But do not come and ask to have the portion of the money paid by the federal government put somewhere for utilization later on. If you are out, you are out.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2000, with 54% of the vote.
Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances January 21st, 1994
But do not come and ask to have the portion of the money paid by the federal government put somewhere for utilization later on. If you are out, you are out.
Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances January 21st, 1994
If the hon. member does not want to contribute we can make administrative arrangements to make sure he is not contributing and we will save-
Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances January 21st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I do not think that we are about to have an election. The next election will be probably four or five years from now, so none of us is about to benefit from this pension until we have completed this term.
Therefore I do not see the urgency in that. We said in our red book that we would review the pension plan and work on it. We have four years to settle this before anyone can qualify for this plan. It is a problem that we will deal with and we will have legislation before the House.
Even if we were to pass the bill today it would not have effect until four and a half years from now. Perhaps the hon. member can wait a bit and we will have a bill in the House of Commons. If he does not want to have a pension plan applying to him I hope he will vote in a way that he will not benefit from it. I do not want members of Parliament to be in a position where they vote against a bill and after that collect.
Cigarette Smuggling January 21st, 1994
I know the Minister of Foreign Affairs would have been happy to answer the question, but unfortunately this matter does not fall within the jurisdiction of his department.
The hon. minister will surely be happy to answer questions during the course of a debate. This being said, I have nothing further to add to what I said earlier. Our goal is to treat every person in Canada equally because we believe everyone is equal in this country and that no one should have a special status.
Cigarette Smuggling January 21st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I am not certain if the question was directed to the secretary-
Cigarette Smuggling January 21st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, in fact the commission that has reported is working on this problem at this time.
An interim report earlier in the year said that it was possible to implement self-government for the native population in Canada without changing the Constitution and I agree with that.
Cigarette Smuggling January 21st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know that last night the Minister of Finance was discussing this problem with the provincial finance ministers so it is fresh in our minds. We were talking about it yesterday. I spoke about it in this House. We are developing a solution with the provincial governments and co-operation is required not only on taxation but also on policing; the Solicitor General has already met his colleagues or discussed this issue with them. This is an example of the federalism which this party advocates.
It may take a few days more but it is better to do it in harmony with everyone. If at some point the federal government must use all its powers and impose a solution on the provinces and if the Bloc Quebecois asks the federal government to assert itself and ignore any objections from the provinces, well, perhaps we will do that.
Cigarette Smuggling January 21st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, it is a little surprising that I should have to rise in this House and say that I respect the different jurisdictions in Canada, that there is a federal government and provincial governments and that I do not want to act unilaterally. I am being criticized for not being firm enough and not imposing decisions on the provincial governments. If the member for Roberval is suggesting to the Prime Minister and the federalist that I am that the federal government should act unilaterally, that is very welcome from the member for Roberval. I will take note of it and use it on occasion.
Cigarette Smuggling January 21st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I said that we were discussing it with the provinces at this time. The Minister of Finance has met his provincial counterparts. I am glad to see that the Government of Ontario has taken a position.
Basically some details remain to be discussed and I hope there will be some movement but some provincial finance ministers said that they did not agree. The Minister of Finance is discussing this problem now and, as I said, we want to take the necessary action to end cigarette smuggling which is costing Canadians a tremendous amount of money and giving the impression that people can live in Canada without obeying the law of the land. We will act to enforce this country's laws.
Cruise Missile Testing January 20th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, we want to have a debate here in this House on this subject very soon. There will be an announcement made later today or tomorrow about it. We want to review that policy as we said, but we want to have the input of everyone.
We will have a debate in the House of Commons. We intend to put the question of policies on national defence for debate and we will have a short debate on the decision to be made. There was a commitment made last August or September, but we want to review that situation. There will be a full debate in this House of Commons. I am sure the members of the committees will want to receive the views of other groups which would like to make representations before the final decision is made.