Debates of Feb. 5th, 2001

House Of Commons

[Chuck Strahl, Canadian Alliance, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in talking about the Liberals, the leader of the fifth party went on to say that they are extremely nervous about this and they are doing everything they can to stop the legitimate questions and facts being known.

The House leader of the fifth party claims that the government House leader said “If you lay off the Prime Minister, I could make things a little easier for you”.

I have never heard the House leader say anything like that ever in my presence. Could he confirm whether he did or did not use these words in the House of Commons? Will he confirm that questions in the House of Commons do not affect resources allocated to members of parliament?

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

Mr. Speaker, if I were to conclude that questions in the House affected budgets in a negative way, I am almost tempted to say that the research budgets would have literally disappeared for many people across the way. Obviously such is not the case.

I can confirm to the entire House that it is my intention, as it has always been, not to be threatening toward other House leaders and to continue to operate in a manner that obtains as many as possible benefits to which we are entitled for all our colleagues to do the good job we are called upon to do.

Shipbuilding

[Antoine Dubé, Bloc, Lévis-Et-Chutes-De-La-Chaudière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the last session of the last parliament, all parties voted in favour of the shipbuilding bill I introduced. Everyone admits that the Bloc Quebecois bill was the solution. Even the present Minister of Industry, when he was Premier of Newfoundland, agreed.

Will the minister undertake to speedily introduce a bill to give this country a real shipbuilding policy?

[Brian Tobin, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I would certainly be happy to recognize that the member opposite has been talking about shipbuilding. With other colleagues on all sides of the House he has been trying to raise the issue of the state of shipbuilding in Canada. I congratulate him in that regard.

However to say that I endorsed at any time, in any role I have ever had, the bill that he put before the House is more than he or I can say because I have never been part of the study of that bill although I know members on all sides have studied it.

With respect to his specific question he asked it a few days ago last week. At that time I told him I was awaiting the report of the task force which would in the middle of February.

[Antoine Dubé, Bloc, Lévis-Et-Chutes-De-La-Chaudière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister perhaps did not have enough time. I repeat my question: Does the minister intend, in the near future, to introduce his own shipbuilding bill?

[Brian Tobin, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I intend to do what the government undertook to do, which is to name a task force and await for its report before we decide what we will do. It is the way we operate over here.

Parks Canada

[Cheryl Gallant, Canadian Alliance, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is open season in Canada's national parks. Three separate reports recommended the issuing of side arms to park wardens engaged in law enforcement duties. Now HRDC has issued a stop work order for their law enforcement duties.

Why has the Canadian heritage minister waited for this crisis to develop in our national parks when her department knew this ruling was imminent?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, first I congratulate the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke on her arrival in the House and her first question.

I assure her that the first priority of the government is ensuring the safety of all parks employees and all parks visitors. That is why we have acted very quickly on the directive to make sure that the RCMP assumes all peace officer duties in the parks.

[Cheryl Gallant, Canadian Alliance, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister chooses to ignore the fact that national park wildlife has been put at risk by her lack of action.

Why is the minister refusing to take responsibility for her indecision?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the labour board direction came out last week. I immediately directed the chief executive officer of Parks Canada to ensure that all peace officer duties be carried out by the RCMP.

That is exactly what he has done, because first and foremost safety is the important issue in parks: safety for the warden, safety for the employees and safety for the public. The RCMP is in a position to deliver that safety.

International Aid

[Gurbax Malhi, Liberal, Bramalea—Gore—Malton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as a result of a recent earthquake in India hundreds of thousands of families are homeless or have lost family members, leaving many children orphans.

What does the Minister of Immigration and Citizenship propose to assist families and orphans of this tragedy?

[Elinor Caplan, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his interest in doing what he can and what we can in assisting the families of those who are grieving loss and worry for their relatives in Gujarat province in India.

We are expediting all visa processing from the earthquake zone. Citizenship and Immigration Canada is giving priority processing to all family class, visitor and assisted relative applications. Immigration officers are being encouraged to use broad discretion in processing applications and a Canadian immigration team will visit—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Medicine Hat.

Foreign Affairs

[Monte Solberg, Canadian Alliance, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we are all puzzled and concerned about the mysterious case of a Canadian, William Sampson, who was arrested last December and has now apparently confessed on Saudi TV to a bombing that resulted in one death and numerous injuries. Under Saudi law that confession could mean the death sentence.

Could the government assure us that this confession was freely given and that this Canadian citizen's full legal and human rights are being monitored and protected by our officials in Saudi Arabia?

[Denis Paradis, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, our Canadian embassy in Riyadh followed up with Saudi Arabian authorities immediately following the detention of Mr. Sampson in mid-December.

The Canadian ambassador to Saudi Arabia is supposed to meet Mr. Sampson in the coming week. We have pressed the Saudi authorities, both here and in Riyadh, the need to respect international norms in terms of consular access and the treatment of detainees.

[Monte Solberg, Canadian Alliance, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Deputy Prime Minister. I would like to follow up on the recent case involving the drunken Russian diplomat who took the life of an Ottawa woman and injured another.

Nine days have now gone by since that incident. Could the government explain why as of today no charges have been laid in Russia against this diplomat? Why has the Prime Minister not directly phoned Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, to impress upon him the need to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of Russian law?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the government has taken action under our mutual legal assistance treaty with the Russian federation.

All the documents have been transmitted to the Russian legal authorities. I am confident our embassy is pressing the authorities to take the appropriate action under the treaty and in light of the documents.

Water Quality

[Ghislain Fournier, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, federal government de-icing operations at the Sept-Îles airport have seriously contaminated the water supply of the residents of the des beaches area. Since its responsibility has been clearly established, the Minister of Transport has come up with nothing better than to supply my fellow citizens with bottled water.

My question is for the Minister of Transport. Since the bottled water solution is only a temporary one, what is the minister waiting for before he remedies the problem his department is responsible for by constructing a new drinking water system for this sector of Sept-Îles?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I answered that question last week.

I said that the permanent solutions proposed by Transport Canada are safe and appropriate. I spoke of four solutions: an ion exchange treatment device, a reverse osmosis treatment device, bottled water delivery and the payment of a sum for the purchase of bottled water.

Two residents of the region are using one of these solutions and we are discussing them with the others.

Health

[Paddy Torsney, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as other members have noted, the Royal Society of Canada released an important report on genetically modified foods today and the minister has identified some of the issues that it has raised.

Specifically with regard to scientific capacity, could the minister assure the House that Canada's scientific capacity is sufficient to deal with the increasing complexity of regulating this ministry into the future?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Burlington raises an important point. In fact one of the reasons the ministers of the environment, agriculture and health appointed an arm's length panel to look at the whole question of regulating GM foods is to know how the government could equip itself with the scientific capacity to handle the volume of requests we will receive in the years ahead.

This report gives us some important guidance on how the regulations should be carried out and puts us in a position to know what scientific capacity to put in place. It is one of the reasons we are so grateful to the Royal Society of Canada for its work.

National Parks

[Cheryl Gallant, Canadian Alliance, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, further to the heritage minister's response that the RCMP will pick up the slack in our parks, how many more RCMP officers have been trained and outfitted for their extra workload?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, obviously Parks Canada has had an historic agreement with the RCMP for a number of years. What we will be doing over the next number of weeks is assessing the need for specific requirements as they relate to the duties of a peace officer being carried out by the RCMP.

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 3(3) of the Employment Insurance Act, I am pleased to table, in both official languages, two copies of the annual employment insurance monitoring and assessment report for the year 2000.

International Boundary Waters Treaty Act

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, for the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-6, an act to amend the International Boundary Waters Treaty Act.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)