Debates of April 29th, 1994

Housing

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister.

On April 10, the City of Montreal and the key players in social and cooperative housing made a plea to the Quebec and federal governments, asking for a non-recurring $40-million program to renovate 1,000 dwellings every year in that city.

Considering that the Quebec Minister of Municipal Affairs reacted positively to this project called "Resolution Montreal", is the federal government prepared to make a commitment to the Quebec government and to Montrealers, and help meet the urgent needs of the population?

[Ronald J. Duhamel, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her question. The minister has already met with his counterparts and will meet them again soon. The minister is holding consultations and will make a decision later as to what new initiative the government can undertake in co-operation with the provinces and territories. Obviously, the above mentioned project is one which will get very serious consideration.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of this Parliament, no concrete action has been taken regarding social housing. Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that, by unduly postponing necessary funding to implement this innovative program, her government is avoiding its responsibility to the poor in Montreal?

[Ronald J. Duhamel, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, we have to consult with the provinces; we are asked to do so. We have met with ministers and we will continue to do so. I said that the project would be carefully considered; we will see what other ministers propose.

To say that the government did nothing for social housing is not true at all. Across the country, there are over 559,000 units costing annually $2.1 million to the federal government. Also, we will spend $100 million, over a period of two years, to renovate dwellings. There are several other projects which I do not have the time to mention. There are several projects, including in Quebec, and I would appreciate it if the opposition recognized that great efforts have been made. Moreover, the minister said that the savings of about $100 million would be used to support other initiatives.

General Agreement On Tariffs And Trade

[Jay Hill, Reform, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the minister of agriculture.

Recently the United States enacted article XXVIII of the GATT in response to what it perceived as unfair imports of Canadian durum wheat. The fact is that American prices for durum wheat have increased approximately 90 per cent in the past year. This totally refutes the claim that the American industry is being harmed by Canadian durum wheat imports.

Could the minister please explain what actions his government is taking to dispute the U.S. claim that Canadian durum wheat imports are hurting its farmers?

[Lyle Vanclief, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly regret the Americans took the action they did a week ago today by putting in place article XXVIII. I want to assure the member and the industry that this does not close the border; what it does is move the negotiations to another stage.

We will continue to negotiate as strongly and as firmly as we have with the Americans on this issue. We have won a number of challenges and panels since 1990. The score for Canada on the trade disputes on wheat with the United States is 4 to 0. And at this time of the year when a hockey score is 4 to 0 it is a pretty decisive win.

[Jay Hill, Reform, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member indicated, four previous investigations have exonerated the Canadian Wheat Board of unfair pricing. Despite this we now have a scenario for counterproductive retaliatory tariffs between the U.S. and Canada.

Is this government prepared to insist that the root cause of this trade disruption is not Canadian durum wheat imports but the distorting influence of the U.S. export enhancement program?

[Lyle Vanclief, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food]

Mr. Speaker, we have made it very clear to the United States if it decides to go ahead and take unilateral action at the end of the 90 days that we will respond in kind. We have indicated some of the areas where we might do that.

I also assure the member that we had representation yesterday in Washington at the International Trade Commission hearings. This should be of some comfort to us.

We must remember all of those commissioners who are attending that hearing are American and as one of the commissioners said: "We have only received two documents from the department. Both are essentially statements devoid of analysis and one I could barely understand". I think that bodes well.

We look forward to the response and conclusion of that ITC panel in July of this year.

Nuclear Disarmament

[Ted McWhinney, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

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

Remembering Canada's record of leadership in the United Nations General Assembly over the whole post-war period under St. Laurent, Pearson, Paul Martin Sr. and Trudeau, in the movement for nuclear and general disarmament under international law, will the Minister of Foreign Affairs consider intervening in the World Health Organization process now pending before the World Court in The Hague on the illegality of nuclear weapons?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

I thank the member for Vancouver Quadra for his question.

Indeed Canada was always a leader in the field of non-proliferation. We can take pride in the fact that we invented strangulation of nuclear weapons.

The question the hon. member raises this morning is a very legitimate one. I am informed that it is up for consideration by the foreign minister who will make a decision in due course. However, there is no evidence in sight that Canada is going to change its traditional support for non-proliferation and to stop its fight against nuclear weapons.

Copyright

[Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral, Bloc, Laval Centre, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage, who happens to represent the riding next to mine.

The Société des auteurs et compositeurs du Québec appeared before the Copyright Board this week to ask for a 2 to 5 per cent increase on royalties paid to songwriters every time their songs are performed.

Would the minister give us a progress report on the review of copyright legislation currently underway in his department, as well as in the Department of Industry, and tell us when he intends to introduce a bill to modernize the outdated provisions of the current act?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I agree that the current legislation is outdated. I think it is important we make all necessary changes.

The proposed amendments are being reviewed, not only in my department, but also in all other departments concerned. When all the preliminary work is done, we will be happy to report to the House.

[Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral, Bloc, Laval Centre, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to see that my neighbour and I both agree that some of our laws are outdated.

Recently, the Minister of Industry announced the membership of the National Advisory Committee on the Information Highway. We noticed that creative artists and songwriters are not represented on this committee.

Would the Minister of Canadian Heritage tell us if he intends to suggest to his colleague, the Minister of Industry, to appoint such a representative to this committee?

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I think the minister responsible for this issue should answer the question.

On the committee I set up to advise my department are representatives of the cultural industries. What the hon. member just said is not true. We have on this committee some very important Quebecers, who contributed a lot to the overall cultural industry, such as Mr. Chagnon, of Vidéotron, who implemented in the Chicoutimi area a very important pilot project for the building of the information highway, as well as Mr. Bureau, former chairman of the CRTC, and many more.

I do not know why the Bloc member would think that these people do not understand cultural issues.

Ministerial Staff

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.

In November the Prime Minister announced that cabinet ministers would be limited to 19 staff members, thereby saving

$10 million. Yesterday it was reported in the press that the Prime Minister in response to pressure from his caucus will soon allow cabinet ministers to hire more staff.

Can the Prime Minister please tell the House if there is any truth to this report?

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

No, Mr. Speaker, I am sorry. It is good news and bad news. A provision has been made for summer students to be hired.

In the red book we said we were going to cut the budgets of ministers by some $10 million. We have not only done that but we have actually exceeded that amount.

I am pleased to be able to say that as part of the savings we are able to provide ministers with an opportunity to hire summer students and, most important, to create job opportunities for those students to help to prepare them for the job market when they are finished their education.

I would hope that all members would applaud that move.

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we applaud any savings that the government can get in place. Our concern was that there may be an announcement later on in the summer. We applaud the government's move and congratulate it on holding the line on staff requirements.

[The Speaker]

Maybe I should stop while I am ahead here.

The Economy

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Fredericton—York—Sunbury, NB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Secretary of State for International Financial Institutions.

According to a report in the Montreal Gazette , Canada's economy is outperforming that of the United States. Specifically the report indicates a 4 per cent growth during the last quarter in Canada and it projects continuing growth this spring compared with 2.6 per cent growth in the United States.

How does this compare with the economic performance projections contained in the government's budget?

[Doug Peters, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to have the question and the opportunity to confirm that those numbers are good news for Canada.

We have had a series of good news reports. Our economy has performed better than it had before and a number of forecasters have pointed this out. These are much better numbers than we had used for the projections in the budget. That should be good news to all members in the House.

Points Of Order

[The Speaker]

Yesterday I was asked to consider and rule on two points of privilege and a point of order. I am now prepared to rule on the point of order and I will be ruling on the points of privilege later on.

I have had a chance to look over the "blues" and Hansard from yesterday with regard to statements which were made in the heat of debate. At the time the hon. Minister of Industry in a comment quoted Shakespeare.

Now I, as a former teacher, am far from ever criticizing anyone for using quotes, especially from Shakespeare. However, in the context in which the words were used, I have of course done research and I find the words in the context in which they were used are in my view unparliamentary.

I would invite the hon. Minister of Industry to reconsider the words he used. In fact I would ask him to withdraw the statement which he made yesterday on page 3648 when he referred to the hon. member for Roberval.

The hon. Minister of Industry is in the Chamber and I would invite him to withdraw.

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, certainly out of deference to your wisdom and your office I will withdraw the comments and I shall in future endeavour not to associate the member for Roberval with Mr. Shakespeare.

[The Speaker]

I accept the withdrawal. I think the point has been made.

We do have days such as yesterday where exchanges are quite strong. I would simply invite all hon. members to please be very careful in the words they use because words are our weapons and our tools here in the House of Commons. I thank the hon. Minister of Industry for withdrawing and the matter is closed.

I will return to the House with the decision on the two points of privilege which are before me.

Minister's Permits

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to table, in both official languages, the report to Parliament on the minister's permits issued from January 1 to December 31, 1993.

Ways And Means

[Doug Peters, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 83(1) I wish to table a notice of a ways and means motion to amend the Income Tax Act, the income tax applicable rules, the Canada Pension Plan, the Canada Business Corporations Act, the Excise Tax Act, the Unemployment Insurance Act, and certain related acts.

I am also tabling a summary of the document and I ask that an order of the day be designated to debate the motion.