Debates of April 19th, 2002

Guaranteed Income Supplement

[Marcel Gagnon, Bloc, Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in response to pressure from the Bloc Quebecois, we have the members of the Liberal caucus coming on board now, and sending letters to eligible seniors inviting them to apply for the guaranteed income supplement.

Do these seniors have to wait for the support of the Liberal MPs before getting the full retroactive benefits to which they are entitled?

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, as far as the GIS is concerned, there has always been a retroactivity provision. I would emphasize, as has been said here in the House already on numerous occasions, that the guaranteed income supplement is subject to an 11 month retroactive period.

However, since the hon. member is boasting about representing the people of Quebec and wanting to help them, I would again point out that the government of Quebec allows retroactivity only in certain programs, which I could easily list. There is either no retroactivity or a maximum of one year.

[Marcel Gagnon, Bloc, Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we do not need any red herrings here. All that is required is for a single line to be added to the letter, saying “As a recipient of the guaranteed income supplement, you will be entitled to full retroactive benefits”.

Can these seniors expect to find this addition in the next communique they get from the Liberal MPs?

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that Bloc Quebecois members get confused sometimes and do not know where they stand.

I would just like to repeat the words of a Bloc member, who recently stated “The minister has made efforts to locate these people. For example, she sends letters to those who are not collecting the guaranteed income supplement, or even the old age pension”.

“There are some 65,000 people not even collecting the old age pension, and the minister has made an effort”. That is what a Bloc Quebecois MP had to say.

Auditor General's Report

[John Williams, Canadian Alliance, St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Health Infoway is another Liberal slush fund, which was given $500 million a year ago and, according to the auditor general, is still not open for business. The auditor general also says that parliament has no idea what is being done with the $500 million, and that is more than just a little petty cash.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. If it is not parliament, if it is not the government, if it is not the Minister of Health, if it is not the Minister of Finance or the auditor general who is looking after this money, then who is looking after this money?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, as was said in the House by the minister yesterday, all of these foundations, including the one to which the hon. member makes reference, were approved by parliament. All of them are audited. All of them have their leaders or other members who have visited parliamentary committees many times and are willing to do that again.

The foundations provide billions of dollars for innovation, for Canada to grow in the new economy and to be a leader in research and development. Am I to assume the opposition is opposed to those measures?

[John Williams, Canadian Alliance, St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I did say they are not open for business yet.

The auditor general also says that Canada Health Infoway “is required to respect key federal legislation...including...avoiding conflict of interest”. However, the chair of the board of directors, Mr. Eric Maldoff, is a loyal Liberal who has made sizable donations to the Liberal Party in each of the last three years.

My question is for the Minister of Health. If Infoway is required to avoid a conflict of interest, why has she given a loyal Liberal $500 million of Canadian taxpayers' money with no requirement to explain to parliament how it is being spent?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Health Infoway is an important and new contribution to federal, provincial and territorial ability to manage and renew our health care system. Its number one project, as identified by all the provinces and territories and ourselves, is the development of an electronic health record. I resent the fact that the hon. member would impugn the integrity of this arm's length corporation in which every deputy minister of health in this country is a member of the board of directors.

Health

[Tony Tirabassi, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, statistics released recently show that the need for organ transplants in Canada continues to grow. Almost 4,000 Canadians are currently waiting for an organ transplant and that is a 100% increase compared to a decade ago. While the need for organ and tissue donation has increased, the number of donors is simply not keeping pace.

Could the Minister of Health inform the House what steps are being taken to alter this trend and address the difficult issues surrounding organ and tissue donation?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, this is a very important question. The hon. member mentioned that 4,000 people in the country are awaiting either organ or tissue transplantation. The tragedy is that some of those people will die.

What I would do this morning is call upon everyone in the House to take up the challenge, personally and in relation to their constituents. Next week is national organ and tissue transplantation awareness week. I would ask all members in their householders and in their communications with their constituents to let them know that they can participate. They should be signing their organ and tissue donation cards. Next week, I would ask you all--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Halifax.

Middle East

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the world is awakening to the horror of what has happened in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin. A UN envoy describes the conditions as horrific and shocking beyond belief, yet the Israeli government continues to deny humanitarian aid to the victims by blocking access and imposing curfews.

What specific steps is the Canadian government taking to pressure the Sharon government to lift the curfews and ensure that humanitarian aid is reaching the desperate people of Jenin?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as I reported to the hon. member yesterday in committee when she was there, we have spoken to the ambassador from Israel and urged him and his government to lift the curfew and enable humanitarian aid to get through.

As members know, the United Nations is seized of this matter. Mr. Kofi Annan has spoken about it. It is being discussed in the security council.

We ourselves have announced $8 million of aid, through various UN agencies and respectable agencies in the area, to provide immediate aid for humanitarian purposes. We follow this issue carefully. We want it resolved in a way which will enable the parties to come back to the bargaining table in peace and not exacerbate the terrible situation there.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the foreign minister knows that the Canadian delegation at the UN human rights commission voted against sending a fact finding mission into Jenin. We know that the scene is horrific; it has been described as having been struck by an earthquake, with 2,000 people left homeless and 300 buildings destroyed.

Since the government opposed a fact finding mission going in, what is its plan to expose what has happened there to the world? The world's eyes are blindfolded at the moment. Will the foreign minister and the Canadian government agree to a full international investigation into what has happened?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member well knows from my evidence before the committee yesterday, the government opposed the sending of a human rights mission to the area for the reason that it was entirely biased and unacceptable at that time, because we strongly believe that in fact the move by the security council, which is presently supported by this country, is the right one. The government will continue to take practical steps to aid the people in the region and not resort to polemics, which in the end will only exacerbate and render the tensions more difficult.

The Environment

[Loyola Hearn, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of the Environment.

The minister is undoubtedly aware of the shrimp trawler which recently sank while being towed to port in Newfoundland. This vessel contains a huge amount of fuel which is now seeping to the surface.

As this trawler sank on prolific crab fishing grounds and is only a few miles away from a bird sanctuary which has, at this time, breeding time, over one million sea birds, what steps is the minister taking to avert an ecological disaster around the cliffs affected?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for that extremely important question. It is true that from fishing activity, as well as commercial vessels referred to by the hon. member for Red Deer a short time ago, there is an enormous risk to our bird and marine populations on the coasts of eastern and western Canada.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans in combination with the Department of Transport and my own department will be taking every step we can to recover the maximum amount of fuel.

However I must warn all hon. members that recovery of spilled fuel at sea is an extremely difficult process easily hampered by wind and waves. The result is that we cannot--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Pictou--Antigonish--Guysborough.

Fisheries

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has stated time after time in this place that he would not take quota from one community to give to another. Yet we know his department is currently and actively offering to purchase snow crab licences in Guysborough county, which in turn would be handed over to native communities. The minister was surely aware of this practice when he made those comments.

In the interest of saving an historic fishing community in Atlantic Canada will the minister consider purchasing some licences for Canso and Mulgrave and will he meet with the mayor and stakeholders to discuss their future?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has answered the question with respect to Canso on a number of occasions in the House. I will report to him the request of the hon. member who asked the question about further meetings but I believe he has in fact reported directly to the town of Canso himself. I can get that information for the hon. member perhaps by the end of the day.

Middle East

[Rahim Jaffer, Canadian Alliance, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

After a week, reporters have finally been allowed into what is left of the Jenin refugee camp. The death toll is unknown with the UN reporting a massacre. Canada has a moral obligation to find out the truth.

What steps has the Canadian government taken to find out what happened in Jenin and to find out how many Palestinian civilians were killed?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, at the moment I believe we should all be concerned about access to Jenin and providing humanitarian aid to the people who are suffering there. That is what we are stressing and what we are doing.

The member might well be aware of the fact that at the moment there is a British resolution before the security council which will include, not only access to Jenin for the purpose of humanitarian aid but to find out exactly the facts, both what the world can do and what has happened. We are supporting that process. I and the government have raised these concerns with the Israeli ambassador.

[Rahim Jaffer, Canadian Alliance, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as a result of the IDF's actions at Jenin, families are separated and tensions in the region are mounting. The propaganda on both sides is extreme with the facts lost somewhere in the middle.

If Canada is indeed an independent broker of peace in the Middle East, we must do the responsible thing and find out the truth. What has the government done to find out the truth?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased by the introductory comment in the question suggesting that propaganda on both sides is what we want to avoid. I explained to the House that we were trying to get the facts. We are working through the United Nations to do that.

We have been responsible for providing immediate humanitarian aid through proper UN agencies to the people who are there and we will continue to do that. We will act responsibly. We will ensure we avoid the propaganda war and get to the root causes, which is to help people and try to reduce tensions in the area.

Kyoto Protocol

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as regards Canada's promise to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions at the 1990 levels by the year 2000, ten years ago the current Minister of Finance asked if the government at the time would pledge that Canada would honour its domestic commitment. Since then, Canadian emissions have increased by 20%, which explains why Canada, without Quebec, would have the worst record on the planet.

Does the Minister of the Environment agree that it is time for Canada to stop backing off and that the Kyoto protocol must be ratified by the largest possible number of countries, and particularly by the country that has the worst record in the world, namely Canada?