Debates of May 31st, 1995

Ethics Counsellor

[David Dingwall, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member takes an allegation to the floor of the House of Commons.

The hon. member will be aware the subject matter is under investigation. It would be most inappropriate for a minister of the crown to comment on that.

The hon. member had an opportunity on a previous occasion before the Standing Committee on Government Operations to put questions he deemed appropriate and sufficiently important to the president of Canada Post Corporation.

If the hon. member has evidence of those allegations, I would be happy to forward those to the appropriate individuals. This activity took place a considerable time ago and is presently being investigated by the proper authorities.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

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

In an internal memo dated May 11 and addressed to employees of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC president Perrin Beatty announced that the McKinsey firm would be asked to examine the operations of the CBC. The memo also announced that as part of its planning strategy, the CBC expected to cut a total of $350 million over three years, although the reports of the Canadian Heritage committee and the Juneau committee have not yet been released.

Could the minister confirm whether the $350 million mentioned in Mr. Beatty's memo is the same amount that was announced by his deputy minister, Mr. Rochon, to former president Manera before the last budget?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the president of the CBC made it very clear that his budgetary framework was the same one established in the government's latest budget. If the hon. member read what it said in the budget, she would have the answer to her question.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, how can the minister keep denying the extent of the cuts at the CBC

over the next three years, when the board of directors of the corporation is about to implement these cutbacks by hiring an outside firm to find ways to cut and slash services at the CBC?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, this is an extremely biased interpretation of what is being done by the CBC board of directors. It is not the first time we have heard such interpretations. The board of directors of the CBC is looking for the best possible advice on how the CBC can be made more efficient to deal with the challenges of the information highway.

Minority Language Communities

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is also for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

Last summer, the Government of Canada announced that 26 departments and agencies would be required to prepare action plans for promoting the development of Canada's minority language communities in accordance with sections 41 and 42 of the Official Languages Act.

Can the minister tell us today what measures he will take to ensure that the 26 departments and agencies in question submit their plans before the deadline, that is, before the end of next month?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague's very relevant question gives me an opportunity to inform the members of this House-those who are interested in getting information, of course-that the Department of Canadian Heritage has already received half the proposed action and business plans from these departments and agencies and expects to officially receive all remaining plans by June 30, as requested. Furthermore, the 26 organizations concerned have designated co-ordinators in both Ottawa and elsewhere in the country-for organizations represented outside Ottawa-to ensure that plans are developed properly.

Goods And Services Tax

[Herb Grubel, Reform, Capilano—Howe Sound, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this is the first question about one of many, many broken Liberal promises. It concerns the government's promise to replace the GST with a system that, among other things, is fairer to consumers. The Deputy Prime Minister promised to resign if such a replacement was not completed within one year after the election.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. Why has the government failed to deliver on this promise?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance and Minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development-Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, this government needs no incentive to repair the damage created by the GST, but if we did I can think of no greater incentive than to keep the Deputy Prime Minister in place.

[Herb Grubel, Reform, Capilano—Howe Sound, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Reformers always knew that there exists no GST replacement that quoting from the red book "raises equivalent revenues, is fairer to consumers and small business and minimizes disruption to small business". There is not one replacement that could be created within one year.

My question is also to the Minister of Finance. Is this broken promise symptomatic of Liberal incompetence, or is it a sign of Liberal willingness to promise almost anything in order to get elected?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance and Minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development-Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, in listening to the member's citation at the beginning, I will take that as a representation from the Reform Party that we keep the GST as is.

However, it is with profound regret that I say to my colleague that as in many other things we are not going to accept the Reform Party's representation.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

[Pierre De Savoye, Bloc, Portneuf, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

In another memo dated May 23, the CEO of the CBC informed his employees that 1,000 positions would be cut by September 1995 and that 350 employees would be laid off in the short term.

Mr. Beatty added that the exact number of positions to be cut in the various facilities remained to be determined, since management plans had not yet been approved by the resources planning and allocation committee.

Does the Minister of Canadian Heritage realize how anxious the French network staff, particularly in Quebec, are about the decisions this committee is about to make, given that francophones are a very small minority on this committee?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I have explained time and time again in this House that we have several initiatives under way which should lead to fundamental decisions being taken concerning the CBC.

There is, for instance, the heritage committee, which will hopefully table a report in a few days, a few weeks at most. There is also a task force reviewing mandates. It is quite normal for the president of the CBC to care about the restructuring that his house, so to speak, is about to undergo in order to make it more effective.

[Pierre De Savoye, Bloc, Portneuf, QC]

Mr. Speaker, given that the budget for the CBC's French network is 40 per cent lower than that of the English network, in spite of similar viewership, does the minister undertake to direct the board of directors of the CBC to spare the French network?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the government will do much more than issue directives. It will implement policy in due time, and I have just said when that would be, when we have in hand the reports we requested.

Public Service

[Marlene Catterall, Liberal, Ottawa West, ON]

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

I want to first congratulate the minister and the leader of the public service union on reaching an agreement to work together on managing downsizing of the public service.

For all of us who are concerned about the future of the public service and about the tens of thousands of employees who are worried about their jobs, I wonder if the minister would explain exactly how this agreement will help those affected by downsizing and how it will improve relations with the employees and unions.

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I signed a joint agreement with union leaders that will provide for joint adjustment committees to assist employees who are leaving the public service as a result of the downsizing that is taking place. This is in order to help them find alternate jobs. This will provide transition support services. For example, one such committee here in Ottawa next week is providing a job fair for a number of people who will be leaving the public service. So these joint management and union committees right across the country will assist on a regional, local, and departmental basis to help the people who are being displaced by downsizing to find new jobs.

The Environment

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

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

According to the auditor general, in the next 30 years, it will cost $9 billion to safely dispose of the mountains of high-level radioactive waste mainly caused by electric power companies such as Ontario Hydro.

The federal government has already subsidized the development of these companies to the tune of $370 million, without devising safe ways and sites to dispose of such waste.

How can the Minister of the Environment justify that Canadian taxpayers are currently subsidizing Ontario Hydro to get rid of its nuclear waste, which accounts for close to 90 per cent of all such waste in Canada?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, The hon. member is right that the auditor general quite rightly identified that we have a long term radioactive waste disposal problem in the country.

The government is working on the problem. In March I went to my cabinet colleagues with a long term strategy to deal with the problem and I will return to cabinet in November with a timetable and with cost estimates as to how we will proceed in the future to deal with the nuclear waste problem in the country.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after investing hundreds of millions of tax dollars in the construction of Ontario Hydro's nuclear power plants, how can the Minister of the Environment now guarantee that she will not ask Canadians across the country to absorb the costs of an operation which is Ontario Hydro's sole responsibility, while the federal government never invested Canadian taxpayers' money in Hydro-Quebec?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, I think I should make something very plain here. When I talk about developing a plan to deal with long term costs for radioactive waste disposal, I am talking about historic waste.

The hon. member is quite right that various utilities across the country generate energy through nuclear power and they are responsible for the disposal of those wastes. We operate on the basis of a polluter pay principle and we as a government are

working closely with those utilities to develop the safest and most cost-effective disposal mechanisms.

Upper Nicola Band

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

Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, May 27, the Indians of the Upper Nicola Band erected barricades and dug trenches on the Douglas Lake Ranch road. The RCMP were met with threats of violence when they served a court injunction to remove the illegal blockade.

What action has the government taken to stop this illegal roadblock?

[Jack Iyerak Anawak, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

[English]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the hon. member that the off reserve nature of the dispute makes it a provincial matter. I understand that it is being addressed by the relevant parties.

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

Mr. Speaker, clearly the Constitution Acts of 1867 and 1982 state in section 24 that the federal government has a statutory responsibility for Indians and lands reserved for Indians. Clearly this is a federal government responsibility. These people are breaking the law.

Will the government desert the people of my riding, as it has done before, or will the government cut off the funding to the Upper Nicola Band until it removes the roadblocks?

[Jack Iyerak Anawak, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member just said that these people are breaking the law. I did not get the first part of the question. I was not sure whether he meant the people who own the Douglas Lake cattle company are breaking the law or the aboriginal people are breaking the law.

However, if requested by the First Nations and the province, my departmental officials would be prepared to assist in resolving the dispute.