Mr. Speaker, I have nothing to add to what I said yesterday.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2000, with 54% of the vote.
Minister Of Human Resources Development May 29th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, I have nothing to add to what I said yesterday.
Minister Of Human Resources Development May 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to see that the members of the Bloc Quebecois now want immigrants to be welcome in Quebec. I am very happy to hear this. I would have preferred that they not attack the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration who, during the referendum, wanted them to have the same freedom of speech as that enjoyed by the hon. member for Bourassa.
The people who criticized us for allowing new immigrants to vote in the referendum are now complaining that both sides of the House can now express themselves freely. In the opinion of Acadians, those who, upon becoming citizens of all of Canada, regained the freedom they had lost in their native countries should not try to break up Canada.
Minister Of Human Resources Development May 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, that is always the rhetoric, talking about hostages, talking about prisons.
It is always the same thing. They are trying to frighten people. What happened in this House? What happened is that, like his colleagues, a separatist member of Parliament did not have the courage to say he is a separatist, preferring to call himself a sovereignist.
Minister Of Human Resources Development May 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, I repeated what the minister had said. He was referring to a comment about the fact that the hon. member for Bourassa is a new Canadian who came here, I imagine, as a refugee and was then granted Canadian citizenship. He is now exercising his democratic right to try to break up Canada. This did not please either the minister or myself, but he has a right to do so. Those are the rights given to those who become Canadian citizens. They have the right to espouse any cause they want.
I think that such freedoms are allowed in a country like Canada, and I am very happy to see that several other new Canadians from Quebec are sitting in this House, most of whom are on our side.
Employment May 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of the record of the government on job creation: 636,000 jobs. We have done it while reducing the deficit in relation to GDP from 6.2 per cent to 3 per cent this year.
On Monday in the Globe and Mail there was a big article saying people are running to buy Canadian bonds because they think it is the best investment they can make. Only a year and a half ago we had to explain to people abroad that Canada wanted to solve its problems. Now people recognize we are on the right track and they are running to buy new Canadian bonds.
The way the Minister of Finance is doing that, in two or three years from now there will be no more new cash requirements. It is better for them to rush to buy Canadian bonds.
Employment May 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, in the statistics published by Statistics Canada, it is very clear these jobs are after the deduction of the loss of other jobs. The net figures are 636,000 new jobs.
It is a very good record and we will keep working on it, as we are doing now. That is why we said we would reduce the level of unemployment. We went from 11.5 per cent to 9.4 per cent. With the policies of the Minister of Finance, approved by the government, we are doing better than any other country in the western hemisphere on that score.
Employment May 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, I can tell the leader of the third party what I said. I have the transcript. I said that in the last two and a half years we have seen unemployment go down, although not enough to my liking. I have said that many times in the House of Commons. I will not be happy until all people who want to find work find it.
In January 1994 we were at 11.5 per cent and now we are down to 9.4 per cent. The economy has created 636,000 new jobs in two and a half years, a record unmatched anywhere in the world.
Germany and France together have not created as many jobs as Canada was able to create in the last two and a half years. I wish we had created more. That is why we had this budget. It is why we managed to reduce the interest rate to four points below what it was a year ago so that there would be more jobs created.
As long as there are Canadians who want to work, the government will work to create jobs. We have not done too badly, 636,000 new jobs in the last two and a half years.
Minister Of Human Resources Development May 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, I simply stated that he is entitled to defend his ideas in Canada, and that there are not many countries that would allow that. If we were to start going back over unacceptable statements made about members of this House, there is one person who could be on his feet every day: myself.
However, I accept the political debate and the opinion expressed by an Acadian, a francophone outside Quebec, who knows that the separation of Quebec would endanger the cultural life of his fellow francophone citizens in New Brunswick or elsewhere in Canada. His feelings are true. I believe that he is describing a reality, which is that there is a member of this House who is an immigrant and who is working to break up Canada. That is something he does not like.
Considering that a member of the party across the floor from me said, not all that long ago, that people who were not born in Canada ought not to be entitled to vote in the Quebec referendum, we do not need the Bloc Quebecois' advice.
Minister Of Human Resources Development May 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, this is an opinion expressed by a minister concerning an elected member sitting legitimately in this House. He told the hon. member that he was preaching separatism in a country which had welcomed him. I think that is realistic. If the member in question wishes to say that he is a federalist, we will welcome him with pleasure, but he is a separatist. Is there any shame in being labelled a separatist, when a separatist is what one is? That is not shameful.
That is what the minister said. He is a separatist and a new Canadian, and he is working to destroy this country. He is entitled to do so, just as the minister is entitled to point out to him that he is a new citizen and involved in trying to destroy the country that welcomed him. He is entitled to do so. That is the beauty of Canada, to have absolute freedom.
There are a good many countries which would not allow new immigrants to work to destroy the country, but we in Canada have sufficient confidence in democracy to do so.
Minister Of Human Resources Development May 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, I am moved by the words of the Leader of the Opposition, by his sudden concern for the respect of individual rights.
The other day in Quebec, the Leader of the Opposition alluded to the leader of the government, the Prime Minister, as being an Ontarian, although I have had the privilege of sitting in this House since 1963, have served the people of Quebec and New Brunswick here in the House of Commons and have followed the francophones of Quebec for 33 years.
I think the Leader of the Opposition should first clean up the language of his own members, who are accusing federalists of being traitors to Quebec because they believe in Canada. The members of the Bloc Quebecois are not about to teach us a lesson in good manners.