Debates of June 3rd, 1994

Private Meetings

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, I would urge you to keep questions in the administrative realm of government as opposed to what was in the newspapers or what was supposed to have been said. I ask all hon. members to please respect the procedures of the House in this regard. I go to the hon. member for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

Memorial Sites

[Jack Frazer, Reform, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

Over the next few days, millions of Canadians will pause to pay tribute to the men and women who have given their lives to defend our freedom.

Today, the Queen and the Prime Minister dedicated a new memorial in London to these Canadian veterans. In a related matter, a memorial to the 10,000 Canadians who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam war was recently given to Canada by the Michigan Association of Concerned Veterans. For several months, veterans have been seeking a suitable site on which to locate this memorial.

Can the Minister of Canadian Heritage explain why he, and the National Capital Commission, have yet to provide a site for this memorial to Canadian Vietnam veterans?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, naturally the decision to offer space in the capital region is to be taken by the National Capital Commission.

The minister owns no land. It belongs to the National Capital Commission. The National Capital Commission follows regulations and directives which have been followed for years. The regulations and the directives concerning the celebration of events of national significance do not seem to cover the situation which our colleague has raised, that is, the honouring of Canadians who served in a foreign army.

[Jack Frazer, Reform, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, a Canadian monument to Americans who served in the Canadian forces during both world wars and Korea, stands in the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

The purpose of both the monument in Washington and the recently received American gift to Canada is to recognize individuals who were prepared to fight for what they believed in. This is not a partisan nor a controversial issue.

Will the minister take the opportunity of this anniversary to announce that the memorial will be erected?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I am being asked to act in total disregard of the policies and directives respected by the National Capital Commission. We have our own way of celebrating. The Americans may have other ways, but we are going to respect Canadian ways.

Arms Smuggling

[René Laurin, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Solicitor General. Yesterday, the Solicitor General denied the existence of a secret briefing note based on a RCMP report concerning arms smuggling in Kanawake, and I quote: "Further to my inquiries, my department insists that it has no knowledge whatsoever of the existence of such a briefing note".

Will the Solicitor General keep denying the existence of a memorandum from his department about arms being smuggled into the country on CP trains and does he expect the RCMP to investigate this matter since, contrary to what CP officials have stated, we saw pictures last night of detached freight cars from a train returning from the United States that were left unattended inside the Kanawake reserve?

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

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member can confirm that these freight cars contained firearms, I hope he will pass this information on to the RCMP. Again, the secretariat in my department insists that it has no knowledge whatsoever of such a briefing note, but it is up to the RCMP to enforce the law throughout the country, including the Kanawake reserve.

[René Laurin, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, how can the Solicitor General ignore such serious allegations when his own colleague from Glengarry-Prescott-Russell has allegedly warned Customs officials about weapons being smuggled by train?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have discussed the situation with my colleague and I am aware of the information he has received from one of his constituents. This information has been passed on to Customs and the RCMP which are responsible for appropriately investigating this matter.

The Economy

[Jim Silye, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. Yesterday the minister expressed disappointment at Canada losing its last AAA foreign currency debt rating. Disappointment is not enough for bond rating agencies or the Canadian public. It is clear that investors do not believe that current fiscal measures are sufficient to allay their concerns about Canada's debt crisis.

Besides promises to meet deficit targets, what new action is the minister going to take to ensure that no further erosion of our credit rating takes place?

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

Mr. Speaker, yes, we were disappointed by Moody's action. On the other hand the House will understand that Moody's had signalled some months ago that it intended to review our foreign pay debt.

The member will also recognize that we are dealing with only 2 per cent of our debt, the extent which is foreign pay and that they confirmed the AAA rating that Canada enjoys on its domestic currency debt.

Furthermore, Moody's clearly recognized that the government had taken very clear action in terms of deficit reduction. I would assure the hon. member and the financial community that we intend to hit our deficit targets.

[Jim Silye, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I specifically asked what new action and I got a repeat of the same line we heard before.

The four main rating agencies are sending smoke signals to the government warning about the danger of inaction on the deficit. Will the finance minister do something to reduce federal spending before these smoke signals erupt into a full-fledged fire?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member refers to the four rating agencies. He will know that the actions taken by the other rating agencies were taken some time ago before the election. Moody's has simply brought our foreign pay debt down to the levels of the others.

It does not mean this is an acceptable situation. We laid out very clearly in our budget that we were going to hit our interim target of 3 per cent within three yeas, that our ultimate goal was to eliminate the deficit. Since then the Prime Minister has on many occasions confirmed our intention to do so.

We said in the House that we will take whatever action is required to hit our targets and I can confirm that again.

Indian Affairs

[André Caron, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Raymond Gabriel, a Kanesatake Mohawk leader who values traditional ways, warned the government not to make any further financial concession to the Kanesatake band council. Reminding the government of the $700,000 deficit accumulated by the band council, Mr. Gabriel asked the federal negotiator to review the operations and the management of the band council since Jerry Peltier was elected chief.

My question is for the Deputy Prime Minister. Before resuming negotiations with chief Jerry Peltier, can she tell us if the government has concluded the inquiry announced by the Minister of Indian Affairs into allegations, by Mohawks in Kanesatake, of misappropriation of public funds by Jerry Peltier?

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

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development answered that question yesterday. We have appointed a negotiator and created a climate more favourable to negotiations. Negotiations are going smoothly so far. We cannot negotiate and, at the same time, make statements in the House regarding the negotiations.

[André Caron, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, how can the Deputy Prime Minister justify her government's decision to resume negotiations with Jerry Peltier, if the inquiry into alleged misappropriation of public funds has not been completed?

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

Mr. Speaker, the statements of the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development were very clear yesterday. We have appointed a negotiator and the negotiations are going quite well. I am sure that is a big disappointment to the Bloc members who would like to see the whole thing go up in flames.

The reality is the negotiations are ongoing and we are not going to negotiate here on the floor of the House of Commons.

Infrastructure Program

[Gordon Kirkby, Liberal, Prince Albert—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the minister in charge of the infrastructure program.

During the last election campaign the Liberal Party promised that job creation would be its number one priority. An important part of this job creation initiative was the announcement of the $6 billion national infrastructure program.

Could the minister inform the House of the number of jobs that have been created by this program and the number of specific projects approved.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for giving me the opportunity to bring more good news to the House. After all, what is more important than getting Canadians back to work and that is what this program is all about.

To this point in time we have approved over 1,000 projects, worth $1.3 billion. We have got 20,000 Canadians back to work, with another almost 6,000 projects in the pipeline. By the end of this month we expect to have the allocations to the halfway mark.

Already I have municipalities and provinces asking if they can get more money. This program is working. It is getting Canadians jobs.

Writers' Union Of Canada

[Jan Brown, Reform, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

Between June 30 and July 3 Vancouver will be hosting the Writers' Union of Canada conference "Writing through Race" which is receiving $10,000 from the federal government, as a matter of fact from the Canada Council.

Recently this conference has come under widespread criticism because participation will be restricted on the basis of race. Even the founder of the union and its former chairman, Pierre Berton, has argued the union should not support something "which excludes any people because of the colour of their skin".

Can the minister tell Canadians if it is the policy of the government to support organizations and conferences which discriminate on the basis of race?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, this question draws an obvious answer. The minister of heritage is also the minister of multiculturalism and therefore profoundly against discrimination in all circumstances.

[Jan Brown, Reform, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear that answer because yesterday the Minister of National Defence said he would refuse to enter Canadian Legions because they are discriminating against the Sikh and Jewish communities.

Ironically, if the Minister of National Defence attended the "Writing through Race" conference he would be refused entry to certain workshops on the basis of his race. This conference is demonstrating racial discrimination and it is clearly wrong.

Will the minister immediately withdraw federal funding from this conference, given what he just stated, and demand that the writers' union no longer practise discrimination of this sort.

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would wish to have the facts first and to see exactly what the circumstances are in which the conference would exclude people on the basis of race. I would not accept it.

However if there are certain groups which wish to meet together to discuss particular issues I would understand it. But the principle of discrimination in a conference is something which I do not accept.

Justice

[Antoine Dubé, Bloc, Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, having read the bill on young offenders introduced by the government, the Quebec minister of justice expressed his disappointment and serious concerns about the amendments to the act proposed by his federal counterpart. He said that Quebec would have preferred the status quo.

My question is for the Deputy Prime Minister. Should we assume that before introducing its bill the federal government deliberately elected to disregard Quebec's recommendations?

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

Mr. Speaker, I can guarantee that the minister has considered the points of view of his provincial counterparts. I am also convinced that these various points of view will be considered during the debate on this major bill.