Debates of Dec. 15th, 1994

Security Intelligence Review Committee

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

Mr. Speaker, the report of the Security Intelligence Review Committee which is the report of the committee and not of the government said in part that the service had an obligation to investigate whether the government of the foreign country was involved in attempting to influence the outcome of a Canadian election. It also went on to say that CSIS did not investigate the Reform Party or its membership.

If my hon. friend does not agree with this, I suggest she question SIRC directly when it appears before the subcommittee. I understand her concerns, but the vehicle to which she should address her questions is the SIRC itself.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Solicitor General cannot remove himself from the responsibility of representing Canadians on this issue.

I will be talking to SIRC tomorrow. This investigation on allegations was from an individual considered by the CSIS investigator as an unknown quality who was self-serving and very opportunistic. It would appear that investigations of this nature can be held with very weak probable cause.

What assurance can the minister give to Canadians that contributors to political parties today are not being investigated by CSIS?

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

Mr. Speaker, I repeat that this report is a report of an independent commission of inquiry. My role is to bring the report to the attention of the public through this House in the fullest possible manner, which I have done.

With respect to the second part of the member's question, the law adopted by this Parliament makes clear that CSIS is not to investigate lawful acts of protest, dissent or promotion of a cause. I think that is pretty well clear. I hope it will give the reassurance the hon. member is seeking.

Blood Supply System

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health. On December 5, the minister said that she would rather wait for the public hearings on this issue to be completed before commenting on the blatant lack of rigour endangering the safety of Canada's blood supply system. These hearings were held on December 6 and 7.

Now that the hearings have taken place, will the minister tell us why the Bureau of Biologics does not comply with its own standards, given its responsibility to check the quality of blood products and facilities at all 17 transfusion centres of the Canadian Red Cross Society?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I thought the hon. member was going to wish me a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and also congratulate me for the good work I did this year.

Clearly, we worked well and we will continue to do so.

As regards the hon. member's question, I can say that we more than doubled the staff of the bureau. We implemented a number of measures. We are also spending $11 million on the Krever Commission because we feel this is a very serious issue. Not only do we want our blood supply system to be as good as any, we want it to be the best in the world.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, words fail me. How can the minister not take this recommendation seriously?

Our blood supply system is blatantly flawed and Canadians are at risk of being contaminated before the end of 1995. This is very serious. Some people are actually dying because of this.

Will the Minister of Health at least have the decency to immediately contact the head of the Bureau of Biologics, who is accountable to her, and clearly tell him that he has the duty to comply with his own safety rules?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I take the question very seriously indeed.

Since I became the Minister of Health we have done more in terms of blood safety and inspection of centres and increasing personnel than was done in the previous 10 years.

We did not and I am not waiting for the report of Mr. Krever to take action. We have done everything that we can and we will continue to do everything we can. Meanwhile we are anxiously awaiting to see what other new measures Mr. Krever will ask us to undertake. We will do whatever it takes to guarantee that the blood system in this country is the very best in the world.

Health Care

[Grant Hill, Reform, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, five weeks ago the health minister threatened private clinics throughout Canada. She promised swift action and then she vanished, perhaps permanently.

The minister now knows that all provinces struggle to fund health care because this government withdraws from medicare funding.

Will the minister give every province a Christmas present by admitting her political blunder?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I seem to recall during the last election campaign a Reform Party committed to the medicare system in this country. As a matter of fact the leader said he was opposed to user fees and did not want to decrease access to the health care system. I have a quote here which says: "I want to make it absolutely clear that the Reform Party is not promoting private health care deductibles or user fees".

If there is a blunder that has been made during this year it is by the Reform Party. We have kept our word. I am keeping my word. We are going to have medicare in this country not based on how much you can afford to pay, but based on your need for care.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Some hon. members]

More, more.

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Macleod.

[Grant Hill, Reform, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that applause was a nice farewell.

Informetrica did a study which states that by the end of the EPF freeze in 1995 the federal government will have offloaded $29.4 billion unilaterally on to the provinces, $10.4 billion on to Ontario alone. Some Canadians think this is a big problem.

What will the minister do? I ask her to stand up and answer if she has an answer but if not to stay seated preferably in the backbenches.

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

The hon. member can quote whatever studies he wants but Mr. Speaker, perhaps you can give this message to the hon. member. There has not been one study that says we need to spend more money in our health care system. Everyone knows we need to spend it differently and more effectively. That is the exercise every province has undertaken. It is not easy but it is necessary.

At the same time we should not ever forget average Canadians who need health care. We never want to go back to the days when people could lose their homes at the same time as they lost their lives.

If the hon. critic would go four seats over and speak to his leader he might be able to get the policies of the Reform Party right in terms of what it said during the election.

International Trade

[Jean-Guy Chrétien, Bloc, Frontenac, QC]

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

As of January 1, 1995, the United States will impose new restrictions on Canadian sugar exports. Because of this unilateral decision to change the classification of products with a high sugar content, Quebec and Canada stand to lose almost 2,400 jobs. Since the change was made before GATT was signed, the federal government now claims that it cannot intervene in this issue.

Can the minister explain to us why the Canadian government let the United States unilaterally change the classification of products with a high sugar content, when it knew full well that this would have disastrous consequences for the sugar industry in Quebec and Canada?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, the United States is proposing to take certain actions effective January 1 with respect to the importation of products containing sugar into the United States.

As the hon. member knows, Canada takes strong exception to the position being taken by the United States. We have made those representations abundantly clear at the officials level in dealing with the U.S. department of agriculture, the U.S. trade representatives office and the White House.

Representations by Canada to the United States continue to be made. In the past 24 hours the Minister for International Trade has been in touch with his U.S. counterpart to make the Canadian position abundantly clear. We will continue to pursue that position in the best interest of all Canadians, including those in the province of Quebec.

[Jean-Guy Chrétien, Bloc, Frontenac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, since the minister has confirmed that Canada is no match for the United States in bilateral trade negotiations, will he undertake to refer the issue to a GATT panel?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian government will pursue all its options in defending the Canadian position in the face of U.S. action with which we may disagree.

However I want to make it fundamentally clear that in the process we will not engage in any game of trading off one region of the country against another or one commodity against another or one group of producers against another.

All these are separate and distinct issues. They must be dealt with separately and distinctly on their own merits and we will not trade off the Canadian-

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

Infrastructure Program

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the minister responsible for the infrastructure program.

The recession hit Canadians hard, including the residents of my riding of Saint-Denis, and reduced their employment opportunities. Over the past year, the situation seems to have improved and people are starting to go find jobs again.

Could the minister responsible for the infrastructure program give us an update on the status of the program?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, as we reach the first anniversary of the launching of the program when the Prime Minister and the premiers came together on December 21 in Ottawa, I am pleased to be able to bring more good news to members of the House.

At the halfway mark of the program over 80 per cent of the $6 billion has been allocated to some 8,400 projects, creating over 81,000 jobs for Canadians. We are well on our way to the creation of some 100,000 direct jobs in the program.

I am pleased to tell the member for Saint-Denis that in the province of Quebec we have created over 20,000 jobs and have contributed significantly to the economy of the city of Montreal.

One more statistic, because I know the Reform Party's interest in the matter: I have received from Reform Party members some 15 letters and 10 of them have been in support of the program.

Petro-Canada

[Bill Gilmour, Reform, Comox—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last week in the House both the Minister of the Environment and Minister of Natural Resources said they would look into the circumstances of the tragedy suffered by the Curtis family of New Brunswick at the hands of Petro-Canada and report back to the House.

Since then the Curtises have received conclusive proof from the renowned environmental health centre in Dallas that indeed exposure to gas fumes was the cause of permanent mental and physical damage to their seven-year old daughter.

My question is for the environment minister. As Petro-Canada is not only responsible for the leak but actually knew about the leak two years before it took any action, what does the government plan to do about holding this corporate criminal responsible?

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

Mr. Speaker, I will follow up on the undertaking I gave both publicly and privately to the member last week.

Not only did I receive his question in the House. I subsequently went over to discuss it with him personally. He assured me that he would provide medical information that we would use in an attempt to personally intervene with Petro-Canada. I have discussed the issue with my colleague, the Minister for Natural Resources, and we have been awaiting the medical evidence the member says is now in his possession.

[Bill Gilmour, Reform, Comox—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my supplementary question is for the Minister of Natural Resources. I have the documentation. We received it today. It will go to both ministers.

I have other documentation showing that the Minister of Natural Resources and the Minister of the Environment were both notified about the case by the Liberal member for Fredericton-York-Sunbury last January, nearly a year ago.

Since the minister knew about the tragedy a year ago, why did she not do anything about it then? Why has the minister allowed Petro-Canada, a government controlled company, to snatch this little girl's future away?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, let me say in relation to the statement just made by the hon. member that indeed a colleague of mine informed me of this set of circumstances. I intervened at that time. I believe, in part because of that intervention, a settlement was reached in relation to part of the claim raised by the Curtises. Therefore I take exception to the fact that the member suggests I did not act upon the request of my colleague.

The other matters raised by the hon. member in relation to the health of the female child in question I understand are presently before the courts, are being pursued in the courts, and therefore it would be inappropriate for me to say anything further at this time.