Excise Tax Act  This is irrefutable and my colleagues and others have talked about this already. It is very clear that the anti-smoking campaign aimed at young smokers has not worked. It has been ineffective. Now that cigarettes have become more affordable, many young people will be taking up smoking.

Excise Tax Act  Mr. Speaker, a short intervention because I was not quite clear on something. The hon. member came forward with some figures in terms of sales of cigarettes. I think he suggested that smoking was up in the past four months and I am wondering if that was based on sales.

Excise Tax Act  In terms of lobbyists and the export tax I am surprised the Reform Party would support an export tax. All an export tax does is export Canadian jobs to the United States. That is very clear and that is why the Tories in the last government got rid of that export tax. They realized it would just export jobs to the United States taken by itself. The lobbyists he talks about who lobbied against it were the Canadian farmers.

Excise Tax Act  Their annoyance pushed them toward the black market, the underground economy, where they bought with a clear conscience. It became a very common practice. Various measures were tried to correct the situation, but nothing worked, for as we know there was very little real control in the field, even with all the resources of the RCMP, the Sûreté du Québec and everybody else.

Excise Tax Act  We are ready to go ahead rapidly with passage of that portion of the bill, but we cannot give the government a blank cheque either on items for which we lack information or on a portion of the bill about which we have reservations we would like to make clear to our hon. colleagues from the other parties.

Young Offenders Act  I would suggest that I am in a position of representing my constituency. It may be in western Canada, but it is telling me loud and clear that my constituency feels one of the major changes the government should have considered in its amendment to the Young Offenders Act was to lower the ages. I mentioned earlier that another concern of mine was reverse onus.

Young Offenders Act  Although the legislation does not distinguish between 12 to 15 year olds and 16 to 17 year olds, it is clear that as a result of these amendments, these two groups will be treated differently in the case of offences involving serious bodily harm. Some lawyers will argue that this flies in the face of section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees equal treatment to all under the law.

Job Development  Mr. Speaker, just to make the record clear, in fiscal 1994-95, the year we are in now, we have allocated over $800 million of funds specifically for the province of Quebec. That is an increase over last year. There have been no cutbacks.

Goods And Services Tax  Would the Deputy Prime Minister admit that she has created a political hot potato because she has not been clear with the Canadian taxpayers and is now trying to double talk her way out of an election promise?

Department Of Labour Act  To be eligible for benefits first an individual must be determined eligible under TAGS; the individual must be a fish plant worker or a trawler person; he or she must have a long term attachment to the groundfish industry; the person has to be out of a job because of a permanent reduction of the workforce at the fish plant and that permanent reduction has to be the result of a decline in fish stocks. So that this is absolutely clear, the only people we are talking about here are older fish plant workers, including trawler persons. All told we estimate that involves about 1,200 men and women. Of that number about 700 will have reached the age of 55 during their entitlement period under TAGS by May 16 of this year when the Atlantic groundfish strategy came into effect.

Department Of Labour Act  I have here a document which says that in the spirit of the existing legislation and the spirit of the fisheries recovery legislation-I do not remember the exact phraseology-fishermen would indeed become eligible for this pre-retirement plan when they turn 50. But I have not received a clear and firm answer on that. Yet, as one of our colleagues from the Reform Party pointed out at second reading, the Auditor General of Canada stated in his report that the government has to put a specific motion to the House before it can introduce such bills or authorize such public expenditures.

Department Of Labour Act  Reformers believe that the east coast fishery can be revitalized by fundamentally restructuring the industry so that it is market driven and competitively structured with individual harvesting rights which will lead to economically viable vessels and processing units. In closing I would like to say that we have here a classic case, a clear demonstration of the calamity caused by government intervention. For over 300 years the east coast fishery has thrived. In the last 50 years the government got too involved in managing the fishery and look at it today.

National Patriots' Day  The aim of the motion I have just respectfully submitted for the consideration of this House today is to rectify this perception and to achieve, at long last, recognition of the historic contribution of the Patriotes of Lower Canada and the Reformers of Upper Canada to the establishment of truly responsible and truly democratic government in Canada and in Quebec. It is important to make clear that the motion does not request a pardon for the Patriotes: they were pardoned by Queen Victoria in 1849. I think it is high time the federal government recognized that the Rebellion was part of a historic current of social and political unrest that affected not just the colonies but their motherlands, starting in the 18th century and stretching into the first half of the 19th.

Lobbyists Registration Act  While the Ethics Counsellor is required to present an annual report to Parliament, and while Parliament must periodically review this legislation, the fact remains that, because he is appointed by the Governor in Council-therefore by Cabinet and the Prime Minister-it is difficult to establish a clear administrative link and reporting relationship; in my opinion, this is all the more incongruous in that the registrar will continue to report to the Department of Industry. I think we should ask why the Ethics Counsellor is appointed by the Governor in Council, therefore, by the Prime Minister.

Lobbyists Registration Act  In reality what conflict of interest guidelines and ethics counsellor are attempting to do is make the people of Canada our clients, to put the importance of our clients way above our own personal interests. This is what the Prime Minister means when he is clear to the commitment of duty, but the interest of the electorate must come before those of ourselves. I am sure many members of Parliament have had the same kind of problem from being a respected professional to going out and being a politician.