Gérard Asselin

[Kosovo, April 12th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order.

You were in the chair, and this member already had the opportunity to ask a question of my colleague. I would ask that you give me the chance to do so too.

[Division No. 363, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

When you called for those in favour and those opposed, more than five members rose. I therefore call for a recorded division.

[The Budget, March 2nd, 1999]

We don't want charity. We pay $30 billion in tax money.

[Supply, February 4th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, my question to the member is the following: does she find it normal that the Canadian premiers Canada have to come to Ottawa and get down on their knees to the Prime Minister to beg for money that is owed to them? That money belongs to us; it was taken from us by the federal government. We are asking the federal government to give us what is coming to us and to trust us with health care management.

[Supply, February 4th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, first I want to congratulate the previous speaker for her excellent speech.

I also want to take this opportunity to remind the Liberal members opposite, who think that members of the Bloc Quebecois are here this morning to cry over spilled milk, that 74 Liberal members voted for the Constitution in this House in 1982, even if it was to the detriment of Quebec.

I also remind them that, in 1993, Quebeckers sent enough Bloc members to Ottawa to form the official opposition, even if we are sovereignist. The same thing happened again in 1997.

What I find the most surprising is that, in 1995, Canadians from Vancouver to Montreal came to tell us how much they love us. What I hear today is not exactly what those people told us. They came to tell us. They came to tell Quebec's members to go on because they needed us in Ottawa, since we are the only ones to speak for the unemployed and the have-nots and to promote social programs. We are the only ones to move motions like the one today to protect our health care system and ask the government to put money back into social transfers. We are the only ones to protect them regarding transfers for education.

I ask the Minister of Finance to rise and tell me what is wrong in what I said. The Minister of Finance and member for LaSalle—Émard is solely responsible for this situation, which has forced ten premiers to come to Ottawa today and get down on their knees to the Prime Minister to beg for money.

The question I want to ask the member—

[Supply, February 4th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the member a short and straightforward question.

Does he find it normal that the Bloc Quebecois, a sovereignist party from Quebec, should be the one to defend the Canadian Constitution and provincial jurisdictions?

[Supply, February 4th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I have to say from the outset that I am very disappointed that the New Democratic Party has chosen not to joint the rest of the opposition to force the federal government to give back to the provinces the money it has taken from them.

When the present Liberal government decided to cut transfer payments, mainly for health care, it did not ask Quebec, Ontario or any other province what kind of cuts it should make. They were not consulted.

The government slashed transfer payments to the provinces, forcing Quebec, Ontario and the other provinces, still trying to achieve zero deficit, to impose radical health reforms, the results of which we see today. But, first and foremost, the primary responsibility belongs to the federal government. Quebec is still paying $28 billion in taxes to Ottawa, but receiving less and less services.

Of course I am very disappointed that the NDP has decided not to support the Bloc Quebecois on this issue, especially since it claims to represent the extreme left wing in this House. That party claims to be the great democrat, to speak on behalf of workers. It has ties to the labour unions. As a matter of fact, the workers of Quebec and Canada are the ones who use our health care system more and more. The demands of the Bloc Quebecois are supported by central labour bodies. I think the extreme left wing is not a good place to be in Parliament.

I want to ask my colleague from the NDP the following question: does he not think that the federal government should give back to the provinces, unconditionally, what it took from them, and let each province manage its own health care system?

The members of the National Assembly of Quebec are not a bunch of boy scouts. They are not a bunch of losers. They are capable of managing and they have a mandate to do so. I think responsibility for health care management belongs to the provinces, and the federal government should give them their money back so they can manage in a fair and equitable manner the health care services that Quebeckers and Canadians are asking for.

[Plane Crash In Baie-Comeau, December 9th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, on Monday, in my riding, a tragic plane crash in Baie-Comeau took the lives of seven people.

I would like to offer my condolences to the families and friends who are having to come to terms with this cruel fate and to wish the three survivors a speedy recovery. May they have the courage and strength to face this trial.

I would like to pay tribute to the courage of the rescue team and of the employees of the Héli-Manicouagan company. It is thanks to them that the three passengers who were clinging to the tail of the plane survived.

I must also pay tribute to the work of the professionals and all the volunteers who spared no effort to recover the victims quickly. Without the vigilance of the six-year-old girl who saw the survivors clinging to the tail of the aircraft in the river there might have been three more victims.

We hope this tragedy will cause the federal government to give thought to the dramatic consequences of cuts to air and emergency services in Baie-Comeau.

[Ice Breaking Policy, November 30th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive—Île-aux-Coudres ferry in the riding of Charlevoix is the only existing road link for islanders.

Is the minister planning to exempt this ferry from ice breaking fees?

[Ice Breaking Policy, November 30th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the ferry between Baie-Sainte-Catherine and Tadoussac is a vital and unique link between two parts of the riding of Charlevoix.

Can the minister tell us whether this ferry will be exempt from ice breaking fees and treated the same as the Quebec City-Lévis ferry, given its very numerous daily crossings and the fact that it is the only road link across the Saguenay in my riding?