Debates of June 6th, 2000

Canadian Heritage

[Pierre De Savoye, Bloc, Portneuf, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have already learned that Bell Canada Média served as a front for the program “Le Canada du millénaire”. Now we learn that the “Heritage Minutes” of Heritage Canada have a link with the CR Bronfman Foundation.

My question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Why is this government, which is so keen on gaining visibility most of the time, with the millennium scholarships for instance, hiding behind Bell Canada Média and the CR Bronfman Foundation?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I will follow the hon. member's suggestion to gain more visibility for Canada, and we will put our wordmark on this.

[Pierre De Savoye, Bloc, Portneuf, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government has made use of Bell Canada Média and the CR Bronfman Foundation as fronts for the “Heritage Minutes”.

Are we to understand that the government is using the frontman technique to disguise information that is, in reality, nothing but propaganda?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, allow me to say a few words about what is being called propaganda.

We have told the legend of Maurice “The Rocket” Richard. We have told people about the singer La Bolduc, about Paul-Émile Borduas and Joseph Casavant, not forgetting Jacques Plante and his innovative goalie face mask. Is that propaganda for Canada?

Human Resources Development

[Dale Johnston, Reform, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Speaker, before the current HRDC minister was sworn in, departmental officials were in full spin mode over the billion dollar boondoggle. They held secret meetings and they hatched a plan on how to release this damaging information. Then the new minister arrived and it was business as usual. Between August and December under her watch HRDC spent almost $500 million on grants and contributions.

Why did the minister continue to approve expenditures of nearly half a billion dollars when the interim audit clearly stated that there was a potential for internal or external fraud?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, clearly from all these questions, that party opposite wanted action taken. Clearly, those members should take the time instead of looking at drafts and bringing bits and pieces to the House and see that action has been taken. Why do they not spend time looking at the results of the last report to the standing committee that went through the 17,000 files, that improved the administration and identified quite clearly that no money was missing? Indeed it continues to be spent wisely and widely across Canada to help the citizens of this country.

[Dale Johnston, Reform, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister is absolutely right. The money was spent widely.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please.

[Dale Johnston, Reform, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister asked us to look back at the record. We did and what we found was that from July to December, while the time bomb was still ticking away in her department, she denied that the problem even existed. There were more grants and contributions funded out of that office in November than in any other month in 1999. The minister has clearly put partisan politics ahead of her personal integrity.

Why would she abuse taxpayers' dollars in such a way?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, again the members of that party opposite have not taken the time to understand the impact of these grants and contributions. Perhaps they should have come with me to Montreal where there, in partnership with the city, young people who were on the street—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Human Resources Development.

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Brant, ON]

I was suggesting how nice it would be if members of that party opposite could have been with me in Montreal at a project where we are in partnership with a city where young people who have not been able to find their way are now working productively as animateurs in a park, providing historical background to those who choose to visit that park.

Perhaps they could have been with me in Winnipeg where young people who have not been able to succeed in the formal education system are now working in a very tough part of downtown Winnipeg in a 100 year old house on a lane that was called Murder Lane, refurbishing that house. They are actually connected to the world again.

Radio-Canada

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski—Mitis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as he was investigating the matter of the “Heritage Minutes, the Bronfman foundation and Robert-Guy Scully”, journalist Normand Lester of Radio-Canada has just been shunted off.

Mr. Scully, however, remains on the job, although he contravened journalistic standards and practices on advertising.

How else can such a difference in treatment be explained but by the fact that Robert Rabinovitch, now the president of the CBC, was still recently an associate of the Bronfman foundations?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I know the member for Rimouski—Mitis well, and I do not think she wants the government to meddle in matters relating to jobs at the CBC. At least, I hope so.

The Environment

[Aileen Carroll, Liberal, Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government recognizes very much that water and air quality are vital priorities for Canadians. Recently the Canadian Federation of Municipalities has met with the minister wherein there was an announcement regarding infrastructure programs with an environmental component.

Could the President of the Treasury Board tell the House how the new infrastructure program will work and, more important, how it will improve air and water in Canada?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister said yesterday, nothing is more fundamental than to protect and preserve the quality of air and water.

Therefore the priority of the municipal infrastructure will be on green infrastructure, which includes water, the waste water system, solid waste management and public transit.

This choice of priorities arises from our discussions with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Quebec coalition of municipalities. We hope therefore to have an opportunity to promote our air and water improvement objectives.

Human Resources Development

[Ken Epp, Reform, Elk Island, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the HRDC boondoggle goes on and on. Witness the recent bungle in which HRDC raided an elderly widow's bank account of some $8,400 because of an administrative error.

I understand the officials have apologized and the money has been returned, but my question goes back one step. Since when does HRDC have the authority to raid the bank accounts of private citizens?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, indeed I sincerely regret any difficulties in this circumstance created for the family in question.

I want to let the hon. member know that the circumstance has been reconciled, that an apology has been issued to the family, and that the apology has been accepted.

[Ken Epp, Reform, Elk Island, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, I acknowledge that, but my question goes back one step. By what authority does HRDC reach into the bank accounts of private citizens? Every person who has money in a bank account deserves to know the answer to that question.

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, in fact the appropriate approach would have been to deal with the family directly. As I have said, an apology has been issued to the family and the apology has been accepted.

Taxation

[Lorne Nystrom, NDP, Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of National Revenue. Last week George Harris from Winnipeg won in the Federal Court of Appeal the right to challenge the legality of a tax break that was given to the Bronfman family trust.

The case involves a $700 million tax break. The trust has given Revenue Canada the right to reassess its decision within a 10 year period that expires in 2001.

Given that this may end up in the supreme court and indeed may be brought by the federal government, will the minister now do the right thing and reassess his department's decision immediately so that Canadian taxpayers will not be shortchanged?

[Martin Cauchon, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue and Secretary of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, the decision was tabled not long ago. It has been received by the department. The department is going through the decision. It is analyzing the decision and then a course of action will be taken.

[Lorne Nystrom, NDP, Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Harris has now won two different court decisions, including one in the Federal Court of Appeal last Friday, June 2. This involves a $700 million tax break. That is a lot of money in terms of fairness to the Canadian people.

Given that, could the minister now assure the House that he will not ask for an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, that he will not appeal this case?