Debates of Oct. 24th, 1994

Immigration

[Lee Morrison, Reform, Swift Current—Maple Creek—Assiniboia, SK]

Mr. Speaker, for more than two years a herd of 800 Canadian owned alpacas has been held in Australia pending clearance by Agriculture Canada. These animals originated in New Zealand where they may have contacted the neuroparasite E-Cervi from deer.

There is no evidence that alpacas can carry and transmit this parasite, but it has not been proved that they cannot. The parasite has a dormancy period of several years and there is no clinical test for it.

One must wonder why Agriculture Canada's concern for the health of Canadian animals is greater than the concern of Immigration Canada for the health and welfare of Canadian people. Every year thousands of immigrants enter Canada without being screened for HIV. The transmission vectors of this virus are well known. Many years may pass before HIV carriers develop full-blown AIDS but the virus is readily detectable by-

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Moncton.

Forests

[George S. Rideout, Liberal, Moncton, NB]

Mr. Speaker, during the parliamentary break, Canada and Malaysia hosted an international conference here in the capital.

This conference focused on efforts to improve sustainable forest management around the world. It is of great significance that Canada and Malaysia and other participants have been able to establish a process which furthers the aims established in Rio in 1992. Our leadership and involvement in this process recognize the critical importance of forestry to this country's economic and social well-being and our commitment to sustainable development.

These meetings and future meetings could well see a positive commitment by all forest nations to environmentally sustainable development throughout the world.

University Of Guelph

[Brenda Chamberlain, Liberal, Guelph—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the young Liberal government and policy information centre recently opened at the University of Guelph. This is designed as a resource centre for students requiring information on various government projects and programs.

I congratulate Jeff Paul, president of the University of Guelph Liberals for this initiative. This centre is Jeff's idea and he hopes to encourage University of Guelph students to learn more about government and to help create dialogue and discussion.

Young people will be the leaders of government and of tomorrow. Resource centres like the one recently opened at the University of Guelph can help students to understand government programs and more important, encourage participation in the decision making process.

Best wishes to Jeff Paul and everyone associated with this important project.

Sustainable Development

[Karen Kraft Sloan, Liberal, York—Simcoe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Wednesday, October 18 marked seven years since leaders from around the world met to discuss the United Nations report on our common future.

The report confirmed the global confrontation between human activities and the environment. It made an urgent plea for shifting to sustainable practices.

There has been much talk in those seven years. Some efficiencies have been gained in the way we do things. We are a little less wasteful and we recycle a whole lot more, but the basic patterns of our society remain unchanged and our long term well-being is seriously threatened.

Part of the problem lies with the lack of clarity of the term. People interpret it in different ways and as a result sustainable development is implemented in different ways.

A number of government initiatives currently under way must help clarify what is meant by the term in order to ensure a shift toward sustainability. We must ensure that the needs of our future generations are not compromised by our actions.

Gun Control

[Pierrette Venne, Bloc, Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, despite the Prime Minister's promise at the convention of the Liberal Party of Canada last May, despite the promise repeated many times in this House by the Minister of Justice, Quebecers and Canadians are still waiting for more effective gun control legislation. We knew that this government was inclined not to take action and susceptible to the harmful and hidden influence of lobby groups. But we did not know that this government saw the representations of some major lobby groups as more important than people's safety.

Last week's events in Ontario add to the sad list of victims of this lack of effective gun control.

Last weekend, the Prime Minister tried to appear reassuring by saying, "The sooner the better". When? Quebecers and Canadians have been waiting for a whole year.

Blue Ribbon Campaign

[Jim Hart, Reform, Okanagan—Similkameen—Merritt, BC]

Mr. Speaker, today we have the opportunity to honour the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces who perform peacekeeping roles professionally and courageously so far away from home.

It is fitting that our soldiers have earned eight Nobel peace prizes through their participation in 26 United Nations missions. Every day Canadian peacekeepers earn the respect of the world, but still the awareness of Canadians at home is low.

With this in mind, Mrs. Jocelyn Fleurant of British Columbia, a courageous mother of one of our peacekeepers, launched the blue ribbon campaign.

Mrs. Fleurant has distributed 44,000 blue ribbons for this special day. In a letter she writes: "We should all stand up and be proud and unite our voices to give Canadian peacekeepers the recognition they deserve".

I call on every member of this House to honour these Canadians who serve us so well. Wear your blue ribbon today, show them we care and wear it with pride.

Irving Oil Refinery

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, local 691 of the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada is on strike at the Irving oil refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick.

The company has insisted on a longer work week and less pay for overtime. Not only is this an attempt by Irving to exempt itself from national bargaining but it is a good example of how jobs are not being created where they are desperately needed.

Irving could create 30 full time jobs, the equivalent of what is being demanded in terms of longer hours. Instead it is using scabs to do the opposite.

It is about time for all levels of government that have not done so already to bring in anti-scab legislation. Workers who want to increase employment opportunities for the unemployed should not have to go on strike to do so and then have scab labour take their jobs.

Bertram Brockhouse

[Len Hopkins, Liberal, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to pay tribute to a fellow Canadian, Bertram Brockhouse, co-recipient with American Clifford Shull, of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences 1994 Nobel prize for physics.

Dr. Brockhouse won this most prestigious scientific award for his pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of matter.

The work for which Dr. Brockhouse was awarded the prize was performed at AECL's research reactors during his tenure at the Chalk River laboratories from 1950 to 1962. His achievements included the invention of the triple axis spectrometer, a powerful instrument which he used with great success investigating the properties of solids and liquids at the atomic level. It is now in use worldwide at every major neutron scattering laboratory.

Dr. Brockhouse thus established for Canada a position of world leadership in the field of neutron scattering. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate him.

Team Canada Fighter Pilots

[Fred Mifflin, Liberal, Bonavista—Trinity—Conception, NL]

Mr. Speaker, on the weekend Canadian fighter pilots did themselves and their country proud by placing a close second, their best ever performance in the prestigious 40th anniversary William Tell air to air weapons meet in Florida.

Team Canada, made up of pilots from 3 Wing, Canadian Forces Base Bagotville, Quebec was led by Captain Francois Garceau of St. Donat, Quebec who placed second in the top gun competition for pilots with the best overall performance

Captain Marc Charpentier of Lasalle, Quebec won the top shooter competition. Captains Garceau and Charpentier teamed up to win the top element competition.

Canadians are proud of our military men and women who risk their lives every day serving their country in their work and in peacekeeping missions around the world. They are no less proud of Canadian forces accomplishments for achieving top honours in rigorous training competitions.

I am sure I am joined by this House when I say to the pilots and ground crew of Team Canada congratulations to each and every one of you on a tremendous performance and a job well done.

International Trade

[Mark Assad, Liberal, Gatineau—La Lièvre, QC]

Mr. Speaker, over the next few years, China may become the number one country in the world for exports, and this is very important for Canada, considering that we are a major exporter. The decision made by the Prime Minister to go to China with the provincial premiers is a very important initiative. Indeed, we had to send our top officials to China in order to show that Canada means business when it comes to exports.

Consequently, I think the premier of Quebec should reconsider his decision and accompany the Prime Minister and the other provincial premiers to China. It is important that the leaders of a major exporting country such as ours show solidarity in such circumstances.

Manpower Training

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this past weekend, the daily Le Devoir reminded us of something which, unfortunately, we have known for a long time, namely that Canada has a poor record as regards manpower training. The author of the article even calls Canada the dunce among G-7 countries, as well as the black sheep of OECD.

In his discussion paper, the Minister of Human Resources Development admits that training programs are in a real mess. Quebec came to that conclusion more than five years ago at the forum on employment and asked for the transfer, to its government, of the whole responsibility for training.

The minister's action should be consistent with his findings, and he should announce, at last, that this responsibility will be transferred from the federal to the provincial government.

Infrastructure

[Jim Silye, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as the National Hockey League regular season remains on hold flooding continues to occur in Calgary Centre.

Unfortunately that flooding is not taking place on the ice in the Olympic Saddledome but in the worn out storm sewers of northwest Calgary. Recently Calgary residents had their homes flooded out for the third time this year while the $8 million infrastructure renovations to the run down, obsolete, dilapidated Saddledome continue without interruption.

This government defined infrastructure as physical assets instrumental in the provision of public services, not private. By the government's own definition this is not infrastructure money but a direct subsidy to private business.

I question the government's sense of priorities when the needs of the sports world outweigh those of the real world.

The only thing that is obsolete and dilapidated in Calgary is not the 10-year old Saddledome but the pork-barrel policies of this Liberal government.

Lest it forget, the debt today is $535,538,939,082.82.

Peacekeeping

[John Finlay, Liberal, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today is United Nations Day. One of the most significant functions carried out by the United Nations was initiated by Lester B. Pearson, a Nobel peace prize winner.

As our minister of external affairs, Mr. Pearson introduced a resolution to establish the first UN peacekeeping force. That force made up largely of Canadians intervened in the Suez Canal crisis. Canada's contributions to world peacekeeping have been outstanding.

This week we are asked to wear a blue ribbon, as my colleague opposite said, to honour the service of United Nations peacekeepers around the world.

On behalf of hon. members I thank Ms. Jocelyn Fleurant of British Columbia for her dedication in promoting this idea and I urge all my hon. colleagues to participate.

Violence

[Charles Caccia, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the shooting at a Brockton school compels us to think about violence and its prevention.

Clearly the possession of handguns is not a right but a privilege which must be tightly regulated. The weapon used at Brockton was illegal. The student fired a gun because he felt threatened economically. He reacted with an unacceptable violent act and ended up in jail.

How can violence be prevented if weapons are available illegally? Would longer sentences curb violence? Apparently not, judging from the United States.

I believe we must look at the root causes of violence, what we teach youngsters including through TV and videos, the adequacy of mental health services, economic and job security, adequate social housing and community services.

Clearly the roots of violence are to be found in society and family. In the end we will be more successful in preventing violence through socioeconomic measures and by doing away with the glorification of violence.

Gun Control

[Jag Bhaduria, Liberal, Markham—Whitchurch-Stouffville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there is a matter of dire urgency that we as parliamentarians must deal with immediately. The urgency is the continuing problem of illegal firearm use on the streets of our country.

While I commend the right hon. Prime Minister for his position of establishing a registry for all firearms in Canada, I believe that more preventive measures need to be taken. The government must introduce deterrents to stop violence on our streets.

In April of this year I proposed a mandatory 10-year sentence for anyone convicted of using a firearm in the commission of a crime. I strongly believe this sentence should be in addition to whatever sentence the individual receives for being convicted of a crime.

The Criminal Code has to be amended to include this provision. Until it is done criminals will not get the message.

Human Rights

[Art Hanger, Reform, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, regarding the rights of same sex couples, the provincial NDP government recently proposed a bill in which gay and lesbian couples would be granted rights which only heterosexual couples now enjoy. The bill did not pass second reading and died.

My personal stand on the issue is that I object to any suggestion which would have homosexual couples treated the same way as heterosexual couples. Although I will fight against any discrimination whether it is on the basis of race, sex, religion or other, I do not believe homosexuals should be treated as families.

"My wife and I do not claim that we are homosexuals. Why should homosexuals pretend they form a family?" That statement is in a letter to a constituent written in June of this year by the Liberal member for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell. Obviously the Liberal whip wants to vote his conscience and according to the wishes of his constituency.

I call on the Prime Minister for a free vote so that the government whip can do just that.

Federal Intelligence Agencies

[Lucien Bouchard, Bloc, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, on October 19, the Prime Minister said in this House that in his thirty years as a politician, he had never been advised of any spying activities.

Saturday, however, as he left a special cabinet meeting, after questions by the Bloc about the confessions of spy Mike Frost and additional revelations made the day before on the CBC French network's news program, the Prime Minister suddenly announced he had specifically instructed his ministers not to spy on citizens who are conducting legitimate operations.

My question is directed to the Deputy Prime Minister. When was the Prime Minister advised that federal services were spying or had spied on Canadian citizens engaged in legitimate activities?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what the Prime Minister did not say. What he said, what he repeated in the House, what he repeated Saturday and what he repeated to everyone is that he never, never, never was involved in spying on any political party whatsoever. He would appreciate the same courtesy being extended to all Canadians. That is what he said Saturday and what he said last week, and that is this government's policy.

[Lucien Bouchard, Bloc, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister says that the Prime Minister was never involved in spying activities. That is not the question. The question is about the federal government and federal services.

According to official information released in 1991, the CSE's intelligence and security activities are the responsibility of the Privy Council and thus of the Prime Minister. Consequently, the present Prime Minister has direct access to information collected in the past by the CSE.

My question is whether, considering recent revelations, the government has specifically checked with the CSE whether sovereignist figures like René Lévesque, Jacques Parizeau or Louise Beaudoin have ever been under electronic or other surveillance.

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's premise is false. Second, Saturday, the Prime Minister himself defended the right of separatists to express their views and do their job in a legitimate manner. I wonder whether the hon. member is referring to what might have been a policy in the past? Does he refuse to take the Prime Minister at his word when he says that all Canadians, including separatists, have the right to do their job without being monitored or spied on? Does he not take the Prime Minister at his word?

[Lucien Bouchard, Bloc, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I do not accept answers that are full of holes and hidden meanings. There are those who know and those who do not want to know. Obviously, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister belong to the latter group, those who would rather see no evil and hear no evil.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Lucien Bouchard, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

They would rather not see or hear about illegal activities.

I want to ask the Deputy Prime Minister, as a guardian and the government which is also a guardian, in the broader sense, of our fundamental rights, to tell us, and the question is the same one I asked earlier, and I would now like a precise answer: Did the government check with the CSE whether the CSE had ever spied on René Lévesque, Jacques Parizeau or Louise Beaudoin?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I said Friday, and the Prime Minister said last week and he said it again on Saturday: the CSE has no mandate to spy on any Canadians, including members of the Parti Quebecois, the Bloc Quebecois, the Reform Party, the Liberals or any political party. They do not have the right to engage in spying. Is that clear?