Debates of Oct. 18th, 1995

Health Care

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member exaggerates when he tries to compare us with Cuba and such countries when we have the best medicare system in the world.

The hon. member would like us to give people a choice. Is it something like the choice to buy a box seat at the SkyDome? Having an illness is not like going to a baseball game.

We believe we need the best for people as they need it, and the very best is what we have had in Canada. We will continue to support that.

Milk Industry

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

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

According to an unsigned study referred to by chairman of the no committee Daniel Johnson, Quebec would lose no less than a third of its 11,000 dairy farms by voting yes. This doomsday scenario was immediately denied by Claude Lafleur, director of the Union des producteurs agricoles and labelled by him as "catastrophist, extremist and improbable".

Will the minister admit that it is in the interest of producers and the milk processing industry to reach an agreement with Quebec in order to preserve the system of supply management, particularly as protection against American competition, as all those involved in this sector are aware?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, the remarks made yesterday by Mr. Johnson and Mr. Vallières in Quebec with respect to the earlier studies issued by Minister Le Hir were very solid and very credible criticism of Mr. Le Hir's reports which were a total distortion of the true picture.

This criticism has come not only from Mr. Johnson and Mr. Vallières. It has come from several prominent Quebec university professors. It has come from U.S. trade policy experts like Mr. Chip Roh and it has come most recently, quoted in today's La Presse , from Mr. Yvon Proulx, the chief economist of the UPA.

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I the minister should read the magazine L'Actualité because that information comes from an unsigned Quebec Liberal party document. The authors are even ashamed to acknowledge that they wrote it-that's Liberals for you.

[An hon. member]

Get some information.

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

This is disinformation.

Does the minister acknowledge that Canada will negotiate to preserve the supply management system, for if the laws of the marketplace were to apply we Quebecers would come out on top because we in Quebec have the production and the most profitable producers-that is the truth.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, today Quebec enjoys great strength and stability in its dairy sector, with some 12,000 commercial dairy farms, $1.3 billion in cash receipts from milk production, milk quota values in excess of $2 billion, 20,000 jobs in rural Quebec, 83 dairy processing plants, 7,400 processing jobs in those plants, and 47 per cent of the Canadian national industrial milk quota. All that is to the advantage of Quebec because of Quebec's participation in the Canadian supply and management system.

Mining

[Ben Serré, Liberal, Timiskaming—French-River, ON]

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

The Canadian mining industry is one of the key sectors of our economy, creating over 300,000 direct jobs on which 150 communities depend.

[An hon. member]

Do you speak French?

[Ben Serré, Liberal, Timiskaming—French-River, ON]

Certainly, we are bilingual in Ontario. We speak both languages.

Could the minister indicate to the House the principal measures initiated by our government to support and promote the development of a dynamic mining industry in Canada?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, let me reassure the hon. member that the government understands the importance of mining to the nation and to our economy. We are committed to ensuring its ongoing prosperity and sustainability.

[Darrel Stinson, Reform, Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Then quit giving them the shaft.

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Edmonton Northwest, AB]

One of the interesting things, for anybody down there who would like to listen, is the fact that when we talk to the mining industry its major concern is regulatory reform.

Our government is committed to reforming regulations applicable to the mining industry. That is why my colleague, the Minister of Industry, has included the mining sector as one of only six to go through substantive accelerated regulatory reform. We are doing that so there is a prosperous mining industry all over the country, including Quebec.

Health Care

[Sharon Hayes, Reform, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

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

Seventy per cent of B.C. residents are already enrolled in private insurance plans to pay for certain services, including long term and extended care. The desire of B.C. residents is choice in medicare.

Why will the minister not acknowledge the desire of B.C. residents and other Canadians in allowing for genuine medicare innovations and reforms through choice?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians have the best choice of all. Without having to worry whether or not they can afford it, they can choose which doctor and which hospital. They can choose without undue pressures and financial hardships.

The hon. member speaks of British Columbia. That province agreed with the federal government and was the province that moved most quickly and banned all extra billing, user charges, and facility fees by October 1 of this year.

[Sharon Hayes, Reform, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my supplementary question is for the same minister.

The minister is selective in what she will tolerate. Private insurance plans are tolerated, yet the minister intends to stomp out private clinics. In B.C., private cataract eye clinics have been shut down, forcing seniors to be added to unacceptably long public waiting lists.

Why is the minister discriminating against seniors while permitting other private options to continue? Why the inconsistency?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Health Act says that the provincial plans must cover medically necessary services for the residents in their provinces. That is what is happening. That is what we will ensure continues to happen.

Quebec Agri-Food Industry

[Jean H. Leroux, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Agriculture.

Information provided by the federal Department of Agriculture confirms that this department has been particularly remiss in its treatment of Quebec. In 1994-95, the agri-food industry in Quebec received only 10 per cent of Agriculture Canada's budget, although Quebec has more than 21 per cent of Canada's agri-food industry.

Does the minister agree, as confirmed by information provided by the federal department of agriculture, that the way his department's expenditures are budgeted is unfair to Quebec's agri-food industry?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

No, Mr. Speaker, I would not make that admission. One has to take into account the entire range of federal policies that apply to agriculture. In some cases those policies provide for grants and contributions, either to producers directly or to producer organizations, marketing systems, institutions and so forth.

Another very valuable form of contribution by the Government of Canada comes in the form of our regulatory system that creates Canadian supply management, and 45 per cent of Quebec agriculture falls within the jurisdiction of the Canadian supply management system, which results in billions of dollars worth of benefits to Quebec and Canadian consumers and producers.

[Jean H. Leroux, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about sectors. My point is that the federal government gives us 10 per cent, although the agri-food industry in Quebec represents 21 per cent of the entire sector.

Since the Liberals came to power, the minister has done nothing about this unfair treatment of the agri-food industry in Quebec.

Would the minister agree that closing the federal agricultural research centre in La Pocatière will merely exacerbate the current situation?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad the hon. gentleman makes reference to agricultural research. If we were to apply the hard and fast formulae he just suggested to the field of agricultural research, it would result in a cutback with respect to the province of Quebec.

In fact we have 18 national centres of excellence in agricultural research and development in the country. Four of them are located in the province of Quebec, at Ste-Foy, at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, at Lennoxville and at St-Hyacinthe, which is the highest number in the country.

Health Care

[Randy White, Reform, Fraser Valley West, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as the discussion goes back and forth with the Minister of Health, I hear her saying that Canadians get the very best choice.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Randy White, Reform, Fraser Valley West, BC]

And we hear the nonsense that goes on over there along with it. That is not very comforting to the families who have lost people waiting in line for health care.

I would like a straightforward answer for a change from the minister. Is the Minister of Health intent on banning all private clinics in Canada? Just a yes or no, nice and simple. Can she answer?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we are intent on protecting the principles of the Canada Health Act.

The answer is yes. The answer is yes, we are going to continue to protect the Canada Health Act. Yes, yes, yes, yes.