Jean Chrétien

[Quebec, April 25th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I do not have to speculate on that. I just hope that the Parti Quebecois and the Bloc Quebecois will have the courage to ask the very clear question: Do you want to separate from Canada? The answer is going to be no, and there will be no need for any other referendum.

[Quebec, April 25th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the only thing we have to tell Quebecers at this time is that the project being proposed is the separation of Quebec from Canada. Everybody in Quebec knows that Quebecers do not want to quit Canada. Even the Leader of the Opposition said that two weeks ago.

[Quebec, April 25th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I said earlier and I repeat that if there is separation some day, to have Canadian citizenship, a Canadian passport, Canadian currency, a Canadian economic union and Canadian political union it is going to be the Parliament of Canada and the provinces that will decide. I am glad the leader of the third party mentioned that the real goal of the Bloc Quebecois is separation. They do not have the guts to say they are separating.

[Official Languages, April 25th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I said earlier that the situation is not ideal and that it has considerably improved. The government's policy is to put pressure on all federal government bodies and offices to use both official languages when providing services to the public and to public servants in the national capital region.

[Official Languages, April 25th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, we received a copy of the Official Languages Commissioner's report today, and it says that the situation improved in 1994. I do not deny that we must constantly strive to improve the situation and that we must continue to monitor it. We have made staggering progress over the past 20 years in this area, and I am happy to see that the commissioner stated that 1994 was the best year yet.

[Illiteracy, April 24th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, part of the work we have given to the Minister of Human Resources Development in the reform of unemployment insurance and social programs is for him to review this in the next months to come. There will be an element to make sure that all Canadian citizens can benefit from our policy so that training and gaining abilities in learning is key to finding jobs in our society.

It will be part of the discussions we will have in the House when the reform of the social programs and transfer programs to the provinces will be discussed. The hon. leader of the NDP will have a chance to comment at that time.

[Illiteracy, April 24th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, education is more a problem for provincial governments but we have national programs to help.

There was a specific problem coming from the federal government for that program which is financed on a yearly basis. Everybody knows the government is facing some difficult budgetary problems. I will look into the matter and see what can be done.

[Immigration, April 24th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, his words are being taken out of context. The Liberal Party has always been recognized as the pro-immigration party in Canada. In my speech last night to international parliamentarians from all parts of the world, I reaffirmed Canada's values, which include tolerance. This is one of the qualities that our party has prized for a very long time.

[Canada's Credit Rating, April 24th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, just today, the International Monetary Fund released a report indicating that Canada's economic performance is one of the best in the world. Three weeks ago, when I was in Washington, I had the opportunity to meet the director general of the IMF who congratulated me on the Minister of Finance's budget.

One agency did make a negative assessment, but the vast majority of credit rating agencies and observers, and particularly the markets, gave good marks to the Canadian government, following the budget tabled at the end of February.

[Canada's Credit Rating, April 24th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, Moody's announcement was met with skepticism since the very next day the value of the dollar increased on international markets, while interest rates decreased.

All the other observers greeted the budget with enthusiasm when it was tabled, back in February. Moody's was not in a good mood on that day. These things happen. While the mood changed for that agency, it remained the same for the rest of the world.