Peter Milliken

[Law Commission Of Canada Act, March 27th, 1996]

Madam Speaker, I am so glad the hon. member for Kootenay East was able to clarify why at the beginning of speech he was asking all those questions about the bill. He wanted to know various details about the bill, why the minister was not doing this, why the minister was not doing that, why the bill did not do this, why the bill did not do that. We all know why he does not know the answers. He did not attend the committee meetings.

I am astounded the hon. member would say in justification for his failure to show up to discuss the bill in committee that what he did was put out a householder to his constituents about law and order issues. Why did he not put out one on his attendance?

I suggest that had he put out one explaining where he was when he was not at the justice committee discussing what he says is a very important bill, perhaps his constituents would have understood a bit more about his views on justice matters.

[Law Commission Of Canada Act, March 27th, 1996]

I hope it is.

[Department Of Public Works And Government Services Act, March 26th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, had I been here for the first vote, I too would have voted with my party. I am very pleased to do so on this second vote and be recorded as so doing.

[The Budget, March 18th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the 1996 budget maintained our social programs and tackled Canada's deficit.

On Friday the Reform finance critic tried to present a new and softer image. He said that the Reform taxpayers' budget would only cut $3 billion from transfers to provinces and $16 billion in total over three years and still balance the budget. The hon. member seems to have trouble with his addition and subtraction. He should watch out or one of his colleagues will cane him.

I checked the three-year budget presented by Reform last year. It clearly calls for cuts of $25 billion, $15 billion of which would come from social programs. Other cuts to eliminate the deficit were not revealed to the public.

Canadian voters are too smart to be fooled by the magic wands offered by the Reform Party. Its performance shows, first, that it cannot add numbers, let alone balance a budget; second, its numbers change from year to year; and, third, votes count not integrity.

No wonder the polls show that an overwhelming majority of Canadians trust the Liberal government to tackle the deficit, maintain social programs and build a strong, united country.

[Points Of Order, March 15th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, more questions have come my way about the presence in the gallery of the 25 cadets from No. 23 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Cadets and their officers, all from St. Catharines. Their officers are Captain Greenwood and Captain Jeffrey. I understand they are visiting Ottawa for three days on a citizenship tour.

[Privilege, March 14th, 1996]

As my hon. colleague says, fewer than 15 per cent spoke. Hon. members opposite like to rant and fume and put on pious airs that somehow the government is doing something it should not. In fact, the government is doing this to help hon. members opposite out of a difficulty.

If we did not use closure, Reform members would look as though they were not carrying the debate long enough if they let it go after four or five speeches, which is what they prefer to do. We used closure to give them a chance to say: "The government is awful for doing this to us. Now we will just sit down and let things go and let the government have its way". That is what they are really doing. We have seen it before and we see it today.

We look forward to the events at 6.35 or 6.40 p.m., when I expect that members of the Reform Party will suddenly have had enough to say on this subject, the question will be put and the House will adjourn until tomorrow.

I am sorry that hon. members opposite take such a cavalier view. I hope members of the Canadian public who will no doubt be watching their clocks at 6.30 p.m. will observe this behaviour on the part of the Reform Party and realize that all the drivel we have been listening to yesterday and today is so much crocodile tears and is completely phoney.

[Privilege, March 14th, 1996]

They all expressed their outrage. The hon. member for St. Boniface knows that when closure was used by the previous government and we found our time restricted, in almost every case we used up all the time available because we had so many members who were concerned and wanted to speak. But that does not seem to be the problem. They scream and howl that the government is doing something it should not but when it comes time to express their views at length, they seem to lose interest and the debate peters out.

[Privilege, March 14th, 1996]

My colleague, the hon. member for Hamilton-Wentworth will be spending the day here too. I expect there will be some members of the Reform Party here but the bulk of them do not give two hoots about this debate and they have gone home.

I know western Canada is an attractive place to go but still if they thought this motion was so evil, why are they not here tonight staying until 11 p.m. debating this motion? Why are they not expressing their outrage and concern? I know why. They are not outraged or concerned. What we have here is a lot of crocodile tears.

On Monday, March 4 let us look at the list of members from the Reform Party who expressed their great outrage at the fact that the government was using closure on that particular motion. We had the hon. member for Calgary Centre whom I have had the pleasure of quoting. The hon. member for Capilano-Howe Sound made a wonderful speech. His speech consisted largely of quotes, I may say from me, the hon. member for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell and the hon. member for Halifax. He had a wonderful string of quotes. Indeed, we essentially wrote his speech for him.

The hon. member for Edmonton Southwest was here and made a wonderful speech. The hon. member for Lisgar-Marquette spoke. The hon. member for Lethbridge charmed us with his utterances. The hon. member for Prince George-Bulkley Valley went on at length, and then as I mentioned, the hon. member for Kootenay East closed the debate down four and a half hours before it was due to finish.

There was a lot of time for them to speak. They had seven speakers. Each had a maximum of 20 minutes-

[Privilege, March 14th, 1996]

Hon. members opposite laugh but they do not realize that I will be here tomorrow for the day. It is a duty day for the hon. member for Kingston and the Islands and he will be here, Mr. Speaker, as I suspect you will.

[Privilege, March 14th, 1996]

Yes. We had a 30 minute bell and then we had two votes. In other words, the debate collapsed essentially at 6.40 p.m. Of course we had not debated the motion all day. In the course of the afternoon we debated another matter. We debated concurrence in a committee report until about 6.15 p.m. or 6.20 p.m. Then there was a brief debate. Two members opposite spoke. Then there was a 30 minute bell and then there were two votes.

We could have debated until 11 o'clock at night, but we stopped at 7.30 p.m. Why did we stop? Because the Reformers apparently were not opposed to this. Their right to speak was apparently being cut off, according to the hon. member for Calgary Centre, who used to be the Reform whip, but when it came time for them to continue speaking, they strangely ran out of speakers. Is it because it was so late? Do they not like speaking at night? What do they do at night? Why were they not here? I was here. I was ready to sit until 11 o'clock but hon. members opposite were not. Where were they?

Had they not come to Ottawa? Maybe they were still at home in Calgary. I do not know where the hon. members were.

Let me read another quote into the record. This was said just before the bells started at 6.40 p.m. I know the hon. member for Capilano-Howe Sound was one of those who spoke that day. I could quote him too. I would like to, I just have to find the place.

Let me read from the other speech of the hon. member for Kootenay East, that most pious of speakers from the Reform Party. He has that very deep voice and he is able to make it sound so convincing. I know some hon. members get carried away when they hear the hon. member for Kootenay East. Had I stayed in the House throughout his speech I am sure I would have been transported myself.

"This is a very sad way to start the second session of the 35th Parliament of Canada". In fact, as I recall he almost wept as he said those words. He said: "We can only hope that the people of Canada will not pay attention but will talk to each other and say it is really Liberal, Tory, same old story". He is quite a poet.

I could also go back in the same speech on page 270 of Hansard where he said:

I suggest that the government has shown absolute and total contempt for the people of Canada in the way it has conducted the affairs on this, the very first motion of the second session of this Parliament.

Yesterday that same member was pontificating in his grandest style when the deputy House leader came in and gave notice of closure on the debate we are discussing right now, in fact, the notice of the closure motion that we adopted earlier today.

The hon. member for Kootenay East was interrupted in the course of his remarks. As was recorded on page 666 of Hansard he was in the middle of his speech. The government House leader interrupted him with notice of closure and the poor hon. member for Kootenay East almost had a fit. He said: ``Mr. Speaker, that is absolutely outrageous''. I heard him on television. He was simply beside himself that this was happening and yet let us watch the clock today.

Mr. Speaker, I know you are prepared to stay here until 11 p.m. and so am I. I am really looking forward to hearing speeches from members of the Reform Party until late into the night. If they say their rights are being trampled on and that their right to express their opinion on this matter is being cut off, I want to make sure that they take full advantage of the time that is available until 11 p.m. to permit them to express their views.

If they are not prepared to use it on this motion on which they claimed such outrage on March 4, I hate to think how little there will be today. In fact, I would be willing to wager that by about 6.40 p.m. today they will stop. Do you know why? Because at 6.30 p.m. we cannot revert to the Government Orders that are called for today. As soon as we get past 6.30 p.m. they know they have used up the full government day and overtime after that is extra for a closure motion.

I do not think they have enough members here to carry the debate anyway because guess what, their members do not think this is important and they have all gone home. That is what I think has happened. I am not saying they are not here in the House, I just think they have gone home. I do not blame them but some of us are going to stay and do our duty tomorrow.