Debates of March 28th, 1995

Pearson International Airport

[Douglas Young, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, it is a rather pathetic sight to see Reform Party members who talk of trying to save money for the Canadian taxpayer and who are very concerned about getting the facts bring up a matter like this. Not only did I read the report but I also read the Nixon report.

What the hon. member might be better off doing is checking with the staff at Transport Canada, including the deputy minister and assistant deputy minister, who were not privy to writing the report. Not only that, they were sent home because the government that was there at the time the deal was done did not like the kind of advice it was getting from senior public servants at Transport Canada.

Canadian Security Intelligence Service

[François Langlois, Bloc, Bellechasse, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the solicitor general. According to the inspector general of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Ursula Menke, CSIS failed to include important information in its annual reports to the solicitor general.

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, I would appeal to you in question period to please let us hear the question as well as the response.

[Translation]

[François Langlois, Bloc, Bellechasse, QC]

Mr. Speaker, how does the solicitor general explain that CSIS keeps important information from him regarding its operations, although it is his ministerial duty to be fully informed of the activities of Canada's secret service?

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

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Menke's report concerns a period prior to my becoming minister. It concerns 1992 and 1993. I must also add that its annual report is not the only method CSIS uses to inform its minister. It reports orally and in writing to the minister and does not depend solely on annual reports. I am currently reviewing Ms. Menke's recommendations and will do my best to improve the situation, which dates back to a period before the government came to office.

[François Langlois, Bloc, Bellechasse, QC]

Mr. Speaker, since we now know that CSIS deliberately kept information from the solicitor general, how do we know the solicitor general is answering our questions fully on CSIS activities, given that he himself has been kept in the dark?

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

Mr. Speaker, I repeat what I said before to the hon. member.

The annual report of CSIS to the Solicitor General is not the only means by which the Solicitor General is informed about the activities of CSIS. In between the annual reports, the Solicitor General gets many oral and written reports and briefings as time goes on. This material may or may not be reflected in the annual report. This is just one of many ongoing means of informing the minister.

My hon. friend should not have hesitated to say that the certificate of the inspector general dealing with the 1992-93 annual report to the minister actually concluded: "I have concluded that overall, the 1992-93 annual report provides a reasonably accurate, comprehensive and balanced account of CSIS activities". I wonder why the hon. member forgot to tell the House that.

Human Rights

[Sarkis Assadourian, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In the face of worldwide condemnation of Turkey's invasion of northern Iraq which started last week, what is the Government of Canada doing to stop this invasion, the slaughter and the deportation of thousands of innocent Kurdish people?

[Jesse Flis, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the hon. member for his speaking out against human rights violations anywhere on this planet. He will be pleased to know that last Friday a senior official of the foreign affairs department called in the Ambassador of Turkey to express Canada's concern about the recent actions.

It is our hope that the Turkish military forces will remove the troops from northern Iraq and will do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties there. We call on Turkey to respect human rights, but in particular the cultural rights of the Kurdish community in Turkey. I am sure that the Government of Turkey will listen to our concerns.

Pearson International Airport

[Jim Gouk, Reform, Kootenay West—Revelstoke, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. Immediately after the last election he stated that getting to the bottom of the Pearson deal was his government's top priority.

Would the Prime Minister inform this House if he was aware of the internal analysis which suggested the Pearson deal was a good economic deal for Canadians, that the selection process was fair and transparent, and that cancellation of the deal could cost the taxpayers between $500 million and $2 billion?

[Douglas Young, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the Reform Party member who asked the first question inquired whether I had read the report. I indicated that I had. It seems the transport critic for Reform has not read it.

Two options were put forward in the document to which the hon. member refers. Let me tell you what the two options are, Mr. Speaker, so the hon. member will be aware of them.

One option was to cancel the deal. That was the option in the document. The second was to renegotiate the deal. Nowhere in the document did anybody recommend that the deal that was struck days before the election by a lame duck government should be maintained.

[Jim Gouk, Reform, Kootenay West—Revelstoke, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a copy of the document which contradicts what the minister says.

My supplementary question is for the Prime Minister. Allegations of a Liberal cover-up in the Pearson deal are being made in the nation's media as well as in the House. At the same time, more and more documentation supporting these accusations keeps surfacing.

When is the Prime Minister going to hold an inquiry into the whole sordid affair, not an inquiry by a Liberal dominated Standing Committee on Transport or a Senate inquiry by the Tory dominated other place but a real, impartial public judicial inquiry, the kind the Minister of Transport threatened the Senate with in October?

[Douglas Young, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, a court case is now under way. The other place will determine whether it wishes to pursue the matter.

I would have thought the hon. member and most responsible members in the House of Commons would understand the biggest threat that exists at Pearson today is the fact that we could have 10,000 to 15,000 people working at Pearson. We could be building the kind of facility that the travelling public deserve if only people would act in a responsible way.

At this time in our history when the budget has been brought in, with all the efforts being made by Canadians from coast to coast to get our fiscal House in order, the hon. member and others are prepared for political purposes, and for political purposes only, to put the Canadian taxpayer at risk for $445 million.

Francophones Outside Quebec

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the President of the Treasury Board.

According to Treasury Board's latest statistics, anglophones in Quebec are five times better served by the federal public service than francophones in Canada in general. In fact, to serve an anglophone minority of 9.2 per cent in Quebec, the federal government staffs 52.4 per cent of its jobs with bilinguals. If the federal government used the same ratio in Ontario, it would have to staff 10,000 bilingual positions instead of 3,000.

How can the President of the Treasury Board justify this lopsided application of federal standards for service in the other official language?

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

Mr. Speaker, we quite clearly-as the commissioner of official languages has also indicated-want to ensure that people can get service in the official language of their choice in this country.

Obviously a high level of service exists now. The commissioner indicated that in 90 per cent or more cases, people can get the service they want when they want it. It is not perfect. More work still needs to be done. Certainly the government is committed to help make a reality the choice of Canadians to have federal government services in the language of their choice.

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

Mr. Speaker, the official statistics would lead us to believe that the only well served minority in Canada is the one in Quebec.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

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

Mr. Speaker, given the unequal service provided to francophones and anglophones in this country by the federal government, will the President of the Treasury Board commit himself in front of this House to ensuring that the planned staff cuts of 45,000 do not erode even more the quality of service provided to francophones outside Quebec?

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

Mr. Speaker, I do not accept the premise that in other parts of the country people are not being served in the official language of their choice. People can get and should be getting services in either French or English throughout Canada. It may need improvement in some areas but there is still a very substantial, good service being provided in all parts of the country.

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, in debate last Thursday, the Minister of National Defence stated that the cabinet had not yet taken a decision as to renewing or ending the commitment of Canadians to Bosnia-Croatia. He repeated that today.

Can the minister tell the House what special considerations or concerns have caused the government and the minister to delay to this last minute before making a decision one way or the other?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know that there have been a number of developments in the former Yugoslavia in the last few months, not the least of which is President Tudjman's belief that UNPROFOR should leave Croatia.

This matter was resolved some weeks ago and there have been discussions about a new kind of force in Croatia. The role of Canada and other nations in that force is something for discussion.

We have been preparing the two battalions of the Royal 22nd Regiment to go to Croatia and Bosnia. They are set to leave next Monday. However, a final decision on the actual deployment is yet to be taken.

The government House leader may be talking with the opposition House leaders to see whether or not a debate could be arranged tomorrow to get a sense of the House on this very difficult subject.

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

Mr. Speaker, we are glad to hear there have been discussions with other parties but there have been no discussions between the government and the opposition on whether they should go forward.

The minister now says perhaps a debate tomorrow. The mandate expires on March 31, just four days from now. Does the minister not think that this is short notice and a little late in the game to be going with a debate at this stage?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, while the hon. member is technically correct in the sense that the mandate expires on March 31, should a decision be taken whereby we do not continue, those troops would stay in place for a certain period of time until replacements could be found. However, we believe that we have the flexibility to discharge our obligations to UNPROFOR.

With respect to a debate in the House, it is a matter between House leaders and is something that will be discussed between them, hopefully later today.

Health

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Rosedale, ON]

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

Every day AIDS continues to take the lives of Canadians from my riding and across the country. AIDS organizations must conduct effective research and education, prevent the spread of AIDS and support victims and their families. They require consistent and stable funding.

Can the minister confirm or deny reports that there are to be cuts to vital AIDS funding this year?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say there will be no cuts to AIDS funding at this time. The government's commitment to fighting HIV remains undiminished, as you can see with the figures in the budget. Half of these funds will go toward prevention, care and treatment and the other half will go toward research funding.

At this time I would like to acknowledge the tremendous amount of work that the hon. member has done on this both here in Ottawa and in his riding.