Bob Nault

[Education, March 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, this gives me an opportunity to remind the hon. member that just this last year and a half we have signed 11 labour market agreements with the provinces of Canada.

In those agreements provinces were given the flexibility, because they are closer to the people, to put in training and education programs that will meet the needs of their regions.

I suggest very strongly that the member talk to the Manitoba government and make sure that it puts in the kind of training that she would like.

[Employment, March 19th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, if the member would listen and not yell across the room, maybe she would hear the answer.

The answer is that there is a transitional program in place for workers who are laid off. Once we put in that program we will help the individuals who are laid off look for work and find work elsewhere.

[Employment, March 19th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the member will know if she has talked to the local officials on the ground that there is a program in place to deal with laid off workers. If the member would spend a little time looking at this, we will be quite willing and prepared—

[Employment, March 19th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, yes indeed we are very proud that last month some 82,000 new jobs were created in Canada.

I did say that in every province in Atlantic Canada the unemployment rate did go down. That is exactly what I said. I also said that the unemployment rate did go down in Canada and it is a continued trend since this government's policies started to kick in. We will not be satisfied until every single Canadian has a job.

[Competition Act, March 16th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, it is nice to be back in the same place at the same time.

The hon. member knows very well that the new Employment Insurance Act requires that we monitor and assess the impact of the reform on individuals, communities and the economy. He knows that the first report had to be tabled in early 1998.

Given the magnitude of the reforms, the limited time some of the changes have been in place and the time required to obtain and analyse complete information, the 1997 report gives a preliminary assessment of the start-up year of the reform.

This is the first of five reports. It lays the groundwork for subsequent reports that will take a more comprehensive look at how people are adjusting to the reforms. We have already demonstrated that we will respond to concerns. Last year we put in place adjustment projects to address concerns that the reform had created a disincentive to work.

That is why the monitoring and assessment process is so important. It ensures that we are gathering and assessing information on an ongoing basis and enables us to respond when there is a need to do so. However, we will not abandon the reform on the basis of the hon. member's exaggerated claims.

Even though we have preliminary results, there are encouraging signs that people are adjusting to the reform and an improved economy is helping them to do that.

I want to say that we are on the right track. The fact that we are not wasting our time in committee presenting a report to the House of Commons on a preliminary report is a good use of our time as a committee. For the member to suggest that we should review the monitoring report in committee and spend weeks talking to people about it is rehashing what we did last year in committee when we brought in this report. I think we should get on with the business of seeing that Canadians get employment and the economy continues to progress the way it has.

[Employment, March 13th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, this is a great opportunity to say to the people of Canada that the economic program of the federal government is now starting to work full bore across the country.

Atlantic Canada and every single province had a reduction in their unemployment rate this month, a significant achievement considering the time of the year.

Under a Liberal government, before last month Nova Scotia had an unemployment rate of 11.2%. Now it is down to 10.5%. That is good news for Nova Scotia and good news for the people of Atlantic Canada. We want to say keep up the good work in Nova Scotia and across the country.

[Employment Insurance, March 13th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I can clarify it for you.

The whole issue of course which is in committee relates to whether there will be a report with respect to the B/U rate and the unemployment rate. Quite frankly the member is out of order, but that is the situation as I see it.

[Supply, March 12th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

This is the second or third time that the Bloc has done this. I just want to make it very clear to the new member in the House that we cannot talk and say millennium every two seconds to make him feel happy. There are a number of issues within the education field that are part of this whole process.

[Supply, March 12th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, I have to tell the member it is obvious I am a strong federalist and I have no reason to be ashamed of such. I am a Canadian first and foremost. I do not have a lot of time for this parochial kind of discussion.

I tell my children and the people I talk to at high schools very quickly that we can be Canadians and we can be different. There is nothing wrong with being distinct.

When I go from northern Ontario across the border to Manitoba, which happens to be a two hour drive, I do not think I am in another country. I do not think I am somewhere distinct even though Manitoba has a very distinct and different culture from northern Ontario. There are a lot of francophones. There are a heck of a lot of francophones in St. Boniface and Richer. In places near Winnipeg there are a lot of franco Manitobans. Many of them are related to me.

The point I am trying to make to the member is if he is disappointed or disagrees with the federal government's involvement, why does the Quebec government take the transfer payments in social programs? We believe as Canadians that we should all have equal opportunity no matter where we live, whether we live in Newfoundland, British Columbia or in Quebec.

It was not too long ago when Alberta was a have not province and the federal government helped it. Now Alberta is helping others. We help Quebec in a lot of ways and we will continue to do that. The millennium scholarships will be given to Quebec students simply because it is the right thing to do for them.

[Supply, March 12th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I want to say how much of a pleasure it is to get the opportunity to speak this afternoon, not only about one particular component of the Canadian opportunities strategy, the central piece of that particular strategy, but the direction that this government is taking for the betterment and future of the young people of this nation.

There are two themes in the budget that will go down in history as very important turning points. As we all know and will continue to read and hear about in the history books long after we are gone, one is the fact that for the first time in my voting life we have a government which has produced a balanced budget. No matter what the opposition or people feel about what was in it or not in it, that will always be the central theme that people will remember.

There is one other very important central theme and one only in essence because this is the most important budget in our generation as it relates to post-secondary education and to students, that is that this is an education budget.

Those are the two themes in this budget that people will remember the most as years go by. They will not remember the machinations of the Bloc Quebecois or Reform or the Tories saying we should have done this or that. Those are the two themes.

In those themes I want to deal extensively with the Canadian opportunities strategy. In that strategy there is one fundamental issue as it relates to the Government of Canada, and that is access to post-secondary education for our young people today and tomorrow and to help those who have gone through the system in the last few years and have accumulated a very large debt after completing university, college or some other institutional program.

Let us go back just a little bit and look at the most fundamental part of the Canada opportunities strategy, which is the Canada student loans program.

I do not hear members of the opposition complaining about the Canada student loans program which has been giving billions of dollars to students since its inception in the early 1960s. Since 1975 and into 1995, the number of Canada student loans program recipients rose by 148% while university enrolment increased by 54%.

That program, instituted by the Government of Canada, helped generate the access to post-secondary education that was missing before my generation. It came into being at the beginning of my college and university days. There were many people in my age group and a little older who would have never gone to college or university if it had not been for the federal government.

I do not hear the members opposite telling us not to continue with the Canada student loans program because it is a bad program or that it is jurisdictionally unacceptable to be involved in education in that regard because of the provinces. As a matter of fact, they are involved in only one particular aspect today. It is because of their fear that the federal government has again launched another initiative that is going to help students obtain access to education.

I want to read something to our NDP friends who continue to ask why we are putting in a millennium scholarship fund for the year 2000 when there is a need to do something today. I will read what was in the federal budget that will help students immediately. We have recognized that there are some problems as they relate to students not only in accessibility but in planning for tomorrow and for dealing with debts today.

Some of the measures in the budget are easing student debt load; helping parents save for their children's education; promoting lifelong learning by allowing Canadians to make tax free withdrawals from their RRSPs to upgrade their skills and knowledge; and increasing funding for SchoolNet in the community to help bring the information technology into more classrooms and communities across Canada.

Our goal is to continue to introduce steady and progressive reforms to the Canada student loans program to meet those evolving needs.

I want to make sure for the record that people understand when they listen to this debate that it is not just about the millennium scholarship or the Canada student loans program. It is about the whole issue of accessibility. More important, it is about partnership with students, with parents and of course with provincial governments. I put these in their proper order because that is where they belong. The partnership has to be with students, their parents and, lastly, with the provincial governments.

The new measures announced in the budget will do these things. They will provide a new study grant of up to $3,000 for students with dependants beginning August 1 of this year. Well over 25,000 full and part time students in financial need who must support children or other dependants are expected to be eligible for this grant. For the first time, the government will provide expansion of interest relief to students who are experiencing difficulty making repayments.

Next year graduate interest relief will be introduced for others based on income. It will provide a measure to protect borrowers from defaults and bankruptcies due to high student debt.

As members can see, the Canada student loans program is evolving, changing and improving to continue to allow the children and parents of today and tomorrow the opportunity for post-secondary education. Why should we, as a federal government, be concerned about that? If we listen to the head waiters of the provincial governments in the opposition, they think the federal government should not be involved in these things because they are provincial jurisdiction.

We cannot dissociate social policy from economic policy. It is impossible to do that sort of thing. I have said this in the House before and I will say it again: The unemployment rate for those who have a post-secondary education drops to 5%, half the rate of unemployment in Canada. That is the rationale for the federal government being involved in post-secondary education and in access to post-secondary education now and in the future.

A central piece of this strategy besides the Canada student loans program is the new millennium scholarships fund. I appreciate the opportunity the Bloc has given us to promote the Canada millennium scholarships fund and to bring it to the attention of all Canadians. It is a lot cheaper to promote it standing here while people listen than it would be to spend money on sending promotional material and booklets across the country. It is a good saving for taxpayers.

Why would anybody be opposed to a millennium scholarships fund? It is at arm's length from the government. It is a foundation. Those appointed to look after it will be people with experience in education who understand the needs of students across the nation.

An interesting aspect is that the private sector has an opportunity to put money into this foundation. The $2.5 billion we start with will not be the end of it. We could end up with a $5 billion foundation for scholarships if the private sector comes to the table to help us and if the provinces see fit when they have surpluses, like Alberta, to put some of their money into the foundation. They could do this instead of whining and bellyaching about what the federal government should not do.

There is one most important attitude which federalists and Canadians should have. For years the federal government has helped in areas of provincial jurisdiction because we believe in partnership. We believe in partnership with citizens, not necessarily with governments. Those are institutions created to serve people.

The millennium scholarships fund, the Canada student loans program and the Canadian opportunities strategy are intended to deal with partnerships with students, partnerships with parents and partnerships with those levels of government that have the fortitude and long term vision to understand what this will mean for future generations and for the country as an economic trader and exporter.

I am thankful for the opportunity to say why this is such an important undertaking. The budget we have just submitted to Canadians will go down in history as the budget that balanced the books for the first time in my generation. It is giving Canadian young people an opportunity to be successful in a global economy.