Debates of Nov. 5th, 1997

The Environment

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to AECL and its business around the world, as a matter of policy the Atomic Energy Corporation of Canada Ltd. conducts an environmental analysis of all its projects.

In relation to the bid process, which is still under way in Turkey, one of the bid specifications was the complete satisfaction of all relevant environmental regulations and assessments.

[Monte Solberg, Reform, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, nice answer, but it is completely irrelevant. I was asking about Three Gorges Dam.

The government wants to punish the Canadian taxpayer with the Kyoto deal when it turns out it does not give a damn about the environment.

Why will the prime minister not admit the closest he has ever come to a green policy is on the golf course?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, again they do not have a position.

We want to do what is important for Canada. We want to make a serious contribution to solving this problem. It is a problem which affects all the nations of the world. The only thing the Reform Party is proposing is to do nothing.

We will not listen to the Reform Party. We will do what is right.

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, I wonder if I might ask you to please back away from using the word damn.

Drinking Water

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Health claimed that he had “the support of all the provinces to introduce” Bill C-14 on drinking water. The Government of Quebec, however, has never given its support for this bill.

Will the minister admit that he has never had the agreement of any minister of the Government of Quebec to go ahead with Bill C-14 on drinking water?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, obviously things are getting seriously diluted.

Everyone knows that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Bloc Quebecois to justify its presence here in Ottawa. Every day, it looks for significant problems. Today, the focus is water. It is truly bizarre.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, If the minister wants to wade in, I will give him a tip: he should start by answering the questions.

I repeat my question to the plumber of health. Did he receive the support of a minister of the Government of Quebec before saying that he had Quebec's support in tabling Bill C-14? There is nothing watered down about that, that is a question he should understand.

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the subject matter of Bill C-14 is entirely within federal jurisdiction. We have fully respected the jurisidiction of the provinces.

[Pierre Brien, Bloc, Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister of Health will be clear and simple.

Could he tell us whether or not he has the Quebec government's approval to go ahead with Bill C-14?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes.

Let me quote a letter from the Quebec health minister dated May 2 last year, stating that “from a public health protection point of view, we have no problem with this bill being enacted”. That is the answer given by the Quebec health minister.

[Pierre Brien, Bloc, Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister is referring to a bill from the last Parliament. Bill C-14 was introduced last Friday.

Does he have the Quebec government's approval specifically for Bill C-14, which is before us now?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I plan to share the contents of this letter with the hon. member. I have a copy here for him.

The hon. member cannot get around the fact that the Government of Quebec was in agreement.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, question period is rough enough. Please, I appeal to all of you, do not bring our pages into our particular disagreements or debate. I would ask you not to do that.

The Environment

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the prime minister.

Just hours before the Liberals called the spring election cabinet pulled another fast one on Canadians, approving $1.5 billion in financing and agreeing to circumvent an environmental assessment of a Candu reactor sale to Turkey.

In six years this reactor reported 1,100 nuclear incidents. Politically unstable, Turkey has a disturbing human rights record and it is an alarmingly high credit risk.

How does this sordid deal promote environmental safety abroad and Canada's good reputation in the world community?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, if and when AECL is successful in its bid and actually negotiates a contract to sell a Candu reactor to Turkey it will of course comply with all applicable Canadian standards and Turkish requirements. Those Turkish requirements are in fact one of the very bid specifications.

As a matter of policy AECL conducts an environmental analysis of all its projects.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I hope the prime minister will address this question.

Ever since he was energy minister 13 years ago, the prime minister has been bound and determined to sell nuclear technology to Turkey. Now he is at it again.

Can the prime minister not find a better way to rack up club Kyoto points than spending billions of dollars to promote the sale of nuclear technology to an economically and politically unstable country like Turkey?

[Sergio Marchi, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, the member obviously has a very profound misunderstanding about the whole financing. This is not a giveaway. This is a repayable loan at commercial rates.

Second, Canada has sold thus far nine nuclear reactors. The Canadian public has not lost one cent on any repayment. In fact, not only has it made money but it has also created jobs.

Last, the state of Turkey is guaranteeing this loan and as a member of the OECD and as an ally in NATO and as a country that has kept up with its international repayment schedule—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Sherbrooke.

[Jean Charest, Progressive Conservative, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is difficult for the House to take the government seriously when the Minister of Natural Resources tells us that AECL is doing an environmental assessment on itself.

I would like to know from the Prime Minister, since he is ready to manipulate the courts and also circumvent the law by producing a secret shadow assessment on the Turkish deal, if a secret shadow assessment has been done on the China deal. If yes, will he take it out of the shadows, allow it to glow in the dark and take the credit that he wants but that he does not deserve?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, everything was made public when we signed the deal with China. Everybody knows everything. We always respect the law.

[Jean Charest, Progressive Conservative, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when he was the environment critic in 1991, today's finance minister said “I unconditionally support the principle of the environmental assessment legislation in Canada”. I guess he just does not support the practice. He then went on to say “The environmental assessment process in this country must not be open to political manipulation”. If selling nuclear reactors to other countries without environmental assessment is not political manipulation of assessment laws, what is political manipulation?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated, the policies of AECL are to conduct environmental analysis of all of its projects. The bid projects from other countries around the world typically include environmental requirements with which AECL must comply.

Finally, in terms of the application of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the hon. gentleman will know that is a matter of litigation at the present time and neither he nor I should comment until the litigation is complete.

[Jason Kenney, Reform, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, according to senior government sources, the Kyoto deal is going to cost Canadians billions of dollars. We want to ask the Prime Minister a straight question and we want a straight answer. I ask him not to evade it or avoid it but to just answer it.

How is the government going to pay for the Kyoto deal, by raising the gas tax or by cutting into the surplus? Which will it be? How is it going to pay for it?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have a very good record. We have run a good government and have managed to reduce the deficit to almost zero in four years. Therefore, we know how to manage the affairs of the nation. Among the responsibilities of the nation is to make a contribution to the problem of climate change, something the Reform Party does not want us to do.

We need to have a strong position because we believe in the protection of the environment on this side of the House.