Denis Coderre

[Supply, March 12th, 1998]

We are talking about accessibility.

Not only that, work—

[Supply, March 12th, 1998]

We are listening to two young members. I am sorry they are playing politics like the others. It astounds me that they are trying to use the rhetoric of the mother house in Quebec City.

Pauline Marois was probably not impressed with the demonstration yesterday in which 2,000 young people and professors banded together to say, finally, that the Government of Quebec and especially the Quebec department of education were not doing their job.

One thing is sure, people understand the subject is not jurisdiction. We are not getting involved at all in the field of education.

[Supply, March 12th, 1998]

It is the same thing. The millennium fund is part of a strategy to offer equal job opportunities in the future.

[Supply, March 12th, 1998]

The public understands. Of course Bloc members are not pleased. I did not hear them talk about tax breaks. They are not saying anything about what the Minister of Finance did to give students a tax break.

[Supply, March 12th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, some people are worried about the next provincial election. They have so little to say about the millennium fund that they are targeting a possible candidate to the Quebec Liberal Party leadership.

Unlike opposition members who keep repeating the same old things, I want to talk about real things. I want to talk about young people, I want to make sure that this budget—

[Supply, March 12th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, I am somewhat disappointed with the rhetoric because, fundamentally, the most important thing is to ensure that we can reduce student debt loads. We are in a knowledge and information era and the important thing is indeed to ensure that we can establish an opportunities strategy. Therefore, we are not dealing with skills, but with accessibility.

I have a few short questions for the member. First, does she think that the loans and grants system is exclusively provincial? I already have the answer, but I want to see if she knows it.

Second, does she think it would be appropriate for Lucien Bouchard to go around trying to play politics with a bunch of cheques with the Quebec flag on them when 90 per cent of that money would come from the federal government? Does she not agree that her first priority is not the students, but in fact ensuring that Quebec's separation is promoted once again?

If she believes we should work toward reducing student debt loads and for greater accessibility, why does not she support the government in its millennium fund initiative? The very day it was announced, we saw what students thought of it, not people who have titles or who have infiltrated the system because of the separatists. What did students say? “We are not interested in the squabbles of Pauline Marois and others”. What are they interested in? In having access to that scholarship. They even asked unanimously that we stop this petty rhetoric because they agree with us on the scholarship issue. I would like to know what the member thinks about all this.

[Supply, March 12th, 1998]

But it is not contagious.

[Supply, March 12th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the member talks about a constitutional cancer in relation to the spending power. When he was a minister in Ottawa, his mentor, Lucien Bouchard, spent $1 billion on literacy. If the federal government had not used its spending power, there never would have been a national health system. We could not have invested in universities or in the student loans and scholarships program since 1961.

Does the member believe it is more important to invest directly in reducing student indebtedness instead of engaging in petty politics and working for Pauline Marois, who cannot do her job? Two thousand students and 2000 professors agree that she cannot do her job.

[Quebec Flag, March 10th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, on January 21, 1948, the National Assembly adopted the fleur-de-lys as the official flag of Quebec, and an order-in-council to that effect was enacted on March 9, 1950. The premier of the time made it perfectly clear that this flag was to be the flag of all the people of Quebec.

The fleur-de-lys is a symbol of the pride of Quebeckers, and their sense of belonging to a society which has developed within a context of respect for all cultures, and defence of the French language and culture.

The fleur-de-lys is also a symbol of a people whose duty it is to jealously guard this treasure of their society and to take great care that no government whatsoever will take it over for partisan purposes.

I repeat, it belongs, not to one party, but to all the people of Quebec. This flag is the symbol of past battles for freedom, for the defence of democracy, and for the determination of the people of Quebec to achieve their full potential within a North American cultural context.

Long live the flag of Quebec!

[Student Aid, February 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, Lucien Bouchard hid a few things from PQ militants last weekend.

Concerned as he was about scoring political points at the expense of the federal government, Mr. Bouchard forgot to tell PQ members that his government was about to tighten eligibility criteria for its own financial assistance program.

This, perhaps, explains the battle being waged by the separatist government against the millennium fund. Lucien Bouchard, looking like a clone of Maurice Duplessis, said “We are not interested in seeing the federal government helping young Quebeckers who want to continue their education, but give us the money, we will distribute it ourselves”.

Why did Mr. Bouchard not have the courage to announce that he would cut his own student loans and grants initiative? Unfortunately for separatists, the Canadian government has good news for young Quebeckers.

They will have direct access to federal assistance, so that they can continue their education. Our government does not need a dispensing counter managed by a separatist government that is about to cut its own programs.

This is where part of the taxes paid to the federal government go: directly to Quebeckers.