David Collenette

[Foreign Affairs, June 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the right hon. member, as usual, has uttered nonsense in the chamber.

The fact is that it is not the quantity of calls that the Prime Minister engages in, it is the quality, it is the people to whom he speaks, it is the length of those calls and it is the issues that are discussed.

The Prime Minister was fully engaged in the lead up to the war in Iraq. I think that Canadians certainly appreciated the great work that he did to try to forestall that particular invasion and have a peaceful solution under the auspices of the United Nations.

[Agriculture, June 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, all of these issues are under discussion today in Vancouver.

The hon. member should recognize that the preoccupation of the Government of Canada and the provincial governments and especially my colleague the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is to deal with the science in this case to ensure that people are well aware that there is no hazard from other animals being infected. The science is now conclusive and is now being analyzed by our friends in the United States. This leads us to some optimism that the border will be opened in the near future.

[Agriculture, June 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, once again the opposition does not have the facts. There has been no proposal put on the table because the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is meeting with his counterparts in Vancouver today to discuss this very issue and what can be done.

Certainly ministers on this side of the House have been working on this particular matter under the leadership of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food for the last number of days. I am certain that the discussions in Vancouver will help the situation and help deal with the very terrible crisis that is faced by producers and others in the country.

[Health, June 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the answers that have been given by the Minister of Health and the Prime Minister obviously show the degree of concern the Government of Canada has. Contrary to what the hon. member has said, the federal government has been very supportive of the Ontario government, not just with the provision of personnel but with the provision of moneys.

As the hon. member should know, we are in discussions with the Ontario government. My colleague, the Minister of National Defence, will be meeting his counterpart next week to deal with the matter. We certainly are very cognizant of the damage that is being done. There is one thing that is certain. Unless the health issue is dealt with, then the economic damage will continue, and that is where the priority--

[Health, June 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, what is happening in Geneva is that there is a continual watch going on on Canada and there has been no new travel advisory issued for Toronto.

The Minister of Health has been quite forthcoming in the House in talking about the very strict measures that are in place in Canadian airports in dealing with people who leave and who may be suspected of having some problem that could end up to be SARS.

Again I do not think we should jump to conclusions. I do not think we should be precipitous. We should just continue to do the work in a very methodical way to contain the problem.

[Health, June 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, in the absence of the Minister of Health, I would like to say that this continues to be a very serious situation for all Canadians, not just those of us from the greater Toronto area. The particular case in point is something that is being investigated by Ontario health officials because the individual who went to North Carolina had no visible symptoms and there is some degree of perplexing evidence in this particular incident.

I do not think we should jump to conclusions. We should continue to support the efforts of our health care workers and of the Ontario government in dealing with this very difficult situation.

[Infrastructure, June 12th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the government, whether it is under the SHIP program or the infrastructure program, has done a lot to improve highways across the country, including in his home province of British Columbia.

There are a number of priorities across the country. He has outlined one of them, and I have said that the government will hope to address this in the near future.

[Infrastructure, June 12th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member obviously understands the complexities of government. I have been in discussions with the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Minister of Industry, and we certainly hope this matter can be addressed soon.

[Liberal Leadership Campaign, June 12th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I have already answered that question. The Minister of Finance has followed all of the ethics counsellor's directives.

[Liberal Leadership Campaign, June 12th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance has stated publicly that he has no problem in following the suggestions and the instructions of the ethics counsellor. As with all ministers involved, both ministers and the member for LaSalle—Émard on this side, all of the members engaged in the Liberal leadership race have followed all of the guidelines and will continue to do so. I can state categorically on behalf of the Prime Minister and colleagues on this side that we have full and absolute confidence in the Minister of Finance and he will stay as Minister of Finance.