Debates of May 15th, 1995

Somatotropin

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

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

We learned in La Presse on the weekend that somatotropin has been entering Canada freely as customs officers are unauthorized to stop it. All the while, the Minister of Health is imagining that this hormone, which may pose a health hazard, is not being used because of a moratorium on it.

Would the minister tell us whether Health Canada is taking particular action against those who are importing somatotropin, because the use of it is banned?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member has information she could share with us on the sale of this product, which is not legal in Canada, we would appreciate it if she would tell us.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would invite the minister to read this weekend's La Presse .

How can the Minister of Health think that the Minister of Agriculture's moratorium has any effect at all, when appreciable quantities of this hormone are entering Canada, and does she intend punishing those using this hormone despite the ban?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, of course, because it is not approved for sale in Canada. As regards the moratorium, the hon. member should perhaps talk to the Minister of Agriculture.

Air Traffic Control

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

Mr. Speaker, last week the Minister of Transport suggested he might cancel the problematic air traffic control computerization contract with Hughes Aircraft. Now he has apparently offered the company more than a hundred million taxpayer dollars to supply a system inferior to that in the original contract.

How does the minister justify his about face, which will actually reward a company for not living up to its government contract?

[Douglas Young, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the difficulties with Hughes on that contract are well known. As the hon. member has raised in the House and as I have agreed, we have to find a way out of that. It is a very difficult and complex question.

It is a very odd situation to have the hon. member now suggest that we should cancel the contract when has been such a stout defender of the Pearson contract.

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

Mr. Speaker, the minister did not hesitate to cancel the Pearson airport contract without producing a single item of evidence of wrongdoing.

Hughes is a year and a half behind schedule. It has stated that it cannot provide what it contracted to provide the government with and it wants even more money for what it does supply.

If Hughes insists on more money for an inferior system, why does the minister not either approach an alternate bidder or simply retender the air traffic control contract altogether?

[Douglas Young, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, there have been millions of dollars spent already on this contract. I agree with the hon. member that the contract is not being delivered on schedule and that it is over budget.

We are negotiating with Hughes to try to find a solution to the problem. The hon. member would know that the contract was entered into a number of years ago. It came to my attention that there were problems with it and I immediately informed the auditor general of my concerns. I have discussed the matter with my deputy minister. We are going to try to find a solution to it.

The problem we face with Hughes I think the hon. member would recognize as a good reason why we should proceed

rapidly with the commercialization of the air navigation system to ensure that those who deliver the service, the people who use the service, and especially those who pay for it have a direct say in how these services are built and maintained.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

[François Langlois, Bloc, Bellechasse, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Solicitor General.

After testifying before the commission on Quebec's future, Pierre Laberge, a retired member of the RCMP and CSIS, has now been barred from their Montreal headquarters, where the association of former RCMP and CSIS members holds its meetings. This ban was imposed by, among others, Normand Chamberland, the current director of CSIS for the Quebec region.

How can the Solicitor General justify such retaliatory measures against a retired employee simply because he took part in the proceedings of the commission on Quebec's future?

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

Mr. Speaker, the association of former RCMP members is a private organization that does not report to the government. It makes its own decisions regarding access to its meetings.

[François Langlois, Bloc, Bellechasse, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I understand that the RCMP building comes under the government's responsibility.

Can the Solicitor General tell us if the RCMP's intolerance toward Mr. Laberge reflects the policy that the federal government intends to apply to all federal employees who side with Quebec in the upcoming referendum campaign?

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

Mr. Speaker, access to the RCMP's premises in Montreal is an internal management matter that concerns the RCMP. It is a prerogative of the commanding officer, Deputy Commissioner Thivierge, and not a matter for which the Solicitor General is directly responsible. As I just said, it is an internal management matter concerning the RCMP.

Greece

[Ted McWhinney, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

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

Thessaloniki is Greece's second city, capital of Macedonia and the contemporary gateway to the Balkans. It is designated the European heritage city for 1997.

Considering the size of our Greek-Canadian community and the increasing trade links between Greece and Canada, will the minister consider appointing an honorary consul in Thessaloniki with responsibility for representing Canadian interests in northern Greece and the southeast Balkans?

[André Ouellet, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, indeed I would confirm to the hon. member that this suggestion is very worthy and we will study it very quickly.

Air Traffic Control

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

Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Kootenay West-Revelstoke has drawn attention to the government's questionable decision to proceed with the Hughes Canadian automatic air traffic system. Yet we are informed that the defence department, 16 months after federal auditors warned that the civilian system was two years behind schedule and massively over the agreed contract price, signed a $70 million deal for a military version of the same system.

What prompted the Minister of National Defence to invest in a system that does not meet the original specifications? Why did he proceed with this project?

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

Mr. Speaker, I believe I addressed this question on Friday.

The air traffic control system is primarily being developed under the auspices of the Department of Transport, and it appeared only logical for the former government to have the defence air traffic control systems at Canadian military bases developed in co-operation with that being developed by the Department of Transport.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is also reported that if the military system is installed the department estimates its internal costs alone will add $106 million to the $70 million Hughes contract. Why would the minister authorize such an expenditure on a system with so many questions about its capabilities?

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

Mr. Speaker, I think we have to emphasize that this contract was initiated by the former government. My colleague, the Minister of Transport, has done the government and the Canadian taxpayers a real service in conducting an internal audit on this project. It is an audit with which we at national defence are co-operating.

Collection Of Child Support

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

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

After Quebec's National Assembly unanimously passed a bill providing for the automatic collection of child support, the minister said on April 25 that, in the coming weeks, he would propose measures to enforce child support orders.

Does the minister promise that the process he will put in place to ensure payment of child support will not overlap with those already in effect in several provinces including Quebec?

[English]

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

Mr. Speaker, the reference the hon. member has made could perhaps be to a response I gave in the House some days ago concerning the government's intention to announce shortly its proposals with respect to child support in general, including efforts to put in place an effective national strategy for enforcement of orders requiring the payment of child support.

I can give the hon. member my assurance that we share the objectives of the Government of Quebec and other provincial governments that have put in place methods to increase the level of compliance with such orders. We will not be working at cross purposes; rather, our intention will be to collaborate to ensure that our efforts work together to achieve what we both have in mind: the payment of the orders when they are made and proper levels of support for children.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, does the minister undertake to endorse the federal-provincial child support committee's recommendation that provincial regulations prevail in the provinces that have such regulations?

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

First, in relation to the determination of the amounts of child support, we have signalled to the provinces a preparedness to see separate provincial formulae if there is a good need to have different amounts, so long as they are the same in purpose and principle. Second, as I mentioned, we are happy to work and I believe we are already working closely with provincial officials in developing enforcement methods that are complementary.

Putting the matter shortly, we do not in any way wish to get in the way of any provincial effort in Quebec or elsewhere in Canada because we are all after the same thing.

I assure the hon. member of a willingness on our part to work co-operatively with provincial officials from coast to coast to see to it that people do not defeat court orders by moving, that information is shared to permit enforcement, and that the level of payment of the orders goes up across the country.

National Defence

[Jim Hart, Reform, Okanagan—Similkameen—Merritt, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this morning at 10.50 a Canadian forces liaison officer with the Somalia commission attempted to contact Major Barry Armstrong at his home.

What was the problem? As everyone in the House knows, today is the first day of a six-month tour in the former Yugoslavia war zone for Barry Armstrong.

It seems that the Somalia commission was just as surprised as members of the House that the doctor whose testimony first sparked the inquiry has been removed from the picture.

My question is for the Minister of National Defence. Is it not as obvious to the minister as it is to the Somalia commission and to members of the House that Major Armstrong being posted to this war zone compromises the investigation into the events in Somalia?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely not.

The fact is that Major Armstrong along with other Canadian forces personnel are required as part of their duties to be deployed from time to time outside the country.

If the commission wishes to have Major Armstrong or anyone else testify before the inquiry, it has to ask the person to come. The forces will certainly make him available, no matter where the person is residing.

[Jim Hart, Reform, Okanagan—Similkameen—Merritt, BC]

Mr. Speaker, maybe the minister should be reminded that the former Yugoslavia is considered a war zone. News reports indicate that the situation is escalating. At this very moment the Sarajevo airport is not even open.

How can the Minister of National Defence guarantee the safe and timely return of Major Armstrong for his testimony to be heard before the commission?