Debates of June 21st, 1994

Cigarette Packaging

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we are extremely concerned with the trend of increased smoking especially where it concerns young women. The trends have been predicted and we have been seeing them coming.

We are extremely worried about it. One of the research projects that I am commissioning, not the one we have spoken to previously, is to look at why young women are taking up smoking at such an alarming rate and why women seem to be the ones now smoking more and more. I think it is very important that we look at what is out there making these women take up this terrible habit which will cost our health system millions and millions of dollars and will cost the lives of many people.

Someone I know very well has just been diagnosed with cancer of the lungs. It is extremely sad when a woman in her very productive years suddenly is diagnosed with cancer of the lungs. This is a woman who smoked for many years.

I would like to ensure that no more young women start smoking so that they do not have to face what this person is facing today.

Social Program Reform

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development.

Hon. members will recall that because of the opposition expressed by several provinces, Ottawa was forced to cancel at the last minute a federal-provincial meeting on social program reform which had been scheduled for April 18 last.

The Minister of Human Resources Development is preparing to meet one-on-one this week with his provincial counterparts to outline the major components of his social program reform package before convening at their express request a federal-provincial meeting.

Can the minister tell us if the package he will be presenting to the provinces still recommends that unemployment insurance and social assistance programs be merged with a view to establishing a guaranteed minimum income program?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, I was sitting in my seat waiting expectantly for the hon. member to congratulate this government for once again undertaking a major new initiative with the provinces of consultation and co-operation. I know it was an oversight on her part so I am sure she will want to correct that on her second question.

I can simply say to the hon. member that I do not know where she got that idea. If that is the position of the Bloc Quebecois I am sure most Canadians would not want to consider it.

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after congratulating the minister for finally agreeing to meet with the provinces, I would like to ask him, in light of all the leaks that have occurred and that have been reported in the newspapers, whether or not he agrees with his Quebec counterpart that an approach involving the merger of unemployment insurance and social assistance programs would be doomed to fail since, according to Quebec's employment minister, "we are talking about two different clienteles which cannot easily be integrated".

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, once again I provide a word of some caution. The hon. member and other members of the House should not take too seriously what they see as being leaks in the press. As valuable a service as the media provides, it is not always totally accurate as to the intentions of the government.

I can say to the hon. member that one of the reasons we are holding discussions with various provincial ministers is to hear about their proposals and their ideas. I have not had the opportunity to read the comments of my Quebec counterpart, but I would certainly be interested in listening to whatever he has to say.

Vancouver Community College

[Anna Terrana, Liberal, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

For the past several years, Vancouver Community College has been one of the largest and most successful providers of language instruction for newcomers to Canada and an exceptional resource in my community offering new immigrants language training, free counselling and the use of its audio and computer labs.

Could the minister explain why the contract with the Vancouver Community College has not been renewed?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the question and also for the concerns that she has demonstrated on this whole issue.

December last, given the tight fiscal framework that we have to operate in, organizations delivering settlement and language training to immigrants were advised that only mandatory benefits such as CPP and UI would be able to be recovered.

As a result of these new guidelines the Vancouver college refused to enter into negotiations despite the fact that eight other major colleges in British Columbia providing the same services have entered into a successful agreement.

The cost for the fringe benefits that the Vancouver college would like us to reimburse amounts to almost $2 million province-wide which is equated to almost 500 immigrants being taught English or French as a second language. That is a considerable size.

Notwithstanding that, on Monday I made it very clear that I am prepared to enter into negotiations with all those service providers to search for maximum flexibility so that we can deliver the services to the people who need them, newcomers and immigrants, and that the service providers can also pay those individuals who work for them a fair and decent salary.

I believe that is a fair compromise and I would hope that the Vancouver college would join the eight other colleges in British Columbia providing necessary service to immigrants.

Justice

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

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

Early today the Solicitor General released his legislative proposals to keep child sex offenders in custody until the end of their sentences. I applaud that.

Unfortunately these proposals do not go nearly far enough. For example, a convicted serial rapist like Larry Fisher could still complete his sentence and be eligible for release even though experts say it is likely he will reoffend.

Can the Solicitor General please explain how his proposed amendments to the parole act will protect society from a person like Larry Fisher?

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. friend's support for these proposals which I understood he expressed outside the House. I hope he will continue that support.

With respect to Larry Fisher, this individual completed the sentence imposed by the court and therefore we would need a different kind of legislation to deal with that kind of situation. It is something that is being looked into by a federal-provincial task force.

Once the task force reports in a few months the Minister of Justice and I will develop proposals to deal with this kind of situation. It is troubling and we do not intend to ignore the need to take action about it.

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I agree it is troubling and Larry Fisher is not an isolated case.

For example, there are convicted paedophiles in our prisons who the experts say can never be healed. Mr. Galienne is one of the examples of this type of prisoner. He is due to be released in October. The Solicitor General's proposals will have zero influence on Galienne's case.

Regardless of all the ridiculous remarks it is very important that the safety of Canadians is considered. Will the Solicitor General admit that the proposals he has brought forward will not affect people like Galienne one bit?

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

Mr. Speaker, the proposals that I tabled today are designed to deal with people before the end of their sentence primarily and the situation which he has raised has already been recognized by the Minister of Justice and me.

We intend to have measures to deal with that in light of federal-provincial task force reports because we believe to deal with the situation effectively we need to have the involvement and co-operation of the provinces.

I look forward to the hon. member's support for our further proposals, just as he is supporting the proposals we tabled today.

Indian Affairs

[Maurice Dumas, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the minister of indian affairs. After having made the acquisition of land located south of highway 344 a priority for the federal negotiator, lawyer Michel Robert, the government continues to put off fulfilling its commitments to the so-called "forgotten of Oka".

Can the Minister of Indian Affairs confirm whether Public Works and Government Services Canada has indeed set a deadline in connection with the purchase of properties belonging to "the forgotten of Oka" as the minister had promised?

[Ron Irwin, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, this question was of concern to the hon. member yesterday. He did not get a chance to ask it, but we discussed the problem.

I met with the delegation from 344 outside the House of Commons with members from the Bloc. They are satisfied that the obligation went through committee, through cabinet and our negotiator is mandated to commence negotiations on the basis of willing seller, willing buyer.

[Maurice Dumas, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau, QC]

I have a supplementary, Mr. Speaker. Will the minister recognize that it is high time to do justice to these people who are exasperated, and rightly so, by four years of government carelessness and promise that formal negotiations in relation to the purchase of their properties will start no later than July 1?

[Ron Irwin, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, this is a problem that this government inherited from a former government which that leader was in.

We went into the province of Quebec and after asking the province of Quebec for contribution, we received none. That is $7 million of federal money in the province of Quebec to solve a problem that we did not even create.

Young Offenders Act

[Paul Forseth, Reform, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

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

In the Young Offenders Act there is a preamble which has a list of things that is a guide for its operation. Some of these are that young people must be held accountable, society must be protected, young persons need guidance and assistance, a focus on offenders needs. The minister has now admitted the preamble is not sufficient.

Why is the term victims not mentioned in the preamble of the current act when victims' concerns should also be a guiding factor in the operation of the Young Offenders Act?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the preamble to the Young Offenders Act speaks at length and in more than one place about the protection of the public, the protection of society.

The amendments that we introduced two weeks ago in Bill C-37 strengthened the Young Offenders Act in a variety of ways, among others by making it plain that from now on after the enactment of Bill C-37 victim impact statements can be received at the time of the sentencing of young offenders.

This government believes that with those changes and with other changes we proposed in Bill C-37, we have strengthened the Young Offenders Act so that it is very much operating in the interest of Canadians.

[Paul Forseth, Reform, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on a supplementary, will the minister take action and change his policy to spell out in the Young Offenders Act preamble that where the rights and needs of the victims conflict or need to be balanced with those of the young offender, the

concerns of the victim will be paramount and be clearly written as a principle in law?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, in the view of this government the amendments that we proposed in Bill C-37 will strengthen the Young Offenders Act and, as amended, it will serve as a workable and ideal juvenile justice system for Canada.

Infrastructure

[John Maloney, Liberal, Erie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

The overview of the Canada-Ontario infrastructure agreement states that the program is intended to accelerate economic recovery by creating short and long term employment through investment in local communities.

How many short term jobs have been created to date? How many projects have been approved to date? How many long term jobs does he anticipate from these projects?

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

Mr. Speaker, as this House nears summer recess I am happy to bring more good news.

On the national infrastructure program, we have reached the $2.3 billion mark and by the end of this month we will have reached the half-way point of the $6 billion program that we initiated just some seven and one half months ago.

I was asked about jobs. To date we have created over 36,000 jobs, over 2,300 of those being long term. We are well on the path toward the 90,000 jobs that I have announced to this House before that we would be creating in this program.

This program is hoping to attract new investment into our community.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

Indian Affairs

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in this House, the Minister of Indian Affairs recognized the problem of band councils overestimating Native populations. These figures are then used to set the amount of federal subsidies. According to La Presse , this overestimation may cost over $1.2 billion in expenditures for non-existent Natives.

My question to the minister is this: Given the drastic state of the federal government's finances, does the Minister of Indian Affairs undertake today to ensure that Statistics Canada census takers will have access to aboriginal lands so that these populations can be counted accurately?

[Ron Irwin, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I do not understand where my friend is coming from. The census is taken by Census Canada in what is called census week in June. This is part of the problem with the Indian register. It is an ongoing register.

We do make comparisons and I want to assure the hon. member that we will be working with Census Canada. The comparison between Census Canada and the register was done. I have it here for 1986 if the member wants to see it.

The most recent one will be completed in August. I will be prepared to share the results with my friend. It is a public document.

Fisheries

[John Cummins, Reform, Delta, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Last week six American fishing vessels accompanied by a 150-foot American coast guard cutter conducted a black cod fishery while 15 miles south of the Canada-U.S. border between Alaska and British Columbia.

Was the minister aware of this incursion into Canadian territory? If so, why did he do nothing?