Debates of Dec. 8th, 2004

Ukraine

[Peter Goldring, Conservative, Edmonton East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the world has been gripped by the struggle for democracy in Ukraine. The great need for sufficient numbers of objective election observers must not be denied. Today Poland generously offered to partner with Canada and increase its commitment from 100 to 300 observers, if Canada will share the cost.

In the interest of international democratic progress, will the minister, in addition to committing 500 observers, consider providing $300,000 to partner with Poland to send 200 more observers to Ukraine?

[Aileen Carroll, Liberal, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, I fail to understand why the hon. member is unable to rejoice in our announcement. It was an announcement wherein we said that we will send the largest number of observers ever to Ukraine to assist in ensuring that there is a transparent election.

We will send up to 500 observers, more than any other nation. We will do that at a cost of up to $3.5 million. We are very proud of Canada's stand in Ukraine and on sending these people.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, how can the minister justify shortchanging Ukrainians by not committing the necessary number of election observers? The current CIDA budget is over $2 billion a year. Let us not forget that we are still sending $54 million a year to the undemocratic Republic of China.

Why will those ministers not put their money where their mouths are and commit more observers and sufficient funding to bring true democracy to Ukraine?

[Aileen Carroll, Liberal, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, we are participating in building governance in countries such as China and Ukraine. That is why we are sending observers. That is why the Canadian bar is working in China to create a separate and independent judiciary. That is why we have the programs we do, to assist these countries down the road to democracy.

I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that I am very proud of CIDA. I am very proud of the foreign policy of the government.

Broadcasting Industry

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage said she could not interfere and hid behind the independence of the CRTC when Canadians wanted Rai television and CHOI radio, yet she feels free to meddle with CBC programming.

Why is it necessary for a Liberal appointed president of CBC to ask the minister to stop interfering?

[Liza Frulla, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member had read the entire text instead of just the headline, she would have also seen that Mr. Rabinovitch said, “I have been here for five years. During these five years I have never received a phone call from a minister about programming”. I have never called to ask him to change programming. Mr. Rabinovitch reiterated that his “rapport with the Minister of Heritage is very good” that “Liza Frulla is a woman of ideas”—that is what he said—and he indicated that he was “open to discussion with the minister”, but he stressed that, in the end, he is the one who makes the decisions.

[Rahim Jaffer, Conservative, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage is just grumbling. She is spreading her culture like jam and gets away publicly with censorship. The president of the CBC may not have been her choice, but he is sticking to his mandate, unlike Telefilm Canada, and respectfully suggests the minister do the same.

Can the minister resist the temptation to interfere in programming?

[Liza Frulla, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, once again, I will give a little lesson in French and I will re-read the third paragraph: “I have been here for five years. During these five years I have never received a phone call from a minister about programming”.

That said, when a sensationalist headline is used just to create controversy, it would be nice if we could be professional and mature enough not to fuel the rumour.

Faculté de médecine vétérinaire de Saint-Hyacinthe

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in December 2002 the Minister of Agriculture announced investments of $113 million to modernize the four veterinary medicine faculties in Canada. Of this, $35 million was allocated to the Faculté de médecine vétérinaire de Saint-Hyacinthe, but this amount did not meet the real needs of the faculty, which still has only a partial accreditation.

Will the minister finally release the additional $24 million requested by the administration in order to carry out all the work needed for full accreditation for the only francophone school of veterinary medicine in North America?

[Andy Mitchell, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, as a federal government we are very committed to ensuring that we have the right mix of science and education. We do that through our veterinary colleges right across Canada, including Quebec. We support those significantly. We constantly review our programming to see how we can do it better. We are always working hard to ensure we accomplish that.

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, during the latest election campaign my Liberal opponent, accompanied by the current hon. member for Outremont, boasted that the day after the election the cheque for $24 million would be on the desk of the faculty administration. More than five months later, the cheque has still not come.

Can the minister explain why the Faculté de médecine vétérinaire de Saint-Hyacinthe is still waiting for its cheque, while the three other faculties in Canada have requalified for full accreditation?

[Andy Mitchell, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, once again we hear the hon. member from the Bloc. Is he concerned about agriculture? Is he concerned about increasing our knowledge? No. This is about one part of the country against the other and we will not play that game with him.

We will support agriculture right across Canada from coast to coast to coast.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

[Bradley Trost, Conservative, Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK]

Mr. Speaker, not long ago the Minister of Public Works and Government Services said, “We should be getting rid of the long gun registry. A billion dollars would have been better spent on the RCMP”.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. There are thousands of RCMP officers required to fill vacancies across Canada, particularly in Saskatchewan. Seventy-six per cent of Canadians want more police, not a billion dollar boondoggle registry.

Why has the Minister of Finance failed to find the resources to fill the RCMP vacancies across Canada and in Saskatchewan?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, we are training more RCMP officers. We are training them in fact in Regina, Saskatchewan to serve all across this country.

Just to give hon. members an idea of some of the commitments that we have made, the investments in Canada's national police force, recently we have invested an additional $112 million to fight organized crime, $100 million to update criminal record and fingerprint analysis technology, $42 million to address the criminal use of guns, $34 million to address the criminal exploitation of--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Elgin--Middlesex--London.

Whistleblower Protection

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the president of PSAC, the largest union of government employees, informed us that the Liberals failed to consult the union when it drafted and tabled the whistleblower legislation.

In failing to work with Canada's public servants, the Treasury Board minister has clearly chosen to alienate a key stakeholder. Ironically, it has been public servants who have come forward to reveal the government's most serious wrongdoings.

Will the minister finally admit that his bill is in fact designed not only to discourage whistleblowers, but also to cover up on his government's past wrongdoings?

[Reg Alcock, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, there were lengthy consultations on the creation of this bill. We believe it is an excellent response to the concerns identified by whistleblowers.

We looked very carefully at surveys and interviews that were done with people who had actually experienced it and we produced a very fine piece of legislation. If the committee would get on with approving it, we could actually implement it.

Research and Development

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this morning the newspaper La Presse says that Montreal and Quebec City are the only two Canadian cities where private sector spending on research and development increased in 2003.

What has the Government of Canada done to encourage private sector research?

[David Emerson, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, since 1997 the Government of Canada has invested over $13 billion in research, from basic to applied to commercialized research.

We have used the research to retain some of the best experts that Canada has. We have reversed the brain drain. We have made sure that technology is being infused throughout the Canadian economy and trading economic opportunities from coast to coast and in remote areas of Canada.

We intend to continue that program going forward. We are not done.

Sable Island

[Bill Casey, Conservative, North Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, since Confederation, Sable Island has been the total responsibility of the Government of Canada, but in the mid-1990s, the Liberals abandoned their responsibility and turned it over to a preservation trust. The preservation trust has now said it can no longer manage the island, though horses, migratory birds and the safety station are at risk.

A multi-departmental working group has just made a recommendation to the government that the government retake possession of the island and resume management.

Will the government announce today that it has accepted that recommendation to take full responsibility for Sable Island again?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, I understand and share my hon. colleague's concern about the future of Sable Island. The fact is my department is working with Environment Canada, Treasury Board and other parties to find a solution to the situation.

I look forward to discussing this issue further with my colleague in the future.

Employment Insurance

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Rivière-Du-Loup—Montmagny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, EI payments to 137 former Whirlpool employees are five weeks behind, leaving these workers with no income, because they transferred their pension funds into RRSPs, and it took the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development a while to let them know that this money would be considered income.

Given that it was HRSDC's mistake to begin with and that these workers are now being penalized, is the minister prepared to give this case special consideration and to find a solution?

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know that employment insurance benefits are always there for workers who are laid off through no fault of their own by their employer.

That said, I know the hon. member will agree with me that the statutory rules have been applied in this case. Should these constituents find that the rules were unfairly applied in their case, they are free to ask for a review. They may also make use of the independent and impartial appeal process designed to ensure proper application of the law.

Hiv-Aids

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, HIV-AIDS is an important health issue that has tremendous impact on families and communities throughout the world. In the year 2002 there were 7,700 women that were diagnosed with HIV-AIDS.

Could the Minister of Health please tell us what his department is doing with regard to the growing number of women who are affected with HIV-AIDS?

[Ujjal Dosanjh, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada is committed to strengthening our role in dealing with the HIV-AIDS epidemic in Canada. To enhance our efforts, our funding for HIV-AIDS is going up to $84.4 million. That is doubling in the next five years. It is very important to remember that the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Health Canada are working with the Public Health Agency to make sure that we continue our research with respect to HIV-AIDS and women.