Debates of May 22nd, 2002

Agriculture

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are extremely preoccupied with the farm bill the Americans have passed. For years we believed that the American administration was an administration that was in favour of free trade and that it would let the market forces stabilize the prices.

We are studying the problem at this time. We hope the Americans will see that it is against the interests of the farmers of Canada and around the world to give these subsidies that depress the price and affect all farmers. We will fight to help Canadian farmers.

Shipbuilding

[Elsie Wayne, Progressive Conservative, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, eight months ago I advised the Prime Minister and the Minister for International Trade that the Bush administration might be prepared to make changes to the crippling Jones Act. That information came directly from Vice President Cheney during a meeting that our leader, the member for Cumberland--Colchester and I had with the hon. vice president.

Could the Prime Minister or the minister responsible advise the House what steps they have taken to negotiate a change to the Jones Act, an act that continues to undermine our shipbuilding industry?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was kind enough to pass that information on to me some weeks ago. I took it up with my officials and we are pursuing it.

I have to tell the member that so far there has been no indication of a willingness on the part of the Americans to change legislation, which in many ways is the high water mark of protectionism, certainly in terms of shipbuilding and shipping for Canada.

[Elsie Wayne, Progressive Conservative, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, that is not what Vice President Cheney told me when I asked him about it.

In the last election the Liberals campaigned on saving the shipbuilding industry in Canada. A year later the Minister of Industry offered a list of recommendations from stakeholders. All we got was a list. Today, a once great and proud shipbuilding industry is fighting for its survival and shipbuilders cannot feed their families.

Will the Prime Minister rise today and offer a concrete commitment to bring in a new shipbuilding policy and put our men and women back to work?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, we did develop and adopt a shipbuilding policy in June last year. As a result of that shipbuilding policy, we concluded the structured financing facility and other elements. Work is being attracted to shipyards in this country. There are shipyards across Canada that are busy as a result of the structured financing facility and other elements.

In terms of Saint John and Davie, we are looking at our procurement needs in the long term and if our procurement needs are such that they will not be busy with major federal contracts, we will have to look at a range of options as to how to deal fairly with the communities affected.

Accounting Standards

[Charlie Penson, Canadian Alliance, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in Toronto the Minister of Finance was lecturing the private sector to improve its corporate accounting standard as a way of strengthening investor confidence. This from a Minister of Finance whose own creative budget schemes have drawn criticism from two auditor generals. They are very concerned about the billions of tax dollars he has stashed in off book accounts for foundations.

Now that he is lecturing the private sector, when will this financial physician finally heal himself?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, first, all of those foundations are audited by private sector auditors. Second, those foundations, as an example the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, were mentioned in the speech and were welcomed by the venture capitalists, because basic research forms the foundation with applied research, the commercialization of the research and the job creation that follows.

Yes, I did lay out a very detailed plan as to how we build a modern economy and it was applauded.

[Charlie Penson, Canadian Alliance, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the finance minister could follow his own advice.

This is what the auditor general says. She says that foundation financing lacks the “essential requirements for accountability to parliament”. She says that treating the $7 billion transfer to the foundations as an expenditure “compromises the integrity of the government's reported financial results”.

That is what she says. When will the finance minister reinstate the transparent and generally accepted financial accounting principles that he preaches to others?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, transparency, certainly, is appearing before a House of Commons committee. The Canada Foundation for Innovation has appeared seven times in front of parliamentary committees and members have the opportunity to discuss with the president the kinds of projects which are being financed.

I must say that when we look at the billions of dollars that have gone into research and Canadian industries in the new economy in terms of environmental technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology, all of those industries are now growing in Canada compared to other countries. Venture capital is faster here than in the United States. Our policies are working.

Government Contracts

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of oral question period, the minister of public works revealed that he has in hand an affidavit proving that the parish priest received a cheque on April 21. We would like to see the back of this cheque. However, I believe him and I trust his affidavit.

But does he not find it somewhat curious that on April 18, three days earlier, Joël-Denis Bellavance wrote an article in La Presse revealing that in addition to the Groupaction investigation, the auditor general was about to investigate Lafleur Communications Marketing and Groupe Everest?

Is this not a curious coincidence that the dates match? Is the affidavit still as credible? Is the proof still as credible?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the person who received the cheque, the parish priest, said in fact that he received the cheque at the first communion of Ms. Deslauriers' daughter.

I did not attend Ms. Deslauriers' daughter's first communion. I do not know on what day she gave him the cheque. The priest said that he received it that day.

None of this has anything to do with your humble servant. I neither wrote, nor received the cheque. Nor did I speak with Ms. Deslauriers or the priest back then about the alleged transaction.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we do not wish to know if there was a first communion or if Ms. Deslauriers went to confession on April 21. That is not what we want to know.

It seems a bit curious that on April 18, it was announced that Groupe Everest would be investigated, that in the month of March, the minister of public works supposedly paid for the costs of a chalet through his daughter-in-law, and that suddenly, three days later, a cheque was given to a parish priest, who signed an affidavit.

Does this not call for a public inquiry? Are we not playing with the dates and taking everyone for fools by using just about every untenable argument there is to try to get out of this?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I did not play with the dates. The hon. member opposite should not play with the truth.

National Defence

[Leon Benoit, Canadian Alliance, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, when we challenged the minister in January about whether or not he could sustain a battle group in Afghanistan, he assured us that he could. Now the minister has admitted that he cannot because of the government's shameful neglect and shameful underfunding of our military.

The minister has no trouble finding money to buy luxury jets for the Prime Minister. Why is it that he has so much trouble finding the resources that our military so desperately needs?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member may feel shameful but we on this side of the House are quite proud that we were one of the first to contribute to the campaign against terrorism. We are quite proud that we are the fifth largest contributor to the coalition effort. We are quite proud that we will continue to be represented by 1,300 Canadian forces personnel even after the battle group leaves Afghanistan. Above all, we are quite proud of the outstanding work done by the men and women of our Canadian forces.

[Leon Benoit, Canadian Alliance, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, proud of our troops, yes, and ashamed of the government and its lack of commitment to our military. The government has let our soldiers down and has let Canadians down because of misplaced priorities.

First it buys luxury jets instead of replacing 40 year old helicopters. Now we find out today that the former chief of defence staff is getting $100,000 for the inquiry into the deaths of our soldiers in Afghanistan, $100,000 when the widows of the soldiers killed are getting only $1,400 a month. Why is that?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I would dispute those numbers.

We have invested in the Canadian forces some 20% over the last three years. We will continue to invest in the coming years. There were cuts, yes, before that so that we could get our deficit eliminated, but we are investing. We are ensuring that our Canadian forces get the resources they need to do the job.

We want to make sure that the families of those victims, those people who died, are properly looked after as well.

National Security

[Walt Lastewka, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister. Last week the Deputy Prime Minister met with U.S. homeland security director Tom Ridge as a continuation of their ongoing discussions of the 30-point smart border action plan, which was outlined in the smart border declaration signed last December.

Could the Deputy Prime Minister tell the House the results of these smart border discussions and specifically about the integrated border enforcement team which in the near future will commence operations in the Niagara region?

[John Manley, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations]

Mr. Speaker, I did meet with Governor Ridge in Buffalo last week. I think we made some good progress both on economic and security issues.

First, with respect to the economy, we were able to agree to the expansion of the important NEXUS program to accelerate passage for individual travellers across the Canada-U.S. border into southern Ontario, borders that transfer between Ontario, New York and Michigan. Second, I was able to receive confirmation that new U.S. rules will not apply to Canadian snowbirds, something that has made a lot of our Canadians very happy. Third, we have agreed to initiate our fifth integrated border enforcement team in the Niagara area.

Softwood Lumber

[John Duncan, Canadian Alliance, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister of trade insults forest workers by saying that they are not victims of a trade dispute. The government has offered only useless platitudes to assist laid off forest workers.

Compare this callousness to yesterday's announcement by the HRDC minister to take action within hours of an emergency resulting from a fire at Notre-Dame-du-Lac.

Why does the government continue to ignore the lumber emergency?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, the government is fully aware of the difficult situation that our communities and workers have been going through in British Columbia and across Canada over the softwood lumber dispute. This is loud and clear.

The entire wood sector of Canada and this government condemn the latest duties imposed by the United States government. I raised this again this morning with Ambassador Paul Cellucci of the United States.

We do want to go back to the negotiating table should we receive any signal that there is a change in the dynamic with the United States administration and with its own coalition of producers.

[John Duncan, Canadian Alliance, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, every time I ask a question about the softwood dispute I get the same answer from the minister, “we have been working very, very hard on this file”, but nothing ever happens. Nothing.

A proposal for Export Development Canada to insure softwood tariffs so that companies will have a smaller cash requirement has been stonewalled by government indifference and inaction.

When will the minister actually do something?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, same question, same answer, and what I can tell the member is that our government will fight these duties. With the provinces, we will be there for our workers, communities and industry. We will challenge before the WTO and NAFTA and Canada shall prevail.

Government Contracts

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have with me the affidavit produced by the minister of public works. In this affidavit, the priest says that he was not able to cash the cheque and that he gave it back to the family. Therefore, the condo has not yet been paid for and the Prime Minister told us that it would be serious if no money had been paid.

My question to the Deputy Prime Minister is as follows. Now that we know that no money was paid, that the cheque was never cashed, is he still telling us what we were told yesterday, namely that if no money was paid, then this is a serious matter?

[Guy St-Julien, Liberal, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik, QC]

Liar.