Jean Chrétien

[Policy On Lobbyists, June 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock we will table the bill and answer questions after the bill has been made public.

[Peacekeeping, June 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the best way is to consult members of Parliament who have been duly elected by the people of Canada.

[Peacekeeping, June 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the criteria are very simple. We come to the House and ask the

views of members of Parliament. The basic approach is common sense. We look at the situation and we decide if it makes sense to carry on.

We are there as peacekeepers. We have to make sure we are there under the umbrella of the United Nations. When the United Nations proposes rules that should apply against some nations we respect them. These are the criteria we respect. It is very simple. The basic criteria is what makes sense. I do not think to carry on with the war in Bosnia makes any sense.

[Peacekeeping, June 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Reform Party for his kind words.

I was in Bosnia and found the situation there terrible. I think that everybody there wants peace. I had occasion to meet with the soldiers, who are doing a fantastic job. By the way, they are a regiment from Calgary. I talked with them. In talking with the citizens there, I found that everybody wants peace.

If we were at this time to lift the arms embargo, the war would start again. We believe that we have to be there to maintain peace. I said to the Prime Minister that they have to sit down and negotiate an honourable peace for everybody. Lifting the arms embargo would be conducive to more war.

We have troops there, as do the French and the English. It is easy for the United States Congress to lift the embargo. They do not have soldiers in the field. We do.

I want to make it very clear that we are there to maintain peace, but if the war starts again, we will have to review the decision. We have had two votes on this issue here in this House of Commons and I am grateful that the members sustained the position of the government.

After consultation with my colleagues the President of France, the Prime Minister of Great Britain and others during my visit to England and France, I came to the conclusion that lifting the embargo was the wrong decision. We want peace. The best way to keep peace is not to arm the people but to foster a situation where there will be real disarmament and to have a negotiated settlement between the people who live there and who want to live peacefully.

[Human Rights, June 1st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, whenever I met representatives of the Chinese government, I always raised the problem. I did so in Seattle and I talked about it to the press then and I will do the same thing.

However, it is quite clear that the best solution for the western world is to open China to western values and in that way the Chinese will have no choice; as happened in the Soviet Union, when people became aware of what was happening in the west, the Berlin wall fell. The same thing will happen in China.

[Human Rights, June 1st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, this government's policy has always been clear: we deplore regimes that do not respect people's freedom.

We have told the Chinese government this at every opportunity. However, there is no international boycott of China. All countries in the world do business with China. We believe that the best way to open that society is to open it to the world. After trading extensively with Western countries, the Chinese themselves will recognize that Western values for the protection of human rights are the best. That is the best way to proceed, because if China is completely isolated and cut off, there will be more and more abuse.

We believe that the method used by this government of condemning those people for what they do but continuing to do business with them, as all countries in the world do, and to offer them North American, Canadian or European technology is the best way to bring them to accept western values. Completely isolating them is not the way to do it.

[National Forum On Health, June 1st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, we did not reduce our funding at all. No cuts in transfers to the provinces were made in the Minister of Health's budget.

The position which we put forward during the election campaign and the Minister of Finance adopted in his budget is that we are going to maintain transfer payments at the level they were when we came to power.

[National Forum On Health, June 1st, 1994]

Absolutely not, Mr. Speaker, because there is a clear and unequivocal commitment on the part of this government to free and universal health care across the country. More and more -and even the provinces recognize this- Canadians want this health system which is the envy of the Americans and others to be maintained.

We spend 9 per cent of our gross national product on health care, as compared to 14 per cent in the United States. We want to make sure that the objectives of this system, which has been working well but has developed a number of problems like any other system after a few years of operation, are maintained in the interest of all Canadians.

[National Forum On Health, June 1st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, this is a national forum in which we want stakeholders to participate in order to determine what exactly the long term goals are for the people of Canada in the area of health. We are presently consulting with the provinces, but we do not want this forum to turn into a federal-provincial squabble. There is a health ministers' meeting scheduled, to deal with day-to-day

problems. We do want the provinces to participate, but above all, we want all other stakeholders who want to make their views known to participate in the forum. This conference must not be confused with the meeting of federal and provincial health ministers, who get together on a regular basis.

Five provinces made recommendations in anticipation of their participation. The Minister of Health said she had approved some of these proposals. The provinces then submitted more proposals, which we are currently examining. But the fact remains that this process cannot replace the health ministers' meeting.

[Fisheries, May 31st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the regulations were proclaimed and are in force today.

After a quick check all ships under flags of convenience or pirate ships have left the area because they do not want to face the wrath of my excellent minister of fisheries.