Debates of June 3rd, 1999

Privilege

[The Speaker]

I want to wait until we hear what the member for Vaudreuil—Soulanges has to say, if indeed he did say anything in that respect.

The second question of privilege will not be brought up.

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this matter will come up again when the member comes back into the House. Do you want to hear submissions prior to that or will you give us ample notice so that we can be here to provide further submissions to what my hon. colleague just gave you?

[The Speaker]

I think what I will do as a first step is wait to hear what the hon. member for Vaudreuil—Soulanges has to say. If there is other pertinent information, I might be disposed tolisten to it provided that indeed the hon. member did say what he was alleged to have said. I am not going to take it any further. It will be one step at a time. I will hear what the hon. member has to say.

I am addressing myself to the hon. member for Mississauga South. If there is a necessity for more information, I will hear it after I have heard from the hon. member for Vaudreuil—Soulanges.

Business Of The House

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have several questions for the government House leader today, as he might guess.

Before I ask the questions I would like to take this opportune time to congratulate the hon. government House leader on completing his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Waterloo University.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

I know it takes a long time to finish those degrees. I have been there myself.

I would like to ask the hon. member one skill testing question on history. Is the hon. member aware if any Liberal government ever formed three successive majority governments in Canada? He might reflect on that historic question.

I would like to ask the government House leader if the House will indeed be sitting past June 11. We hear that it is closing early. We were anticipating going until about June 18 or 21. I would like to ask him if it will continue.

I would like the hon. member to bring the House up to date with regard to all legislation being brought forward to the House to the end of this session.

[The Speaker]

Not wanting to take the fire out of the government House leader, I believe there were successive Liberal governments from 1935 to 1957 but I could be mistaken.

I want to congratulate the hon. member too. I think it is a wonderful feat and a good example for all Canadians.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the opposition House leader and all his colleagues for the applause as well.

Speaking of three successive Liberal governments, this is bound to happen again soon because ours will be re-elected the next time. There will be another Liberal government re-elected a third time. I will start with the business for the next week.

Tomorrow we will consider report stage and third reading of Bill S-22 respecting air transit preclearance, followed by Bill S-23, respecting carriage by air. I understand that these bills may proceed rather rapidly. Then we will take up consideration of the Senate amendments to Bill C-49, the land claims legislation.

Monday and Tuesday shall be allotted days. I would like to take this opportunity to remind all colleagues that Tuesday is the final day of the supply cycle which results in a day that is longer than the ones with which most of us are familiar in terms of votes and so on.

Starting Wednesday next week, I intend to commence measures to wrap up some of the parliamentary agenda. Let me give the following outline to colleagues.

Assuming that the bill has returned from the Senate, and I am told that it likely will, we will proceed with the Senate amendments to Bill C-55 as a priority. We will then consider Bill C-54. If an agreement has been reached, we could then deal with the impaired driving bill, but only provided there is an agreement. I understand that some members have different views as to what the bill should include and we can only deal with that bill if we all agree on it. The bill is unnumbered and will likely be tabled probably as early as tomorrow. Hopefully we can arrive at a consensus on that.

We would then do the miscellaneous statute law amendments act, otherwise known as MSLA. Hopefully we could do that at all stages rather rapidly. This could take us to Friday of next week.

For the week after, perhaps I should wait for the meeting of House leaders to be held on Tuesday before describing any business beyond that time.

Just to alert the Chair, of course the business I am describing beyond next Wednesday is only tentative and there would be a House leaders meeting on Tuesday. I will endeavour to keep colleagues informed.

Possibly, depending on the events in Kosovo there have been negotiations on particular procedures in that regard among House leaders. Those may change depending on the events. I intend to discuss those with House leaders as well. Perhaps on a question next Thursday I could update the House in that regard as well.

This ends my report. I am sure we are all anxiously awaiting the re-election of the third consecutive Liberal government under the able leadership of the Prime Minister.

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Madam Speaker, I would like to extend my congratulations to the government House leader on his academic achievements. I disagree only with him to the extent that he shows such obvious and misguided enthusiasm for a third Liberal government.

Given the controversy that has erupted recently over the head tax for refugees and immigrants, could the government House leader say whether the government intends to bring in any legislation at any time to remove the head tax for refugees?

[Gurmant Grewal, Reform, Surrey Central, BC]

A point of order.

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

I am bringing this forward under the Thursday question, Madam Speaker. Perhaps when I finish, the member could make his point of order.

Will there also be legislation coming in with respect to water exports? This is something else that was promised by the government.

[The Acting Speaker (Ms. Thibeault)]

The hon. member for Winnipeg—Transcona is on a point of order. We will finish with this one and then get back to the hon. member. The hon. government House leader.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Madam Speaker, on the issue of water exports, there could be a bill introduced before we rise. There is still a fair chance that we will be able to complete that in terms of having it ready for introduction.

On the other issue that was raised, that is to say the issue of a head tax, of course there is no head tax in Canada. All members will recognize that. If the member is referring to the landing fee, there is no proposal to table such legislation before we rise.

[Gurmant Grewal, Reform, Surrey Central, BC]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. As far as the procedure of the House is concerned, so far as I am aware, the Thursday question is asked by the official opposition. Last time I noticed that there was another Thursday question asked. If that is the case, I would also like to ask the government House leader that if Bill C-49 does not finish, how long will it go on, and how long will the MSLA take?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Madam Speaker, we are producing Bill C-49 tomorrow, the Senate amendments, and the miscellaneous statute law amendments act Friday of next week. It is a little unusual that the government could answer as to how long the opposition will take to dispose of the stage of a bill, but hopefully it will be as rapidly as possible.

[John Reynolds, Reform, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Madam Speaker, since we are going on with a long Thursday question, I would ask the government House leader what happened to the young offenders bill which has been touted by the government. Millions of dollars have been spent on advertising and it does not seem to be on the government agenda any more.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Madam Speaker, it certainly is on the agenda. Bill C-68, the youth justice bill, was debated on four consecutive occasions in the House of Commons. The House and all Canadians will be aware of the extensive filibuster made by some hon. members opposite. I am ready to refer the issue to committee by unanimous consent right now if members opposite are agreeable.

[The Acting Speaker (Ms. Thibeault)]

I will recognize the hon. member for Dewdney—Alouette on another point of order, but I am afraid this is the last one I will allow since traditionally it is the House leader of the official opposition who asks the questions.

[Grant McNally, Reform, Dewdney—Alouette, BC]

Madam Speaker, my point of order follows along that raised by my NDP colleague from Winnipeg. It has to do with the head tax which he mentioned or, as the House leader likes to refer to it, the landing fee. This was an issue that was brought before committee yesterday. It was a compelling point made by members of the committee and Liberal members absented themselves from that vote. Is that going to inspire the government to move on this very important issue?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Madam Speaker, procedure before committee is just that.

[John Reynolds, Reform, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Madam Speaker, the government House leader has said that if there was unanimous consent we could send the young offenders bill to committee. I would like to ask for unanimous consent to send the bill to committee.

[The Acting Speaker (Ms. Thibeault)]

Is there agreement?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Some hon. members]

No.

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I hope you did not miss the point. We have a Thursday question and now we have established a second question period. I would like to ask you, Madam Speaker, to ask the table officers how this is going to work. If we are going to extend question period into a question period for the government House leader, we want to be adequately prepared. My colleagues are ready to ask questions. We would like a clarification and we would like the government House leader to stay around a while because we have a lot of questions to ask.