House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2000, with 54% of the vote.
Access To Information October 5th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, the Privy Council receives requests, as provided for in the act. Some documents cannot be released under the act, under the regulations. This act was passed by Parliament. Internal communications between ministers, in any government, are not made available to people from outside. That is normal. The Privy Council is, however, instructed to release what must be released under the act.
Manpower Training October 5th, 1995
Especially since they keep saying we are empire building. Again, I want to say that we have just cut 45,000 jobs within the federal government. That is not because we want more power and more bureaucrats. The minister eliminated 5,000 jobs in his own department to make his operations even more effective and less costly for the people of this country. We are accused of empire building, when we are being extremely accommodating.
Manpower Training October 5th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, the minister just explained very clearly something that is quite straightforward. A number of departments were amalgamated to put all human resources together. The powers given to the minister are the same as they were in each department separately.
The bill clearly says that no new powers have been given to the minister. What we are trying to do is use certain decisions and administrative agreements, which will necessary vary from province to province because some are more interested than others, as a way to make adjustments appropriate to the needs and wishes of each province.
This is federalism at its most flexible, and there is no-
National Defence October 5th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, I have confidence in the Minister of National Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff. We are now discussing a problem that arose in Somalia before we formed the government. We will try to get to the bottom of this. We took the initiative to have an inquiry on the subject, and I think that so far, the minister, the Chief of Defence Staff and particularly the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence are all doing an excellent job.
Peacekeeping October 5th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, I believe I can see how desperate they are.
The member talks about the past. Yes, the past was last week, when the Minister of Foreign Affairs made a very important speech at the United Nations recommending the modernization of the United Nations. What the hon. member should do to complete his education is read the speech of the minister.
Peacekeeping October 5th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, the mandate we accepted in February after a debate in the House of Commons was until the end of this month.
We respected the mandate. The UN now says it does not need the Canadian troops because it wants to reduce the number. We are happy because if we bring them back to Canada they will be better off.
Canada is always available when people are in very difficult circumstances, when there is misery and when people have been killed to protect families, children and so on. We have always been there. We will do it again and there will be a debate in the House of Commons.
The peacekeeping mission was created by the Canadian government. The peacekeepers who are so well known in the world were created by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, my predecessor as leader of the Liberal Party. It was done at the time of the war of Great Britain and France against Egypt. He had the guts for the good of the peace of the world to say to the British and the French that war had to stop.
It is in the tradition of Lester B. Pearson that we are making our decision in relation to the UN.
Peacekeeping October 5th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, Canadian soldiers in the former Yugoslavia for the last three years have performed an excellent duty. That is recognized by everybody.
The United Nations decided the battalion in Visoko is not needed any more because it is within an area completely controlled by the Bosnian government. We will repatriate its members with pleasure and thank them for a job extremely well done.
We were there because the UN asked us to be there. Now the UN says they do not need to be there any more, and so we will bring the troops back to Canada.
For the first time ever we have had debate on this in the House of Commons. I have seen the Reform Party change its position two or three times since the beginning. For our part we have always been behind the UN and behind the Canadian soldiers who are considered the best there.
Now the mission is over. We are happy. The troops will be back in Canada with the satisfaction of having accomplished an excellent job in Visoko. We are all proud of them in Canada.
Manpower Training October 5th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, this is quite a pleasant about face. Yesterday, I was being criticized for forcing all businessmen to be on my side. There are some who do not agree with us. That is what democracy is all about.
I am not asking everyone to be on our side. At the moment, we are trying to give the Minister of Human Resources Development the legislative means to ensure programs are better co-ordinated. At present, we are trying with the provinces, including Quebec, to find ways to decentralize and administer them so that Canadians may benefit directly from them.
I do not think our plan is to build a bigger public service in Ottawa. We proved that recently by cutting 45,000 public service positions in the federal government. If we were here to build empires, we would not be laying off 15 per cent of the workforce.
If we can deliver services to people better than we do at the moment, we are always ready to look at the options, but our objective is to ensure that regions in Canada with more unemployed receive essentially the same benefits as regions that are well off.
Our job, as the Government of Canada, is to ensure that well off regions and prosperous citizens are able to help those, across Canada, in the Maritimes as in Quebec, who are, unfortunately, in the difficult situation of being out of work at the moment.
Manpower Training October 5th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Human Resources Development said it clearly a few seconds ago. He said that the bill before Parliament at this moment is aimed at amalgamating government agencies that were under different departments, and the powers delegated to the minister at this moment are exactly the same as those in previous legislation.
At this point, with all the provinces, including Quebec, we are trying to make administrative arrangements to reduce duplication. The minister, in fact, signed a number of agreements with the Government of Quebec over this past summer.
Industry Canada October 4th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, perhaps we should wait until we buy them before deciding who will maintain them.