Debates of Oct. 17th, 1994

The Constitution

[Marcel Massé, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada]

Mr. Speaker, this is a hypothetical question on which the Prime Minister commented in general. I certainly do not intend to go any further than that.

[Stephen Harper, Reform, Calgary West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on June 17 the minister declined to respond for similar hypothetical reasons saying that the Quebec Liberals would win the provincial election.

My supplementary question concerns an article written recently by the member for Vancouver Quadra. The hon. member said that the federal government today retains its full constitutional options to allow or not to allow a referendum vote, to control the content and wording of any referendum question, to control the actual timing of any vote and to launch its own pre-emptive nationwide referendum legally superseding any Quebec vote.

This is not a hypothetical situation. I ask the minister to indicate whether or not this reflects the constitutional position of the Government of Canada.

[Marcel Massé, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I could answer that we also intend to win the referendum. In the question of the provincial election we came much closer than was predicted for the Liberal Party to win. In this case there is no doubt the referendum will be won, so it is still a hypothetical question.

Social Program Reform

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development. Although the Minister of Human Resources Development has just launched a wide-ranging consultation on the possible reform of social programs, a reform which, among other things, would emphasize community resources to help unemployed youth, he has just ended the subsidy for Carrefour-Jeunesse Emploi de l'Outaouais, which has effectively helped young unemployed people in that region for ten years.

My question is this: How can the minister reconcile his decision to end financial assistance for Carrefour-Jeunesse Emploi with his discussion paper, which intends to put more emphasis on community organizations? How can he reconcile the contradiction between deeds and words?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, as I pointed out before, one of the basic elements of decentralizing federal programming is to allow decision making to take place at the local level and to allow that level to set priorities and determine where the best allocation would go.

If the hon. member would look at this case in point she would recognize that the recommendation as to where the funding should go for that particular program in that area was made in the local community.

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, Mercier, QC]

By the local CEC.

For his part, how can the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs go along with those who ended the subsidy for Carrefour-Jeunesse Emploi, when at the same time he paid $130,000 to set up an employment centre in Hull, but for immigrants this time?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, I want to repeat for the hon. member that she should look carefully at what investments on human resources the federal government is making in the Outaouais area. This year alone we are putting about $17 million into that region. Of that, $3.5 million directly relates to youth employment and training services.

By the decision that was made in that area for the particular program we will be able to handle several hundred additional people through the new centre. That is the reason for the reorganization that was recommended in that area.

As to trying to make a case that we should spend on one group and not the other, the government tries to provide services for a wide variety of Canadians and not make the kind of choices of setting one group against the other which the hon. member is obviously trying to do.

Dangerous Offenders

[Val Meredith, Reform, Surrey—White Rock—South Langley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, October 4 at four o'clock in the afternoon 16-year old Pamela Cameron was walking on one of the busiest streets in Surrey, B.C. She never made it to her destination. She was murdered and her body was left in a brush covered lot. The man charged in her murder is a convicted sex offender. The court called this man a walking time bomb. When he was released Corrections Canada advised that he was a high risk offender.

Will the Solicitor General advise the House what steps the government will take to protect innocent children from sexual predators?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I join with the hon. member in regretting very much this tragedy and extend sympathies to the family of the young

girl in question. At the time of the murder the individual the hon. member mentioned was neither on parole nor on conditional release. There was no law in place that permitted any control over the individual.

I want to add that we are working with a federal-provincial task force on measures to deal with issues of post-sentence detention. We look forward to receiving a report very soon so that we can move ahead in dealing with these kinds of situations.

[Val Meredith, Reform, Surrey—White Rock—South Langley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we are debating my private member's bill in the House now and it deals with this issue.

The Liberal red book states that as a government it would introduce measures to protect women and children. This government failed to protect Pamela Cameron. It failed to protect Sarah Kelly in The Pas and it failed to protect Mindy Tran in Kelowna.

Will the minister advise the House when the government will live up to the red book promises and its commitment to protect this country's children?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice with my support is working actively to develop measures. When they come forward I hope the hon. member and her party will give them full support. In this way we will make real progress very soon.

Human Rights

[Eleni Bakopanos, Liberal, Saint-Denis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Last May I asked the minister to inquire into the problem of human rights violations in Albania. Since that time there have been serious developments including the imprisonment and sentencing of five ethnic Greek members of the Omonia organization.

Could the minister tell us what Canada has done to ensure respect for human rights in Albania?

[André Ouellet, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, Canada believes that the CSCE is the best organization to try to lead the parties concerned to an agreement.

Of course, both Greece and Albania, which are members of the CSCE, should use the CSCE's good offices to try to get out of the difficult situation there. Canada encourages these two countries to use the CSCE's mediation.

Foreign Affairs

[Jean H. Leroux, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

On September 27, in a totally inaccurate statement to the Japanese Association for Canadian Studies in Sapporo, an employee of the Canadian embassy in Japan, Patricia Bader-Johnson, denigrated Hydro-Québec by saying that the Quebec Crown corporation was fuelling racial tensions between Natives and other Quebecers. Without checking things out, this employee attributed to Hydro-Québec a dubious advertisement that originated in fact from an oil heating company.

Is the Minister of Foreign Affairs aware of this and does he admit that it is totally unacceptable for one of his employees abroad to denigrate in this way a Quebec Crown corporation such as Hydro-Québec?

[André Ouellet, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say that Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and the Canadian International Development Agency very often call on Hydro-Quebec's expertise and skills for overseas projects.

The remarks made by an employee do not represent the Canadian government's position. I think that the hon. member should not make a big deal out of one person's comments, when the Government of Canada often works in close co-operation with Hydro-Québec on very important projects that create jobs in Quebec and enable Hydro-Québec to play an international role.

[Jean H. Leroux, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I think that the minister has not answered the question and I ask him: Does he not think that it is necessary to set the record straight with the Japanese and can he tell us exactly what he intends to do?

[André Ouellet, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member that he makes too much of one person's remarks which, I am sure, did not change Japan's very high opinion of an institution as important as Hydro-Québec.

Dangerous Offenders

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we have been in this House for a year. In that entire year the Solicitor General has rambled on with his rhetoric about his task force, his studies, his reviews, all those wonderful things he is going to do to make this country safe and those hon. members laugh. They should laugh in the faces of the victims and see if they think it is funny. It is time to take some action.

While the minister rambles, hundreds and hundreds of victims have felt the sting of these guys who have been released when they ought to have been left in jail. Would the minister be willing to show the intestinal fortitude and political will to announce a moratorium that no more dangerous violent offenders will be released until this is settled?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I understand the hon. member's concerns about these kinds of situations. I share his concerns but I have to apply the law adopted by this Parliament. This Parliament has not given me the authority to suspend the law on my own volition. We want to move forward on changes in the law. In view of the hon. member's rhetoric I look forward to having his support of our measures when we bring them forward.

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I for one would be more than pleased to support something that would save the lives of future victims.

Are fellows by the names of Thom, Sparklingeyes, Jerabek, Toner or Foulston familiar to the minister? Will the minister be responsible for any offences these violent offenders who are now being sought by the RCMP-

[The Speaker]

Order. Perhaps the member could rephrase his question.

I see that the members in the gallery are speaking again.

Would the hon. member like to rephrase his memory, rephrase his question.

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, my memory is hopeless.

Five dangerous violent offenders are strolling the streets, having escaped custody. These people were on parole or day passes. They have been named by the RCMP to be highly dangerous and are on the most wanted list.

Is the Solicitor General prepared to accept responsibility for what these five people do within the next few days before they are caught?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the police authorities are actively seeking these people to bring them back into custody. I hope the hon. member and all Canadians will support the police in these efforts.

Social Program Review

[Audrey McLaughlin, NDP, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.

The minister of human resources stated in Montreal last week that his proposals are part of a larger package the Minister of Finance is due to release to the finance committee. Yet today with the release of the paper "The New Framework for Economic Policy" we still have no specific costing on the proposals outlined in the social security review paper.

Will the minister come clean with Canadians and say exactly how much the Minister of Finance sees cutting from social programs?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance and Minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development-Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, this morning we set out a basic framework as to how we feel the Canadian economy can deal with what is its single greatest problem which is the failure to create jobs in sufficient numbers to substantially reduce the unemployment rate.

We basically said that the focus must be on productivity and we set out the key elements of how we would generate that productivity. We also stated in there that as far as we are concerned-I am now repeating the words of the Minister of Human Resources Development-the best social policy is a good job.

I must say that complementing certainly that framework are the tremendous efforts by the minister to basically make it possible for Canadians to develop the skills and the talents they need to face up to a very different world. It is very clear that the government has its act together and Canadians are going to benefit from it.