Jean Chrétien

[Human Rights, June 12th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Yeltsin will not attend the G-7 meeting. He will participate in the political meeting of the G-8 on the second day. The two meetings are different. The first is the meeting of the western world's seven most industrialized nations; the second, on the following day, will be a political meeting of the group of eight. Mr. Yeltsin will participate in this meeting.

Economic discussions will be over. Mr. Yeltsin may choose to raise economic issues affecting Russia or other countries at the second meeting. I cannot stop him from raising the issues he wants. However, the G-7 economic summit will be over when we meet with Mr. Yeltsin.

[Minister Of Canadian Heritage, June 12th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I have answered the question. All the documents on this matter are public. Those who made contributions have been issued receipts, and their names will appear on the lists published. In any case, the names have already been given to the press and to journalists. Everyone knows who was at the dinner. There is nothing hidden, and so I have nothing to add.

[Minister Of Canadian Heritage, June 12th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, again that is a completely false accusation. Every contribution to the Liberal Party, the Reform Party, the Bloc Quebecois or the Conservative Party, which is above $100, requires a receipt to be given to that person. This list is made public every year. Every contribution which is above $100 is published.

When I was in the House the other day the minister gave the list to her. She has not read it yet. If she needs more information we have a procedure. She can table her request in the House of Commons and if it is within the responsibility of the minister, the request will be met as soon as possible. We have nothing to hide because every contribution to the Liberal Party is known by anyone who wants to know.

[Code Of Ethics, June 12th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, to a very long question there is a very simple answer.

There is no cover up of any kind. The leader of the Reform Party, the third party, which is about to become the fourth party in Canada, knows the names of everyone who was invited and contributed. It is all well known. It is all public information. We have nothing to hide. We gave the list of the people who were present at this party. There is no cover up. They have the names of the people and the amount of money that was contributed. That is the way we have raised money for political parties in Canada for many, many years. That is the way the Reform Party does it all the time.

The leader of the Reform Party has a lot of those kinds of dinners all the time with a lot of people who contribute to his own party.

[Code Of Ethics, June 12th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, when we go to any fundraising activities we meet people who do business. I do that regularly, ministers have to do that regularly, and members of Parliament do that regularly. We meet with the Canadian people and some contribute to the good functioning of the democratic institutions of Canada. Everything is public.

The Reform Party is proposing at this time to make it even more open than it is today. It would like third party groups to finance while they are not running for office, to favour one cause or the other.

We say if people want to be elected to Parliament and have influence, they should run for a political party and raise the money according to the laws of Canada. That is exactly what this party is doing, the Bloc Quebecois is doing, the Reform Party is doing and the Conservative Party is doing. They go to the people of Canada and ask for contributions. The contributions are made public; everybody has access to these lists, and anyone can check at any time of the year. The list for last year will be published in the next few days. The Reform Party will check the list of people who gave to us and we will check the list of those who gave to the Reform Party.

[Code Of Ethics, June 12th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister was absolutely right when she said it is the responsibility of the Prime Minister of the country to make decisions about the ethics of his ministers. I am

the one who named them, and I am the one who has the responsibility to dismiss them if ever I decide to do so.

In the case of the minister of heritage, I said very clearly last week that all he did was have a fundraising activity that was according to the laws of Canada. The names of the people involved are public. Everyone has admitted they have given money to the Liberal Party, just like money is given to the Reform Party and to all other parties. Everything is public.

I discussed that with the ethics commissioner, who is there to advise the Prime Minister. The final responsibility is the Prime Minister's. I always take it. I never run away from my responsibilities.

[Unemployment Insurance, June 12th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, since this Parliament has been in session, we have been used to hearing the official opposition make similar predictions that have never come true.

I would simply ask the hon. member to wait until the bill is introduced in the House of Commons. Our objective is to help people on low incomes find jobs and to give them a chance to get back into the labour market. That will be the objective of the reforms proposed by the Minister of Human Resources Development.

[Unemployment Insurance, June 12th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that in the past 19 months since we came to power, the unemployment rate went down from 11.5 per cent to 9.5 per cent. We think we can do better. We must keep working on creating jobs. With changes like those we want to make in existing social programs in this country, we wish to provide an incentive for people to work instead of receiving social benefits. Social program reform is based on a desire to create jobs and help people to find work instead of staying home, to give them back the dignity of being able to work, which is something I am sure they all want.

[Unemployment Insurance, June 12th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the government made a commitment to reform social programs. There will obviously be transfers from one program to another. At this point, all I can say is that this fall, we will have a bill on the subject. The minister is consulting with his cabinet colleagues and his provincial counterparts. Hon. members will know what the bill is about as soon as it is ready this fall.

[Criminal Code, June 7th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, if there is general agreement, and if the fastest route is to table a bill, I have no doubt that that is what the Minister of Justice will want to do.

On the other hand, the member asked whether we would consider having a parliamentary committee review the matter; this could be another alternative. We might want to combine both. The Minister of Justice is going to take this under advisement and report to the House when he is ready.