Debates of June 6th, 1994

Francophone Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, I think that the Ontario government's decision expresses more or less the same policy as the Bloc Quebecois. It accepts institutional bilingualism at the federal level but not at the provincial level. That is similar to the Bloc Quebecois's policy in their platform.

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski—Témiscouata, QC]

Mr. Speaker, does the Deputy Prime Minister not agree that the Ontario government's attitude means that Kingston will not have French services before the year 2000 if that city is not bilingual? Is it really the Liberal Government of Canada's bilingual showcase?

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

Mr. Speaker, I repeat, unfortunately the Ontario government's policy is exactly the same as the Bloc Quebecois's: it does not accept bilingualism at the provincial level. I ask you, as I ask them, to join us in defending the rights of minorities wherever they live in this beautiful country, Canada.

Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act

[Jim Silye, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

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

Time and again we have asked questions in the House on MPs' pensions. We were promised a review and action. Nothing has happened in six months and we are three weeks from the break. It was not in the newspaper was it? On March 7 the Prime Minister stated that when MPs quit it is not necessarily easy for them to get re-established in private life. Eighty-two per cent of MPs find work within one year of leaving office.

How can the Minister of Finance continue to justify the fact that MPs are still entitled to and continue to collect pensions for life after only six years of contributions?

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

Mr. Speaker, as the government House leader has indicated on many occasions, a commission has been set up to examine this. The government will be dealing with it when the commission has made its report.

[Jim Silye, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I hope it does not take another six months.

On February 8 I asked the Prime Minister about the exorbitant pension plan. He told me I did not understand the system. I do understand the system. The retirement allowance is legal and represents 4 per cent of what we contribute and is matched in a multiple of 2.4. The retirement compensation allowance represents 7 per cent and each dollar we put in is matched by a multiple of 7.8.

[Some hon. members]

Question.

[Jim Silye, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

I have to elaborate so you people understand. Is the 7 per cent portion of the retirement allowance act legal in light of the fact that the private sector can only match funds up to 5 per cent each?

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

Mr. Speaker, I simply want to repeat what my colleague the Minister of Finance said.

The government is committed to legislating the matter of members' pensions. He said we would be dealing with the matter after receiving the report of the commission which is studying issues involving the pay and pensions of members which has to be set up after every election. The government will be proceeding along those lines as soon as it gets the report, has a chance to study it and reach some conclusions.

[The Speaker]

I would again encourage all members to please include your Speaker when you are addressing questions or giving answers.

[Jim Silye, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

I apologize, Mr. Speaker.

The fact is a two-tier system has been set up by politicians for their pension plan that is completely out of line with the private sector. There should not be two sets of laws in our country; one for the people and one for the politicians.

Before the House recesses in three weeks, can the Minister of Finance or the Solicitor General guarantee our party that we will get a response to this overly generous retirement compensation allowance?

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

Mr. Speaker, I said that the government would be carrying out its commitments to act on members' pensions.

In the meantime I would ask the hon. member if he can give us a report before the House adjourns about the double dipping, on the record, of all the Reform members.

Goods And Services Tax

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at the end of this month, finance ministers will meet in Vancouver. It appears that the federal government intends to discuss the main recommendation contained in the preliminary report of the finance committee on the GST reform, and follow up on it. The recommendation proposes that the current GST be replaced by another GST, that all provincial taxes be combined with this tax, and that the tax base be expanded to other goods and services not currently covered.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. Will the minister confirm that, at this conference, he intends to start negotiating with his provincial counterparts on the amalgamation of the GST and provincial sales taxes to create a single tax, and that the technical aspects, the procedures and the scope of that tax will be determined by Ottawa?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is well aware that I have not yet received the report. As soon as we receive it, hopefully before the meeting to be held at the end of the month, we will certainly want to have discussions with the provincial Ministers of Finance.

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister of Finance confirm his government's intention to force Quebec to extend the new GST to food items, medical care and medication, and to impose, in Quebec, this new hidden tax which will be even more despicable than the original GST for Quebec and Canadian taxpayers?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows full well that this is not our intention. Our intention is to sit with all the provincial finance ministers, have real discussions and implement, if we can, what consumers, small businesses and Canadians want, namely a truly harmonized tax.

Government Appointments

[Elwin Hermanson, Reform, Kindersley—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, week after week we in the opposition have shown examples of Liberal patronage appointments.

The recent appointment of Michel Robert as the new Oka negotiator is a perfect example of the Liberal do as I say, not as I do policy.

Who can forget the howls of outrage and indignation when the former government appointed Bernard Roy, a former Tory aide, as Oka negotiator, yet the Liberals have done exactly the same thing.

My question is for the government House leader, whose government has made a big deal about its ethics counsellor, yet it has proven that it does not have the basic integrity required to live up to its rhetoric. Does the government expect a new ethics counsellor to be its moral conscience or to clean up the awful mess of patronage it is creating?

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

Mr. Speaker, when the Prime Minister makes an announcement of his proposal on the commitment to have an ethics counsellor it will be open to the opposition parties to comment. In the meantime I would ask them to wait until the Prime Minister formally puts his proposal to the House and the public.

I think that would be the only fair and reasonable way to do it.

[Elwin Hermanson, Reform, Kindersley—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, that was not the question. I was talking about restoring faith and integrity in Parliament itself.

Time after time we have seen appointments to big L Liberals for advertising contracts, for committee contracts. The list goes on.

How can the government House leader stand up and say these appointments of well known Liberals are not patronage appointments and will he stop them?

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

Mr. Speaker, we made a commitment to appoint people on the basis of merit and on the basis of competence. The hon. member's suggestion that there are not any competent people in a particular political party flies in the face of common sense.

The government is committed to making appointments on the basis of merit and competence. Since close to 51 per cent of Canadians support the Liberal Party, I do not think that half the Canadian population should be excluded from consideration for appointments.

Double Hulled Ships

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last Monday, in answer to a question from the opposition about double hulled ships, the Deputy Prime Minister stated, and I quote: "The double hull legislation was passed last year. I do not know where the Bloc member and his colleagues were at that time, but the legislation already exists".

In fact, the legal counsels of the transport department we talked to confirmed that there is no such legislation in force. Let me remind the House that Bill C-121, an Act to amend the Canada Shipping Act, passed in 1993, does not require ships to have a double hull.

My question is for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment. To avoid any further misunderstanding, can the minister tell us exactly what piece of legislation on double hulled ships she was referring to?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Shipping Act which was passed in 1993 requires all new ships plying the waters in Canada to have double hulls.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

Mr. Speaker, how can the Minister of the Environment claim to be able to face any potential environment crisis in our waters, when she does not even know that there is no legislation concerning the transportation of dangerous goods in double hulled ships?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member asked if there was legislation on double hulling. Indeed there is legislation on double hulling. It was passed last year. It applies to new ships.

The reality is that we also have double hulling applying to ships that are carrying oil cargo.

In respect of other ships, which I assume is the member's intention, if he is suggesting that all ships be double hulled in order to ply Canadian waters in any part of the country I would suggest that his own proposition would see the port of Quebec closed down today if he had his way.

Pearson International Airport

[Ed Harper, Reform, Simcoe Centre, ON]

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

For two consecutive governments the Pearson airport privatization has been shrouded in secrecy, first by the Conservatives and now by the Liberals. It is time to lift the fog over Pearson airport.

Will the minister commit that all documents related to the Pearson deal will be released to the public?