Michel Dupuy

[Foreign Affairs, February 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that we should take the U.S. government's reports at face value. I am not sure they are extremely damaging to Quebec. Quebec makes its own decisions, and that is fine with me.

[Foreign Affairs, February 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, speaking on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs who is not in the House today, I would say that the Canadian government does not make a habit of commenting on documents originating from the foreign affairs departments of other countries. It is not in keeping with international custom.

I may add as a general comment that I myself did not read the report by the U.S. State Department, but from what I have heard it was drafted before certain amendments were made to Quebec's legislation, which means that today, considering the rules of international courtesy and the scope of the comments made by the State Department, there is no good reason for making representations to the U.S. government.

[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, February 4th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the letter that I sent to the new president of the CBC yesterday contained more than just an announcement that the cuts decreed by the previous government would not be rescinded. First, we indicated clearly that we would do everything we could to ensure that the CBC continued to flourish in spite of the cuts.

Second, we agreed to a long-standing request from the corporation, namely that it be allowed to borrow money. In the past, this request had always been denied. Third, we indicated that we would look for other sources of funding which would help the CBC to flourish. Therefore, to view the announcements only in a negative light is unfair. The new president of the CBC acknowledged that there was also a positive side to our announcements.

[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, February 4th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am more interested in the future than in the past. It is precisely because of our concern for the future that we announced yesterday a number of initiatives to help fund the CBC's operations so that this great national institution can continue to adapt, flourish and serve Canadians from coast to coast.

[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, February 3rd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, there is no such thing as true or false criteria. There are only criteria, and the main ones were suggested by the CBC itself, because these people know what they are doing and they know how important such an appointment is.

We are quite willing to listen and, in fact, we did listen not only to their advice but also to the advice provided by those who take an interest in this issue. I already said that we had come up with a long list, following an announcement in the Canada Gazette , and I am pleased to repeat again that the president, whom I want to congratulate, will gladly meet the parliamentary committees interested in hearing him.

[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, February 3rd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, obviously, the hon. member and I disagree on how appointments should be made. But I want to point out that the appointment of a person is a rather confidential process. Many candidates are eligible; many have a chance of being selected for the job but, in the end, there can only be one appointment. In my opinion, it would not be reasonable to publicly reveal the names, and there are quite a few, of those who were not selected for the position. Therefore, it is not my intention to make public the list of those who could have got the position which was filled today.

[Policy On Appointments, February 2nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am not an expert on parliamentary procedure, but I understand that the new president, once he is appointed, will

have an opportunity to appear before the parliamentary committees concerned. That is how we intend to proceed.

[Policy On Appointments, February 2nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member thinks that some policies have changed, perhaps it is because the government has changed. However, I will point out to her that all Canadians have been invited, through an announcement in The Canada Gazette , to propose candidates for the presidency of this great institution, the CBC.

As for the choice of president, I would refer her to a short statement I made on January 27, 1994, which she will find on page 454 of Hansard .

[Court Challenges Program, January 31st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am committed to having the new program up and running early in the new fiscal year. Indeed, the two official languages of Canada will be covered.

[Speech From The Throne, January 27th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, we must of course be clear in our minds on the distinction between integration and assimilation. The comments I made earlier in my speech were very much addressed to assimilation.

In my view integration means that you enable the people who are newly arrived to become fully operational in our society. This is what they want and this is what is probably best for the existing community because they become active and productive members of that society. If we do not want to achieve that result through assimilation, we have to find ways of enabling them to contribute to our society while at the same time preserving their inner values.

This is not easily done. However, I think it is a public responsibility. We cannot leave every one of these people to fend for themselves.

We have been able to see how the attitudes of other governments create difficulties and ghettos as we were talking about earlier. If we can see it that way, integration is a desirable goal. It needs some government support. I doubt that assimilation will be achievable in our society today. We enjoy too many personal liberties and freedom to be totally assimilated and moulded.

There is a public responsibility. At the same time we are being humane toward people who want to retain some cultural values of their own.