Debates of June 13th, 2000
House of Commons Hansard #113 of the 36th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was pension.
Topics
- Government Response To Petitions
- Order In Council Appointments
- National Defence
- Financial Consumer Agency Of Canada Act
- Access To Information Act
- Petitions
- Questions On The Order Paper
- Criminal Code
- Crimes Against Humanity And War Crimes Act
- Canada National Parks Act
- The Late Gilles Landry
- National Parks
- Canada World Youth Exchange Program
- Syria
- The Environment
- Grain Transportation
- Bombardier
- Regional Pride Week
- Job Creation
- Impaired Driving
- Member For Lac-Saint-Louis
- Health
- Jason Arnott
- Note Festival
- Bill C-20
- Canadian Nurses Association
- Canadian Executive Service Organization
- Government Spending
- Parental Leave
- Poverty
- Banks
- Department Of Finance
- Banking
- Human Resources Development
- Banking
- Gun Registry
- Port Of Montreal
- Youth Employment
- Firearms
- Banks
- National Defence
- Status Of Women
- Health
- Cinar
- Post-Secondary Education
- Child Poverty
- Presence In The Gallery
- Canada National Parks Act
- Species At Risk Act
- Parliament Of Canada Act
- Division No. 1355
- International Circumpolar Community
- Division No. 1356
- Division No. 1357
- Treaties Act
- Division No. 1358
- Canadian Tourism Commission Act
- Division No. 1359
- Sales Tax And Excise Tax Amendments Act, 1999
- Division No. 1360
- Criminal Code
- Division No. 1361
- Division No. 1362
- Crimes Against Humanity Act
- Division No. 1363
- Canada National Parks Act
- Division No. 1364
- Young Offenders Act
- Parliament Of Canada Act
Gun Registry
Oral Question Period
2:40 p.m.
Reform
Garry Breitkreuz Yorkton—Melville, SK
Mr. Speaker, we do not even know what the latest advertizing and outreach blitz will cost, and only 5% of guns have been registered. If we reached this huge deficit with only a fraction of the guns being registered, how many more hundreds of millions will have to be spent, or is the justice minister trying to divert attention away from the HRDC minister with her own billion dollar boondoggle?
Gun Registry
Oral Question Period
2:40 p.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh.
Gun Registry
Oral Question Period
2:40 p.m.
The Speaker
Order, please. We have heard the question and I believe we owe it to ourselves to hear the answer.
Gun Registry
Oral Question Period
2:40 p.m.
Edmonton West
Alberta
Liberal
Anne McLellan Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we do not spend a lot of time worrying about conspiracy theories that may float around in the minds of the Canadian Alliance members.
We on this side of the House are concerned about the safety of Canadians. That is why this government is committed to ensuring that we have a gun control program that works for all Canadians. Hon. members might be interested to know that, for example, 750 licence applications have been refused and 970 licences have been revoked from individuals who were deemed not eligible to have them. That is about public safety.
Port Of Montreal
Oral Question Period
2:45 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Beauport—Montmorency—Orléans, QC
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.
The Port of Montreal's board of directors is meeting this evening to decide whether or not to sell the Bickerdike pier to the Technodôme group for a project worth $1.4 billion which has the support of the City of Montreal, the Government of Quebec and many leaders of Quebec's business community.
Since the only position not yet known to date is that of the Prime Minister, will he tell us where his government stands on this major project for Montreal involving 14,000 jobs? Not 14, but 14,000.
Port Of Montreal
Oral Question Period
2:45 p.m.
Don Valley East
Ontario
Liberal
David Collenette Minister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, the decision on the future of the Port of Montreal is in the hands of the authorities directing affairs at the Port of Montreal. There will be a meeting this evening and we await their decision.
Youth Employment
Oral Question Period
2:45 p.m.
Liberal
Sophia Leung Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Mr. Speaker, every summer thousands of students find jobs, but others have a difficult time getting a summer job.
Can the Secretary of State for Children and Youth inform the House what initiatives she is taking to promote summer employment for students?
Youth Employment
Oral Question Period
2:45 p.m.
Western Arctic
Northwest Territories
Liberal
Ethel Blondin-Andrew Secretary of State (Children and Youth)
Mr. Speaker, the government has a number of measures in place.
Overall this year we will spend $120 million in our attempts to hire students. Last year we hoped to achieve the hiring of 60,000 students. We exceeded that number by 10,000 last summer. We are hoping that employers who have not taken advantage of this program will do so and hire a student.
Firearms
Oral Question Period
June 13th, 2000 / 2:45 p.m.
Reform
Lee Morrison Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Mr. Speaker, as of June 4 the Canadian Firearms Centre had issued only 183,353 personal licences and had a backlog of about 144,000 applications in process or awaiting attention.
At that rate, even using the justice department's lowball estimate of three million gun owners in Canada, it would take about 25 years to complete the licensing process.
I ask the justice minister, what is going to happen on the deadline date of December 31 of this year?
Firearms
Oral Question Period
2:45 p.m.
Edmonton West
Alberta
Liberal
Anne McLellan Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, in response let me simply suggest to the hon. member and others across the way that perhaps they should stop being pawns of the gun lobby and get concerned about the safety of the nation.
Firearms
Oral Question Period
2:45 p.m.
Reform
Lee Morrison Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Mr. Speaker, perhaps the minister should some day answer a question.
On June 4 only 382,498 firearms had been registered under the new system and about 103,000 were in process. Depending upon how many firearms are actually in circulation, completion of that process will take somewhere between 18 and 50 years.
How many thousands of employees does the minister estimate will be required to supplement the 1,600 who are already employed in this idiotic fiasco?
Firearms
Oral Question Period
2:45 p.m.
Edmonton West
Alberta
Liberal
Anne McLellan Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, would it not be refreshing if the official opposition actually got behind Canadians and supported gun control and public safety?
Would it not be useful if this party, as opposed to attempting to undermine Canadians' confidence in the gun licensing and registry program, actually worked with Canadians, their families and their communities to support this program?
Banks
Oral Question Period
2:45 p.m.
NDP
Lorne Nystrom Qu'Appelle, SK
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.
Today's financial services bill concentrates more and more power in the hands of the Minister of Finance: the power to make regulations, the power to decide on ownership, and the power to decide about mergers. All of this comes at the expense of parliamentary democracy, making this place less and less relevant to the Canadian people.
Can the minister explain why hoarding all that extra power in his hands, in effect making himself a banking czar in this country, is in the public interest?
Banks
Oral Question Period
2:50 p.m.
LaSalle—Émard
Québec
Liberal
Paul Martin Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, that is not the case.
First of all, the Minister of Finance is accountable to parliament.
Second, the bulk of the areas in which his discretion lies has to do with the holding companies that are permitted investments in that area as opposed to other places.
In terms of parliament, the hon. member will know that under the previous legislation the Minister of Finance had total discretion. Under the new legislation parliamentary hearings will be mandatory.
Banks
Oral Question Period
2:50 p.m.
NDP
Lorne Nystrom Qu'Appelle, SK
Mr. Speaker, under the new legislation the Minister of Finance still has the final power, as he knows.
I want to ask him about rural communities. Banks are important to people and small businesses in rural communities. Yet this legislation only requires six months' notice before they pull out. In six months they are gone.
Why does the minister not bring in legislation that would make it a requirement that the banks not be allowed to close a branch in a rural community and that as long as that branch is making a profit in a community it should stay in the community?