Jean Chrétien

[Transfer Payments, February 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, if the provinces asks us to stop paying, we will be glad to oblige.

[The Budget, February 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I said the Minister of Finance would bring in a budget very soon. It will be a very responsible budget.

When we talk with the provinces they know that the federal government has to do what is needed to control its deficit. They will benefit if we control our deficit because the Canadian bond rating will be better for everybody. They have an interest just like us that we do very well in the next budget.

Everybody knows that 3 per cent of the GDP for the deficit is a very reasonable level. I had a discussion yesterday with the chancellor of Austria who has exactly the same goal as we have in Canada.

[The Budget, February 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know how the hon. member's arithmetic works. If we do not spend and we give tax points, the deficit remains at exactly the same level. If we are not collecting and we are not paying, it is exactly the same. You should have checked that before asking the question.

[The Budget, February 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I just want to tell the member that he should wait to see the budget. We have set some extremely clear goals and we will meet them all.

Since I have the floor, I would like to applaud everyone who voted in the by-elections yesterday and all of the candidates from all parties who ran. In particular, I would like to congratulate the three Liberals who won.

[National Defence, February 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the minister of defence just gave a very clear explanation. If I heard him right, his peers decided to award that individual the decoration. That will not prevent the committee from asking him the appropriate questions when he comes before the commission.

[Byelections, February 14th, 1995]

Resign and we'll have a byelection.

[Pension Reform, February 9th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, there was a commission that looked into this problem not long ago and reported. It said members are really underpaid for the work they have to do. I agree with the commission.

This pension plan was established a long time ago. I have been a member of Parliament for 32 years this April and I have seen members of Parliament who had a very difficult time adjusting

to life afterward. I am informed that there are a lot of former members of Parliament who were in this House two years ago who are having a difficult time, some of them 58, 59 or 60 years of age, finding another job because they were in Parliament 15 years and cannot make the transition to private life very easily.

I am not about to play politics with it. We will be fair to members of Parliament. I ran on a program and it was written there that it will be at least the minimum we will announce before the end of this month.

[Pension Reform, February 9th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, in order to be courteous to the hon. member, I would would not like to see the bill passed before March 13. That will be the day she will qualify for the pension.

The bill will be dealt with. We made promises in the red book which will be kept. There are some people who want us to move further. We are discussing that at this time.

However, there is one thing I would like to say to all members of Parliament and to the public. The salaries of members have been frozen for years. Members of Parliament work very hard and are not very well paid. Many school directors and chiefs of police and so on are making much more money than members of Parliament.

I am not one to try and score political points at the expense of people who try to serve their citizens well as members of Parliament.

[Pension Reform, February 9th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, first I thank the hon. member for Beaver River and other members of the Reform Party who attended the installation ceremony of the Governor General yesterday.

I would also like to thank the member for Laurier-Sainte-Marie and the other members of the Bloc Quebecois who attended this ceremony.

It was a sign of respect for the institution. They did what is expected of all members of Parliament; they displayed good manners.

As far as the bill is concerned, there will be legislation very soon in the House of Commons. It will be announced either before or at the same time as the budget.

[Government Appointments, February 7th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Callahan has been a journalist all his life. He has been the editor for many years for newspapers in St. John's, Newfoundland. It would be very difficult to find someone better qualified to serve in information services like the CRTC than a person who has worked all his life as a journalist.

I would like to say to the hon. member who talked about political parties that I remember some months ago members of the Reform Party asking us to call byelections. There will be three byelections on Monday. We will see how much support they get.