House of Commons Hansard #91 of the 35th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was yukon.
Michel Dupuy LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
I do not think we have to undertake a fundamental review of this government's policies on official languages. These policies exist and they are being defended and explained, and I believe we will pursue them. What is on the drawing board today is how we can improve and add to these policies.
Stephen Harper Reform Calgary West, AB
I do not know what I did.
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. Yesterday the government acknowledged that higher than expected interest rates are impacting on the government's budget projections but he said that this would be offset by higher than expected revenues.
We know that higher interest rates are already impacting on the economy and on consumer spending. I ask the Minister of Finance whether he recognizes that continued high interest rates could slow economic growth and put off his revenue projections.
Will he produce new projections on all of these matters in September?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance and Minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development -Quebec
Mr. Speaker, what I will do in September is exactly what the secretary of state said earlier.
What I said in the budget speech is this. "The government will release a comprehensive statement that will clearly lay out changes in the economic and fiscal outlook since the last budget. Economic scenarios for the future will be put forward and the government's economic and fiscal goals and broad proposals and how they might be achieved in the next budget will be made public".
That was a commitment made in the budget and I intend to carry it out. I would like to congratulate the new member on one of his first questions in the House.
Stephen Harper Reform Calgary West, AB
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure where the minister has been.
Yesterday, the government changed strategies. It used to blame everything on a Conservative government that no longer exists. Now it blames a Parti Quebecois government that does not exist yet.
Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that the real problem is federal management and that a $500 billion federal deficit is not one of the benefits of federalism.
I direct my supplementary question to the Minister of Finance. What specific effort will he make come September to convince the people of Quebec and the rest of Canada that his government will not bankrupt this country?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance and Minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development -Quebec
Mr. Speaker, you can certainly judge somebody by their friends.
What we intend to do is precisely what the Prime Minister has said repeatedly. In fact, if there is something Canadians are very confident that we will provide, it is good government. We will and we do. And this will be made obvious in our statement in September. This is as clear as the fact that the real reason our debt is so high is because of irresponsible statements on the part of certain people that have caused interest rates to soar.
It is not only from Jacques Parizeau or the Bloc Quebecois that we hear responsible statements. As a Canadian, I take some exception to the leader of the Reform Party last week calling for a mini crisis as a way of solving our problems.
Stéphane Bergeron Bloc Verchères, QC
Mr. Speaker, we are forced to recognize that since the Liberals took office, Canada's economic interests have been bumped around like never before by our number one trading partner, the United States. Quebecers and Canadians are hurt by this unacceptable and irrespectful American attitude towards the principles regulating free trade.
My question is for the Minister for International Trade. Will the minister explain why, after months of unsuccessful negotiations with American authorities, his government has not been able to reach agreements which promote the economic and commercial interests of Quebec and Canadian producers?
Roy MacLaren LiberalMinister for International Trade
Mr. Speaker, the reason is quite simple. The United States' demands are unreasonable.
Stéphane Bergeron Bloc Verchères, QC
Mr. Speaker, we have heard such hollow answers throughout the session.
Nevertheless, I want to put a supplementary to the Minister for International Trade. How does the minister explain the government's inability so far to put an end to the harassment and threats which Americans subject our producers in the dairy, poultry, softwood lumber, uranium, wheat and other sectors?
Roy MacLaren LiberalMinister for International Trade
The fact is, Mr. Speaker, that the government acted and acted vigorously to bring to a successful conclusion the Uruguay round of the GATT. That success will go some way to resolving some of the dispute procedures which the United States has chosen to follow in its ill-advised and unwarranted activities.
In addition, during the adoption of NAFTA by this government we put in place a requirement that Canada, the United States and Mexico would discuss among themselves practices pertaining principally to anti-dumping, the major tool which the United States uses in its continuing harassment of Canadian exports to the United States, so as to resolve just this sort of issue.
Guy Arseneault Liberal Restigouche—Chaleur, NB
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development.
A recent report states that pulp and paper mills expect to lay off 15,000 to 20,000 workers before the year 2000. Given the fact that this industry is one of the oldest and most important manufacturing sectors in Canada both in terms of its contribution to the national economy and in terms of jobs, what measures is the government taking to prevent these massive layoffs which would have a devastating impact in my province of New Brunswick and across Canada?
Ethel Blondin-Andrew LiberalSecretary of State (Training and Youth)
Mr. Speaker, I share my hon. colleague's assessment of the critical importance of this industry which currently employs more than 72,000 Canadians and sustains the economy of countless rural communities across Canada.
The Minister of Human Resources Development, his cabinet colleagues and I are now in the process of reviewing this report which was commissioned by HRD. Certainly the report's key recommendation for more training is very consistent with the minister's strong commitment to building an active labour force.
Let me assure this House that we as a government will work in close collaboration with all partners to find innovative initiatives which will support and revitalize this industry and the affected communities.
Deborah Grey Reform Beaver River, AB
Mr. Speaker, Constable Todd Baylis will be buried today.
On Monday the Minister of Human Resources Development said the man charged with his murder was never deported because the Canadian government had difficulty obtaining travel documents for him. It has since been reported that Clinton Gayle's travel documents were in order but the immigration department lost track of his file. Jamaica's consul-general said her office has no record of Canadian officials applying for such documents.
The minister promised an investigation immediately into this tragedy. This session is about to end. We need answers today. Can the minister of immigration tell us the results of this investigation today?
Mary Clancy LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
Mr. Speaker, once again we would like to express our deepest personal sympathies to the family of the police officer who was killed in the line of duty.
The minister was in Toronto on Monday and he shared the deep sense of grief felt by the community in these terrible circumstances. He asked me to assure the House that senior officials are in the process of gathering all the facts but that at this point it would be inappropriate to comment further.
Deborah Grey Reform Beaver River, AB
Mr. Speaker, it has been talked about these being rare cases. This is no comfort to that particular family. Last year, of 25,000 deportations ordered less than 9,000 were actually carried out. Of these more than 3,000 are criminal immigrants who cannot be located. It makes Canadians wonder how many Clinton Gayles there are out there.
Yesterday immigration officials in Toronto refused to round up deportees without police backup. One immigration officer said "we're under-staffed, under-trained and under-equipped". It is obvious that there are fundamental flaws in the system.
Will the minister launch a full investigation into the entire deportation system and will he make a report public before we return in September in order to prevent more tragedies?
Mary Clancy LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
Mr. Speaker, on many occasions the minister of immigration has stated in this House and outside that he has absolutely no tolerance for people who abuse the system.
Amendments to the Immigration Act were brought in last week that deal with questions of criminality. Sometimes the figures as quoted by my hon. friend could be considered a little slewed, sometimes not. The difficulty here is that there are privacy considerations.
The minister has assured this House and I assure this House for him that an investigation is under way and that it will take all the proper measures necessary to ensure the safety of Canadians.
Philippe Paré Bloc Louis-Hébert, QC
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport.
For months, the Minister of Transport's replies to questions on air traffic have focused exclusively on the concept of safety. This week, he added bilingualism to his department's concerns in the management of air navigation in Canada. But the minister's bilingualism does not even seem to apply to all of Quebec.
Will the minister acknowledge, once and for all, that the portion of Quebec not served in French at this time could receive such service from the Quebec City terminal control unit, which the minister stubbornly wants to shut down next month?
Douglas Young LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, if someone is being stubborn in the House today, it is certainly not the Minister of Transport. We are trying to explain to our friends in the Bloc Quebecois that we are committed to ensuring the safety of the air navigation system in Quebec and the rest of Canada.
We are doing our best, with the technology that is available to us, to provide this service with every means at our disposal. The hon. member knows full well, if he has done his homework, that the only situation where communication over Quebec territory is not provided in French is in the Magdalen Island region, for aircraft travelling at 29,000 feet.
We will continue our efforts to provide service over Quebec in the language of the pilot's choice. We will continue to do so with every means at our disposal, and I hope the hon. member does not want to create the impression, among people travelling in Canada, that situations exist in which safety is in any way compromised, because he certainly risks creating that impression by continuing to raise such questions.
Philippe Paré Bloc Louis-Hébert, QC
Mr. Speaker, does the minister not feel that his department's bilingualism policy should require that radar control services be available in both official languages throughout Canada, and particularly in provinces with large francophone communities, such as Ontario and New Brunswick?
Douglas Young LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, although I alluded to the Bloc Quebecois's interest in bilingualism in previous questions, it is now clear that the issue being raised is not one of safety, or of protecting the interests of people travelling in Canada; it is just petty politics again. Stick to your knitting, and I will stick to mine!
Air TransportationOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order. Dear colleagues, I would ask you again-there are only a few minutes left-to address the Chair at all times. The hon. member for Calgary Centre.
Jim Silye Reform Calgary Centre, AB
Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting that last night they loved each other and today the romance is over. What happened?
My question is for the Minister of Finance. Promising to scrap the GST was one of the major campaign strategies used by the Liberal Party during the last election to get elected. Canadians heard about their people and heard about their plan, but what about their promises?
With Parliament recessing for the summer, can the finance minister explain to all taxpayers without referring to the red book and without blaming the separatists, simply put, how his party can promise to kill a tax and then turn around at the same time and keep it under another name and still hold a straight face?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance and Minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development -Quebec
Mr. Speaker, what we committed to do was to bring in a tax that was less cumbersome administratively, was fairer to Canadians and was much more simple in terms of small and medium size businesses. That is exactly what we are going to do.