Debates of June 4th, 1998

Atlantic Groundfish Strategy

[Yvan Bernier, Bloc, Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-De-La-Madeleine—Pabok, QC]

Sometimes he says one thing, sometimes another. In short, he contradicts himself.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Order, please. It is very difficult for the Chair to hear the questions that are being put. We are losing time.

[Yvan Bernier, Bloc, Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-De-La-Madeleine—Pabok, QC]

My question is very simple: Will there be another TAGS program and, if so, when it will be announced?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think I have ever contradicted myself on this. I have always said that we were concerned about the post-TAGS situation starting in August.

Our people have worked very hard. In the past two weeks, some of our officials have visited the Atlantic provinces, where they are holding consultations to explore certain avenues; so we are working in partnership with the provinces in an effort to address the situation.

[Yvan Bernier, Bloc, Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-De-La-Madeleine—Pabok, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the TAGS program ends in August, but the minister must not wait until the evening of July 31 to take action.

I would like the minister to tell us whether the new program will include measures like early retirement, license buyback, income support and regional economic diversification. Will these four measures be part of the future program? In short, I would like him to act before July 31.

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, the package we are preparing contains a number of options. It will contain several development tools, and I hope that we will be in a position to announce it very soon.

Access To Information

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, let me just say that I was in favour of top gun then and I am in favour of it now. I support it but I am also in favour of open disclosure.

Speaking of open disclosure, the information commissioner tabled his last report today. When he should have had a last hurrah, he had to say that this government is just clouded in guilt. Secrecy still flourishes. This is wrong. At least Mulroney had the odd press conference and so does Boris Yeltsin.

Let me ask the Prime Minister about the information he is giving. Is he proud of his badge of honour?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am in the House of Commons three or four times a week. I am always here to reply to questions. It is not my fault if the opposition is all mixed up.

Perhaps I should end the statement that she made in the House. Thanks to Gary Blanchard, the chairman of the project, and his committee, they did an excellent job of promoting our facilities. Congratulations, she said. Target: top gun.

Foreign Affairs

[Bob Mills, Reform, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I guess it is a little difficult to understand exactly where the Prime Minister is coming from. My question, however, is to the foreign affairs minister.

Yesterday, the Department of Foreign Affairs signed a deal with South Korea to build nuclear reactors in China and Turkey. That was yesterday.

Considering that our nuclear fingerprints are all over the India and Pakistan nuclear programs, can the minister justify the signing of this deal to peddle nuclear technology at this critical point in time?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman is comparing two different points in time, 24 years apart, and two quite different sets of rules.

Based in part upon the experience in the 1970s, Canada substantially toughened its nuclear non-proliferation requirements. Bilateral arrangements are required with any recipient countries. Signing onto the international non-proliferation rules is required. International inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency is required.

Anybody who wants to do business with Canada must adhere to those requirements.

Kosovo

[Daniel Turp, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the conflict in Kosovo is worsening daily.

After violently repressing demonstrations last March, the Serbian army is now engaged in heavy shelling, forcing tens of thousands into exile.

Since the economic sanctions and repeated warnings of the international community are not deterring Serbia, is the minister now in favour of stiffer measures, including sending combat forces to the region?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, last week at the NATO council meeting a series of important initiatives were established by the foreign ministers to be looked at by the military committee and others.

Yesterday at the NATO council our ambassador asked that those examinations be accelerated so that they can be ready for examination by NATO defence ministers when they meet next week.

We are very active in making sure that the opportunity to respond to our preventive action is accelerated at the NATO council because we have to do it together.

International Trade

[Sarmite Bulte, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of International Trade.

There is growing public concern about decisions being made by international bodies without any accountability or transparency.

What does the minister plan to do to improve the process of transparency on trade issues at the World Trade Organization?

[Julian Reed, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her very insightful question.

I would point out that at the opening plenary of the World Trade Organization two weeks ago last Monday the minister made a speech in which the keynote thrust was to let the light shine on the WTO. Two days later I had the honour of speaking at the closing plenary and the thrust of my speech was to let the light shine on the World Trade Organization.

Transitional Jobs Fund

[Rob Anders, Reform, Calgary West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the human resources minister denied any scandals in the transitional jobs fund. Does he deny that 124 employees in St. John's lost their jobs? Does he deny that $1 million was wasted at BPS for politics? Does he deny that the $285,000 given to Cape Shore Seafoods has not created a single job? Does he deny that the president of Cape Shore admitted using a government guaranteed loan to pay backtaxes and liens for one of his other companies?

Will the minister—

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Human Resources Development.

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, what I think needs to be made very clear for members of the House and for the Canadian public is that the transitional jobs fund has proceeded on 700 projects and has created more than 30,000 jobs in this country. Out of 700 projects, maybe six or seven of them have not done so well.

I think that six or seven projects having difficulty out of 700 is a very good average.

[Rob Anders, Reform, Calgary West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the last minister would not substantiate that the transitional jobs fund created 80,000 jobs. At least this minister is willing to stand up. He has not denied anything. He does not have a clue. He challenged me yesterday to go outside the House and repeat the challenges. I am challenging him to go outside the House today and deny in front of the cameras that these things have happened.

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, I am always amazed by the exaggerations of the member across the aisle.

The example used was BPS. The member said that 124 workers had not been paid a thing. He asked “Where has the million gone?”

I must tell the member that these workers were paid for seven months before there were difficulties. When we realized there were difficulties, we corrected the situation immediately.

Government Contracts

[Dick Proctor, NDP, Palliser, SK]

Mr. Speaker, information concerning untendered contracts at defence continues on a daily basis. However, I want to focus on the Bombardier NATO, 20 year sole source contract.

Is it not true that Industry Canada is permitting Bombardier to qualify for Canadian industrial benefit credits even though it will create work or jobs at offshore locations including Northern Ireland? If that is the case, will the defence minister assure this House that these sole source contracts do not allow any industrial employment benefits which are not totally based in Canada?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I would think the hon. member would be very happy that Moose Jaw is being saved by this particular project.

In fact, the Bombardier contract is part of a consortium that has delivered service to us already in Portage le Prairie, another community well served by the pilot training program. We were able to get this particular program because we were able to move fast within the NATO deadlines and we were able to provide a contract that will save the Canadian taxpayers $200 million over 20 years.

National Defence

[Chris Axworthy, NDP, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it is pretty evident that this defence minister has been a disaster.

Bearing in mind that the minister has presided over the mishandling of the recommendations of the Somalia inquiry, the mishandling of sexual misconduct and black market activities in Bosnia, outrageously expensive going away parties for retiring generals, low morale and working conditions in the armed forces, untendered sweetheart deals with Bombardier and continuous numerous allegations of sexual harassment in the military which he has called poor performance, when will the Prime Minister get rid of this defence minister? How many strikes does there have to be before he is out?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have received many requests from the premier of the province of Saskatchewan asking that we preserve the base in Moose Jaw.

There seem to be a lot of problems in that little family in the corner.

Tobacco

[Greg Thompson, Progressive Conservative, Charlotte, NB]

Mr. Speaker, if the government was serious about reducing the number of people, particularly young people, who smoke it would not have reduced taxes on tobacco in 1994. This capitulation created the single biggest increase in the number of smokers in the history of Canada.

Attacking the smoking problem and the 40,000 deaths associated with it requires a three pronged approach: pricing, advertising and education.

When will the Minister of Health get serious about reducing the number of Canadians who smoke and reverse the regrettable decision of 1994?