Forestry  Mr. Speaker, I believe as a government we should work in partnership with neighbours around the world to ensure that our commitment to sustainable development is fulfilled wherever possible.

Indian Affairs  Mr. Speaker, if my hon. friend would care to read it, this is a very important component of the red book. We are committed to devolving and getting rid of the Indian Act in a morally and pragmatic manner over a number of years. That is what the non-native community wants. That is what the native community wants.

Provincial Byelection  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased by the preoccupation of the leader of the Reform Party. I am happy he wants to make a contribution. If he wants to make a contribution he should support the policies of this government in favour of bilingualism.

Provincial Byelection  Mr. Speaker, the best way to sell federalism in Quebec is to have a good, efficient, honest government in Ottawa.

Bosnia  Mr. Speaker, what the Minister of Foreign Affairs said last week is the position of the government. As a country we have the third largest contingent there. We have been at every peacekeeping mission around the world. Some countries have nobody there and it is a good occasion to send some people.

Violence Against Women  In November, Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada published the findings of a survey of 12,300 women across Canada. The results are frightening: one woman in two has been the victim of violence at least once since the age of 16 and one in ten has feared for her life. In my riding, the situation is even more serious because there is no women's shelter.

Apprenticeship Programs  Mr. Speaker, co-operative programs are an approach to technical and technological education which is flourishing in Canada. In this approach students go out from their base in school to gain experience in the workplace. However, another approach, apprenticeship programs, is doing very poorly here.

Post-Secondary Education  Mr. Speaker, recently the Students Union of Nova Scotia forwarded to me a recommendation that federal education transfer payments be made on the basis of the size of provincial student populations. Presently federal funding for post-secondary education is based on the overall population of each province.

Excise Act  Mr. Speaker, it is fair to say a reduction in the excise tax alone, disregarding anything else in lowering the price of a commodity would obviously make it more attractive to the marketplace. The hon. member's premise, however, is that having reduced the excise taxes it is hurting business.

Excise Act  Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of conversation since the lowering of the taxes on cigarettes that the government is losing money. Taking into consideration the fact that 75 per cent of the cigarettes smoked in Quebec were contraband and 35 to 40 per cent in Ontario were contraband, could the hon. member explain something concerning the money we are supposed to lose out of taxes?

Excise Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to mention that the marking of individual cigarettes was a Guelph based idea. It came from a gentleman named David Kennedy who is not the city treasurer, I would note. He is an individual citizen who is working very hard along with my constituency to find positive solutions for our problems in government.

Excise Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a few comments. One is to thank the hon. minister for the action taken and to review what happened that led to this. This was a genuine needs driven exercise. Society had been getting out of hand. We had models set up on street corners. We had big money being made.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have a petition wherein the petitioners point out that there is an extreme amount of violence on both radio and television. They deplore the fact that violence is portrayed by the use of foul language or physical acts and is in fact appearing in an increasing kind of way.

Questions On The Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

Immigration Act  moved for leave to introduce Bill C-219, an act to amend the Immigration Act (visitors' visas). Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to present this bill amending the visitor visa provisions of the Immigration Act. The bill was presented in the past Parliament. The bill would permit the Canadian relatives of visitors to place a surety with the Government of Canada prior to the application for visa by the non-Canadian visitor.