House of Commons Hansard #181 of the 35th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was budget.

Topics

Patronage AppointmentsOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Reform

Jim Silye Reform Calgary Centre, AB

Mr. Speaker, patronage is patronage.

Patronage AppointmentsOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh.

Patronage AppointmentsOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Reform

Jim Silye Reform Calgary Centre, AB

Patronage is an appointment or a promotion given by a patron to a former patron. Politicians are all part of the same old club. It is plums and rewards like this that Reformers want to put an end to.

I have a supplementary question. With Kim Campbell going off to Moscow when can we expect to hear or when can we get confirmation that Mr. Brian Mulroney will be singing "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" from the Emerald Isle?

Patronage AppointmentsOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Windsor West Ontario

Liberal

Herb Gray LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Solicitor General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, the law passed by Parliament gives the responsibility to the government to appoint the president of the CBC. It is a responsibility that has to be carried out in order to ensure that vital national institution operates.

With respect to his idea that any appointment made by government is improper patronage, I regret very much that he is criticizing so severely the fact that his leader's father has been sitting in the Senate under similar circumstances for many years. He ought to be ashamed of himself for attacking his leader's father.

Patronage AppointmentsOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Reform

Jim Silye Reform Calgary Centre, AB

He should have been elected.

Ncc ChairmanOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Bloc

Gaston Leroux Bloc Richmond—Wolfe, QC

Mr. Speaker, the chairman of the National Capital Commission, Mr. Marcel Beaudry, says that he attended a fundraising dinner organized by the Liberal Party of Quebec because this was an activity for the No committee. However, the dinner invitation, printed on party stationery and signed by Mr. Beaudry, clearly refers to a fundraising dinner for the Liberal Party of Quebec, which was confirmed by the Liberal MNA for Chapleau, who said she had collected $30,000.

My question is directed to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Considering these new facts, does the minister agree that Mr. Beaudry knowingly lied before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last Tuesday?

Ncc ChairmanOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Laval West Québec

Liberal

Michel Dupuy LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage

Mr. Speaker, I was asked a similar question a few days ago. I said quite frankly-

Ncc ChairmanOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh.

Ncc ChairmanOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Michel Dupuy Liberal Laval West, QC

Will they for once have the courtesy to listen to the answer?

Ncc ChairmanOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

The Speaker

Hon. members, the questions are legitimate and so are the answers. I would ask you to listen to the answers as well. The Minister of Canadian Heritage.

Ncc ChairmanOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Michel Dupuy Liberal Laval West, QC

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The other day, when similar charges were made, I said that the chairman of the National Capital Commission had the right to exercise his rights as a citizen during his leisure time.

That is what he did. The event took place on a Saturday night. I do not expect the chairman to be at his office on Saturday night.

Ncc ChairmanOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Bloc

Gaston Leroux Bloc Richmond—Wolfe, QC

Mr. Speaker, obviously, the Minister of Canadian Heritage is not prepared to act responsibly and do his homework.

My supplementary is directed to the Acting Prime Minister. In the light of these new facts, including the letter signed by Marcel Beaudry on Quebec Liberal Party stationery and what was said by Mr. Beaudry and the MNA for Chapleau, does the Acting Prime Minister intend, once again, to submit this case to the ethics counsellor for an opinion and to release that opinion once it is received?

Ncc ChairmanOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Laval West Québec

Liberal

Michel Dupuy LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage

Mr. Speaker, our colleagues are so blinded by their own political passion they are now asking me to prevent a Canadian from exercising his political rights in this country. I certainly have no intention of doing so.

Criminal CodeOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Reform

Val Meredith Reform Surrey—White Rock—South Langley, BC

Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday an Ontario court justice ruled that the section in the Criminal Code dealing with criminally insane patients was unconstitutional. The judge has given the government six months to change the section.

What actions will the government be taking to meet the September deadline?

Criminal CodeOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

Etobicoke Centre Ontario

Liberal

Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, first, I believe the Ontario government will be considering the question of whether to launch an appeal as it is a party to the proceeding. The federal government intervened at the first instance and, if an appeal is launched, may well intervene at the appellate stage as well.

Second, depending on whether an appeal is taken and obviously depending on the timing of an appeal if it is brought, it may be necessary to apply for an extension of the six-month period which is permissible under the rules of the court. If that were to be necessary I have no doubt that such an application would be considered and, if appropriate, it would be brought.

Criminal CodeOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

Reform

Val Meredith Reform Surrey—White Rock—South Langley, BC

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are already concerned about high risk offenders walking the streets of their communities.

What assurances can the minister give Canadians that the government is taking steps to prevent innocent citizens from all high risk dangerous offenders, whether or not they are criminally insane?

Criminal CodeOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

Etobicoke Centre Ontario

Liberal

Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, I know of the hon. member's continuing concern in this area. I want to assure her that I share it and that steps are being taken.

We have already announced our intention to strengthen the existing dangerous offender provisions in the Criminal Code. Two weeks ago the Solicitor General announced the new flagging system to make it easier for prosecuting lawyers to have information about what people should be subject to such applications.

In addition we have announced our intention to introduce legislation to strengthen the dangerous offender provisions by removing the requirement for two psychiatric opinions before the court. We are also looking favourably at the recommenda-

tion from the federal-provincial-territorial task force to add long term offenders as a category to the code.

In May the Solicitor General and I will be convening a meeting of constitutional experts and others to look at other strategies we can take within the law to protect society from those who are at high risk of reoffending.

Information HighwayOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

Gordon Kirkby Liberal Prince Albert—Churchill River, SK

Mr. Speaker, Canada's move toward a knowledge based economy presents tremendous economic and educational opportunities for all Canadians. It is very important that these opportunities are made available to all Canadians, not only those in urban areas but those in rural and remote areas as well.

Could the secretary of state tell the House what steps the government is taking to ensure that Canadians in rural and remote areas will have access to the opportunities afforded by the information highway?

Information HighwayOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

Portage—Interlake Manitoba

Liberal

Jon Gerrard LiberalSecretary of State (Science

Mr. Speaker, as member for the rural riding of Portage-Interlake I share the hon. member's concern for rural areas and thank him for his question.

The government is working very hard through programs like SchoolNet, the community access centres and the senior centre information project to ensure the information highway gets out to all areas of Canada and that rural Canadians can benefit equally with urban Canadians.

The community access centres program is now being piloted. The first official competition will be due in October. We are working hard so that the program will be a success and will enable rural communities to participate. Members of Parliament will be fully briefed on the program before the summer break so they can help their communities in submitting briefs and empower people from one end of the country to the other to participate fully in the information highway.

Air CarriersOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

Bloc

Réal Ménard Bloc Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport.

The minister is always telling us about the progress he has made in the air transport industry and the satisfaction expressed by the presidents of the two main carriers. In fact, since his international route allocation policy was announced in late December, and because of his decisions systematically favouring Canadian International in the allocation of international routes, Air Canada shares are taking a beating on the stock market.

My question is this: How can the minister maintain that he acted fairly and equitably, when, according to Standard and Poor, Air Canada has been hurt by the minister's recent decisions giving Canadian International access to the American market, Chicago and New York in particular, without any compensation for Air Canada?

Air CarriersOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Acadie—Bathurst New Brunswick

Liberal

Douglas Young LiberalMinister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, as you can appreciate, the financial situation of any company with publicly traded shares is a very delicate subject matter.

I must, however, tell my hon. colleague that the reason why I say that we have acted as equitably as possible in this whole matter is that, after years of controversy and difficulties in the Canadian air transport industry, the directors of both carriers are telling us and stating publicly that we have acted fairly and efficiently.

My hon. colleague should know, for example, that Air Canada decided the day before yesterday to proceed with a $500 million share issue and that, throughout this process, Air Canada notified Canadians that it had to purchase new planes and hire over 600 people. I think that, if we in the House of Commons want to be fair and equitable, we should realize that great progress has been made. The situation is not perfect, but we think that both carriers are about to experience years of growth that will be much more interesting than what we have seen in the past.

Air CarriersOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Bloc

Réal Ménard Bloc Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC

Mr. Speaker, how can the minister draw a parallel between Hong Kong, a route which Air Canada is ready to start servicing in the summer, thus creating 500 jobs, and Germany, a route which Canadian cannot even start servicing by the end of the year because it does not have enough planes?

Air CarriersOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Acadie—Bathurst New Brunswick

Liberal

Douglas Young LiberalMinister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, it is very simple how we rationalize the decisions with respect to all our cross border and international air travel.

If I use the thesis put forward by my hon. friend, we would not have attributed all the rights we were able to negotiate with the United States. My hon. friend will know that Air Canada has orders with major aircraft manufacturers both in Canada and outside the country to be able to service the routes we have been able to negotiate internationally and with the United States.

If it were a question of only attributing routes or making it possible for Air Canada and Canadian to fly to areas where they have the aircraft for it, there would be a lot of things we would not do that we have already done.

We are saying to Air Canada and to Canadian Airlines International: "This is where you can go. This is how we arrived at the decision. This is how you can plan for your future". That is why they can go out now and negotiate for the purchase or the lease of aircraft to be able to fly to routes that were closed to both Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International in the United States and around the world.

If the hon. member were to be careful and understand what we have achieved for airports across the country and for employees of both airlines, he would tell us that by the end of 1995 we will have done more to improve the situation for both airlines than was done in the previous 15 or 20 years in the country.

Canada PostOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Reform

Ken Epp Reform Elk Island, AB

Mr. Speaker, it has recently come to our attention that the RCMP is investigating developer Jose Perez and his dealings with government officials.

I would like to have, if possible, the Solicitor General confirm or deny this report.

Canada PostOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Windsor West Ontario

Liberal

Herb Gray LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Solicitor General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, it has never been customary in the House to confirm or deny RCMP investigations.