Debates of Oct. 4th, 1994

Defence Industry Conversion

[Gaston Leroux, Bloc, Richmond—Wolfe, QC]

Mr. Speaker, extending the forestry sub-agreement has nothing to do with whether Quebec is present at a negotiating table; this government made a formal commitment to renew the sub-agreement and should respect it. If the Prime Minister has forgotten, he should ask his minister responsible for regional development in Quebec, to whom I address my question.

Following the closure of military bases, the Maritimes received $20 million in compensation, Ontario $8 million, the western provinces $5 million and Quebec only received a meagre $200,000 for the loss of 1,000 jobs.

How can the minister responsible for regional development in Quebec justify the fact that Quebec got only crumbs as compensation for the closure of its military bases? Are we to understand that the minister has simply not done his job to defend Quebec's interests?

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

Mr. Speaker, the figures show that Quebec has certainly received its fair share.

As for the meeting on forestry, the Minister of Natural Resources has already indicated in this House that she and I are ready and intend to hold these meetings in the near future. It is simply a matter of proper scheduling.

[Gaston Leroux, Bloc, Richmond—Wolfe, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if Quebec got its fair share, how can the minister responsible for regional development in Quebec justify the fact that the financial compensation for the closure of military bases in Canada is accompanied by economic diversification assistance, while that is not the case for Quebec?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is the case.

Canadian National

[Ron MacDonald, Liberal, Dartmouth, NS]

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

The recent offer of CP to purchase the CN Rail network in eastern Canada has raised some major concerns. This is primarily because CP has already abandoned much of its routes in eastern Canada and indeed is competing with Canadian National Rail with its own D and H line which runs from New York City to Montreal.

Given this track record, what assurances can the minister give that this or any other offer will not lead to the abandonment of this main rail line which is so crucial to economic development in places like Moncton, the port of Halifax and indeed all of eastern Canada?

[Douglas Young, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague would know that if the unsolicited offer from CP Rail was accepted by the government it would have the effect of privatizing all rail activity east of Winnipeg. That is why the government recognizes that we have to look at the unsolicited bid from CP Rail on a businesslike basis. It also involves a very serious policy question. That is one of the reasons why we have asked members on the government side of the House to look into other options including the commercialization of CN with employee participation.

As a fundamental part of government policy we recognize that it is absolutely essential to have a rail line from Halifax to Vancouver. That is the policy the government will pursue.

Salinas Mendoza

[Randy White, Reform, Fraser Valley West, BC]

Mr. Speaker, for the Minister of Immigration to come into this House and brag about getting involved with Salinas Mendoza is despicable.

Salinas Mendoza has had 12 criminal convictions in Canada since 1989. A young woman in my riding agreed to a stay of sexual assault charges against Mendoza on the condition that he be deported to El Salvador and he was. Now he is back claiming refugee status.

I have been involved in numerous hearings and trials on this fellow costing over $250,000 since he has come back.

My question to the minister is whose interests come first in a refugee hearing in this country, Mr. Minister, those of the taxpaying-

[The Speaker]

I would remind and ask all members to please direct their question through the Chair.

[Randy White, Reform, Fraser Valley West, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I apologize. I would like to ask the minister of immigration whose interests come first in a refugee hearing in this country, those of the taxpaying, law abiding citizen or those of the refugee criminal applicant?

[Sergio Marchi, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I will give the member the definition of despicable. Despicable means exploiting personal tragedies to simply score some political marks in this Chamber.

The answer to that question clearly is justice. In Bill C-44 we are trying to make that balance even more identifiable. Bill C-44 gives us the opportunity for the first time that when we know an individual has a criminal background to stop that refugee process and put them to immigration inquiry. Thus far, given the current legislation, that has not been possible.

We are putting into practice in Bill C-44 the things this member talks about but is not prepared to support.

[Randy White, Reform, Fraser Valley West, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this is truly unbelievable. After all the bragging this minister has done here, I find out that Mr. Mendoza skipped his bail hearing this morning and has now walked after all of this.

Where does the minister fit in on all of the changes he is working on refugee hearings? I cannot believe this fellow-

[Sergio Marchi, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, this is a side show to the circus and the member is the clown.

[The Speaker]

Order. My colleagues, of course all questions should be addressed to the responsible minister.

I would ask hon. members to please be considerate of one another and not let these questions or answers degenerate into simply name calling. I will permit the hon. minister to continue his answer but I would like him to consider perhaps lowering the tone just a little bit as we go along.

[Sergio Marchi, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if the member is interested in facts, the facts are these. This individual came to this country illegally. In April of this year we started an immigration inquiry. The adjudicator agreed with deportation but disagreed with detention. We appealed that decision on detention to the Federal Court.

Yesterday the Federal Court quashed the decision of the immigration adjudicator and set another immigration adjudication hearing today so that we can seek that detention.

The government has acted and acted properly.

Defence Industry Conversion

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Industry. Last August, Expro, located in Valleyfield, laid off about 150 employees. That company, which specializes in explosives, lost a big contract in the U.S., as military markets were collapsing all over the world.

What is the government doing to keep Expro from closing and save the 300 jobs at stake?

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has asked several questions about the defence industry and the changes it is undergoing. On Sunday evening, the member even made a short speech in English on that issue and I congratulate him for doing so.

I explained on several occasions that the government is not in the business of finding solutions for every company experiencing problems. We are prepared to work with each of them to find new markets, ways of adjusting, strategies, as well as information. The idea is not to simply give money, as suggested several times by the hon. member.

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry to see that the minister did not listen to my speech until the end. Will he recognize that, because of a lack of true conversion strategy, more than 10,000 jobs are in jeopardy in the Montreal region? What is he waiting for to take action, as his government promised to do in the red book? We need a real industry conversion strategy and this is what my speech was all about.

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, it would seem that this member has a great deal of difficulty in understanding my answers.

The approach we are endeavouring to take is one that builds on the appropriate role of government, not only to create an environment in which entrepreneurialism can succeed but also in the defence sector to ensure that using the tools at our disposal we provide information, advice and strategy together with DIPP to try to enable firms to create dual use technologies and to move defence technologies to civilian use.

In the DIPP context-the member knows this very well-of 41 applications approved by the government, 39 have been for civilian or dual use purposes. That is a defence conversion strategy.

Pearson International Airport

[Jim Gouk, Reform, Kootenay West—Revelstoke, BC]

Mr. Speaker, during his imaginative, if not wholly accurate, oration on the Pearson development contract delivered during the recent debate on amendments to Bill C-22, the Minister of Transport stated that the contract on terminals 1 and 2 was not a good deal; then he went on to misquote my position during question period yesterday.

If the minister thinks the current contract, which would have seen $750 million of private sector money that the government does not have spent on development of terminals 1 and 2 was not a good deal, would he please tell the House and all the Pearson airport users operating in unacceptable facilities what alternative plan he has that will quickly get them into acceptable facilities?

[Douglas Young, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, in time truth will out. Obviously what we have here, as we deal with Bill C-22, are not Tories in sheeps'clothing, but in wolves' clothing. The hon. member knows we quoted from his press conference where he said there is nothing wrong with the Pearson deal.

The Reform Party and the transportation critic for the Reform Party are in the minority of about 35 people in the entire nation who think the Pearson deal was a good deal.

[Jim Gouk, Reform, Kootenay West—Revelstoke, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we do not know one way or the other because the Liberals are covering the whole thing up.

The minister's national airport program will take until 1997 to establish, at which time the process of funding and constructing the now overdue rebuild of terminals 1 and 2 at Pearson will start.

Can the minister honestly tell the House and the users of terminals 1 and 2 that it is okay to wait until the next century for facilities needed now, or alternatively tell the House where the high spending Liberal government is going to get another three-quarter to one billion taxpayers' dollars to spend on an airport it ultimately wants to privatize?

[Douglas Young, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable that in the same question the hon. member talks about the free spending or high spending Liberal government and asks where we are going to find the money.

The transportation critic has just said that he does not know whether it is a good deal or not. As a matter of fact he said, "do not know one way or the other". That, Mr. Speaker, I believe.

One thing we will make sure of is that while the members of the Reform Party do not know one way or another whether paying $445 million to the consortium is a good deal or not, we know it is not and we are going to make sure that the bill goes through in the other place one way or another.

Foreign Affairs

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada, through its peacekeepers, is currently participating with distinction in numerous UN peacekeeping missions, including in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Haiti.

My question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. According to various reliable sources, Burundi will be the next theatre of a very serious ethnic conflict. What is Canada doing to prevent new conflicts?

[Christine Stewart, Liberal, Secretary of State (Latin America and Africa)]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague has reason to be concerned about the situation in Burundi as our eyes are riveted on the crisis in Rwanda. The government is committed to trying to take note of early warnings and prevent conflicts from arising.

To that end, in July we appointed a special envoy to central Africa. Since July, this envoy, Mr. Dusseault, has been twice in Burundi, met with authorities there and encouraged them in their negotiations and dialogue.

Earlier last month I was in Ethiopia and visited with Secretary General Salim Salim of the Organization of African Unity and said that Canada was willing to help them in their new committee that is focusing on conflict resolution.

I am also planning a trip into Rwanda and Burundi this fall to make sure that Canada is on top of this important issue.

Canadian Security Intelligence Service

[François Langlois, Bloc, Bellechasse, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Solicitor General.

The chairman of the review committee overlooking CSIS, Mr. Jacques Courtois, recently said that infiltration activities related to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers dated back to 1984, before CSIS was set up. However, according to CBC, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service relied on informant Grant Bristow to infiltrate that union in 1989.

Will the Solicitor General confirm that CSIS tried to infiltrate CUPW in 1989?

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