Jean Chrétien

[The Economy, May 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I do not agree that the Minister of Finance is irresponsible. No minister takes his work more seriously than the Minister of Finance. No minister is more respected by the business community than the Minister of Finance. He has my full confidence.

The hon. member knows very well that something within our control which can be done on financial markets now is to make our country politically stable, which would do a lot for its economic stability. We are not the ones creating political chaos in the land.

[Federalism, May 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member said he will table a paper very soon. However, if the intention of the leader of the Reform Party is to reopen the constitutional debate, my answer to that is no.

Yesterday that was more or less the approach you took and on the second question you backed down. We will wait for your paper to see where you are.

[Federalism, May 25th, 1994]

In spite of the difficulties I always said that Canada is the best country. I am not down on Canada. It is the best way to convince everybody that Canada is still the best country in the world in which to live.

[Federalism, May 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I accept the responsibility. I said to everybody that talking Canada down like the hon. member is doing all the time by saying that nothing works in Canada is conducive to that.

[Federalism, May 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt that all premiers of Canada, including the premier of Quebec, want the country to remain together. I know when I met with them in December that we discussed that. They want to do what is needed to do that. Everybody agreed at that time that the best way was to provide good government and to look at the duplication that exists between levels of governments. Some western Canadian premiers made representation last week in different fields and we are looking into that.

When there are two or three levels of government in a country there is always a conflict of jurisdiction. It is inevitable but it is a system that works very well for Canada.

In countries like Great Britain and France in which there is only one level of government people want to have two or three levels to bring the government closer to the people. Everybody in Canada will recognize that with our federalism of today we have one of the most decentralized federation in the world, aside from perhaps Switzerland.

There is always a constant battle for adjustment. It is the dynamism of our federalism. We can adapt because there is a lot of flexibility in our Constitution.

[Intergovernmental Relations, May 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court ruled that telecommunications was an area of federal jurisdiction. So the government is only abiding by the Canadian Constitution.

Will it be possible to make administrative arrangements to satisfy certain provinces which control some elements of the telephone service? I hope we will be able to do so but there is certainly no duplication in this area because the Supreme Court has recognized very clearly that telecommunications come under federal jurisdiction.

With respect to manpower, the Minister of Human Resources Development is still discussing with the provincial governments at this time. We hope we will be able to make arrangements if necessary and I am glad to see that not only Quebec but also other provinces want better arrangements, and we hope to work out some kind of accommodation. Of course, what will be good for western Canada will also be good for Quebec and vice versa, and I hope that if everyone simply looks at the problem rationally instead of using it for political confrontation, we will be able to find a reasonable solution.

[Trade, May 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have discussed issues such as softwood lumber, the West Coast fishery and wheat on several occasions in the course of telephone conversations with the US President.

Yesterday, the minister addressed an important gathering in Washington and delivered the Canadian government's message, namely that we want free trade with the US to continue and to this end, we will play by the rules, providing the Americans do so as well.

[Trade, May 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, trade between Canada and the United States is huge. More than 75 per cent of our trade is with it. It is normal that we have some difficulties from time to time.

We have some cases at this time in which we are not happy with the slow movement of the Americans. We are respecting the rules and we expect them to respect the rules.

In the softwood lumber it has been established clearly that we are following the rules. We are completely competitive. We are not doing anything against either the GATT or the NAFTA. Not only that, the tribunal ruled three times in our favour on it.

On the question of wheat it is the same. We are selling wheat to them, for example durum wheat, for one reason: our wheat is better than theirs and American consumers know it. Seventeen senators in Congress said that they should not impose tariffs on Canadian wheat, but in the American system they are not as decisive as we can be in Canada. We have to put pressure there. That is exactly what the minister did yesterday in Washington and I am happy to see that he has the backing of the House.

[Trade, May 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I fully support the action taken by the minister in question. It was important to get across to the Americans that we were not at all pleased with what was happening in certain areas. With respect to softwood lumber, the dispute settlement panels have ruled three times in our favour. Yet the Americans have always appealed, which is not a good thing. The same thing has occurred in the case of wheat. We are respecting the rules of the game and we want the Americans to do likewise.

The minister, who I am confident has the support of all members of this House, wanted to make it clear to the Americans that we are prepared to play by the rules and that we hope the US will do likewise.

[Ethics, May 24th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to tell the hon. member that the minister has proceeded with appointments since he has been a minister and has been praised across the land for the quality of people he has chosen to occupy these jobs.