House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2000, with 54% of the vote.
Election Act April 26th, 1994
So, if they do not agree at this time-
No, no; that is it. Because the 54 members from the Bloc Quebecois have staff working for them who are paid by the federal government to deal with problems concerning the federal government, and they should not be promoting the separation of Quebec using federal funds.
Election Act April 26th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member can promise me that not one single member of the Bloc Quebecois or their constituency office staff will take any part in the election, that they will carry out their duty as members of Parliament and remain in Ottawa during the election, then I too will stay in Ottawa. That is a promise.
Election Act April 26th, 1994
And that would not cost a fortune. I can assure this House that I have no intention of abusing my privileges as Prime Minister of Canada during the election campaign. I will respect the wishes of the people of Quebec. Of course, opportunities will arise for me and my ministers to express our views. But do not worry, we will not go overboard. However, we will continue to represent the government, and as such, we have the right to speak in any province during an election. We will avail ourselves of that right. I think
that, unlike Mr. Parizeau, Mr. Johnson does not need the support of the federal party to win the election.
Election Act April 26th, 1994
Good. I will certainly find opportunities to let the people of Quebec know that it would be disastrous if the separatists were to be elected.
Election Act April 26th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I have not read the report in question. Are you afraid that I will go and campaign in Quebec?
The Economy April 26th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, it is all come and go in the committee and make the recommendations and get the recommendations. We would be happy with that. That is why we have committees. It is very easy to make a big statement here.
Whenever I suggest areas where we could cut, members of the Reform Party say we should not cut. They should make up their minds. They are obsessed with only one or two programs, such as bilingualism. They would not reduce the deficit with that one. Later on when we are faced with those who want to separate from this country they will blame me because I did not want to have a policy to keep the country together.
The Economy April 26th, 1994
Okay. Do members want us to stop transferring money to-
The Economy April 26th, 1994
Good, some members opposite are applauding. Do members want us to scrap old age pensions?
The Economy April 26th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, we are looking at all the expenditures. If the committees want to make more recommendations we will be delighted to see them but there are some principles, some things we will not agree to cut.
We will not scrap medicare in Canada even if members ask us to do that.
The Economy April 26th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, to answer the question, it is something that we are working on all the time.
When we look at the budget, we indicated that we are working to reduce substantially the deficit and we are confident that the deficit in relation to GDP will be 3 per cent at the end of three years. We are doing it on a constant basis.
For example, the minister of immigration cancelled all citizenship judges, thus saving millions of dollars.
Still today I am waiting for the member's list on where to cut. Whenever we propose a cut he says it is not the right one, that it should be somewhere else. I received complaints from people in his province because we had to cut national defence, for
example. It is not that easy to do. We are doing our best. We have a plan that we were elected on and we will deliver the goods.