Business Of Supply  Madam Speaker, I am delighted to take part in the debate today. I would like to commend the hon. member for Crowfoot on his comments. I did not know until he spoke just now that he was formerly a member of a law enforcement agency. I would like to say that in my years as a practitioner of law, both as a defence counsel and as a prosecutor, I worked extensively with members of various police departments; municipal police in Halifax and Dartmouth and the RCMP, and I have great respect and admiration for them in what is a very tough job.

St. Patrick's Day  Irish people, like my family and those throughout this land, have made a significant contribution to help keep Canada whole. In the mid-1800s thousands of Irish immigrants fleeing famine and poverty came to Canada for a better life. Many settled in Nova Scotia and the Annapolis Valley and helped make it the very special place it is today. To paraphrase a famous saying, it is on a day like today when we realize there are only two types of people in the world, those who are Irish and those who wish they were Irish.

Canadian Foreign Policy  Malnutrition, the lack of democratic rights, the denial of basic human needs and the 17 million refugees in 1991, in addition to the 30 million displaced people, prevent us from turning a blind eye to the inappropriate development of the southern hemisphere countries, as our reality will be affected if only with respect to immigration and the environment. Most developing countries were hurt by the economic crisis in the current global climate. In the 1980s, the reduced terms of trade were accompanied by the debt crisis and the overexploitation of natural resources to resolve this crisis.

Canadian Foreign Policy  They prospered tremendously but corruption and mismanagement set into the Czarist regime and finally some of the people started immigrating to the United States. In 1874, when the first Mennonite people came to the United States, they brought new strains of wheat along with them which were used pretty well until the 1930s.

Canadian Foreign Policy  About two hours ago the Minister of Foreign Affairs met with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress under the presidency of Oleh Romaniw to discuss such matters as political issues, technical assistance, trade and economic issues, consultations with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and immigration issues as they pertain to Ukraine. This is the kind of input that we welcome, not only input through parliamentary standing committees but meetings such as the minister had just prior to my speaking here.

Canadian Foreign Policy  My constituency of Matapédia-Matane is as vast as an entire country. My question is this: Why is it that new immigrants to Canada usually settle in the large cities rather than in the regions? Is it because the unemployment rate is higher in our regions, or is there some other reason?

Canadian Foreign Policy  In the matter of human rights, again Canada has a loud voice and is a champion for better human rights both at home, as we have heard day after day in the responses of the minister of immigration to certain sentiments that we do not share on this side of the House about welcoming people to Canada, and in our efforts to encourage other governments to respect human rights where it is not the case in their own countries.

Immigration  Hear, hear.

Canadian Foreign Policy  At the end of the process, I sincerely hope that we will be able to establish a more consistent foreign policy whose various components-assistance, trade, defence, environment, health, agriculture, immigration and politics-will be complementary. In the past, elements of Canadian foreign policy have often operated without consideration of their effects on other policy areas. This resulted in policies which often worked at cross-purposes and which ran the risk of cancelling out each other's benefits.

Canadian Foreign Policy  Today it has 27 offices abroad to promote Quebec exports, to seek out investment, to implement immigration agreements and to encourage exchanges in education, language and culture. Other provinces also, including New Brunswick, Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, have established a number of offices abroad.

Canadian Foreign Policy  The problems of overpopulation, illiteracy and poverty throughout the world will exert very strong pressure on immigration and create a gap so large that it could lead to all kinds of disasters. There is also the issue of the environment. In a way, the environmental issue is a matter of territorial integrity or should I say ecological integrity.

The Reform Party  These allegations are based on the fact that Reformers speak openly and honestly on issues such as Indian affairs and immigration. The members opposite sometimes seem more concerned about choosing politically correct words in a speech or question than with the actual content. Members should be able to express themselves without looking over their shoulder for that politically correct watchdog every time they speak.

Supply  Again, as I said with the national infrastructure program, they should be careful and prudent in the way in which they present their arguments because a number of Canadians perceive, perhaps quite rightly and or indeed quite wrongly, that the Reform Party is nothing-these are not my words and I want to be very clear because I do not wish to be unparliamentary-more than a bunch of antis: anti-immigration, anti-French, anti-regional development, anti-seniors, anti-women, anti-youth. That may be unfair or it may be fair, it could be unfair but then again it may be fair. These are not my words, that is what Canadians tell me from time to time as I travel the country.

Supply  Three departments were directly involved: the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, the Department of Industry and the Department of Immigration. The purpose was to reduce disparities between aboriginal peoples and Canadians. The strategy's objective was to help aboriginal peoples achieve economic self-reliance. In 1993, $900 million was spent under this strategy.

Parliament Of Canada Act  There are only three people in the House of Commons whose ancestors did not come to Canada generations before as immigrants. We must learn to rejoice in the diversity of our culture, not defile it. It will make the loyalty to and strength of Canada which the bill expresses meaningfully. There are two visions of what kind of country Canada is.