House of Commons Hansard #43 of the 37th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was drugs.

Topics

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:05 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)

The hon. member for Terrebonne—Blainville has the last five minutes to conclude this debate.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:05 p.m.

Bloc

Diane Bourgeois Bloc Terrebonne—Blainville, QC

Mr. Speaker, the bill I am introducing is extremely important and in many federal public servants it raises a hope that the psychological harassment they have suffered or are now suffering will be recognized and that they will obtain satisfaction.

I have in my possession a number of files from federal public servants. These files concern psychological harassment grievances, well-founded grievances, that have not yet been settled.

I was speaking this week with the hon. member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, who said that our ridings are similar because we have establishments where public servants—federal public servants—work. In his office he has met a number of employees of the federal public service struggling with the phenomenon of psychological harassment and, unfortunately, he does not know what to say to them.

Indeed, it is very difficult to decide whether something is management of the establishment or harassment. Sometimes the individuals who are harassed all have the same profile: they all have physical problems or psychological problems due to a failure on the part of management or poor protection of their physical and psychological integrity.

We know that as a public service employer, the Treasury Board of Canada is committed to providing an environment free from harassment for all persons who work in the federal public service. This commitment has translated into the adoption of a policy on prevention. Nonetheless, such a policy leaves the door wide open to all sorts of abuse and circumvention.

Unfortunately, the employer, the federal government itself, is currently not implementing its own internal policies. Worse yet, these policies, in practice, protect harassers and do not provide any redress for the employees being harassed.

The bill which I am introducing in this House and which we are debating this evening is often confused with the whistleblower legislation, but it is not at all the same thing. The Public Service Integrity Office was set up last year and the Public Service Integrity Officer has opened—just imagine—over 105 files in a year's time on whistleblowers alone. In these 105 files there are complaints about the violation of a law or a regulation, complaints about the abuse of funds or public property, in other words, blatant cases of bad management. There are also—and this is adding up—29 cases of harassment and abuse of power.

I have always maintained that over 30% of the public service is harassed. It is not whistleblowers being harassed, but regular employees. Here we have the proof. It is a report hot off the press that came to us barely a month and a half ago.

I will conclude by saying that this bill goes beyond any political consideration and must hold the attention of this House. It must be sent to committee. If the committee decides that it is inappropriate, then it will drop it. Nonetheless, for now, I am calling on this House to give a chance to the 30% of public service employees who are being harassed.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)

Is the House ready for the question?

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Question.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)

The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

No.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Yea.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)

All those opposed will please say nay.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Nay.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)

In my opinion the nays have it.

And more than five members having risen:

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActPrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)

Pursuant to Standing Order 93, the recorded division stands deferred until Wednesday, May 5, 2004, immediately before the time provided for private members' business.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActAdjournment Proceedings

7:10 p.m.

Canadian Alliance

Cheryl Gallant Canadian Alliance Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak as a consequence of the comments the Prime Minister made in reacting to my well-documented observations regarding the numerous border disputes we are having with our largest trading partner, disputes that are costing Canadians jobs.

Canadians find the comments of the Prime Minister particularly offensive when he denies the corrupt practice of the Liberal Party to appoint party hacks to sensitive, diplomatic postings. The culture of corruption has become so pervasive in Ottawa that the Prime Minister has lost all sense of right from wrong.

The decision to appoint the disgraced former minister of public works as ambassador to Denmark was an insult to all Canadians of Nordic origin. What ambassadorship is being offered to the member for Charleswood St. James--Assiniboia so that he will give up his seat? What a way to prove that a democratic deficit is alive and well, with a Prime Minister who insists on appointing candidates. Is it Washington?

Actions do speak louder than words. Now that the member for Ottawa South has turned down the Washington posting, is the Prime Minister saving this posting for a family relative or a favoured nephew the way his former leader did?

The Prime Minister knows full well that my question regarding the foreign service as a dumping ground for Liberal Party hacks who are no longer of use to the party is not a criticism but rather a defence of the professional foreign services. What a message that sends to our largest trading partner and to all countries who are treated so disrespectfully.

Tens of thousands of jobs are at risk in our trade with the United States. Nothing could be more humiliating for Canadians than to see a Canadian Prime Minister meeting the president and grovelling before him, and grovel he will for any scrap of news to take back to the unemployed softwood lumber workers and to our cattle producers. However this will not repair the years of damage done by the government in which the former finance minister, now Prime Minister, was the architect.

The fact is that internationally Canada does not pull its weight. As has been pointed out recently, when it comes to international peacekeeping, Canada is 38th out of 94 nations, behind nations like Ghana and Ethiopia, when it comes to UN-led missions.

It is a myth that Canada is this nation of peacekeepers when we look at the facts. Canada has lost credibility on the international stage and the ability to criticize when we do not back up our own words with action, which is all Canadians will hear from the Prime Minister: cheap talk when he goes to Washington, lots of talk, lots of pious platitudes but no action.

Jean Chrétien did not commit to sending troops to Iraq because Canada has little useful military assets to contribute after years of underfunding. Canada did have an obligation to provide moral support. Now Canadian loggers and farmers have to deal with the problems created by only being critical of our historic ally and largest trading partner.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActAdjournment Proceedings

7:15 p.m.

Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia Manitoba

Liberal

John Harvard LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade

Mr. Speaker, Canada and the United States share a unique and vital relationship. The importance of this relationship cannot be overstated. It requires careful management, and our success is not only born of the many treaties and agreements that we have in place, but also because of the frequent interaction with our U.S. counterparts across all levels of government.

The Canada-U.S. trade relationship is particularly vital to Canada given how highly integrated our economies have become, spurred in part by the success of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and NAFTA.

Canada and the United States remain each other's largest trading partners, moving approximately $1.8 billion worth of goods and services across the border each day. Between 1993 and 2003, two-way trade in goods increased approximately 7.2% compounded annually. In 2003 Canada exported $328 billion in goods to the U.S. and imported $203 billion in return. Fully 86% of Canadian merchandise exports are destined for the U.S.

Since the implementation of the free trade agreement in 1989, two-way trade has more than doubled and this trade largely flows dispute free. Where disputes do arise, we have mechanisms to address them, such as those provided by the rules based framework of NAFTA and the WTO.

The Prime Minister, accompanied by the Minister for International Trade, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, will be visiting Washington tomorrow and Friday for meetings with U.S. President George Bush and congressional and non-government leaders to review key bilateral and regional issues.

However, the relationship between Canada and the U.S. involves more than the periodic meetings between the Prime Minister and the President. Central to our management of the Canada-U.S. relationship is a daily presence in the U.S. to advocate for Canadian interests and objectives. Canada achieves this through the appointment of an ambassador who serves as the Government of Canada's representative to the U.S., responsible for advising his government on policy toward the U.S. and communicating Canadian policy to U.S. government leaders.

Canada has been represented for the last three and a half years by a very competent career diplomat with over 35 years of experience, including two previous tours of duty in Washington representing Canadian interests abroad as a member of Canada's foreign service. While in Washington, our current ambassador, Michael Kergin, supported by a talented and dedicated group of officials, continues to work diligently to promote and defend Canada's political and economic trade interests in the U.S.

Furthermore, the February 2003 budget identified funding for an enhanced representation initiative aimed at improving our ability to operate more effectively in the U.S. in the context of an increasingly integrated North American market. In September 2003 the Government of Canada announced that it would open seven new consulates in the U.S., upgrade two consulates to consulates general and appoint 20 honourary consuls as part of the enhanced representation initiative.

This initiative, which will be completed by the fall of this year, will strengthen Canada's capacity to advocate its interests in vital economic, political and security matters and to develop innovative, strategic partnerships in emerging U.S. economic power centres.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActAdjournment Proceedings

7:20 p.m.

Canadian Alliance

Cheryl Gallant Canadian Alliance Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON

Mr. Speaker, I was interested in reading a recent poll in which 84% of Americans supported sending troops to defend Canada should we ever be attacked. That 84% is a tremendous pool of goodwill that is being needlessly squandered by the Prime Minister and the Liberal Party. It is time the Prime Minister and his party stop the constant criticism of the American people to score cheap political points from Liberal leaning haters of Americans.

The patience of Americans has its limits. Americans are finding themselves in a difficult situation in Iraq. Now is the time for substantial and positive actions on the part of Canadians. That is what friends are for. This will not come from the current Prime Minister.

Only a fresh, new Conservative prime minister who has the credibility to offer constructive assistance will even be taken seriously by the Americans. Only a Conservative prime minister has the integrity to repair the damage to Canada-U.S. trade relations after years of neglect. Only then, after years of petty attacks, will our trade disputes be resolved to the respective benefit of both our nations.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActAdjournment Proceedings

7:20 p.m.

Liberal

John Harvard Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia, MB

Mr. Speaker, all I would say to that intemperate outburst is that those kinds of over the top remarks carry absolutely no credibility.

We have a solid relationship with the United States of America. Americans are our friends. The government feels that it has a very strong and friendly relationship with the government of the United States in Washington.

We naturally take our trade partnership very seriously. That partnership is important to the Canadian economy. It is even important to the United States economy, which is the largest in the world.

I would say that we have a very important relationship with the Americans and we will do everything possible to nurture that relationship each and every day.

Workplace Psychological Harassment Prevention ActAdjournment Proceedings

7:20 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:22 p.m.)