Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Suspension Act  It is the cod liver oil approach, I say, as someone from the maritimes originally. Canadians are not going to swallow cod liver oil politics any longer. Not only will the Canadian taxpayer have to pay the bill for supporting these political hacks until the age of 75, but the government established a terrible political precedent. If we do not get our way in the House of Commons or we disagree with the accepted rules of our country then we change them to make them fit our political agenda.

Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Suspension Act  One is that, at this rate, there will come a point, in 2050 or 2090, where this chamber will no longer be large enough to hold all the new members. Walls will have to be moved back to make room for the extra seats that will have to be made. If you look to the south, in the United States, they have only 100 senators for a total population of about 250 million.

The Economy  In a budget distinguished by the absence of any new taxes or job creation programs, Finance Minister Winston Baker stated: We must not make commitments today that will place an unmanageable financial burden on the taxpayers of tomorrow. We can no longer mortgage our children's future for short term political gain. That was the way of the past. The economic challenges facing Newfoundland are certainly as serious as those of the federal government.

Borrowing Authority Act, 1994-95  Today, aside from the infrastructures project, there is nothing for rural communities. The people in my riding and other Quebec ridings no longer believe in federalism. Conservative and Liberal governments are always hand in glove with the multinationals. They will never go along with the principle of individual political donations, so there is always a quid pro quo : I contribute to the party's coffers and you invest in my company.

Business Of Supply  I know as a victim the first thing that happens is you feel like you have been violated. You think your sense of safety is no longer there. The street that you have lived on, the neighbours that you have had all those years, all of a sudden you are locking the door. You just do not feel good about it anymore. Gradually that fades.

Business Of Supply  I use that example to illustrate the fact that merely increasing sentences, merely incarcerating for longer periods of time, merely going at the punishment angle is not going to give us the answer. What we have to do is look at the causes. There are a variety of causes. I know that my colleague from Crowfoot and my colleague from Calgary who is also a former police officer would agree that other things come into the formation of criminal activity, that poverty is a part of it, that lack of education is a part of it, that poor nutrition is a part of it, that lack of education is a part of it, that the cycle of violence within the home is a part of it and on and on and on.

Business Of Supply  In case the hon. member did not hear, I will repeat what I said, because that is exactly what I said: our system is flawed and there certainly is room for improvement. In fact, I brought up a suggestion whereby the victim would no longer be just a victim but rather take an active part in the proceedings. I think it was an interesting proposal, at least that was my opinion, but that may not be what the hon. member heard.

Human Rights  In a surprising statement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has announced that Canada will no longer tie Canadian foreign assistance to a country's human rights record. In so doing, the government is casting aside the policy announced at the 1991 Commonwealth Summit in Zimbabwe and later reaffirmed at the Francophone Summit in Dakar, a policy which ties Canadian foreign assistance to respect for human rights.

Canada Pension Plan  This is controversial because often a common law spouse gets all the survivor's benefits after a brief relationship. Meanwhile the legal spouse who was part of perhaps a much longer relationship gets absolutely nothing. This is just not fair. The government has already established the principle of dividing pension credits. In 1978 provisions were introduced into the CPP providing for the division of pension credit on divorce or annulment.

Supply  It will be amended again and as often as required by changing circumstances, but it reflects a contemporary social consensus on what constitutes reprehensible behaviour. Once the sentence has been handed down, it is no longer the criminal justice system, but the Correctional Service, which is responsible for the individual who has been found guilty and sentenced to a prison term. I do not know if the Reform Party is calling for the repeal of the legislation governing the Correctional Service of Canada, but, hey, why not.

Supply  I respect his experience, but I predict that we are going to be involved in this for a lot longer than 20 years to come. It is part of the human condition. We are going to do our level best to balance the interest we have been talking about. So far as fear is concerned, I am aware of the fear to which the hon. member refers.

Criminal Code  Seventy-five percent of these applications have been successful. In effect, if someone commits first degree murder in Canada today it no longer means that person has to serve a minimum of 25 years. I urge all hon. members to support this initiative. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

Saint Lawrence Seaway  This common sense approach to business is more practical and economical than launching a major effort to provide a longer winter navigational season. There would be considerable extra cost and it is by no means clear that a sufficient amount of extra traffic would be generated to justify the greater cost and effort.

Supply  Having said that, we support moving away from cultural protectionism and we would hope the government will realize that is no longer appropriate in the world. The type of protectionism we have in this country today simply is not working. It leads to some division in the country in that the government makes arbitrary decisions about what constitutes something as personal as culture.

Supply  The Liberal approach to book publishing policy has been seen to strike a balance between financial and foreign investment policy, providing publishers with the financial resources to grow and seeking undertakings from foreign investors which will benefit the Canadian-owned and controlled sector of the industry. It is a longer term strategy but ultimately a more effective one. No policy is ever perfect. There is always room for improvement. This government does not question the objectives underlying the instruments now in place to support the book trade.