House of Commons Hansard #80 of the 35th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was quebec.
Herb Gray LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Solicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, I will take note of my hon. friend's suggestion. It is very much worth going into. I will work on it in connection with the updating and tightening up of the parole and correctional system that I am currently working on.
Randy White Reform Fraser Valley West, BC
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Solicitor General for that response.
The parole board's decision in this case ultimately led to the untimely death of 24-year old Angela Richards. I find that there are other circumstances and that charges are being laid on Mr. Perkin. Again the parole board should have known.
Will the Solicitor General initiate legislation to ensure that in future members of the board are informed of ongoing investigations so that convicts eligible for parole can be detained until all such reasonable investigations are complete?
Herb Gray LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Solicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend has made another suggestion worthy of being looked into but I am not sure it requires legislation.
I have been working to have better administrative procedures leading to all necessary information going to the parole board before it makes decisions on these matters. I am going to try to get this accomplished through administrative change, but I will look into it in terms of what may be required by legislation.
Paul Mercier Bloc Blainville—Deux-Montagnes, QC
Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Transport. The government plans to massively privatize services offered by Transport Canada. By doing so, the government will be released from its commitment to support Canada's transportation system.
Before he embarks on a substantial privatization of Transport Canada's activities, does the minister have any guarantees as to the impact privatization would have on economic development and inflation, as a result of increased transportation costs?
Douglas Young LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I am sure the hon. member is aware that the speech we made in Thunder Bay on Friday night was not really about privatization. That is not the route the Department of Transport intends to go.
We talked mainly about commercialization, which is an entirely different approach.
Paul Mercier Bloc Blainville—Deux-Montagnes, QC
Mr. Speaker, whatever the term, does the minister realize that a substantial withdrawal of government financing from the transportation sector would seriously affect all ports on the St. Lawrence as a result of the commercialization of the Coast Guard, and would affect all consumers through increases in the price of goods, and all remote regions, which stand to suffer most as a result of price increases?
Douglas Young LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member asks a question that has a lot of people in the country concerned.
Obviously it is true everywhere in Canada that local authorities are looking for more input into decisions that directly affect their communities and their regions. I am quite surprised that a member from Quebec would not be interested in looking at a process that would provide for very significant local input.
I might add to the hon. member that most user groups and client groups in the country are absolutely convinced, in terms that they have made very clear to me, that they believe that with more input from those user and client groups we can have a system that is far more efficient, far more effective, far more affordable and I would think that is what the hon. member would have in mind as well.
Jan Brown Reform Calgary Southeast, AB
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
On May 4, I asked the minister when he was going to make appointments to the Canada Council of which 13 of the 21 seats were vacant at that time. The minister responded that he was committed to not making any appointments until the federal agency review was completed, and that is expected some time this fall.
Could the minister explain his inconsistency, his reversal yet again of an earlier decision as he went ahead anyway and made two recent appointments to the Canada Council?
Michel Dupuy LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, on the size of the Canada Council, the exercise has been completed in my portfolio and we made appropriate recommendations to the minister concerned. We now know, from the heritage viewpoint, how many people will be on the council. That was a proviso which I had raised before.
The director who was appointed earlier this week or last week is not a member of the board. We have been waiting for some time to make this appointment. We felt it was high time to do it
and we did it. The other person was the president who was also an indispensable person to keep the Canada Council going.
This is what we have done. We have made the appointments and now we know the number of members on the board of directors. We shall make appointments in the future in a more routine manner.
Jan Brown Reform Calgary Southeast, AB
Mr. Speaker, I thought we knew how many seats were vacant and how many were needed. I certainly do not question at all the talent and the capacity of the individual who has been so appointed.
However I do question the minister's commitment to the federal agency review process. I would like the minister to tell the House what relevance that federal review process now has.
Michel Dupuy LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, I am glad to say that I take this review very seriously. We are the first department to have produced recommendations to the minister concerned. I am surprised to have these questions from members of the Reform Party because we are reducing expenditures and making savings in taking this action. We should be congratulated for what we are doing.
Dianne Brushett Liberal Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Justice.
Many constituents who are responsible gun owners fear they will lose freedom of gun ownership and enjoyment of game hunting while irresponsible criminals continue their objective of violence and illegal activities.
Will the minister give consideration and assurance to Canadians today that in rewriting our gun control legislation he will discern between the needs of responsible gun owners in rural areas and the criminals who smuggle and purchase firearms for the purpose of violence?
Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, the overarching objective of the government in terms of its strategy with respect to crime and violence is the safety of Canadians. We recognize that the regulation of firearms is only a part of that overall strategy.
In so far as firearms are regulated, I can assure the hon. member that everything possible will be done to minimize intrusion upon those who use rifles for lawful, hunting and sporting purposes.
The House of Commons can expect the government to act sternly with respect to the smuggling of illegal weapons and the use of firearms in the commission of criminal offences. That will be the focus of the work that we will undertake in the months to come.
Pierre De Savoye Bloc Portneuf, QC
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health. Last week, La Presse reported that the majority of thalidomide victims had yet to receive any compensation. Of the 424 who applied, more than 318 are still waiting for the federal government to process their files.
Does the Minister of Health intend to intervene so that the victims of this tragic incident for which the federal government has already admitted responsibility can finally be compensated?
Diane Marleau LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, certainly we are interested in making sure that all those who took this drug are found and compensated. However, some cases are less clear and that is where some problems have arisen.
Pierre De Savoye Bloc Portneuf, QC
Mr. Speaker, does the minister not realize that in most cases, the only possible proof available is circumstantial and that it is precisely because the federal government is demanding from victims this type of proof that they are being denied justice?
Diane Marleau LiberalMinister of Health
Some proof is always required from individuals before they can be compensated. If this were not the case, we would leave ourselves open to all kinds of requests. As you know, we are grappling with debt and deficit problems. We have to scrutinize matters very closely to see if there is some way of knowing if these individuals are truly victims of this drug or not.
Elwin Hermanson Reform Kindersley—Lloydminster, SK
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport.
Last month's Liberal Party convention passed a resolution from a Regina constituency association calling for the privatization of CN Exploration and that the sale be to a Saskatchewan company. There have been rumblings that this sale may be conducted to benefit Liberal friends. Doug Richardson, a former Liberal candidate and chief of staff under Mr. Turner, has been lobbying for the sale of CN Exploration on behalf of a Regina company whose board of directors reads like a who's who of Liberals in Saskatchewan.
Could the minister assure the House that any privatization of this crown corporation will be open and that the selling price
will be the true market value estimated at at least $70 million, perhaps as high as $150 million?
Douglas Young LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, obviously with the condition that we find railroads in Canada in, with all the discussions and all the uncertainty that is out there with respect to rail activity in Canada, any divestment by CN of any of its assets would be reviewed meticulously and would have to be proven beyond any shadow of a doubt to be in the best interest of Canadian taxpayers.
Elwin Hermanson Reform Kindersley—Lloydminster, SK
Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for that assurance. It is invigorating to hear of Liberals moving to privatize crown corporations.
Could the minister further assure the House by telling us what steps, if any, are being taken to prevent the new Saskatchewan owner if it is sold from flipping CN Exploration to new owners outside of Saskatchewan to make a fast buck at the expense of the taxpayer? Also, are the proceeds of a sale intended to go to the federal treasury or to CN?
Douglas Young LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, there is nothing more amusing than to watch Reform acrobatics. It is unfortunate that the question the hon. member just put was written before he listened to the original question's answer.
What I said, and what I want to repeat, is that any deal that would be made by CN with respect to the divestment of any of its assets would be scrutinized. It would have to be in the best interest of Canadian taxpayers.
To suggest that any transaction would be capable of being reviewed to determine whether anyone in the future might make a profit from it would be beyond even the scope of what Reformers are capable of doing.
Janko Peric Liberal Cambridge, ON
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.
A report being prepared by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is predicting that the Canadian economy is doing better than the minister predicted in his budget.
Could the minister explain the difference between the OECD prediction that our economy will grow by 3.9 per cent this year and his own budget projection that the Canadian economy will grow by 3 per cent, almost a full percentage point lower?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance and Minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development -Quebec
Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member for his question and express my surprise that none of the members of the opposition sought to ask the very same question.
As the member knows, when we brought forth the budget we did so on the basis of prudent assumptions, knowing that some of the variables would be up and others would be down. Fortunately in this case our economic growth is substantially better than what had been projected. Unfortunately, as the member knows, interest rates are also worse and therefore there is to a certain degree a levelling effect.
This, nonetheless, is very good news. It is very good news for employment. It is very good news for the country. It is the result of our exports, of domestic demand and of confidence in the country. I would like to think that in some small way it is the result of our budget and good government and the fact that we did not adopt this short term policy-
Bill Blaikie NDP Winnipeg—Transcona, MB
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport.
I had occasion also to read the minister's speech in Thunder Bay. I was concerned about a portion of the speech where the minister talked about direct subsidies to the transportation system. Almost all of the examples he uses of direct subsidies are on the rail side.
It seems this perpetuates the myth that it is the rail sector of this country which is subsidized while other sectors like air and highways are not subsidized by the taxpayer, although it is perhaps less direct and less explicit.
Will the minister assure the House that in whatever he intends to do to our transportation system he will take into account the fact that highways and airports and sectors other than rail are heavily subsidized as well, only not explicitly? Will he keep that in mind when he analyses the rail sector?