Jean Chrétien

[Employment, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I made it clear yesterday that the role of the government is to prepare a climate for the private sector to invest. That is exactly what we have done.

A big problem for the business community was that the interest rate spread between Canada and the United States was too wide. This has been completely eliminated and it is a big achievement for all of us.

It was reported this morning that the economy has created 579,000 new jobs since we formed the government. For a failure that is not bad.

[The Economy, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the deficit is being handled in a very gentle way.

[The Economy, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the rest of the answer has been given by the whole caucus.

[The Economy, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance has done very well so far.

[The Economy, February 29th, 1996]

For every point in reduction in the interest rates, the treasury is saving $1.7 billion a year. The finances of the country have improved tremendously. That is the judgment of the market. Of course, it will never be enough for the Reform Party because it wants to get rid of medicare and the social network that protects Canadians. We have a balanced approach.

We can run the affairs of the nation and at the same time make sure that people are not going into the streets as a result of a government that does not care for them.

[The Economy, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, two years ago in this House the hon. member was complaining about the level of interest rates in Canada compared to the United States. The level of interest rates between Canada and the United States today for the short term is exactly the same.

[Federal-Provincial Relations, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, we are working and will be working with the provinces to ameliorate the federation for the 21st century. We put forward, on our own initiative, some propositions that seem to have been quite well received by the premiers and the provinces.

I hope the Government of Quebec will look objectively at these propositions which are aimed at making the federation work better. In doing so, everybody will benefit from these initiatives, particularly the people of Quebec.

[Federal-Provincial Relations, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, improving federal-provincial relations is a matter of public administration. We decided to improve the situation.

I had the opportunity to discuss the matter with the premiers, during our trip to Asia for instance, and everyone agrees that the time has come to improve the federation. This is a plan that we put

forward unilaterally. We will hold a federal-provincial conference, which I hope the premier of Quebec will attend. We will review all the possibilities and find a solution that will allow us to restore Canada's political stability, thereby promoting economic growth.

[Cross Canada Referendum, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I have just said that the throne speech focussed on the real problems of Quebecers and all Canadians, that we spoke of job creation, that we challenged business to come up with jobs now that the Minister of Finance and this government have managed to clean up public finances. Those are the real problems.

If the member is talking about the referendum threat, the matter is very clear: let him tell us that there will be no referendum in Quebec, and political stability will return, jobs will come back to Quebec and prosperity will reign anew in the city of Montreal.

[Cross Canada Referendum, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I am of the same opinion as the Premier of Quebec, who is asking people to attend to public finances, to work to create jobs. This is what Quebecers want at the moment. This is what the speech from the throne proposed.

We proposed that we create jobs, especially for young people. We have proposed a program to improve the federation. I hope the Leader of the Opposition will take the time at least to read this part of the throne speech. It seems he read the word "referendum" in the throne speech, when it was not there.