Maurizio Bevilacqua

[Committees Of The House, December 1st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 83.1, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the second report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance entitled “Keeping the Balance: Security and Opportunity for Canadians”. This report reflects the input of literally thousands of Canadians from coast to coast and outlines the committee's recommendations for the 1998 budget.

Canadians approached this consultation with an understanding that economic growth and fiscal success are not ends in themselves but rather a means to improving the quality of life for all Canadians.

Our conversation with Canadians has allowed us to answer the question of what our approach should be for the challenges of this new era. To put it simply, Canadians want balance; not just a balanced budget but balance in government policies, in its goals and results.

Canadians want balance between the security offered by debt reduction and the benefits of investing in people, technology and research and development. Canadians firmly believe that health and education are not just items on a balance sheet but rather an expression of our core values.

Canadians have demanded accountability from the government, as well as responsibility from themselves. In “Keeping the Balance” we have tried to respond with the substance our fellow citizens demand as well as a budget plan they deserve.

[Committees Of The House, November 21st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present in both official languages the report of the Standing Committee on Finance, pursuant to the order of reference of Wednesday, October 8, 1977.

The committee examined Bill C-2, an act to establish the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and to amend the Canada Pension Plan and the Old Age Security Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. On Thursday, November 20, 1997 it decided to report the bill with amendments.

[Remembrance Day, November 7th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, next Tuesday Canadians across the nation will honour the brave men and women who have given their lives in the world wars, the Korean war and in international peacekeeping efforts.

They are our heroes and have left us a legacy we can be proud of. So it is right that we bow our heads on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to commemorate this ultimate sacrifice.

All across Canada we stop, we remember. In my riding of Vaughan—King—Aurora there will be parades, wreath laying ceremonies and a moment of silence.

I know that I will use that moment to reflect on the progress we have made as a nation and as a society.

Freedom and democracy, this is what Canadians fought for, died for and that is what we must never forget.

[The Deficit, October 31st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month the finance minister announced that the final deficit for 1996-97 was $8.9 billion. This is down almost $20 billion from the previous year and is the largest year over year improvement in Canadian history. However restoring health to Canada's finances is not an end in itself. It has always been this government's goal to build a strong economy and a strong society which provide Canadians with opportunity and security.

As our nation enters this new economic era full of challenges and choices, it is vital that we hear from Canadians about their priorities, values and expectations. As chair of the Standing Committee on Finance, I encourage Canadians to participate in the town hall meetings being held by their local members of Parliament. Your views are important to our committee. Let them be heard.

[Speech From The Throne, October 3rd, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday residents of Vaughan—King—Aurora gathered at St. Joan of Arc High School in Maple to discuss the Speech from the Throne and the government agenda for the next few years.

Residents were united in their desire for the government to stay the course on deficit reduction. They agreed that a balanced budget is essential to our nation's economic health. They approved of the government's plan to invest in key areas of the economy such as trade and technology, but they urged caution, calling for wise investments that produce results.

The residents also applauded the government's continued resolve in the area of youth unemployment and took the opportunity to call on local businesses, community organizations and all levels of government to continue to work together to create opportunities for youth. Residents also discussed the importance of preserving and improving our health care system and expressed their support for an efficient, affordable and effective pharmacare and home care programs. They want the federal government to continue to exercise leadership to ensure Canada remains a strong and united country.

[Supply, September 30th, 1997]

Madam Speaker, I noticed with a great deal of interest the Reform Party's motion:

That this House condemn the government for making their 50/50 election promise on any future surpluses without adequate public debate as to the optimal size of government, taxes, and debt, thus threatening to repeat Canada's 27 year old history of irresponsible spending, creating high debt, financed by high taxes, causing high unemployment.

I want to remind members of the Reform Party of something and point out the word consultation. I do not know where they were on June 2 but I thought the people of Canada made quite a statement. They re-elected a majority Liberal government. Hon. members may think what they want but we are back on this side after a vigorous debate precisely about this type of issue during the election campaign. The debate spoke to the renewed confidence that Canadians have in their government.

As I said earlier in my preamble to one of the questions I posed to the hon. member from the New Democratic Party, indeed things in this country are getting much better. That we are in a position today to even talk about this particular subject matter, namely how we are going to split the surplus, is only because Canadians and this Canadian government had the vision and made the sacrifices necessary to be in this position.

I also want to bring something to the attention of the Reform Party members. They need to understand that for the first time in a long time Canadians have a great deal of confidence in their government.

I was sitting on the other side of the House in opposition during the Mulroney Conservative government era. I saw Canadians being taxed to death, with no benefits to show for it at the end of those 10 years.

When we took office we had certain objectives. We had to get the fiscal house in order. In large measure we have done that. As I said earlier, we are going to have a balanced budget. Second, we were going to restore honesty and integrity to government. We have done that.

We also set some very good objectives. We said that we would invest in areas which would generate economic growth and increase our productivity as a country, understanding full well that in order to compete in an international economy we need to have the type of regulatory framework which speaks to the decisions which will generate wealth in order to generate the revenues which will result in the type of social programs to which Canadians have grown accustomed.

What are our priorities? Youth is a priority. I have dedicated my political career to advancing the cause of youth. When I see that the government has invested $2 billion in Canada student loans, which is a 57 percent increase over five years, I am quite proud of the fact that as a government we realize that accessibility to education is extremely important in increasing job prospects for youth. There is a direct correlation between the type of education a person has and the type of job they get.

We also invested heavily in technology. We understand the multiplier effect that investing in technology has. Right here in Ottawa, in Kanata, and in Cambridge we have been able to build a highly skilled, highly paid workforce that is producing value added products. We have helped to transform the economy into a new technologically advanced economy which is generating employment in key areas, areas in which we are quite competitive.

There is a strategy in place. We inherited a financial mess. We have cleaned it up. Now we are entering the second phase and we need to identify our priorities. What are they? What do Canadians hold sacred? Budgets and throne speeches must reflect Canadian values. What are they?

One of them is health care. We made an announcement just before the election campaign when we found out that the financial situation in Canada was even better than we expected. What did we do? We reinvested in health care. Why was that? Because that is a part of the fibre of Canada.

What else did we do? We reinvested $350 million on youth employment projects. Why was that? Because we know that the future of this country belongs to our youth and we need to provide them with the right opportunities.

How did we do that? Did we do it the old fashioned way? Absolutely not. We invested in areas where there was growth. We identified 33 key areas of growth in our economy. We entered into internship agreements with those sectors of the economy and now young people have a job and a future.

Gone is the old way of pork barrelling. Gone is the old way of throwing money at problems without getting results.

[Supply, September 30th, 1997]

Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the hon. member on her speech.

There seems to be a perception on the other side of the House that things are not just right. Perhaps the reason why I believe that things are getting better is that I was here as an assistant and as a member of Parliament under the former Conservative government and I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that things are indeed getting better in this country.

I remember as a Canadian born in 1960 when I came to this House there was a $42 billion deficit. Now we are entering a new era in Canadian public policy where we will have the first balanced budget in a long, long time. This is lost on the New Democratic Party whose members think somehow productivity gains and a competitive society is built simply by spending.

As an Ontarian I remember the Bob Rae years with a great deal of sadness. We saw firm after firm leaving Ontario. We saw the competitive edge of a once very prosperous province vanish.

We had to do a great deal of work to re-establish a competitive economy that speaks to modern day values, to the fact that we live in a global society. We cannot be isolated as the New Democratic Party would like us to be.

What a difference the past four years have made to the lives of so many Canadians. Almost one million new Canadian jobs have been created as a result of some of our measures. I want to ask the hon. member, if she were to define the optimal conditions for economic growth, would they not be low inflation rates and elimination of the deficit? Do these not spur economic growth?

[Supply, September 30th, 1997]

Madam Speaker, first I would like to congratulate the hon. member on a heartfelt speech, one that raises some very interesting points about the direction in which our country is going.

I was also very pleased to find out that the hon. member believes that now is the time to engage in serious debate about which direction we are going to take.

Madam Speaker, I want to bring to your attention, since the hon. member is a new member in this House, that the Liberal government has used the consultation method, including prebudget consultation meetings, as well as a number of meetings across the country on social security review to modernize and restructure Canada's social security system. We have made headway and positive change has occurred.

I want to ask the hon. member if his method of representing his constituents will be to hold townhall meetings? For example, we know that in the very near future we will be consulting across the country on the next budget.

Does the hon. member believe that every member of Parliament should participate in that process? We are in a very fortunate position in this country today, as a result of the measures and the fiscal responsibility exercised by this government, to begin to look at new ways and new programs and perhaps a new style of economics since we may in fact be heading for the first time in a long time toward the elimination of the deficit. Does the hon. member think it is the responsibility of members of Parliament on both sides to seek public input on this prebudget consultation period and to hear from him where his constituents would like to see our government go.

[Speech From The Throne, September 26th, 1997]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his question. He was one of the most active members of the human resources development committee which I had the honour to chair in the last parliamentary session.

I am quite surprised that the hon. member did not view some of the changes we made to the employment insurance program as improvements to the program. As the hon. member is fully aware, there have been great changes in the Canadian economy and with change also comes change to programs and institutions as they too must reflect the changing dynamics of our economy.

In reference to lowering the premiums, the hon. member knows we have lowered premiums each year. If we followed the Conservative government's legislative timetable, the premiums would literally be going through the roof at this point.

I draw the attention of the hon. member to the actuarial report that basically stated that this surplus is required in case of an economic downturn to offset any of the strain that that may place on the federal treasury.

I want to also make it very clear that the reason why we have this so-called surplus is that we have learned from the mistakes of the previous government. What the previous government did during the last recession was increase the premiums precisely at the time when firms and employees required a relief in premiums.

These issues need to be honestly put forward in this Chamber and outside as well, not to mention the reality that unemployment has indeed dropped in this country in large measure due to the effective partnership we have been able to create with the private sector. Also, there is the fact that we have the fundamentals for the recovery well in place.

[Speech From The Throne, September 26th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to congratulate you on your role. As everyone in this House knows, you are one of the brightest minds in parliamentary procedure this House has ever seen. You rightly deserve your position.

I would also like to thank the residents of Vaughan—King—Aurora for their vote of confidence in returning me to this House. It has been an honour and a privilege to have served them since 1988 and I look forward to serving them for many more years, working with them as their voice in Ottawa.

This is a unique Parliament standing on the threshold of a new era. In his remarks this week, His Excellency the Governor General drew attention to the fact that we are the last Parliament of the 20th century and the first of the 21st century. An arbitrary boundary? An important milestone? If nothing else, it is an opportunity to pause and assess the state of our society. From that perspective all of us in this House have been entrusted with an important duty.

We have been given the mandate by our electors to act as stewards of their interests as we cross the threshold into a new age. The decisions we make and the actions we take in the next four years will shape our society for decades to come. More importantly, they will decide what kind of nation Canada is as it begins a new century.

The throne speech demonstrated that the government has a clear vision of where it would like to take this country in the course of this current mandate. The speech provides a clear outline of where the government intends to dedicate its efforts and most importantly, it unveiled an agenda that responds well to the suggestions and aspirations voiced by the residents of Vaughan—King—Aurora. They have made themselves heard on issues like national unity, technology and the new economy. They have participated in town hall meetings on health care, on the environment and on social programs. The government knows where the people of Vaughan—King—Aurora stand on such issues.

It has been my pleasure to report to the House on 36 town hall meetings to date and a school speaking tour that included over 25,000 young people and literally thousands of meetings with groups and individuals.

The Speech from the Throne with its emphasis on fiscal responsibility, with a promise to balance the budget by 1998-99, on job creation with investments in key areas like technology, on quality health care with a plan to help Canadians who care for family members at home and on youth employment with a commitment to continue our successful internship and summer job programs to create real opportunities for our young people.

These are the kinds of initiatives that the people of Vaughan—King—Aurora are looking for from the government. I am confident that this Speech from the Throne will meet with their approval as we gather for our first town hall meeting on the 36th Parliament on October 1.

With that in mind, I want to take a minute to compare the throne speech that opened the 35th Parliament and the one delivered on Tuesday. In 1994 the words were cautious, the commitments solemn. But this one was different. It was full of hope, optimism and excitement about what the future holds. The Governor General spoke of a country in control of its finances, ready to reinvest in its society and optimistic about its future.

As someone who as worked on the issue of youth employment for a number of years, I am encouraged by the fact that for the third time in three months youth employment is up. This is the first period of sustained youth employment growth since May 1990.

The government's commitment to youth goes back to our days in opposition. In 1992 in the face of the indifference our predecessors showed toward youth issues, our party established a Senate-Commons committee on youth. Through national public hearings we met with young people, teachers, parents, social workers and members of the business community. The end result was a final report entitled “Agenda for Youth” which laid out a number of steps the government would take to assist young Canadians.

Many of the recommendations we made in that report were incorporated into our party's election platform in 1993. Following the election we formed the government and the youth proposals in our platform were acted on immediately through the unveiling of the youth employment and learning strategy.

The strategy has three components: the youth internship program, youth service Canada and an improved Canada student loans program. This three pronged approach has proven successful.

Since 1994 youth internship Canada has helped nearly 50,000 young people secure positions and gain professional experience. Our figures show that two-thirds of them will find a job within one year of leaving the program, usually with the employer they interned with. Sixty-eight percent of youth service Canada graduates either returned to school or found meaningful work within six months of completing their placement. Over 60,000 youths participated in the 1997 student summer job action. In all, youth internship Canada, youth service Canada and the student summer job program have helped over one million young people since 1994.

Our internship programs have a 78 percent success rate. Right now our total investment in federal youth programs is approximately $2 billion. We have introduced a number of measures designed to build on our commitment to helping Canada's youth. The youth employment strategy will give over 110,000 young Canadians work experience opportunities. The 1997 budget included measures designed to increase federal support for post-secondary education by approximately $137 million to make post-secondary education more accessible to young people.

These programs and measures are only part of the solution. As I said earlier I have spent a great deal of my political career listening to Canadians across the country. I have found that the most innovative solutions come from young people. For this reason I encourage members of Parliament on both sides of the House to seek input from Canada's youth as we try to address the various challenges they face.

I would like to remind the House of something the governor general said in the throne speech. He said “Our challenge is to ensure that no Canadian is left behind as the country moves forward”.

Our country is moving forward. The deficit is vanishing, interests rates are low, unemployment is decreasing, productivity is up and there is a new sense of optimism. We must all move forward together. When certain groups are shown to be more vulnerable than others, society has a responsibility to lend a helping hand.

In our first mandate we began the work of dealing with youth unemployment. By renewing our mandate I believe Canadians are saying in part let us get back in there and finish the job.

As a member of Parliament I have also seen success at the local level. Last term I was one of the founders of the Vaughan Technology Enterprise Centre, a project that identifies young entrepreneurs with a knack for high tech and teaches them the necessary skills to compete in the business world.

Team Canada, a youth service Canada project, placed young people in local businesses seeking to expand their export potential. The youths explored emerging markets and designed a database of identified opportunities.

I am confident that by working together and by pooling our resources and by committing to nothing less than success we will overcome this challenge. Our youth will look to the future with confidence and enthusiasm as they should.

As a postscript I note with interest that a number of young people were elected to this House in the last election. As someone who first entered this Chamber at the age of 28, I salute their courage and their determination. I encourage them and all members to join together to deal with the many challenges facing our youth.