Jean Chrétien

[Trade, March 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, we make representations to US authorities on a regular basis. In the course of the conversations that I have had with the President of the United States in recent weeks, I have indicated to him that too much pressure is being applied in certain areas and that we are not completely satisfied with matters. I hope that this will produce some positive results.

Of course, considering that nearly 80 per cent of our trade is with the United States, it is normal to encounter the occasional irritant. However, we ensure that we make the best representations possible. I have to thank the Leader of the Opposition because when he was in Washington, he raised a number of issues of concern to all Canadians and he asked the Americans to treat us fairly.

[Peacekeeping, March 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, there will be a statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs later today on this issue.

I would like to inform the House that all the troops have been successfully taken out of Srebrenica. Tonight they will complete their mission very successfully. On behalf of all Canadians I would like to congratulate them. They were in an extremely difficult situation. They have protected the lives of 30,000

Muslims for a long period of time under extremely difficult circumstances.

I am very happy to report to the House that they are out of there.

I also want to say that a press release received just a few moments ago informed us that the Pope had met 50 soldiers from the Royal 22nd Regiment. His Holiness praised them for their efforts to maintain peace in the former Yugoslavia. I think we should also congratulate those soldiers who have gone through very difficult times and who have done an excellent job.

[Old Age Security, March 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I can certainly be no clearer than I was on the first question. It is quite possible that all three questions were prepared ahead of time, so he read them! I said we did not intend to cut old age pensions. Stop trying to scare people! I cannot be any clearer than that!

In a way, I rather enjoy seeing the Bloc Quebecois defending the Canadian status quo every day in this House. We want to introduce reforms, but they do not want us to change anything in Canada. They want us to keep Canada the way it is. We want to introduce reforms for the benefit of all Canadians, including those in Quebec.

[Old Age Security, March 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I want to make it clear that I have full confidence in the minister, who is working very hard to reform what needs to be reformed in this country. As Canadians we must ensure that we can once again give people on welfare and unemployment insurance the dignity of having a job. That is what the minister is trying to do now, and I think he is doing a very good job by consulting the provinces and all concerned.

I think there is no connection with what I mentioned earlier. Because of an aging population, we expect that the Canada Pension Plan will run into problems after the year 2000. Our government must start looking at these problems right away, and the minister is doing an exceptional job in trying to restore the dignity of Canadian workers.

[Old Age Security, March 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I said it before and I say it again, we do not intend to cut old age pensions, and those who insist on spreading these rumours are trying to scare people.

What we have to do is look at the serious problems we have in connection with the Canada Pension Plan. This is a very long-term program, and we know that in 2005 and 2010, it will be difficult to finance the program.

Since we want to do a good job, we are trying to anticipate the problems we will have when we form the government in 2010.

[Points Of Order, March 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk of the truth because there is some hypocrisy on the other side about this. There are many people who are double dipping and getting pensions from the military, or who have received bilingual bonuses before, and so on. Now that they are in retirement they try to attack other members of Parliament who have no other income but from being members of Parliament.

I am not in the mood to retract anything about the work of members of Parliament.

[Unemployment Insurance, March 9th, 1994]

I talked with Premier McKenna about this and other problems. He knows as everyone else knows that we have to have some discipline in the expenditures by this government.

We have discussed ways and means of ensuring our program of job creation moves forward so that people will not have to rely on unemployment insurance but will have the dignity of having a job.

We are collaborating to develop new ways of making sure people have jobs rather than having to rely on unemployment insurance benefits.

[Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, March 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I hear what the hon. member is talking about. I would like him to explain it to some of his caucus colleagues who are receiving pensions from the Alberta government. One of them is sitting just behind him, but he is not there at the moment. We would like to have examples from themselves too.

We said we would look into the pension plan. There will be a committee to review it. At the same time I say to everybody that members of Parliament today earn $64,000. I can understand the member knows that he will not be re-elected so he will never have a pension. I understand that. However perhaps those who have served in Parliament for a long time, with the type of salary they have received and being 51 and going into the market, should have a pension.

As for the double dipping, we are willing to look into that if they get a job in government. If it is a question of having the pension too early in life, as it was in the case of one of the members of the Bloc Quebecois who quit last year, we will review that.

At the same time I do not like the tone that leaves the impression members of Parliament elected in every riding who earn less than a school principal or manager of a hospital are overpaid and are not rendering a service to the public of Canada.

[Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, March 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I think this member thinks that he is not worth the pay we are giving to him.

[Government Expenditures, March 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it is very easy for the hon. leader of the Reform Party to realize what this government is up to. Look at what we have done so far.

Every cut that we put in writing in the red book has been made. Everything is in this book. During the campaign I said to look at page 111. By the end of the term it will have been fulfilled. If you look at the budget presented by the Minister of Finance, every one of these commitments have been met, not over a period of four years but over a period of four months.