Debates of June 19th, 1995

The Government

[Ed Harper, Reform, Simcoe Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Brian Mulroney may be gone but his legacy of damn the voters lives on in the Liberal government. Patronage, arrogance and the appearance of corruption were all hallmarks of Mulroney's regime and the same can be said for the members opposite.

I thought I would never see it but the government's refusal to have the heritage minister resign surpasses even the Mulroney Tories in shoddy ethical standards.

Of most concern to me is the government's suppression of public opinion. The Liberals came to power on a mandate for change but nothing has. Ontario called out for change two weeks ago but the federal Liberals responded with threats to the dissenters. Unbelievably the heritage minister is defended while those who stand on principle are scorned.

It is truly a shame but the old saying about safety in numbers obviously does not apply to Ontario's voice in Ottawa.

Bovine Somatotropin

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the issue of BST was raised repeatedly by the official opposition but the government never confirmed that it would respect the citizens' right to eat products unaltered by synthetic hormones.

Without even a debate on the use of biotechnology in food production, the government is presenting consumers with a fait accompli. As a matter of fact, Health Canada has already authorized the marketing of experimental milk produced with somatotropin imported from the U.S.

It is not the interests of consumers that the government is looking after, but the economic interests of pharmaceutical companies such as Monsanto, which is lobbying Health Canada like never before.

The government must stop dragging its heels and extend the moratorium on somatotropin so that the interests of consumers will be protected in the future.

Endangered Species

[Stan Dromisky, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Atikokan, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government continues its initiative to halt the trade in endangered species under the convention on international trade in endangered species.

Training workshops for federal and provincial enforcement staff are ongoing. Airport photo displays advising travellers not to purchase endangered species and products are currently being installed at five major airports in western Canada. Negotiations for formal agreements to implement the government's new wildlife trade act, WAPPRIITA, the wild animal and plant protection and regulation of international and interprovincial trade act, are well under way in three of the four provincial and territorial jurisdictions in western and northern Canada.

A number of prosecutions and seizures under current endangered species legislation have also occurred in western Canada recently with substantial penalties levied.

Nationally a video was recently produced for use on international airline flights and new posters discouraging the purchase of endangered wildlife products are being distributed to airlines-

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Hastings-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington.

Canada Day

[Larry McCormick, Liberal, Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox And Addington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, July 1 is a special time for all Canadians wherever they live to participate in festivities that bring us together in an expression of pride in Canada and in being Canadian.

This July 1 Canadians can also celebrate the 30th anniversary of our national flag. The flag represents our values, reflected in the way we treat each other and in the regard we have for our global neighbours.

Canadians value individualism and industry. We also work hard together to ensure the welfare of our fellow human beings. Our values are evident in the dedication, discipline, tenacity and humanitarianism of our peacekeepers abroad. We have been known to be a compassionate, tolerant and rather unflamboyant nation but we stand firm when fair play is at stake. These values have made our society safe and full of opportunity.

Our Canadian flag has earned the recognition, respect and admiration of many nations. I wish all Canadians a joyous Canada Day and invite them to be generous in spirit with family, friends and neighbours.

Manitoba

[Ronald J. Duhamel, Liberal, St. Boniface, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to invite all of my colleagues to celebrate their holidays in Manitoba this summer to appreciate la joie de vivre of St. Boniface, Winnipeg in Manitoba.

There will be a number of important celebrations, including July 1, Canada's 128th birthday. At the same time we will be celebrating Manitoba's 125th birthday.

From July 6 to July 9 is the Manitoba folk festival with a variety of music for everyone's tastes. From August 6 to August 16 is Folkorama, with roughly 50 pavilions celebrating Manitoba's and Canada's multicultural diversity. From July 13 to July 16 for those who love food there will be the very best foods from our very best restaurants in Manitoba. There will be literally hundreds of activities celebrating

-Manitoba's 125th birthday. I sincerely hope that my colleagues will come and join me in St. Boniface and Winnipeg, in the province of Manitoba this summer to celebrate who we are.

Stanley Knowles

[Audrey McLaughlin, NDP, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, I invite members of this House to join me today in congratulating the Hon. Stanley Knowles, who yesterday turned 87 years of age.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Audrey McLaughlin, NDP, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Knowles was first elected to the House of Commons in a byelection on November 30, 1942. In his more than 50 years of political life he has served as a member of Parliament and as a vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress. He has received the Order of Canada and is a member of the Queen's Privy Council of Canada.

In 1984 a motion supported by all members of this House appointed Mr. Knowles the unprecedented status of honorary officer of the House of Commons, a post which he continues to fulfil.

His work in Parliament, especially on behalf of pensioners and veterans, and his many contributions to political life are appreciated by us all.

On a personal note, whenever I have spoken to Mr. Knowles about political life and the role of politicians, he has one word of advice, which I think applies to us all: "If we are not here for the people, we should not be here". Mr. Knowles has always been here for the people.

Bosnia

[Lucien Bouchard, Bloc, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, while everyone is celebrating the release of the hostages in Bosnia, the Muslim and Croat offensive against Bosnian Serb positions continues, in an attempt to lift the siege of Sarajevo. The fighting goes on, despite a warning from the G-7 countries Thursday evening, and a solemn appeal for a ceasefire from the UN special envoy.

My question is directed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. As we speak, some 700 Canadian soldiers are still confined to their camp in Visoko. Would the minister agree that in Halifax, the G-7 countries failed to reach agreement on a specific solution to put an end to the conflict in Bosnia?

[André Ouellet, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, clearly, the Bosnian crisis which has been going on for several years could not be settled in a matter of hours at the Halifax summit. I am sure the Leader of the Opposition realizes that.

However, summit participants have reiterated their confidence in the diplomatic process as opposed to a military solution. They renewed their unconditional support for the peace plan proposed by the contact group and, more specifically, gave a very clear mandate to Mr. Bildt and Mr. Stoltenberg to continue their efforts to bring all parties towards a lasting peace in the former Yugoslavia.

[Lucien Bouchard, Bloc, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the minister whether the Canadian government and its allies intend to take up the offer of the Bosnian president, who says he is prepared to interrupt the current offensive, provided all heavy artillery is pulled back 20 kilometres away from Sarajevo and access roads are again opened to humanitarian convoys.

[André Ouellet, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, this proposal is of course a positive sign. Unfortunately, to be effective, all parties involved in the conflict must agree, not just the Bosnian government but also the Bosnian Serbs. In this connection, summit participants asked Mr. Yeltsin to use all his influence to intervene with the Serb authorities so that an agreement can be reached that will involve all parties involved in the conflict.

[Lucien Bouchard, Bloc, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we know that the Americans have refused to contribute financially to the rapid reaction force. That being the case, does the minister believe it might be necessary to drop the idea altogether?

[André Ouellet, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I want to be clear on this. The Americans have not indicated that they were in a position to be a rapid reaction force.

The financial implications of it will have to be discussed at a later date. There was some urgency to pass the resolution at the United Nations and in order to ensure that the resolution would be passed it was decided to postpone the financial implications to a later date.

The Americans, although they have not indicated that they would be participating, have not ruled out the possibility of financing part of it as they have done in the past.

Communications Security Establishment

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of National Defence.

We have learned that the Canadian government's Communications Security Establishment might offer its services to private business to help pay the bills in the face of federal budget cuts. When questioned about this, the defence minister declined to answer.

Considering how important this information is, can the minister tell this House whether the CSE is really considering making its spying expertise available to the private sector?

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

Mr. Speaker, what we are talking about here is not signals intelligence, we are talking about the information security program, or INFOSEC. It is within the mandate of the CSE to give security advice on government telecommunications. It is an expertise that is probably the best in Canada and the CSE has been approached by other levels of government, other agencies and indeed people in the private sector to give advice.

It did occur to some officials that there should be some cost recovery associated with giving the advice. That was simply a working document with no government or cabinet approval.

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, based on the information at hand, what is being contemplated is much more extensive than what the minister just described.

Given that Parliament has no control whatsoever over this agency, which is not accountable to anybody, how can the minister approve or even consider approving the provision of spying services to the private sector by a government agency?

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

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the hon. member did not hear my first answer.

We are not talking about espionage. We are not talking about signals intelligence. We are talking about the security of telecommunications. Every company, every agency, every government in the country has a concern that its data banks and its telecommunications are kept as secret as possible to preserve their integrity. That is what we are talking about. We are not talking about foreign espionage.

Code Of Ethics

[Preston Manning, Reform, Calgary Southwest, AB]

Mr. Speaker, when the government came to power it promised to make integrity a number one priority. The Prime Minister said there was an unprecedented level of public cynicism toward government and unless trust could be restored the political system would not work. Twenty months later the government is practising exactly the same ethics as its predecessor with conflicts of interest, patronage and old style pork barrel politics. What makes matters worse is that the Prime Minister has stubbornly refused to fire or even discipline ministers who violated codes of ethical conduct.

Since the government is unwilling to do the right thing overall, will it at least introduce clearer guidelines for ministerial fundraisers to prevent future conflicts of interest such as those embroiling the heritage minister?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Reform Party talks about integrity. In 1990 the leader of the Reform Party appeared before the royal commission on electoral reform and party financing where he stated: "The Reform Party of Canada believes that no tax credits or deductions from income should be permitted in respect of donations of money to political parties or candidates. Parties and candidates should finance themselves"-

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Hamilton East, ON]

"Parties and candidates should finance themselves with the money of their supporters and not with taxpayers' dollars".

[Some hon. members]

More, more.

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Hamilton East, ON]

"We recommend that the political contribution tax credit be eliminated".