(Ms. St-Jacques spoke in French. This is a translation):
PETITIONS
"Mr. Speaker, I am submitting a 902-page petition signed by almost 22,500 people from throughout Canada. The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to take the necessary action to cancel the national debt, which, in their view, is the primary cause of taxes and widespread poverty, by the year 2000.
"These citizens call upon the Government to stop borrowing money from the Bankers or financial institutions, and create, itself, interest free, the money needed for the country, as the Canadian Constitution gives it the right and duty to do."
We congratulate and thank Ms. Diane St-Jacques for having carried out so well the task that the Pilgrims of Saint Michael of her riding had entrusted her with, namely, to submit their petitions in the House of Commons in Ottawa.
We know that Ms. St-Jacques was appointed vice-chairman of a workgroup to study the causes and nature of poverty. The Pilgrims of St. Michael propose a solution that could solve the serious problem of the huge poverty lived in Canada and in other nations, amidst an abundance of products of all kinds. The many bankruptcies of small and medium-sized businesses, caused by the present debt-money system, should open the eyes of our politicians. We want our elected representatives to be the voice of the people, and really work at solving the problem of the lack of money for all the citizens.
A letter was joined to our petition, stating that 98% of the people that we met signed our petition.
The politicians know how many efforts it takes to go from door to door to collect 22,500 signatures. On that day (October 27), the other petitions submitted in the Parliament had only 50, 100 signatures.
However, we know that the Pilgrims of St. Michael can collect a lot more signatures. In the spring and fall of 2000, we want to present four to five times more signatures, which will be added to those submitted on October 27.
We therefore encourage all the subscribers of "Michael" to order from us petition sheets, and to have them signed by their fellow citizens around them. For example, in a town, people can visit the families who live on their street, and ask them to sign our petition. These petition sheets are free, and are available in English and in French,
Thérèse Tardif
The bigger the snowball, the more snow it gathers as it rolls, which compounds its size. It is the same thing with the national debt: the bigger, the more interest charges one has to pay, and because of compound interest, the debt keeps skyrocketing, causing an increase in taxes and poverty in the population.
The Canadian Government prides itself on having budgetary surpluses, thus being able to reduce the debt, but it is simply because it downloaded its deficit on provinces and municipalities, forcing them to make cuts in basic services like health.
For the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, may the sun of justice shine so brightly that it will melt down completely all the debts of all nations, provinces, cities, businesses, and families.
Canada's national debt: $577 billion
U.S. federal debt to the penny, by January 12, 2000: $5,759,460,143,654.90 (or $5.8 trillion).
This is all it takes...
When we say "cancel" the debt, we actually mean it: write it off, erase it, with an eraser! We do not ask the Government to "print money" to pay the debt. (See article on next page.)