Small Business Loans  Speaker, again to facilitate small business access to financing, is it the minister's intention to respect the red book's commitments and see to it that business owners no longer have to post personal bonds in order to be entitled to loans under the Small Businesses Loans Act?

Budgetary Policy  I cannot imagine Toronto business people-who are supposed to be very rational-saying that even though they make money, they no longer wish to do business with Quebec. The Liberals will have to explain to their constituents that it could be a very interesting free trade zone. It is a forward-looking and constructive option.

Budgetary Policy  Suddenly they are told that their aid will be cut and that their students will have to go into debt. The government can no longer afford it. Students will have to go into debt. In addition to having to bear an incredible tax burden in the coming years, they will have to go into debt personally to pay for their own education.

Budgetary Policy  I believe passionately that we will not achieve the growth that we must achieve if we are going to meet these targeted numbers unless we reform the tax system. The current tax system is no longer trusted by business or by the average person in terms of the personal side. Look on the business side right now. There are 37,000 tax cases before the courts with a burden on the justice system because of the tax act challenges coming from business.

Budgetary Policy  The vision of the Reform Party in terms of its responsibility to the country is to get the government off the backs of Canadians and once and for all straighten out the situation so that it is no longer grabbing, grabbing and grabbing capital from a very weak and anemic capital market. It is absolutely accurate and correct to say that taxation is simply the confiscation of working capital; that is all it is.

Budgetary Policy  It is unacceptable to cut into the unemployment insurance fund, to which the federal government no longer contributes, and to use the savings they made this year to reduce the deficit. It is a way for the Minister of Finance to improve his image, to look like a good manager, even though he did nothing to bring public finances back under control.

Divorce Act  The bill would amend the Divorce Act to provide for a person to be granted custody of or access to any of his or her grandchildren. By virtue of this change, grandparents would no longer be required to obtain leave of the court to make such an application. Furthermore, this bill would give grandparents the right to be given information as to the health, education and welfare of the child.

World Trade Organization Agreement Implementation Act  I agree with the hon. member that the arsenal is not balanced now. Not only steel producers but other producers will tell you that it takes a heck of a lot longer to deal with a dispute in the United States than it does one in Canada. When they go to the United States they have to take a truckload of documents with them. But when Americans come here to deal with a dispute they just have to carry a briefcase full of documents.

Bosnia  Clearly our peacekeepers are in imminent danger despite claims to the contrary. This is no longer a peacekeeping situation. Will the Minister of National Defence pull our troops out?

Child Poverty  Campaign 2000 reports that Canadian children today are more likely to be poor, to be dependent on social assistance, to use a food bank and to live in families where parents are unemployed. As a society we must no longer tolerate this horrible plight faced by many Canadian children. As members of Parliament we must tackle the problem of child poverty. I urge the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Human Resources Development to allocate more resources toward improving the dismal situation of child poverty.

World Trade Organization Agreement Implementation Act  It states that the International Trade Commission, in determining whether the threat of injury meets the WTO criteria of clearly foreseen and imminent, may consider that the effects of revocation or termination may not be imminent but may manifest themselves over a longer period of time. And it may consider indirect effects including whether the imports would potentially inhibit a domestic producer from developing improved versions of the product. In short, if we compare the wording of the U.S. and Canadian legislation to implement the sunset requirement of the WTO, it will clearly be much easier for American than for Canadian companies to prove the need for a continuation of anti-dumping action.

First Nations Housing  Last week be betrayed a long held Liberal commitment to prairie farmers and the communities that they support when he announced that it is no longer a question of whether the federal government plans to change the method of payment, it is only a question of how it will be changed. In making the announcement the minister argues that new GATT rules and the pending world trade organization requires that Canada make the change.

First Nations Housing  It is our belief that elders need an integrated housing program that encourages and enables them to stay in their own homes longer. Health Canada's building healthy communities strategy which was mentioned by the hon. member for Peterborough a few minutes ago will support such a program. By supporting on reserve home nursing care for persons discharged from hospital and those with acute illnesses the strategy will help more First Nations people to continue to live in their reserve homes.

First Nations Housing  As a result the sick and the elderly are removed from their homes and family to be treated or admitted into facilities capable of providing the longer term, higher care required. The Ahtahkakoop study and proposal was done in 1990. It has had no movement from the federal government since then. I might add that other proposals along the same lines have been developed on numerous reserves in my own constituency and across Canada, concepts that include the ability of the community to best meet the needs of the elders who are living within that community.

Department Of Natural Resources Act  I would encourage strongly the minister of fisheries to engage in a judicial inquiry to determine once and for all what the root cause is and to root out the terrible things that have occurred in our west coast fishery. We cannot hide our head in the sand any longer to what is occurring. Within the context of fisheries I know that we are constrained very much by fiscal restraints. I would suggest that the minister streamline the administration of the department of fisheries, there is a study that was done some years ago to this extent, but on the other hand to buttress up the department of fisheries officers who do an incredible job to try to save and help the west coast and east coast fisheries.