1978-10-11

HOUSE OF COMMONS DEBATES


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FOURTH SESSION-THIRTIETH PARLIAMENT 27 Elizabeth II

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Published under authority of the Speaker of the House of Commons by the Queen's Printer for Canada
Available from Canadian Government Publishing Centre, Supply and Services Canada, Hull, Quebec, Canada K1A 0S9, at 5 cents per copy or $3.00 per session
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Wednesday, October 11, 1978

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The parliament, which had been prorogued on the tenth day of October, 1978, met this day at Ottawa for the dispatch of business.

Mr. Speaker read a communication from the Secretary to the Governor General, announcing that His Excellency the Governor General will arrive at the main entrance of the Parliament Buildings at 2.45 p.m. on this day, Wednesday, the 11th of October 1978, and when it has been signified that all is in readiness, will proceed to the chamber of the Senate to open formally the fourth session of the thirtieth Parliament of Canada.
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A message was delivered by the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod as follows:
Mr. Speaker, it is the pleasure of His Excellency the Governor General that this honourable House attend him immediately in the chamber of the honourable Senate.
Accordingly, Mr. Speaker, with the House, went up to the Senate chamber.
And being returned to the Commons chamber:

Mr. Speaker:: 1 have the honour to inform the House that when the House of Commons did attend his Excellency the Governor General this day in the Senate chamber, His Excellency was pleased to make a speech to both houses of parliament. To prevent mistakes, I have obtained a copy which is as follows:

Honourable Members of the Senate:
Members of the House of Commons:
I have the honour to welcome you to the fourth session of the thirtieth Parliament of Canada.
During the course of the past summer Her Majesty The Queen came to visit Newfoundland and Saskatchewan, and to open the Commonwealth Games. She joined all Canadians in congratulating the thousands of volunteer workers who helped make the Games so successful, and with all of us she applauded the remarkable achievements of Canadian athletes at Edmonton.
The Duke of Edinburgh visited British Columbia as well, where His Royal Highness took part in the two hundredth anniversary observance of Captain Cook's voyage to the Pacific coast.

My wife and I paid an official visit to the King and Queen of Spain, who welcomed us most hospitably. Through us, Spain expressed its friendship and high regard for all Canadians.
As the end of my term of office approaches, my wife and I would like to thank parliamentarians and the people of Canada for the respect and affection which they have extended to us on countless occasions over the years.
We wish also to express our love for Canada. A great country is not created without difficulty, but to see it develop and grow stronger despite every obstacle has been for us a source of great joy and pride. Our faith in the future of Canada is stronger than it has ever been.
I: Urgent Action Needed
Parliament begins today a new session which will concentrate upon Canada's two most pressing needs. They are the strengthening of our economy, and the renewal of our federation.
Those two inseparable imperatives are different expressions of the same goal: to strengthen Canada through unity: to unify Canada through economic strength.
Seldom in the past have the seriousness of the challenge, the strength of our national will, and the scope of our opportunities combined to create for Canada a moment in history so full of potential for good. Such a moment, if ignored, may not soon come again. That is one reason why you should approach your task with urgency.
Another is the legitimate expectation of the people of Canada in these difficult times. They expect their parliament to respond to their most urgent needs with insight, with action, and with a minimum of delay.
You will therefore be asked to focus your efforts upon the priority areas of the economy and the renewal of the federation.
To that end, the government has prepared over the past few months a detailed plan of action. It is designed to increase confidence in the essential health and potential of the economy, and to strengthen the bonds which unite us in one Canadian community.
II: Economic Policy Background
The economic initiatives announced by the Government in August will intensify the assault upon unemployment and inflation.
Those initiatives will further restrain government spending, stimulate economic growth, and give more assistance to those in need. They carry forward commitments made by the government in 1976 with the publication of The Way Ahead. Many of those commitments were endorsed by the First Ministers' Conference in February of this year.
First Ministers agreed to help the private sector to lead the way toward accelerated economic growth. They also reached agreement on important medium-term economic objectives.
In July of this year, Canada was a participant in the Bonn Summit Conference. There the leaders of the major industrialized countries of the free world

October 11, 1978
Speech from the Throne
planned a co-operative strategy against inflation, unemployment and slow growth.
Canada pledged at Bonn to do its part to restore vitality to the Canadian and world economies. After the conference, that pledge was transformed into action in a series of policy announcements.
They require action on two fronts. The first requirement is to further reduce the growth rate of federal spending.
The second is to pare down or eliminate many worthwhile but low-priority programs, in order to free the dollars necessary for a serious assault upon high-priority goals. These goals are to stimulate industrial expansion, put more Canadians back to work, and further protect from the impact of inflation those who are least able to protect themselves.

III: Expenditure Restraint
Let us examine the first of these requirements, restraint in government spending. To achieve sustained progress in the battle against inflation, the government believes it is absolutely essential for Canadians to practise restraint in their price and income demands. The government is also aware of its own responsibilities. Expenditure restraint has been a central theme of federal policy and practice since October, 1975. It was reinforced by the First Ministers'joint commitment in February to contain government spending below the trend growth rate of the Gross National Product.
In August, the government set itself a more ambitious restraint objective. Planned federal spending this fiscal year will be reduced by five hundred million dollars, and next year's projected spending will be reduced by two billion dollars. As a result, the projected rate of expenditure growth during the next fiscal year is 8.9 percent. That is well below the forecast growth of 11 percent for the GNP.
The objectives of imposing more severe restraint on government spending are two.
The first is to encourage a more vigorous expansion of the private sector by reducing governments' share of the nation's wealth.
The second is to create a leaner and more efficient government, by making every tax dollar do more work.
The government is committed to reducing the size of the federal public service. You will be asked to approve amendments to the Public Service Superannuation Act, designed to ensure that public service pensions are in line with the level of contributions.
The government is committed to continued wage restraint in the public sector. You will be asked to approve amendments to the Public Service Staff Relations Act to ensure that compensation in the federal public service remains in step with the private sector, and does not lead the way.
You will also be asked to enact legislation making the Post Office a Crown Corporation, with a view to making postal services more efficient and responsive to public needs.
Because such a large portion of the federal budget is dedicated to transfer payments to the provinces, no large-scale restraint program could be successful without their co-operation. The government intends to negotiate reductions which will cause a minimum of difficulty for provincial governments.
You will be asked to consider amendments to the National Housing Act, the Unemployment Insurance Act, and other legislation in order to give effect to the program of expenditure restraint.
IV: Shifting Dollars To Priority Needs
The second major requirement is to transfer funds from lower-priority to high-priority goals. They are industrial expansion, job creation, and more assistance for those in need.
Providing those additional resources within the context of budgetary restraint is a most difficult and painful exercise. Worthwhile programs serving real needs must be cut back if the money is to be found for more pressing requirements.

By cutting back programs in virtually every department, the government intends to channel one billion dollars into programs of economic and social development.
In the area of economic development, the Government's recent proposals are intended to build upon its earlier initiatives to promote job creation, stimulate private sector growth, and encourage industrial innovation. Those initiatives included the April budget, which cut sales taxes in co-operation with the provinces, and provided a stimulus to non-conventional oil development.
Other measures were announced during June and July to encourage energy conservation and the development of renewable energy sources; to stimulate research and development; and to assist small businesses.

Now the government proposes to devote more resources to the promotion of industrial development in 1979-80.
The primary objective is to help establish an economic climate which is conducive to private sector growth, particularly in the areas of high technology industries, regional development, and the promotion of exports. Additional assistance will be provided for tourism and for the resource and ship-building industries.
Excessive government intervention in the economy should be greatly reduced over time by initiatives to eliminate duplication between federal and provincial programs and to simplify regulatory and reporting systems.
An important element among the government's proposed new industrial development priorities is an increase in support for major capital projects in manufacturing, energy and transportation.
The major thrust of the government's employment strategy is to encourage the creation of permanent jobs in the private sector. Special emphasis is being placed on the training and job placement of young Canadians.
In this new session, the government will take action to increase support for the training of an adequate supply of skilled labour and to assist labour market mobility.
The government also proposes to introduce major changes in the Unemployment Insurance Program. These changes would achieve a substantial reduction in the cost of the program. They are intended to minimize any negative effects which the program may have on the incentive to work, or on the labour supply.
The proposed adjustments would make the program more selective in its coverage. They would also put Unemployment Insurance funds to more productive use, partly to finance an expanded Job Experience Training Program for youth. You will be asked to approve amendments to the Unemployment Insurance Act to give effect to these changes.
Other new employment strategy measures will focus upon year-round employment programs for young people. A new Youth Job Corps Program will be created. This and other youth employment programs will benefit from a major increase in funding during this fiscal year.
In the field of social policy, the unfair impact of inflation upon lower-income groups calls for further protection.
The most effective way to protect Canadians against the injustices of inflation is to continue to act vigorously to bring inflation down. This requires the co-operation of everyone, and takes time. But the poor cannot wait for that. Nor can lower-income parents with children to support, nor elderly pensioners. We must give them additional help now because their need is urgent.
The Child Benefits System has therefore been redesigned. Family allowance payments will be set at a base rate of $20 per month per child for 1979, so that more aid can be provided to those whose need is greatest. The base rate will be indexed in line with the cost of living after 1979.
Funds saved through this process wili be used to provide a yearly payment of $200 per child to mothers in low and middle-income families. Also, there will be an increase of $20 per household in the monthly Guaranteed Income Supplement. This will further protect the elderly from the impact of inflation.
You will therefore be asked to consider amendments to the Family Allowance Act, the Old Age Security Act, and the Income Tax Act.
As an additional anti-inflationary measure, the government has recently reduced the special excise tax on gasoline by three cents a gallon. Negotiations
October 11, 1978

are under way with the government of Alberta to defer the one dollar per barrel increase in the price of oil scheduled for January first.
[ Translation]
V: Renewal of The Federation
Economic improvement by itself, however, will not guarantee a united country. A renewal of the Canadian federation is equally essential. It was with this conviction that the Government published its proposals for renewal last June in a document entitled A Time for Action. Later that month, the government placed before parliament the Constitutional Amendment bill. It was referred to a Special Joint Committee of Parliament as a basis for a full public discussion of constitutional change.
A Time for Action affirmed the government's commitment to four basic principles of renewal: the preeminence of citizens and their freedoms; full respect of native rights; full development of Canada's two major linguistic communities; and the enhancement of our mosaic of cultures. It supported development of the regional economies and the fostering of economic integration, so all in Canada can share the benefits of our country more equally. Finally, it recognized the interdependence of the two orders of government, and urged the clear establishment of their respective roles in a renewed Constitution.
A Time For Action stressed the need for a less contentious relationship among the federal and provincial governments, and more effective intergovernmental consultation. Other goals are freedom of action for each government to fulfil its responsibilities, and measures to permit greater accountability by governments to their legislatures and the people who elect them. Also emphasized was the need to help the taxpayers better understand the intergovernmental process; and to provide more effective services at less cost by eliminating wasteful duplication.
The government therefore proposed to the provincial governments that joint action should begin as soon as possible on the clarification of federal and provincial roles and the elimination of duplication. The premiers have responded positively. The First Ministers' Conference on the Constitution, now expected to take place at the end of this month, will consider how best to launch this major enterprise.
With respect to the reform of the constitution, the government has set out only two fundamental requirements. The new constitution must provide for Canada to continue as a genuine federation, and it must contain a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including linguistic rights. The government has shown its deep concern that real progress toward change soon be achieved, so that uncertainty can be dispelled and unity reinforced. In particular, the government believes it essential that clear and important progress be made before Quebeckers are asked by their provincial government to vote in a referendum about their future

Because there has been some misunderstanding about two important features of constitutional renewal, the government wishes to make its position clear once again. The first is the role of the Monarch and the Governor General. The government's view was and remains that the new constitution should describe the situation as it exists today in Canada, and the government is pleased that the provincial premiers expressed the same view during their meeting in Regina. Discussions are already in progress with provincial goverments to ensure that the legal drafting conforms to that intention. There is no intention to change or to reduce in any way the role Her Majesty plays.
Secondly, the government recognizes that the distribution of powers among federal and provincial governments is an essential part of the renewal of the constitution.
The government is prepared to begin the study of the distribution of powers at the same time as that of institutions and rights, and to give every aspect of the work a high and urgent priority. Discussions will begin at the meeting of First Ministers later this month.
However, the government believes that proposals on institutions and rights can be dealt with more rapidly than the distribution of powers, and that action on the former should not be held up if prolonged discussion is needed to settle the latter.
Speech from the Throne
The public hearings of the Task Force on Canadian Unity have provided a valuable forum in which ideas could be brought forward and discussed. The government is therefore confident that the report of the Task Force will be an important contribution to the process of renewal.

In the course of the present session, the government will be introducing in Parliament a revised constitution bill. With goodwill and flexibility on all sides, and with the shape of Canada's future at stake, the government is confident that concrete progress will be achieved in the course of this session.
Neither renewal of the federation nor the maturity of our national structure can be considered complete until the achievement of an amending procedure permits our constitution to be vested finally and entirely in Canadian hands. In co-operation with the provinces, the government will again address itself to that question in the new session.
VI: Social Responsibility and Openness of Government
The government reaffirms its view that a renewal of faith in Canada requires an active and informed Canadian public.
It is therefore intended to continue consultations with business and labour, private interest groups, and other levels of government.
In addition, you will be asked to consider proposals to increase public access to government information.
In the further promotion of open and efficient government, a proposal will be placed before you to provide for the review by parliament of evaluations by the government of major programs.
You will also be asked to consider legislation to create a federal Ombudsman. You will be asked to consider other legislative proposals.
Members of the House of Commons,
You will be asked to appropriate the funds required to carry on the services and expenditures authorized by parliament.
Honourable Members of the Senate,
Members of the House of Commons,
May divine Providence guide you in your deliberations.


OATHS OF OFFICE
Right Hon. P. E. Trudeau (Prime Minister) moved: for leave to introduce Bill C-l, respecting the administration of oaths of office.
Motion agreed to and bill read the first time.


INTERNAL ECONOMY COMMISSION
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Right Hon. P. E. Trudeau (Prime Minister) presented the following message from His Excellency the Governor General:
The Governor General transmits to the House of Commons a certified copy of an approved order in council appointing the hon. Allan Joseph MacEachen, the hon. Jean Chretien, the hon. Judd Buchanan, and the hon. Robert Knight Andras, to act with the Speaker of the House of Commons as commissioners for the purposes and under the provisions of chapter H-9 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970 intituled: An act respecting the House of Commons.
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October 11, 1978
The Address-Mrs. Appolloni

Pierre Elliott Trudeau: That Charles Turner, Esq., member for the electoral district of London East, be appointed Deputy Chairman of committees of the whole House.


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Motion agreed to.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Mr. Speaker, 1 move, seconded by the Minister of Finance (Mr. Chretien):
That Mr. Denis Ethier, member for the riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, be appointed Assistant Deputy Chairman of committees of the whole House.


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Motion agreed to.

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The House proceeded to the consideration of the speech delivered by His Excellency the Governor General at the opening of the session.
Mrs. Ursula Appolloni (York South):: Mr. Speaker, if I may, I will first make a little reference to the appreciation I feel for the presence of page girls in this august assembly. While I commend your wise decision in breaking with restrictive tradition, may I also express the hope that the presence of these young girls will herald the entry of many more women into active participation in the political life of our nation.


Some hon. Members:: Hear, hear!


Ursula Appolloni: Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Prime Minister (Mr. Trudeau) and his cabinet colleagues for the honour extended to the riding of York South in asking me, its representative, to move the Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne. I am well aware of the fact that this honour is given, not because of any particular merit on my part, but because of the very real interest that the Prime Minister has in the people of this section of Toronto.


Some hon. Members:: Hear, hear!


Ursula Appolloni: And York South is people, Mr. Speaker, and to describe them is to describe a vibrant and vital part of our Canadian community. Like myself, many of the people of York South were not born in Canada. They came here from various countries and from various cultures. I will not attempt to list them lest inadvertently I omit even one.
Their reasons for coming here were also varied: some came to escape the repressive tyrannies of dictatorial government;

others came because their homes had been threatened or even destroyed by fratricidal strife; still others fled the terror of battlescarred Beirut while yet more were the victims of racism. For many, the reason was material, but all sought a measure of human dignity and individual freedom such as no other country in the world can possibly give.


Some hon. Members:: Hear, hear!


Ursula Appolloni: And as they observed the riches, both physical and spiritual, which Canada offered them they turned with fervent conviction to their adopted country and threw in their lot with her. In the short period in which I have had the honour of representing York South, more than 8,000 people have applied for and have been granted citizenship. All of the newcomers, Mr. Speaker, and the thousands who took that important step before them are Canadians by conviction and, like myself, humbly thank God that we are Canadians.


Some hon. Members:: Hear, hear!


Ursula Appolloni: Conscious as we are of our many blessings, it is little wonder that the people I have just described will regard with some dismay and even distress the present climate of dejection and even despair which appears to be the hallmark of our times.
The people of York South are realistic people. They know we are living in times of crisis when the consuming flames of simultaneous inflation and unemployment are being fanned by internal dissatisfaction and even threatened secession. Awesome problems indeed, Mr. Speaker, but not insurmountable ones.
But perhaps Canada's most insidious problem of all is persistent and destructive self-criticism. I do not refer to healthy and constructive criticism which is vital to a democracy in order to correct human error, to intensify human effort and urge human improvement, but to a paralyzing and corrosive denial of the good and to an obliteration of vision to which we can all aspire if only we have the courage and the determination to grasp our opportunities.
Instead of offering to the world an arsenal of hope, we continually magnify our own problems. Rather than generate self-confidence and the momentum to be gained therefrom, we bicker, taunt and castigate our fellow man and, in doing so, we not only discourage others but we discourage ourselves. And discouragement can become a way of life and ultimately a self-fulfilling prophecy. I believe that the men and women who can lift the world upward and onward are those who encourage more than criticize. In fact, I do not believe there is a statue in the world today erected to a critic.
What we need is a calm, rational diagnosis of our ailments and in a spirit of confidence, courage and determination prescribe and apply the remedies. These remedies must not and indeed cannot be applied by the doubting and the spiritless. As Andrew K. Boyd said, there are important cases in which the difference between half a heart and a whole heart makes the difference between signal defeat and a splendid
October 11, 1978

victory. And our victory over current problems will be splendid, Mr. Speaker, but to achieve it calls for the enthusiasm, co-operation and determination of every Canadian from every walk of life.
In this effort I would particularly appeal for the co-operation of the press, a word I shall use, like Aliksandr Solzhenitsyn, to include all media, and remind its members that the freedom to which they aspire and which I firmly believe is of paramount importance in a democracy will be worthless unless it goes hand in hand with responsibility.
At no time in history has the press had such power to inform, to educate, to influence. While the vast majority of its members accept this great power in a spirit of conscientious responsibility, there are a few who simply do not know how to report good news. Of these, Solzhenitsyn said:
There is no moral responsiblity for deformation or disproportion.
Would these people not do better to exhort harmony rather than incite discord? Is it not more fruitful to transmute despair into hope?
To return to the more concrete problems of our time, Mr. Speaker, undoubtedly the main concern of most Canadians is of an economic nature. People are deeply concerned about Canada's ability to provide employment for all who want it and, more particularly, for their children. At the same time it is imperative to protect the weaker members of our society who, despite the best will in the world, cannot work.
In this instance, I applaud the government's decision to increase the amount of family allowances for lower income families and also its commitment to augment the payment of guaranteed income supplement for our elderly citizens who have little or no income other than old age security payments.
For those who can work, the emphasis on job creation is especially welcome. That many of these jobs will be different from those of the past is yet another indication of Canada's response to the needs of a modern world. High technology industries demand special skills for which the labour market must be adequately prepared. I therefore applaud the government's foresight in providing for appropriate training, for boosting its job placement services and for ensuring needed labour market mobility.
Special reference to youth employment is particularly welcome. In at least one employment centre I visited in Toronto last week the government's interest in the problems of young people entering the labour market has already been translated into fact by the establishment of a special youth desk.
The sincerity of the government's search to combat regional and provincial alienation cannot be questioned, and its desire to achieve constitutional reform by continual consultation rather than by confrontation becomes a beacon to light the pilgrimage of all Canadians towards true national unity.
In the consultations on constitutional reform, I would express the hope of millions of Canadians that the proposed charter of rights and freedoms not overlook the most funda-
The Address-Mr. Savard
mental right of all-the right of life-thereby ensuring protection for the weakest members of society, the unborn human beings.


Some hon. Members:: Hear, hear!


Ursula Appolloni: Mr. Speaker, I look to Canada's future with serenity, with confidence but never complacency, and with passionate care. I believe in Canada's future, and to those who doubt I say: you do no service to your country!
What we need is fire, not dead embers. We need enthusiasm, not apathy. And we need faith, because, in the words of John Stuart Mill, one person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interests.
It is in this spirit of belief that I move, seconded by the hon. member for Verdun (Mr. Savard), that the following Address be presented to His Excellency the Governor General of Canada:
To His Excellency the Right Honourable Jules Leger, Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order of Canada, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Military Merit, upon whom has been conferred the Canadian Force's Decoration, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada.
May it please Your Excellency:
We, Her Majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects, the House of Commons of Canada, in parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Excellency for the gracious speech which Your Excellency has addressed to both Houses of Parliament.


Some hon. Members:: Hear, Hear!


Mr. Raymond Savard (Verdun):: October 11, 1978
The Address-Mr. Savard
Canadian flag is displayed in the centre of the flag, overlooking the fort... as if to suggest that a common ideal must supersede ethnic loyalties. Verdun has a past; it is said that happy people have no history. In fact, Verdun has lived in peace and has only a short unruffled domestic history.
Mr. Speaker, the present city of Verdun is located on a narrow strip between the St. Lawrence River and the canal of the Montreal Aqueduct which was built only in 1852. Nowadays, Verdun is densely populated even though municipal bylaws place a ban on buildings higher than three stories. Nun's Island has been recently allowed to build high-rise apartment buildings. While pursuing its peaceful development, Verdun has had a history which is not without interest. It might be compared to an honest middle-class housewife more interested in comfort and even inconspicuous luxury than money making pursuits.
Although hemmed in, it enjoys almost all urban amenities without their many inconveniences. Over its 100 years of existence, Verdun has managed to offer the possibly unique example of a town with a population of 200 that has expanded into a city of over 80,000. The average age of Verdun residents is about 35 years, which means I represent a large number of senior citizens, and as such I am pleased to support one of the proposals contained in the Speech from the Throne which provides people least able to fend for themselves with a better protection against inflation. It is essential to give all senior citizens living conditions consistent with their dignity and their integrity as human beings and help them retain as much as possible their personal independence physically, mentally and socially.
There is an old saying that you can judge the degree of civilization of a nation by the way it treats its elders. There are more senior citizens today than ever before and they live longer than in the past but without receiving the care or assistance from younger generations that was accorded to them in primitive societies. We live in a context where old is overlooked and youth is at a premium. This represents a problem as the number of elderly people is growing. Their authority becomes weaker, their role within the family and society is reduced, not to mention uncertainty of their economic situation, their loneliness, the inadequacy of the care which their physical condition may require. The role given by modern society to the aged is not to play any role at all.
When you ask people what they think about the elderly, very often they will give you these answers: tiredness, loneliness, misery, sickness, sadness and death. The aspiration of older people is continuity, that is expectation of such things as they are familiar with or any foreseen change that they will decide for themselves, if possible. Continuity in life is expressed by the location where you live, employment, family church, social circles, hobbies, personal care. Without that

desire for continuity, the aged ask that society allow them to retain from life the picture they had of it in their youth. As every human being reflects his past, he claims the right to keep during his last years what he was and what he knew of the past.
Mr. Speaker, what strikes me very much is the sudden feelings of aging. All of a sudden, at 65, people grow old as if in an instant, after a ruthless rupture, they leave adulthood and become elderly. To sum it up, all ages are not a part of life. Attitudes toward old age almost suggest that old age is for other people only. One thing we should remember is that we will get old as we have lived, we are potentially elderly. Man loses his humanity when he expects structures to be more merciful than he is. Let us appropriate funds to invest into people rather than concrete, and we will thereby provide benefits for the elderly that are chronically ill.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the Minister for National Health and Welfare (Miss Begin) for caring so much about the elderly. She recently announced a Bureau for the Golden Age, so that their voice could be heard. Every member in this House should look up to her as a symbol of determination and moral strength. Such an initiative will lead to more than one revolution, a fiscal revolution and a redistribution of public funds now involving $4.5 billion for old age security pensions, guaranteed income supplement and spouse benefits alone.
When we speak of the elderly, the phrase is "they" or "them', but in a few years out it will be "we" or "us". "We are always old to somebody else." The only thing that makes man grow old is his body, which constitutes an important medical problem, but it must be seen in a context which would recognize first of all that, like anyone else, an older person needs dignity, fulfilment, comfort, appreciation and most of all to be useful in one's own way according to one's own condition. Nevertheless it often happens that the older a person gets, the fewer friends he has because many of those he liked have died. To encourage older people to stay active and committed, the federal government has launched a program called "New Horizons" which grants money to older people who wish to develop new projects. New Horizons pays for facilities and equipment but does not offer a salary to older people. When this program was launched in 1972, the then minister of national health and welfare, the hon. John C. Munro, declared that he believed that participation in a mutual aid activity and others could suppress the obstacles which bring social isolation and a feeling of solitude among Canadians over 65.
More than half the projects subsidized by New Horizons deal with leisure centres for the aged. If those projects for which funds have been granted reflect the preoccupations of people who frequent these centres for the aged, which is probable, one reaches the conclusion that older men and women are mainly interested in sports and games, then in crafstmanship, leisure and cultural activities. The two main
October 11, 1978

problems facing older people are housing and health. Every time the question of housing for the aged arises, somebody comes along to say that this is a relatively new problem which did not exist before, when three or four generations used to live together under the same roof. That same person will probably go on to say that before the advent of urbanization and the nuclear family, senior citizens lived with their married children and grandchildren and kept busy on the farm almost until the end. Things were never that simple. As much in the time of Shakespeare's King Lear as in that of Zola's La Terre, according to De Beauvoir, history has shown time and again that old peasants forced by old age to make over their whole estate to their children ran the risk of being despised and often of being without the bare necessities.
Furthermore, as the Special Senate Committee on Aging also pointed out, even if many elderly couples are doing their best to have their home repaired before the husband retires, the fact is that their properties are generally very old and require much more maintenance than the average.
Since accidents are a major cause of incapacity among older people, they were advised by way of precaution to alter their homes so as to minimize the risks of getting hurt or falling, for example, by improving the lighting on staircases, installing a handrail in the bathroom, lowering their cupboards, and so on. Those recommendations are useful and well-meant no doubt, but unlike countries like Denmark where the government gives grants to that end, no Canadian government has yet offered to pay the cost of such improvements.
The Canada Works and Young Canada Works programs have clearly shown a great need for general helpers to provide those services but no specific program exists at this time to meet that need. One of the problems of homeowners which particularly affects widows and may explain the increasing popularity of condominiums among senior citizens is the difficulty in finding help for chores such as snow removal, lawn and garden maintenance and eavestrough cleaning.
Mr. Speaker, after serving my city for 15 years, I am very proud to have been able to obtain, with the help of the Verdun social clubs, the money required to accommodate 350 people in a home and 300 others in low-rent apartments. I am convinced that the residents of Verdun are very grateful for this. Canadian social welfare agencies already provide professional family helpers, but there are very few of them and they are used mostly to take over from hospitalized or over-worked mothers or to look after seriously ill senior citizens.
As all those who have looked into the plight of senior citizens in Canada over the last 20 years, including the Royal Commission on Health Services, the Senate Committee on Aging and many others, have concluded, every province and territory needs family helpers. These should be specially trained to lend a hand to delicate senior citizens a few days or a few hours a week, if need be, in house cleaning, shopping and cooking. This service, as well as meals-on-wheels for all those
The Address-Mr. Savard
who cannot cook for themselves, would enable elderly people to remain independent and to keep on living in their own homes.
These studies also listed other important services, such as contact programs-to identify those who are confined at home-information and reference services-to inform senior citizens about community resources and government programs-telephone services for distress centres, amicable contacts, special teams to help out in house cleaning, men and women for general chores and special transportation services. However, the provincial home care services as provided by visiting nurses, doctors, speech therapists, rehabilitation specialists, dentists and chiropodists are still inadequate as far as answering the needs of the elderly people who are too weak. The Victorian Order of Nurses and many other hygienists work with elderly people in all parts of Canada but here again as in the case of family help, the services are inadequate and mainly reserved for the seriously ill people.
Another factor contributing to the inefficiency of services is that social and health services are almost always independent from one another and as a result their efforts show a total lack of co-ordination. Besides the weak elderly people who live alone, there is another group which suffers from the lack of co-ordination between social and home care services: the families-particularly wives, daughters and daughters-in-law- with whom these weak or sick elderly people stay. Many elderly people are sent to rest homes not because their family does not like them or does not want them, but because the family does not get the trust and the support it needs to be able to take care of them.
Many older women who care for their sick husbands admit that they are terrified at the prospect of a misfortune because in such a case they would have no one to rely upon. Quite often, these women are exhausted because they never have a holiday or time off. In its report, the federal-provincial task force on public health recommended that governments provide special services to spouses and families who look after senior citizens. One such form of support would be short periodic stays in a nursing home or occasional homemaking services.
The task force also recommended that allowances be granted to these families to enable them to set up ramps for wheelchairs in their house for instance or to build small semi-detached apartments. In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I would like to tell our dynamic leader, the Prime Minister, that we have confidence in him and in the measures proposed in the Speech from the Throne which reflects the ideology of our party and enables our government to satisfy the needs of the people in the most deserving areas. Therefore I take pleasure in seconding the motion of my colleague the hon. member for York-South (Mrs. Appolloni) and proposing its adoption.
8006 5-2'/z

October 11, 1978
The Address-Mr. Savard


Some hon. Members:: Hear, hear!


Mr. Joe Clark (Leader of the Opposition):: Mr. Speaker, I will have more to say about this speech tomorrow-
[ Translation]
-but for the time being-

On motion of Mr. Clark the debate was adjourned.
On motion of Mr. Trudeau the House adjourned at 4.28 p.m.

Thursday, October 12, 1978