Laurent Lavigne

[Quebec Sovereignty, May 4th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, before a partisan audience, the Prime Minister claimed to be convinced that the No camp would win the Quebec referendum, adding that he would continue to hold out his hand to the Quebec premier and ask him to join Team Canada.

However, since he took office, the Prime Minister keeps saying no to Quebec's legitimate demands. He closed the military college in Saint-Jean and he still refuses to approve a conversion program for the defence industry. His ministers also rejected MIL Davie's recovery plan, and his government refuses to withdraw from the manpower sector, in spite of the plea made by all those concerned in Quebec. And now the Prime Minister is tabling a bill designed to impose Canadian standards in areas under provincial jurisdiction. Quebec will not make the mistake of voting No at the referendum.

[Borrowing Authority Act, 1995-96, March 24th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the comments of the hon. member, who gave a good presentation on the Minister of Finance's budget, and who clearly showed that there is a world of difference between the Liberals in opposition and the Liberals in office. I am reminded in particular of Expro, a company in my riding which needs technical and financial support for its conversion. When the Liberals formed the opposition, they were adamant that conversion was the way to go, and they urged Mr. Mulroney to set up a conversion program.

The hon. member made an in-depth review of the Martin budget, and I would appreciate his comments on the discrepancy between the budget and what the Liberals said they would do when they sat in opposition.

[Air Navigation System, March 20th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I have a supplementary question for the minister.

Can the minister give us guarantees to the effect that the present regional operations of ANS will be maintained, and more particularly area control centres?

[Air Navigation System, March 20th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport.

It was announced in the budget that the air navigation system, or ANS, would be privatized this year. The minister went as far as to say that negotiations are well under way with a non profit group made up of representatives of the air transport industry, and that an agreement could be announced shortly.

Can the minister confirm that stringent requirements will be set so that the new operators of ANS will provide quality French-language service throughout Quebec, Acadia, and in all regions with a significant number of French-speaking Canadians?

[National Defence, March 13th, 1995]

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

Last week, we learned that Charles Scott, an individual who openly admits to being a white supremacist, teaches hand to hand combat to soldiers of the Canadian Forces.

How can the minister of defence justify that an acknowledged racist trains Canadian soldiers on a voluntary basis, and does the minister endorse the comments made by Major Doug Martin, who does not see any problem since that individual is not paid for his work?

[Customs Tariffs, February 17th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, this is all very well, but the fact remains that Canada's legal position is more or less supported by GATT and NAFTA. So why is the minister negotiating another agreement, outside GATT and NAFTA, with respect to ice cream and yogurt?

[Customs Tariffs, February 17th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is now defending its tariff on agricultural products. The agriculture and international trade ministers have repeatedly suggested that Canada's legal position would not be strong enough to save its tariffs on yogurt and ice cream, most of which is produced in Quebec, where producers stand to lose more than $100 million if the government does not support them.

My question is for the Minister of International Trade. Since the GATT agreement provides that tariffs will replace all other measures at the border to protect agricultural products, how can the minister be so dubious about the strength of the Canadian position on yogurt and ice cream?

[Post-Secondary Education, December 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that people have already been waiting for quite a while. Everybody is aware of the minister's proposal and even Ontario has expressed some opposition.

How can the minister claim to represent a flexible federalism when he threatens to retaliate against the government of Ontario if it continues to make public its resistance to the proposed reform?

[Post-Secondary Education, December 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development. Everybody knows that the reform proposed by the minister for post-secondary education has met with strong opposition from the provinces and student associations.

Does the minister still intend to go ahead with his reform of post-secondary education funding, as proposed in his green book, when the provinces and student associations are very much opposed to this proposal?

[Collège Militaire Royal De Saint-Jean, December 13th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs once again showed that he was acting in bad faith regarding the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean. Instead of looking after the interests of the residents of Saint-Jean, the minister prefers to generate controversy regarding the academic future of that institution.

Instead of constructively discussing the proposal made by mayor Smereka, which is supported by a large majority, the minister keeps looking for excuses to sabotage the negotiation process. Is that his idea of flexible federalism? The minister should change his antagonistic attitude and look after the well-being of the public instead of his own partisan interests, so that, in the end, the only real winners are the residents of Saint-Jean.

There is no need to prolong the uncertainty and controversy. Let us settle this issue once and for all; after all, we are very close to a happy ending.