Budget Implementation Act, 1995  We have said so before and we will say it again: it is outrageous to treat the agricultural industry this way. If we look at the kind of cuts that will be made, it is clear the government does not have its priorities straight. Furthermore, it is not prepared to deal with the problems and consider the long term impact. Bill C-76 repeals the Western Grain Transportation Act, the WGTA.

Hate Propaganda  It is not enough to be against racism, we must also be willing to fight it. We cannot fall into the trap of only fighting when it is simple, easy and clear. Sometimes it is not easy. Questions of freedom of speech and freedom of academic expression enter the debate but we cannot hedge because we find the issues difficult. We must bring tolerance and societal rejection of racism to bear entirely in that debate.

Hate Propaganda  So, from the Computer Science University of Manitoba: "The answer to this one is in my mind very clear and simple, don't". From Industry Canada, probably, an employee said: "If the wording of the proposed legislation said `forbidding the spread' rather than stopping the spread, then the full force of the law could be brought down on anyone who used the info highway to spread hate propaganda, with that the notion implying that some technical mechanism is needed is probably undoable anyway".

Gun Control  Speaker, I have in my possession the stand the Canadian Police Association has issued. It is clear it has concerns in other areas such as the lack of enforcement regulations within the statute and the existing Criminal Code. The police association has expressed concern about the inadequate enforcement of the present laws, as many of us are concerned.

Inflation  Mr. Speaker, it is clear there are different ways of measuring inflation. I am talking about the price increases in the last four months annualized, not year to year inflation where the tobacco increases are important.

Social Services  The Bloc Quebecois just keeps stating a position contradicted by facts, by the budget and by reality. I can only repeat what I said earlier, namely that the budget is clear, that the requirements for social assistance have been reduced, that, if any standards are established, they will be established by mutual consent. It is very unfortunate that the opposition informs the people of Quebec so poorly on such major issues.

Social Services  Mr. Speaker, the proposed transfer program is a clear recognition that the provinces can take more responsibility for making decisions. We are freeing up and making far more flexible their choices of priorities within a broad range of programming on education, welfare and health.

National Defence  All the while we are spending another $45 million per year just to move our troops around the country. What is going on? While it has been clear that the defence minister has many troubles in his department, this simply cannot go on. These planes and all the money we have been spending is not in the best interests of our troops and not in the best interests of taxpayers.

Canadian National  The minister did not even have the decency to wait and started his privatization process less than a week after the passage of back-to-work legislation. Now more than ever before, it is clear to railway employees, and Canadians generally, that the arbitration process put in place by the Minister of Labour in the railway sector is biased towards the employer. The opposition was right to condemn this bill.

Justice  Justice Peter Howden ruled that a section of the Criminal Code clearly violates the rights of a criminally insane person because the role and powers of the federal Criminal Code Review Board are too broad and do not have clear standards. This case centres around a criminally insane person who has been convicted of criminal charges on four separate occasions, including the beating of his aunt with a rolling pin.

Budget Implementation Act, 1995  Through various training and placement programs that will be put in place there will be various flexibilities about how people manage their time if they know their particular position will be affected. I want to send a very clear message that at the end of three years, through all of this, at least 86 per cent of the federal public service will still be in place, will still be working. There is no question it will be a dramatically changed workplace and I hope a dramatically improved workplace as we stop trying to ask a shrinking number of people to do everything and accept our responsibility as a government of deciding what programs to continue and what programs to stop.

Budget Implementation Act, 1995  Mr. Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for his question. Obviously, it is quite clear to me how we should go about balancing the books. Those of us on this side of the House are convinced of the need to implement the principle of subsidiarity, whereby the mandate to deliver a service should go to the level of government in the best position to do so.

Budget Implementation Act, 1995  Speaker, the equalization formula is extremely complex, involving some 40 factors, so that as we speak, since 1989, in fact, the beneficiaries of equalization have been Quebec, the Maritimes, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Again, to make it clear to those who our listening, there is a third transfer mechanism, namely the Canada Assistance Plan, which was established in 1966 and which is the solution found by the federal government to get involved in the financing of social assistance.

The Budget  For this reason, section 32 of the Official Languages Act needs to be rewritten to remove the arbitrary authority of the governor in council. In its place there should be a clear, easily understood definition of the criteria that would cause a region of the country to be declared a bilingual district. This definition could be debated openly so that the resulting formula would be a just and moderate compromise between the rightful aspirations of Canada's linguistic minorities and the rightful concerns of our majority populations.

The Budget  Since so many complex factors are involved, it is not easy for the average person to get a clear picture of the country's financial situation. Since the experts often disagree on the best way to deal with the economic situation, I realize it must be hard for the average citizen to weigh his own immediate interests against the broader, long-term interests of the country.