Jim Abbott

[Immigration Act, February 7th, 1995]

Then he will just say: "I am a refugee".

[Immigration Act, February 7th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, I was interested in the comments of my colleague just a minute ago. I want just by way of comment to expand on them a bit and then get his response.

It is rather interesting that in the last election in the wisdom of the voters of Ontario they elected 98 out of 99 members to this House from the Liberal Party, but I wonder who really speaks for the people of Ontario. The reason I ask that question and wonder why this issue has remained dormant as far as the follow-up from the members from Ontario is that with respect to what my colleague was just saying, there is federal funding to help with immigration settlement.

I am working from documents provided by the government which show that $90 million goes to the province of Quebec to help with the settlement of immigrants. There is $110 million that goes to the province of Ontario.

It is relevant to note the proposed immigration levels for 1995. In Canada the total immigrant and refugee intake is proposed to be 190,000 to 215,000 of which Quebec is only going to take 40,000. That is relatively interesting because if I divide 40,000 into 200,000 for a percentage it comes out to significantly smaller than the number that were accepted.

With respect to immigration by metro area in 1993, Toronto alone accepted 28.3 per cent of the immigrants coming to Canada which equalled 71,964 people. Why there are no Liberal members speaking up on this particular issue is beyond my comprehension. Clearly the Reform Party has to do it for them.

I do not really understand how they can take the figure from 1993 of Toronto accepting 71,964 immigrants and Quebec only accepting 40,000 in 1995, not quite half, and Quebec is guaranteed $90 million for the settlement of immigrants, whereas the entire province of Ontario only gets $110 million. There is obviously a lack of voice for the people of Ontario in this Chamber, particularly in the area respecting immigration.

I wonder if my colleague has any further comments he would like to give on this.

[Petitions, February 6th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, I am also very encouraged to present one last petition which arrived on my desk. It was an absolute surprise to me. It consists of 66 pages with over 1,400 signatures.

The petitioners ask for a national, binding referendum by all Canadians on the issue of capital punishment. That is the position of the Reform Party and it is certainly my position. I concur completely with this petition.

[Petitions, February 6th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, additionally, I have received a petition of 11 pages with 144 signatures.

I note it is from a very small area in my constituency where they are very deeply concerned about the restrictive firearm controls that are being proposed by the government. Again, I concur with it.

[Petitions, February 6th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, I also have a very voluminous petition of 107 pages with 1,207 signatures. The petitioners are drawing to the attention of the House the Canadian Mineral Industry Federation's proposal of a 10-point plan of action to keep mining in Canada. Again, I concur very vigorously with it.

[Petitions, February 6th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, I also concur with a petition where the petitioners pray that Parliament ensure that the present provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada prohibiting assisted suicide be enforced vigorously and that Parliament make no changes in the law that would sanction or allow the aiding or abetting of suicide or active or passive euthanasia.

[Petitions, February 6th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, I have a couple of petitions. The first petition is on the issue of abortion.

The petitioners pray that Parliament act immediately to extend protection to the unborn child by amending the Criminal Code to extend the same protection enjoyed by born human beings to unborn human beings. I concur in that petition.

[Taxation, December 13th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I rather get the impression that the finance minister along with the rest of his party did not have a clue what they were voting on this morning. What has happened to the Liberals and the finance minister since they sat on this side of the House?

Perhaps I could help the finance minister remember that on April 27, 1993 he said: "In the real world outside Parliament Hill political revolution is under way". He said: "Canadians are demanding an end to the volleys of taxation that issue from the nation's capital every spring". What does he think of his own words today?

[Taxation, December 13th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, today in this House the Liberal government summoned members from all over Ottawa so they could smother debate about the fact that their government is considering tax increases. How can the finance minister claim his government is willing to listen to Canadians when he permits his government to smother debate about the issue in this House?

[Committees Of The House, December 13th, 1994]

Scare tactics.