Debates of April 5th, 1995

Indian Affairs

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

It is a good thing Wednesday only comes once a week.

Bovine Somatotropin

[John O'Reilly, Liberal, Victoria—Haliburton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know how I could have been so lucky to draw Wednesday to ask a question.

My question is for the Minister of Health. As the minister is aware, recombinant bovine somatotropin cannot be sold or used commercially in Canada.

Knowing the controversy surrounding the use of rbST, even among dairy farmers, can the minister tell the House about how her department is dealing with this decision and when Canadian dairy farmers can expect an answer on compliance from the Minister of Health?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, rbST has not been approved for sale in Canada. Its use is illegal in Canada.

Scientists at the Bureau of Veterinary Drugs are reviewing the drug. It will be approved only when the scientists have determined it is safe and effective.

At this time there also is a voluntary moratorium to which the company that would be producing rbST has agreed. However, the moratorium has absolutely nothing to do with the approval of the drug and the approval process under way at Health Canada.

Government Contracts

[Pierrette Venne, Bloc, Saint-Hubert, QC]

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

Since the Liberal government was elected in October 1993, the Minister of Justice has awarded 186 contracts for professional and special services, for a total value of $7 million. This money is used to fund criminological and legal research.

Could the minister tell us why individuals and companies from Quebec have obtained only 5 per cent of the value of these contracts awarded by his department, 15 times less than the percentage obtained by persons and companies in Ontario?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I will be happy to take the hon. member's question under advisement and provide a detailed response to her as soon as possible.

An immediate response to the question is that much of the business of the Department of Justice has to do with retaining

lawyers in private practice to represent the interests of the government in cases from time to time. It may well be that much of that work is done in other parts of the country.

I will get the facts and respond to the hon. member in due course.

[Pierrette Venne, Bloc, Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister will have to take my next question under advisement as well.

In the Ottawa-Hull area, it is even worse. The value of contracts awarded to Quebecers is around 2 per cent, as opposed to 98 per cent for Ontario. Furthermore, 99 per cent of all research papers are drafted in English only.

What explanation does the Minister of Justice have for this tendancy among his departmental of officials to prefer suppliers in English Canada and a unilingual English approach?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I will take note of the question, I will get the facts and I will respond.

In the meantime, I am constrained to answer right off the top that the business of the Department of Justice is in both official languages.

Indian Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

In 1992 the Auditor General's report warned the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development needed to get a grip on what was happening in forestry practices on the reserves. That potential was there for what has happened on the Stoney Reserve.

Did you read that report? Did you pay any attention to that report?

[The Speaker]

I ask all hon. members to please address the Chair in their questions.

[Ron Irwin, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I will give a couple of comparisons. We have a problem on the Stoney Reserve. I have been there, the police have been there and my ministry has been there. That problem has existed for one year.

The member stands up in the House, with all his truckloads going out last week for the first time from a First Nation in his riding; he has probably discovered the problem.

In B.C., where my critic sits-

[Jim Abbott, Reform, Kootenay East, BC]

We are talking about Alberta.

[Ron Irwin, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

It is the same philosophy no matter where the Reform sits or where the Nishga sit, who have been trying to settle their claim on forestry for at least two decades. The Reform sits quietly while it represents the Nishga while a load of lumber leaves their territory every four minutes. Yet my critic and the Reform remain silent. I have been there and I am doing something about it. Maybe the Reform should do the same.

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

Mr. Speaker, after a year of this happening and the minister having had lots of time to look into it, could he assure us this is not happening anywhere else?

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Beaches-Woodbine.

Government Spending

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—Woodbine, ON]

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

All Canadians want to ensure their tax dollars are used in a responsible way. Many complained that last minute shopping spree by departments at the end of the fiscal year should be monitored and controlled.

Can the minister outline what Treasury Board has done to put an end to the March madness spending binge?

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

Mr. Speaker, I share the hon. member's concern about year end spending and so did the Auditor General of Canada in his two reports in the 1980s in which that issue was raised.

The Auditor General did not raise the issue in the sense that he criticized what the money was being spent on, as he said the purposes were well defined, but that there was a lot of spending toward the end of the year and we needed better cash management practices.

I am pleased to say we have instituted a 5 per cent operating budget carry forward for departments so they do not get into that year end spending spree. Furthermore, I have written my colleagues in the ministry and my deputy minister has written his counterparts to help ensure the procedure to cut out the year end spending rush is followed.

We have asked for audits of each of the departments and have asked that they be submitted by June 30 of this year so we can get better control of the cash management of taxpayers money.

Immigration

[Osvaldo Nunez, Bloc, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

This morning, Immigration officials were to deport another family of Romanian refugees, the family of Carmen and Alexandru Dima. This family, well integrated into Quebec society, had appealed, as a last resort, to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to intervene.

How can the minister justify his refusal to intervene on behalf of the Dima family, which had adjusted very well to life in Quebec, when he has intervened in other cases of families that could remain in Canada and have become well integrated?

[Sergio Marchi, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member needs to become familiar with the immigration system and with the Canada-Quebec accord, because we determined that these individuals were not refugees. They had access to the best system in the world.

Mr. Dima appealed and applied on compassionate and humanitarian grounds to the department. We said there were no special circumstances precluding their return to Romania.

Mr. Speaker, it is up to the Province of Quebec to establish independent immigration. I had declared that the individuals were not refugees. We cannot allow everyone denied refugee status to be accepted as immigrants. Last year, 3,000 Romanians immigrated to Canada under the usual immigration process.

Forestry

[Jim Abbott, Reform, Kootenay East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my constituency, Kootenay East, and the companies and the loggers in my constituency consumed about 60 per cent of the logs that we are talking about.

They have a moral responsibility, but this minister has a legal responsibility for the fact that there was $35 million paid to the Indian band. Why will he not own up to that responsibility? I suggest that the minister's department has shown gross incompetence.

[Ron Irwin, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I suggest once again that the Reform has shown its true colours.

I will repeat that the ministry is in there; we have a forester in there. We have fly-overs. We have the RCMP and a charge has been laid.

Health

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Health, who will know by media reports this morning that the Conservative government in Alberta has indicated that it is going to be asking for amendments to the Canada Health Act to allow for private hospitals and that the premier of Alberta is supporting a two-tier health care system.

She will also know that his supporters voted on the weekend to free abandoned hospitals for the private sector.

Since the Minister of Health has cut back so severely in terms of health care payments to the provinces, how on earth could she do anything to stop this erosion of medicare and health care in Canada that we have known over the last number of decades?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I have repeated and repeated that we are going to ensure a healthy health care system by maintaining the principles of the Canada Health Act.

There is not one commission that has been called for across this country that has said that more money is needed. The B.C. Royal Commission on Health Care and Costs said it is more management that is needed, not more money.

We know that the premier of Alberta is advancing different propositions, and we will respond as we get these propositions.

Let me remind absolutely everyone here that the health care system does not become more affordable just by moving budgets, dollars and costs from the public sector to the private sector. It certainly does not and we will not allow that to happen.

[The Speaker]

This brings to a conclusion our question period.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

My colleagues, I wish to draw to your attention the presence in the gallery of the Hon. Patricia L. Black, Minister of Energy of the Province of Alberta.