Debates of June 8th, 1999
House of Commons Hansard #240 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was marriage.
Topics
- Government Response To Petitions
- Committees Of The House
- Civil International Space Station Agreement Implementation Act
- Petitions
- Questions On The Order Paper
- Supply
- The Persechini Run
- Taxation
- The Environment
- Leukemia
- Relay For A Friend
- Agriculture
- Operation Blue Star
- Laval Hospital
- Oceans
- New Brunswick Election
- World Skills Competition
- Family Trusts
- Drummondville
- Quebec Premier
- New Brunswick Election
- Parkdale Community Cleanup Day
- Government Expenditures
- Sexual Exploitation Of Children
- Kosovo
- Prime Minister
- The Senate
- Kosovo
- Prime Minister
- Correctional Service Canada
- Prime Minister
- Correctional Service Canada
- Prime Minister
- Grain Transportation
- Prisons And Penitentiaries
- The Family
- National Defence
- Kyoto
- Toronto Port Authority
- Kosovo
- Reproductive Technologies
- Kosovo
- National Rural Health Strategy
- Canada Marine Act
- Quebec's Political Future
- National Defence
- Amherst
- Presence In Gallery
- Privilege
- Points Of Order
- The Late Hugh Hanrahan
- Petitions
- Supply
- Committees Of The House
- Supply
- Main Estimates, 1999-2000
- Points Of Order
- Main Estimates, 1999-2000
- Points Of Order
- Supply
- Division No. 546
- Division No. 547
- Division No. 548
- Main Estimates, 1999-2000
- Division No. 549
- Division No. 550
- Division No. 551
- Division No. 552
- Division No. 553
- Division No. 554
- Division No. 555
- Division No. 556
- Division No. 557
- Division No. 558
- Division No. 559
- Division No. 560
Prime Minister
Oral Question Period
2:30 p.m.
Bloc
Gilles Duceppe Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
Mr. Speaker, we are not asking the Prime Minister to administer his shares, we are merely asking whether this was the case.
There are two choices for clarifying the situation, dispelling suspicion and tidying up the matter. One is to do it himself, because he did this before being sworn in, and the other is to ask the trustees to do it, and stop hiding behind the ethics counsellor.
The ethics counsellor is not controlled by the House. He is hired by the Prime Minister, is answerable to the Prime Minister and seems to be receiving his orders from the Prime Minister. It makes no sense.
Prime Minister
Oral Question Period
2:30 p.m.
Saint-Maurice
Québec
Liberal
Correctional Service Canada
Oral Question Period
June 8th, 1999 / 2:35 p.m.
Reform
Randy White Langley—Abbotsford, BC
Mr. Speaker, I have been asking the solicitor general for weeks about drugs in prisons.
He said that he knows about it and that he is studying it. What he does not say is who is doing the study, how long it will take and what the scope of the study actually is. My sources say that no such study is taking place in these prisons.
Since drugs are out of control in the prisons, why does the solicitor general not have a plan to do something about it?
Correctional Service Canada
Oral Question Period
2:35 p.m.
Cardigan
P.E.I.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Solicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, as I have said a number of times in the House, when I was appointed solicitor general I became aware of the massive drug problem.
I have asked Correctional Service Canada to review the drug program in the penal system. It has indicated to me that it will have a report on the review in about three months.
Correctional Service Canada
Oral Question Period
2:35 p.m.
Reform
Randy White Langley—Abbotsford, BC
Mr. Speaker, it is refreshing that the solicitor general will know about it in three months. I have known about it for six years.
Let me quote the solicitor general in the House last week. He said that after prisoners are on parole, there needs to be some type of program to help people who are addicted. What does he mean by after they are on parole and in some type of program? This does not sound like a plan, it sounds like a cop-out to me.
After all these years of drug abuse in our prisons, why does the solicitor general have no plan at all?
Correctional Service Canada
Oral Question Period
2:35 p.m.
Cardigan
P.E.I.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Solicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that my hon. colleague has known this for six years. I thought he found out last week.
If I did have all the answers that were needed for the alcohol addiction and drug abuse problem in the prisons, I would not have to do a review, I would just tell them how to do it. We must do a review.
Prime Minister
Oral Question Period
2:35 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Gauthier Roberval, QC
Mr. Speaker, I have the impression there is double standard in government.
While the Prime Minister is asking the Minister of Finance not to intervene in transportation matters because he has interests, he boasts about how he intervenes in matters in which he has interests.
Why may the Minister of Finance not intervene in matters that concern him in cabinet, when the Prime Minister must intervene because it is his duty to his constituents?
Prime Minister
Oral Question Period
2:35 p.m.
Saint-Maurice
Québec
Liberal
Jean Chrétien Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker, as far as interests are concerned, I sold them.
When people in my riding apply for grants available to all ridings with high unemployment, I do my duty as an MP and I hope that the member for Roberval does the same.
I have intervened in cases, but I have never intervened with respect to the interests in a golf club that I do not have and that has never received any sort of grant from the Canadian government.
Prime Minister
Oral Question Period
2:35 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Gauthier Roberval, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's defence is that he sold his interests. But nobody has seen hide nor hair of a deed of sale.
What we want the Prime Minister to do, if he wants to be left in peace, is to table the deed of sale.
Prime Minister
Oral Question Period
2:35 p.m.
Saint-Maurice
Québec
Liberal
Correctional Service Canada
Oral Question Period
2:35 p.m.
Reform
Jim Abbott Kootenay—Columbia, BC
Mr. Speaker, indeed there is a drug problem in the prisons. Let us take a look at what happened last Saturday in the Kingston Penitentiary.
After prisoners were observed consuming and possibly concealing drugs during an evening yard exercise, they were penned up and taken back to their cells, but the final group of them would not go. What they did was break everything in sight and cause $10,000 worth of damage.
This is the last event that has taken place. There have been many events that have taken place over a number of years. Why has the minister just suddenly discovered that there is a drug problem?
Correctional Service Canada
Oral Question Period
2:35 p.m.
Cardigan
P.E.I.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Solicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, your hon. colleague is the one who discovered a week ago that there is a drug problem. We have known for years that there is a drug problem. We have indicated that we will address the drug problem, and that is exactly what we will do.
Correctional Service Canada
Oral Question Period
2:35 p.m.
The Speaker
Order, please. I ask hon. members to please address the chair in the question and in the answer.
Correctional Service Canada
Oral Question Period
2:35 p.m.
Reform
Jim Abbott Kootenay—Columbia, BC
Mr. Speaker, is that not really something? They have known about it for a long time and yet the minister has no plan. He has just started his study. He said that we have to do a study in order to be able to find out what we will do. Dither and dither.
Why does he have no plan? Why will he not tell us about the scope of the study that is supposedly going on?
Correctional Service Canada
Oral Question Period
2:40 p.m.
Cardigan
P.E.I.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Solicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated previously, there was a review done in 1995. A review was also done a year ago which indicated that there has been about a 300% decrease in drug use in prisons.
As I have indicated, even 12% is too much. We intend to address the problem.