Peter Stoffer

[Fisheries, September 30th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite obvious that the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has difficulty with this question. The question once again is for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Will he recommit to this House today the contractual agreement that this government signed with the fishers of Atlantic Canada and Quebec to maintain the TAGS program until May 1999?

[Fisheries, September 30th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. When asked to have a judicial inquiry into the current and past practices of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, his response was that an inquiry would be a waste of time and money.

If he fails to hold an inquiry, his portfolio will soon be reduced to the minister of oceans. This government promised written agreements to maintain the income supplement known as TAGS until May 1999, but without consultation it ripped up this agreement which will now expire one year earlier in May 1998.

Will the minister please tell the House that he has recommitted to maintain the TAGS program to its promised contractual date of May 1999?

[Supply, September 30th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to ask the member this one question again.

Is he saying that the film industry of Nova Scotia should not get any assistance? Is he saying that 40,000 seasonal workers in Atlantic Canada should not get any assistance? Is he encouraging them all to move to Alberta? That is not the agenda of Atlantic Canadians, sir. They would like to live and work in their own communities and they would like to work with governments at all levels to assist them and their families to stay where they are.

[Supply, September 30th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, it is amazing how we get this warm fuzzy feeling when we hear the Reform members talk about their plan for Canada.

I hear the name Peggy Witte of Royal Oak Mines in Yellowknife and here he is using her as an example of a proud business person in Canada. Must I remind him that she and she alone was the one who caused the great mine strike and eventually the death of those nine miners who were in there.

It was her labour actions and it was her attitude toward the workforce, those workers in Yellowknife, that caused all this. What she wants—and this is for the member of the Reform Party to understand—is for workers to work as low as possible with fewer health standards and lower working standards than anywhere else in Canada.

It is amazing to hear him talk of the Reform Party and taxation. Every time I go by a Bingo hall in my riding I think of Preston Manning and the Stornoway club. If he wants to set an example, he should lead by example. The leader of the Reform Party was the one who indicated that if he moved into Stornoway he would put a Bingo sign on it. He would put a for sale sign on the car and would refuse the $49,000 stipend that he receives.

What does he do? Not more than two days afterward, he said he consulted with the members and Canadians. He never consulted with us. He should be leading by example if they want to stand up here and talk about taxes.

As well he said the government should not assist small business in any way. How does he expect a company in the northern outreaches of Newfoundland or in the outskirts of Nova Scotia to compete with those companies in central Canada when their markets are so far away?

My question to the hon. gentleman from the Reform Party is what is he going to do to help us in Atlantic Canada because of the fact that Atlantic Canadians did not even allow them in the door during this election.

[Canada Post, September 29th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to light the current crisis concerning the negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. It is due to government interference that this situation has developed into the state it is in now.

I refer to a memo that describes a meeting between the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and the president of the Canadian Direct Marketing Association. According to the memo the minister suggested that the government might use conciliation to delay negotiations, blame the unions for a strike and then introduce back to work legislation within eight days of any strike action.

This strategy by the government and the management at Canada Post makes a mockery of the collective bargaining process. It suggests the conciliation process was never intended to resolve the major issues and is tantamount to denying the postal workers their legal right to strike.

I suggest to the minister that he remove the threat of back to work legislation and allow the union and management to seriously negotiate a collective agreement.

[Speech From The Throne, September 25th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, my comments and statements will be brief. It is amazing that the Liberals can predict the weather now. Winter has come early to Ottawa as this is the biggest snow job throne speech I have ever heard or seen.

I remind the members of the Liberal Party that in 1956 my mother, father and six children immigrated to Canada. We did not have to pay a head tax to immigrate to this country. That is how good it was back then. Under the current policies it would have cost my family $8,000 to immigrate to this great country and he is talking about what a great society it is and how great and wonderful it is. I would like to see him answer to my parents or any new immigrants coming to this country who will have to pay $8,000 for a family of eight to immigrate so they could receive the opportunities he has so eloquently described.

The Liberal Party should also be thanking all those millions of people they have placed in poverty, especially our children, under their scorchers policies. They are following the Reform right down in a rush to the bottom. They are ripping up labour contracts and denying people their basic rights. May I remind the member from Ontario that when he denies a child sustenance or food or anything that is called child abuse. When they take that sustenance away from millions of Canadians it is called balancing the budget.