Debates of Nov. 21st, 1995

Department Of Human Resources Development Act

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

I declare the amendment lost.

The House resumed from November 20 consideration of Bill C-83, an act to amend the Auditor General Act, as reported (with amendments) from the committee; and of the amendment.

Auditor General Act

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

Pursuant to Standing Order 45, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred division on the motion at report stage of Bill C-83, an act to amend the Auditor General Act.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if you were to seek it, I believe you would find unanimous consent that the members who voted on the previous motion be deemed to have voted on the motion now before the House, with Liberal members voting yea.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Members of the Bloc Quebecois will vote against this motion.

[Bob Ringma, Reform, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Reform members will vote against it, except those who choose to vote otherwise.

[John Solomon, NDP, Regina—Lumsden, SK]

Mr. Speaker, New Democratic Party members in the House today will vote nay on this issue.

[Elsie Wayne, Progressive Conservative, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the PC members in the House will vote nay on this issue.

[Gilles Bernier, Independent, Beauce, QC]

Yea.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

I declare the motion carried.

The House resumed from November 10, 1995, consideration of the motion that Bill C-317, an act to amend the Canada Labour Code and the Public Service Staff Relations Act (scabs and essential services), be read a second time and referred to the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development.

Canada Labour Code

[The Acting Speaker (Mr.Kilger)]

Pursuant to the order adopted Friday, October 10, 1995, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred division on the motion by Mr. St-Laurent.

As it is the practice, the division will be taken row by row starting with the mover and then proceeding with those in favour of the motion sitting on the same side of the House as the mover. Then those in favour of the motion sitting on the other side of the House will be called.

Those opposed to the motion will be recorded in the same order. All those at my left in favour of the motion will please rise.

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

I declare the motion negatived.

(Motion negatived.)

The House resumed from November 20 consideration of the motion that Bill C-275, an act respecting the protection and rehabilitation of endangered and threatened species, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Endangered And Threatened Species Act

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

Pursuant to order made on Monday, November 20, 1995, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred division on the motion of the hon. member for Davenport at second reading stage of Bill C-275.

As with the previous vote, the vote will take place row by row.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

I declare the motion carried.

(Bill read the second time and referred to a committee.)

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

It being 6.30 p.m. the House will now proceed to the consideration of Private Members' Business as listed on today's Order Paper.

The House resumed from October 19 consideration of the motion and of the amendment.

Treatment Of Municipal Sewage

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

The last time the matter was before the House the hon. member for Glengarry-Prescott-Rus-

sell, the chief government whip, had the floor and had approximately five minutes remaining in debate.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, when I was interrupted by a member calling quorum, I was in the process of discussing the infrastructure program, but an incident occurred. It is worthwhile reviewing it for the House.

It went like this. The Reform Party proposed a motion. While we were debating its motion it called quorum on itself. Then it failed to produce the quorum it had asked for and we had to adjourn the House. I understand from the annals of parliamentary history that this is rather unprecedented.

We always have new things when we deal with the Reform Party and calling quorum on oneself is one of those things. If that were not bad enough, failing to produce it afterward beat it by a bit. In any event it interrupted my speech for two weeks. I am just catching my second wind but I will get around to it.

We have a motion from the Reform Party about infrastructure. It tells us that the government should be in favour of improving treatment of municipal sewage and so on. That is exactly what we are doing through the infrastructure program, the very successful infrastructure program, might I add, which has brought many water, sewer and such improvements to a variety of localities in Canada.

I know the member across the way is saying that is not good.

[Dick Harris, Reform, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Not that many.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

"Not that many" he says. I am glad he asks how many. Let me bring them to the attention of the House. In the province of British Columbia water and sewer projects have been approved so far in the order of $493 million. That is not enough, says the Reformers; they said not many. In Alberta, a place familiar perhaps to one or two Reform MPs, it was $149 million.

We are only talking about water and sewer. We are not talking about roads, highways, engineering, non-residential gas and oil, equipment, dams and irrigation. We are only talking about those infrastructure projects.

In Saskatchewan it was $80 million; in Manitoba, $53 million; and in Ontario, $355 million again in the area of water and sewer. In Quebec it was $537 million; in New Brunswick, $89 million; and so on. I could go on and on with the numbers in this wonderful program promised by the Liberal Party in the red book and delivered for the benefit of all Canadians.

Those are grants under the infrastructure program for water and sewer of the kind the hon. member for Comox-Alberni is asking us to support. There is some dissension within the ranks of the Reform Party on this subject, particularly in the mind of the Reform Party member from Simcoe who denounced some weeks ago the infrastructure program. He said that it was a porkfest or something like that. Those were words he used.

However, not long before he had written a letter to the minister responsible for infrastructure, the President of the Treasury Board who does a fine job in this regard, by the way. This is the Reform MP from Simcoe who had previously denounced such projects as porkfests when they were in somebody else's riding. Now that they were in his riding he sent a letter asking for the government to support not one, not two, but three projects including the same kind of arena he denounced in somebody else's riding. That is only a coincidence. Yes, Reformers do that from time to time.

[Some hon. members]

Shame.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

My colleagues are totally upset. I ask them to contain themselves. I know it is terribly upsetting for them to see Reformers do it, but I am sure the recall process will take care of them when they talk out of both sides of their mouths like that.

The hon. member for Comox-Alberni has also had a number of such projects in his riding. For instance, in the village of Ucluelet it cost $2.27 million to repair its inlet. In the regional district of Comox-Strathcona it cost $749,000 to upgrade sewage pumps. In Port Alberni it cost $113,000 to increase the sewage lagoon capacity. In the village of Cumberland, which is a great name in my riding as well, it cost $41,000 to upgrade sanitary sewers. The government and the President of the Treasury Board should be congratulated by the member for Comox-Alberni.

I thought I would have a few more minutes because I was interrupted for two weeks, but if my time has expired I guess I will have to accept it.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

I know the member worked diligently over the past few weeks to prepare himself for this intervention but the rules must prevail.