knowledge, I wonder if the hon. member would comment on that. Is it a new fact that we are dealing with now? Can we look forward to such threats in the future, internal conflicts rather than state-to-state conflicts?