Jean Chrétien

[Bosnia, May 29th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will meet with his NATO colleagues and defend Canada's position that the time has come for the United Nations to redefine the peacekeepers' mandate.

As I said earlier, the work to be done by our troops and the resources available to them must be reviewed so that small groups of peacekeepers are not as exposed as they are at present.

Through our ambassador to the United Nations, we outlined our position. I spoke with Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali yesterday to express Canada's views before he submits a new plan to the Security Council tomorrow. This position will be defended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the meeting of NATO foreign affairs ministers tomorrow.

[Bosnia, May 29th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to state that the Canadian population is appalled by the events mentioned by the Leader of the Opposition. As you know, all the troops engaged in the humanitarian work that needs to be done in that troubled part of the world are doing an exceptional job, and I would like to take this opportunity to tell the soldiers posted over there and their families that the government and Canadians are very concerned, and that we will make every effort to support them.

We are currently in contact with most of the 10 Canadian hostages. As members know, the same thing happened last year, and we managed to have the hostages released after two weeks. The current situation is no worse than last year's. We are now making arrangements to talk with the Serbs. We may be in a slightly better situation than the French or the British, because our soldiers, those who were seized are only a few kilometres away from the base at Visoko. We hope that, once the situation calms down, our soldiers will be able to return to their base, and to safety.

In the meantime, we spent the weekend in contact with our allies who have troops over there to try, through diplomatic means, to bring things back to normal in that very complex part of the world. I spoke with the British Prime Minister, the French President and the Secretary General of the United Nations over the weekend. In particular, we want to change the troops' mandate because of the imbalance between the resources at their disposal and the positions they must take. The mandate must be redefined to make it difficult for any one of the warring factions over there, especially the Serbs, to engage in such hostage takings.

[Infrastructure Program, May 18th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, clearly when you are holding the Pan American Games, you have to have the necessary equipment. The City of Winnipeg and the government of the province decided to use this opportunity to build themselves a facility to meet both requirements. This will be a good thing if it means saving some money.

[Infrastructure Program, May 18th, 1995]

Twelve million dollars is currently available, according to the President of Treasury Board. The Government of Manitoba decided to reallocate certain approved projects, cancel them and replace them to create an additional $3 million, bringing the total to $15 million.

As I said earlier, the remaining $5 million will come from the money allocated for the preparation of the infrastructures needed for the Pan American Games. This adds up to the $20 million approved by the government. It has nothing to do with the hockey team. It is a matter of giving the City of Winnipeg and the Government of Manitoba their choice of priorities.

It is as if Calgary, Edmonton or the hon. member's city chose to have arenas. This was the choice of the City of Winnipeg. The mayor of Quebec City decided clearly, with the first project approved, to put all the money available to Quebec City and the region around it into a convention centre, which was already well under way. This was the local officials' priority, and we accepted it with pleasure.

[Infrastructure Program, May 18th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, as regards the allocations for Manitoba, certain projects were left undeveloped, and $12 million is available at the moment.

[National Infrastructure Program, May 18th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, we have not received one letter or one phone call from anybody from Quebec in the case of the Nordiques. Never. There was no timing arranged for that.

The people of Winnipeg and the business people of Winnipeg might or might not buy the hockey team. The city of Winnipeg and the premier of Manitoba have decided to take the money allocated for infrastructure for Manitoba and put it into an arena, exactly like the city of Edmonton, exactly like the city of Calgary. The city of Vancouver decided to invest its money in a sewage treatment plant. The city of Toronto is investing in a conference centre. The city of Mississauga is investing in an arts centre.

We respect the will of the citizens of Canada. What is wrong with that? We are flexible enough to listen to all the premiers of Canada.

[National Infrastructure Program, May 18th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I think that, with respect to the Quebec government's proposal to the Nordiques, no one asked us to invest in an arena as we are doing in Winnipeg. Even back in January, the first project we approved was a convention centre for Quebec City, in which we invested $26 million and which led to accusations by the Reform Party that we acted too quickly for the benefit of Quebec City.

Mayor L'Allier is reported in today's press as saying that Quebec City's priority is not an arena but a convention centre. And we respected the wish of Quebec City's separatist mayor. I wonder why the members of the Parti Quebecois and the Bloc Quebecois are against our respecting the wish of Quebec City's separatist mayor.

[National Infrastructure Program, May 18th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, with the provincial government and the municipal government, we are investing in an infrastructure which is an arena. We are not investing any money in the hockey team, certainly not.

The private sector in Winnipeg has decided to raise funds to buy the hockey team. We do not know whether they succeeded. In any case, the Premier of Manitoba and the mayor of Winnipeg decided that the money allocated for Winnipeg and for the Province of Manitoba would be used to build a new infrastructure, an arena.

In Quebec City, they opted for a convention centre. In Vancouver, they decided to invest in a water treatment plant. We respect the priorities of the provincial governments, but we know that, if construction is going on, people are working, and that is money well spent. That is why we introduced this infrastructure program, which, by the way, has been a huge success in Canada.

[National Infrastructure Program, May 18th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I just made it very clear that the $15 million comes out of the money allocated to the Province of Manitoba. The province decides, as was the case in Quebec and Ontario. Ontario built a brand new convention centre; it also built a new cultural centre in Mississauga; Vancouver used all the allocated money for a new water treatment system. All these decisions were made by the provincial governments.

In the case of Manitoba, the province decided to use the money available to build a new infrastructure, a new arena, just like Edmonton and Calgary decided to invest substantial amounts in improving the arenas in Edmonton and Calgary.

There is no double standard here. There is only one standard; this money comes out of the budget. We respect the preferences of the provincial governments. In the case of Quebec City, Mayor L'Allier made it clear that he was not interested in an arena. He wanted a convention centre, and they will get their convention centre.

[National Infrastructure Program, May 18th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, we have an infrastructure program, and any decisions made under this program are made jointly by the municipalities involved and by the provincial government.

When we introduced the first Infrastructure Program, the Quebec government and Quebec City decided to build a convention centre in Quebec City, and the federal government invested $26 million. At the time, people said they might need an arena. The mayor of Quebec City, as reported in the media this morning, said no, Quebec City's priority was a convention centre.

In the case of Winnipeg and the Government of Manitoba, $15 million had not been allocated, and they asked us to allocate them for the building an infrastructure in Winnipeg, an arena.

There are several precedents in this respect. In Alberta, the government decided to invest $5 million in the arena in Edmonton and $4 million in the arena in Calgary, all federal money.

We respect provincial jurisdictions. We make the money available to the various governments. A total of $15 million comes from the Infrastructure Program. As we all know, the Pan-American Games will be held in Winnipeg two years from now, and they need certain facilities, so they want to combine the facilities for the Pan-American Games with the possibility to build an arena. So if the city and the province want a new infrastructure, they can take the money that is there. There is no new money for this program. This is money allocated to Manitoba which had not yet been distributed.