John Solomon

[Supply, November 22nd, 1999]

Madam Speaker, I rise this evening to follow up on a question I raised with the minister concerning agriculture in Saskatchewan.

Farmers are suffering the worst income crisis since the depression. The reason is that the cost of production far exceeds in most cases the costs and revenues they receive when they sell their products. Farmers are feeling very desperate and abandoned by the Liberal government.

We saw in the Star-Phoenix and the Leader-Post newspapers on Monday, October 25 headline stories, which by the way were during the Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar byelection, to the effect that the Minister of Finance said that there will be $900 million more provided to farmers in western Canada. When I raised the issue in the House of Commons, the Minister of Finance ducked the issue.

We have seen the Liberals, egged on by the Reform Party, cut more agriculture subsidies than has any other country in the world in the last five years. As a matter of fact the Reform Party wanted more cuts to agriculture than we have already witnessed. This has brought a great deal of hardship to our agricultural economy.

In 1995 there was the elimination of the Crow benefit. This was a transportation subsidy provided to farmers in western Canada, not for free but in exchange for billions of dollars of assets, land and mineral rights provided to the railroads so they could use that revenue and those assets to subsidize inland grain transportation to the ports.

The Liberals eliminated the Crow benefit and they supported the CPR in getting rid of all of the very high profit centres. Like the oil business, the pan-Canadian company which is now a CPR subsidiary does not contribute to rail transportation whatsoever. There is Cominco, the mining company. There is the land company from CPR. They have all made hundreds of millions of dollars of profits annually, yet the farmers are continuing to be squeezed by CPR and CNR at the encouragement of this government.

In the newspaper the other day, the minister of government services was quoted as saying “The disaster financial assistance arrangements are a good example of the co-operation and solidarity which characterize so well our Canadian society”. This is in reference to yet $100 million more going to Quebec for the ice storm. He talks about how proud he is to provide this financial help on behalf of the government to help Quebec farmers and others. Yet when it comes to the disaster of mega proportions in western Canada, the Liberal government is nowhere to be seen.

We are trying to find out today from the Minister of Finance if he was playing politics in the Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar byelection when he falsely announced $900 million more for agricultural aid. Was he misinforming farmers? Was he misleading the electorate in that byelection? What was he doing? Obviously, he did not come forward with the money. Or did he just not understand the hardship that the Liberal government and the Reform Party have inflicted upon western agriculture?

We look forward to having an answer from the Minister of Finance this evening. Will he come clean and tell the people of this country and the people of Saskatchewan why he misled them with respect to agriculture assistance?

[Petitions, November 17th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, my second petition is signed by over 2,000 petitioners from my constituency in Regina as well as by petitioners from Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, Grenfell, Edenwold, Odessa, Weyburn, Lumsden and a number of other places.

They are very concerned about the children of Canada. They believe the children of Canada should have the right to be parented by both parents. They maintain that mandatory equal shared parenting should be the starting point after divorce, replacing the current custody and access regime.

They also believe there is no reason for the Minister of Justice to further study this issue, least of all until May 2002, and that the prolonging of this only abuses children and they suffer further.

They are asking parliament to pass legislation immediately to incorporate these rights of children and principles. They are demanding as well the resignation of the Minister of Justice.

[Petitions, November 17th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present this afternoon pursuant to Standing Order 36.

The first one is from petitioners from Saskatoon, my riding of Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, Colonsay, Dalmeny and a number of other communities in Saskatchewan. It is signed by almost 1,000 citizens.

They say that the constitution of the World Health Organization provides for membership to be open to all states. They are asking that the goal of the citizens of the world to be healthy should not be blocked by politics and that the people of Taiwan hope to advance forward in public health and medical treatment along with the rest of the people of the world.

They are therefore calling upon the Government of Canada and the Parliament of Canada to support Taiwan's membership in the World Health Organization.

[Agriculture, November 3rd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the agriculture minister's farm income projections for Saskatchewan are deeply flawed.

Saskatchewan government officials say that input costs like fuel have skyrocketed, not dropped like he says. Revenues will be less than he claims on durum and other items. So far there have been $325 million in errors and counting. In western Canada there have been bogus projections from a discredited Liberal government.

At least Trudeau was honest enough to just give us the finger. Why will the minister not admit that there is a real farm income crisis and announce some real farm aid now?

[Canadian Tourism Commission Act, November 2nd, 1999]

Madam Speaker, as tourism spokesperson for the the New Democratic Party I am very pleased to rise in the House this evening to speak to Bill C-5, an act to establish the Canadian Tourism Commission. I note that we may have only four or five minutes before I can resume my debate tomorrow.

I will start off by talking to members present and to the folks watching at home about how important tourism is to our country and how necessary it is for Canadians to understand that this is an industry which employees literally tens of thousands of individuals and families.

The Canadian Tourism Commission was actually founded in 1992 after an extensive consultation with the tourism industry. However, because it was desirable at the time to get it up and running quickly, both government and industry agreed that the Canadian Tourism Commission should be created as a special operational agency rather than a crown corporation. A special operational agency is bureaucratise for all the responsibility but none of the authority.

The Canadian Tourism Commission, the CTC, was responsible for running the programs, but the deputy minister of tourism was responsible for the administration. Basically marketing operations had to sit around for months and go through the federal bureaucratic sign-off process of 13 signatures, or thereabouts, by which time circumstances had almost always changed.

We could just see the potential for problems because government contract issuance processes are painfully slow for a fast moving industry like tourism, like waiting a year to improve an advertising contract for an Asian-Pacific campaign and meanwhile the Asian economies go into the tank. Then we have to look for new sources of visitors, but it takes another year to approve the marketing plan for that.

It is a very bureaucratic system. I not suggesting it was a failure, but it was a very slow process. When someone is in business as I have been in business, decisions have to be made on a moment's notice after looking at all the inputs that are very necessary.

I notice that it is almost 6.30 p.m. and almost time to call the vote. With your permission I will resume the debate at a later time.

[Privilege, November 2nd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, if that remark were attributed to me, and I believe I did say something very quietly to that effect, I withdraw it and apologize to the hon. member if he took it wrongly.

[Civil International Space Station Agreement Implementation Act, November 2nd, 1999]

No, we oppose it now. If there is no money for farmers, there is no money for space.

[Petitions, October 27th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of many constituents and people living in Saskatchewan and in Goderich, Ontario. They are absolutely disgusted with the attack the Liberals are making on Saskatchewan and the essence of Saskatchewan. We have seen the Liberals attack farmers by taking away all their subsidies.

These people are as disgusted as the farmers. They are asking the House of Commons to ensure that continued and stable funding for the 431 air demonstration squadron Snowbirds remains a priority.

This is an institution in Saskatchewan of which all Canadians are proud. The petitioners are asking the House of Commons and the Liberal government in particular to back off.

[Agriculture, October 27th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, in the front page of the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix on Monday, the finance minister is quoted as saying that his government has promised $900 million in new aid to desperate farmers. He said “We announced that $900 million five or six months ago. That money doesn't refer to what Ottawa put up for AIDA”.

Was the finance minister misquoted? Was he mistaken? Was he playing politics? Or, is there a reason to believe that he is changing his view on the crisis facing prairie farmers?

Could the finance minister please confirm today if there will be $900 million in new aid for farmers, yes or no?

[National Hockey League, October 26th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the NHL and the players will not do anything to keep pro hockey in Canada. If they are not prepared to co-operate, then the federal taxpayer should not either.

For the government to even consider for one minute spending one more dime of tax revenues to bail out the NHL would be a monumental travesty of justice when thousands of farmers are going bankrupt in the worst farm crisis since the depression. If the government helps millionaire hockey players and owners out of a currency imbalance but will not help farmers out of an international subsidy war, then something is terribly wrong in our country.

To put additional tax dollars into pro sports before food, health, education, housing or yes, even some tax relief, would push Canadian priorities so far out of balance that voters would never forgive the Liberals' stupidity.

The government's own polls say tax aid for pro hockey is the lowest spending priority for Canadians. Some 94% in my own riding survey opposed subsidizing the NHL more than the millions we already provide to it. One fellow said it best: “Farm aid, yes; hockey aid, no”.