Debates of March 11th, 1994

Alan Eagleson

[Ian McClelland, Reform, Edmonton Southwest, AB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Solicitor General and involves the notion that all citizens must be equal before the law.

As the minister is aware, Mr. Alan Eagleson, a Canadian closely identified with professional hockey in Canada, is under indictment in the United States for 32 counts of racketeering, fraud, embezzlement, kickbacks and obstruction of justice. Many of these alleged activities took place in Canada.

It is reported that information concerning Mr. Eagleson's activities has been supplied to Canadian law enforcement and professional organizations.

Will the minister tell this House if the Government of Canada is currently conducting an investigation into the activities of Mr. Eagleson in Canada?

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

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP has been assisting the FBI in its investigations. Furthermore, investigations are going on into similar allegations in Canada. Under the circumstances, I am sure the hon. member will agree it would not be appropriate for me to comment further.

[Ian McClelland, Reform, Edmonton Southwest, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this information was made available to Canadian law officials almost four years ago. The same information brought to the attention of American officials two years ago resulted in an immediate investigation in the laying of charges.

As Mr. Eagleson's activities were conducted on both sides of the border and Mr. Eagleson had a role in Hockey Canada, an organization created by this Parliament, can the Solicitor General explain why the Canadian government has been so slow in acting in this case?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have only had this particular job for the past approximately four months but it seems to me that in light of the complexities of this matter, it is not unreasonable to assume that investigations take some time.

I repeat, under the circumstances I hope the hon. member will agree in terms of fairness to all concerned that it would not be appropriate for me to comment further.

Public Finances

[René Laurin, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

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

The federal budget does not appear capable of putting our public finances in order, considering that it foresees a record-high deficit of nearly $40 billion, does not address the numerous instances of squandering brought to light by the Auditor General and rests on unrealistic revenue assumptions.

In the meantime, the pitiful state of our public finances requires an additional risk premium to be paid on interest rates, a premium which could cost the federal government as much as $5 billion a year.

Does the minister not realize that his lack of credibility with the international markets in the fight to curb the deficit is the direct cause of this $5 billion surcharge in interest costs to the Canadian taxpayers?

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

Mr. Speaker, I find it somewhat ironic that the hon. member would ask me a question about deficit reduction when his leader, deputy leader and colleagues keep telling us not to cut back and deal with the deficit.

With respect to the deficit, we are clearly on the way to reducing it to 3 per cent of the gross domestic product within three years. And once this target is achieved, Canada will be in this good a position for the first time in 15 years. This should be applauded, and you are right to do so, Prime Minister.

I am not done, Mr. Speaker.

Having said this, as for our revenue projections, the vast majority of economists agree that for once, Canada has a realistic budget in terms of revenue, inflation and interest rates.

[René Laurin, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister is having a very hard time answering my question. Let me ask him another.

Does the minister recognize that the additional cost of the risk premium on interest rates equals the cuts and sacrifices imposed on the unemployed and the poor?

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

Mr. Speaker, if by comparison with other countries, there is a premium on our interest rates, it must be pointed out that rates are the lowest they have been in the last decade, and this has been the case ever since we took office.

Military Colleges

[Keith Martin, Reform, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Prime Minister.

On Monday, in response to a question from a member of the Bloc Quebecois, the Prime Minister said he is ready to help Quebec maintain Collège Militaire Royal de Saint-Jean as an institution of higher learning following closure of the military college.

Is the Prime Minister willing to make the same commitment in this House today to the people of British Columbia with respect to the future of Royal Roads Military College?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes.

[Keith Martin, Reform, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Prime Minister for his candid answer.

My supplementary question concerns the MICMIC report which was a cost benefit analysis that was done on the military colleges and completed in May 1993. It was commissioned by the federal government.

It has as its primary recommendation that all military colleges be kept open. The previous government kept this report hidden and this government has kept this report hidden. Can the Prime Minister tell us why the report has continued to be kept hidden?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I think we have tonnes of reports on that.

In the United States there are two million soldiers in the armed forces and there are three colleges. In Canada we have 65,000 people in the armed forces. We cannot keep three colleges. For a party that is always complaining that we are spending too much, that we took the political flack to do the right thing, rather than giving us a problem with that the member should get up and applaud our good judgment to reduce expenditures.

Information Highway

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

Mr. Speaker, on February 4 last, I asked the Minister of Industry to tell us what his specific plans were with respect to the information highway. At the time, the minister answered rather vaguely that he was planning to set up an advisory council. I was concerned by this because we already had the Ostry report which provided details about the information highway to the government.

Can the minister now inform the House of the mandate, composition and work schedule of this council?

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, the Secretary of State for Science, Research and Development, Mr. Gerrard, gave a speech in Toronto several weeks ago in which he clarified our interests in the information highway project. I believe that I will be in a position next week to provide the hon. member with the information he is requesting.

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

Then I guess I jumped the gun with my question, Mr. Speaker. How does the minister intend to involve the provinces, particularly Quebec, the cradle of la Francophonie, in the charting of the

information highway? I would appreciate an answer to this question today.

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, we have Quebec's interests very much at heart. In fact, last week I met with Mr. Chagnon from Vidéotron, a company that has already unveiled a project to provide service to consumers in the Chicoutimi region. The interests of all provinces are important to this information highway project.

This is one of the means of bringing the new economy into reality in Canada in the very near future.

Employment

[Murray Calder, Liberal, Wellington—Grey—Dufferin—Simcoe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is addressed to the Minister of Finance.

The constituents in my riding of Wellington-Grey-Dufferin-Simcoe are particularly concerned about Canada's unemployment picture. Both before and after the budget they told me that their principal concern is seeing their family members, friends and neighbours find jobs in this tough economy.

I understand that there may be some improvement in this area. Can the minister comment on this important issue of job creation and how we are progressing since this government came to power?

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

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member on his question. I must say that I am delighted to respond.

I am very, very much encouraged by February's strong jump in employment, particularly so since it has occurred in all regions of the country. Nationally, there is a net gain of 66,000 jobs; 11,000 jobs in the member's home province.

What is also very important to understand, Mr. Speaker-and I know that you are hanging on every word-is that there are particularly strong gains in manufacturing in the retailing sector. Some may have noticed that was something that was very worrisome in the month of January.

Kemano Project

[Dick Harris, Reform, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the hon. Minister of Fisheries and Oceans who as previously demonstrated speaks officially for the government on the Kemano completion project.

In a letter to Chief Marvin Charlie of the Cheslatta band dated February 22, 1994, the minister clearly stated that only native groups would be considered eligible to receive federal intervener funding required to participate effectively in the Kemano completion project.

Is it the decision of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and indeed the decision of this government, that native concerns carry far more legitimacy than non-native concerns in regard to Kemano and therefore natives should be the only groups entitled to federal intervener funding?

[Brian Tobin, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

No, Mr. Speaker, it is not the view of the Government of Canada that one group or another in society has a greater right to be heard in the course of hearings of the British Columbia Utilities Commission.

What I have stated in my correspondence, as referred to by the member in asking his question, is that the Government of Canada has provided some assistance for aboriginal groups to participate on an intervener basis. Clearly and I think the member would agree, certainly I hope his party would agree, there is at least the proposition to be put that aboriginal communities and aboriginal peoples have been first impacted by the consequences of the project in question. Therefore it is necessary to ensure that aboriginal people have the means to participate in the hearing process should they so decide.

To my knowledge, no such formal decision has been reached one way or another to this point in time with respect to their intervener status.

[Dick Harris, Reform, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I appreciate the minister's comments.

I would like to ask this of the minister: If no group is more important than any other in the eyes of the government, will the minister then commit to this House and to the thousands of people living in British Columbia who are concerned about this project a process through which all interested parties may proceed in order to receive federal intervener funding?

[Brian Tobin, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

I have to say that I find it incredible that the Reform Party stands in the House almost daily under the guise of question period and demands of this government far deeper cuts, cuts in the range of billions of dollars. Nothing is sacred, not senior citizen pensions, not medicare, not welfare, but in the next breath the same party can stand and demand that all groups and all individuals, all the thousands of applications for intervener status, ought to be met with a yes from the government.

There is not a bottomless pit of money. We are going to act responsibly. We are going to see that those who have the greatest need are served in providing intervener funding. The member should get his priorities straight.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

Via Rail

[Maurice Bernier, Bloc, Mégantic—Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this morning we learned that the Liberal government is about to once again cut VIA Rail's budget. The Minister of Transport went so far as to say that the dream of a major intercontinental carrier is a thing of the past, when he announced yesterday that VIA Rail services would again be reduced.

How can the Minister of Transport explain this latest about-face by the Liberals, considering that they opposed every cut made to VIA Rail's budget by the previous Conservative government?