CANADA VOLUME 134 S NUMBER 060 S 2nd SESSION S 35th PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Wednesday, June 12, 1996 Speaker: The Honourable Gilbert Parent CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) The House of Commons Debates are also available on the Parliamentary Internet Parlementaire at the following address: http://www.parl.gc.ca 3705 HOUSE OF COMMONS Wednesday, June 12, 1996 The House met at 2 p.m. A few weeks ago the finance minister, in the cosy comfort of this House, challenged me to meet him on the doorsteps of Hamilton _______________ East to talk about his broken GST promise. Where is he? Is the finance minister afraid to go door to door with me and defend his Prayers broken promise? _______________ I was on the doorsteps in Hamilton East last night, ready to go The Speaker: As is our practice on Wednesdays, we will now toe to toe with Sheila Copps but I did not see her, or any minister. Is sing O Canada, which will be led by the hon. member for Beaver she afraid? I will be there today and I will be there again tomorrow. River. I am looking forward to seeing them soon because, after all, there [Editor’s Note: Whereupon members sang the national anthem.] are only four days left until the vote. _____________________________________________ Is the justice minister afraid to defend the inept Young Offenders Act that I spoke about with young people last night? Is the Prime STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS Minister afraid to defend his broken promises on the GST, im- migration, child care, free trade and MP pensions? [English] Once again I challenge the timid souls on the front benches here. FORESTRY Come with me this afternoon at 4 p.m., Canadian flight— Mr. Bob Wood (Nipissing, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize a group of extremely hardwork- The Speaker: The hon. member for Vancouver Quadra. ing individuals from townships in the district of Nipissing. The Mattawa and Area Forestry Committee is made up of * * * members from the Bonfield, Calvin, Mattawan and Papineau-Cam- eron townships and the town of Mattawa. DOUGLAS KENNY Forestry companies like Calvin Forest Products, Clouthier and Sons Logging, Columbia Forest Products, Wunsch Forest Products and Tembec Incorporated are developing ideas for value added Mr. Ted McWhinney (Vancouver Quadra, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, products to complement current production in the forestry industry. Douglas Kenny, who died last week, was a respected professor of psychology who became president of the University of British This forward thinking committee is hard at work developing new Columbia in the stormy years after 1968 when universities were sectors for economic growth in the forestry industry in our area. torn apart by larger community demands for fundamental change in Human Resources Development Canada and the Ontario ministries institutions and structures, and for radically new approaches to of national resources and northern development and mines provide learning. ex officio help that is greatly appreciated. I congratulate this group of communities for looking to the As a pragmatic scholar, Dr. Kenny sought accommodation future and not just seeing the problems, but instead actively between the warring factions operating inside and outside the working to be part of the solutions. university. He also actively promoted international recognition of the University of British Columbia as a world leader in science, * * * medicine and other disciplines. HAMILTON EAST His epitaph may perhaps be found in Claude Bissell’s phrase, Miss Deborah Grey (Beaver River, Ref.): Mr. Speaker, I have borrowed from Arnold Toynbee: ‘‘Halfway up Parnassus’’. Dr. kept my word and gone to the battlefront in Hamilton East and, lo Kenny showed the way, and it has been for his successors, David and behold, my opponents are not there. Strangway and others, to try to reach the top of the mountain. 3706 COMMONS DEBATES June 12, 1996 S. O. 31 [Translation] university students who want to study in English in another province. THE JUDICIARY This policy is discriminatory, unfair and totally unacceptable. Mr. Stéphan Tremblay (Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ): Mr. Speaker, Ottawa helps fund student aid in Quebec. In 1996, federal transfers last Wednesday, Micheline Paradis, a lawyer from the Lac-Saint- will amount to $98 million. Jean riding, was appointed to the Quebec Court. The Minister of Human Resources Development said he will She is the first woman judge in that region’s 160-year history. investigate this matter to see what can be done to reverse the When she began her career some 20 years ago, there were decision by Quebec. I urge him to act on this quickly since many practically no female lawyers in the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean Quebec students who study elsewhere are now scrambling to find region. other sources of funding. As an alternative I suggest that the Today, over 50 per cent of the members of the regional bar minister allow Quebec residents who lose their loans to apply association are women. This appointment opens another door and under the Canada student loans program in the provinces where represents another step toward equality between men and women, they study. thus enhancing Quebec’s judicial system and giving it even greater The Quebec policy should not be allowed to remain. It has no credibility. place in a fair, diverse and democratic society. I am happy to congratulate Ms. Paradis on how far she has come and I wish her the best of luck in her new career. * * * [Translation] * * * [English] OFFICIAL LANGUAGES VETERANS Mr. Guy H. Arseneault (Restigouche—Chaleur, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, as the linguistic debate heats up once again in Quebec, we Mrs. Elsie Wayne (Saint John, PC): Mr. Speaker, we just in this House are faced every day with the sorry spectacle of two finished celebrating the 50th anniversary of the end of the second regional political formations competing for the linguistic intoler- world war and people around the world thanked our vets for the ance award. freedom we all enjoy today. The Bloc Quebecois and its twin, the Reform Party, are unable to The Ridgewood veterans wing in Saint John is operated under rally all Canadians around a common project. Both of them would the jurisdiction of the McKenna government and receives a grant rather try to destroy what they know they cannot control. from Veterans Affairs to operate. The McKenna government has decided to introduce rethermalized food for the vets. The meals are In his latest report, the Commissioner of Official Languages prepared in Toronto. Even the toast, bacon and eggs are shipped draws an objective portrait of the linguistic reality. The situation in down frozen to Saint John and reheated. this country has greatly improved since the Official Languages Act was passed. Attitudes have also started to change for the better. This process has been tried in other local hospitals in Saint John and has had terrible reviews from the patients, the doctors and I hope the commissioner’s message will be heard and that the other staff. extremist attitudes of the Bloc Quebecois and the Reform Party will start to evolve. The Legion is outraged that these veterans will be used as guinea pigs. Veterans Affairs has prided itself in the past on the humanitar- * * * ian treatment of veterans. The present on-site food preparation is very good. For the sake THE MEMBER FOR OTTAWA—VANIER of our veterans’ health, dignity and quality of life, I ask the Secretary of State for Veterans Affairs to stop these unnecessary Mr. Jean-Paul Marchand (Québec-Est, BQ): Mr. Speaker, changes. given that, in Ontario, the rate of assimilation of francophones is in excess of 36 per cent and that francophones are still not allowed to * * * run their own schools, given that Conservative Premier Harris is blithely chopping Franco-Ontarian organizations and that English D (1405) is in fact the language of work in the public service in Ottawa, I would have thought that the primary duty of any Franco-Ontarian EDUCATION MP would be to look after the interests of his own constituents. But that is not what is happening. Hon. Warren Allmand (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago the Quebec government announced it I may be naive but I think the hon. member for Ottawa—Vanier would cut student aid for undergrad study outside the province. is forgetting his primary duty to launch a crusade against the Quebec will no longer offer loans to most CEGEP and undergrad Quebec referendum act. June 12, 1996 COMMONS DEBATES 3707 S. O. 31 In other words, instead of opposing cuts imposed on Franco- D (1410 ) Ontarians by his own government, the hon. member for Ottawa— Vanier prefers to crusade against Quebec’s election laws, which [English] are among the most democratic in the world. QUEBEC REFERENDUM * * * Ms. Marlene Catterall (Ottawa West, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the [English] chief electoral officer of Quebec has now charged 50 students at Bishop’s University with voting illegally in the referendum. Their HUMAN RIGHTS fine is $500 for showing a commitment to their province of residence and to their democratic duty as citizens to vote. Mr. Bob Mills (Red Deer, Ref.): Mr. Speaker, the governments of the world, including Canada, have made strong representations What is the fine for those who illegally discarded ballots, to the Government of Nigeria to stop its alleged human rights depriving citizens of the right to vote? One hundred dollars. abuses. The desire for peaceful, democratic change has been widely promoted. These students turned to their member of Parliament to help them. And what did the member for Sherbrooke, the leader of the We have been making statements and innuendoes that something Progressive Conservative Party, the erstwhile defender of federal- should be done.