Debates of Sept. 28th, 1995

Aids

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health. On Sunday, October 1, over 40 communities across Canada will be walking to raise AIDS awareness and much needed dollars. Would the Minister of Health tell the members of the House what the government is doing to help the 45,000 Canadians living with HIV and AIDS and what measures it is taking to prevent others from becoming infected?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, HIV/AIDS is a serious concern for all Canadians and it is a priority for this government. This year we are spending $40.7 million against this deadly disease. Half of these funds go toward research; the balance goes toward education, prevention, care, treatment and support.

For example, recently I announced the government's support for a 1-800 information line. This information line will be accessible coast to coast in both official languages and will give information on care and treatment to people concerned with HIV and AIDS.

This Sunday I will be joining the AIDS community in Sudbury to march and raise funds for this worthy cause. I invite each and every one of you to participate in your communities as best you can in whatever way you can. It is a very worthwhile cause.

Government Policies

[Ed Harper, Reform, Simcoe Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak about our province of Ontario, the forgotten province.

In June, Mike Harris and his common sense revolution were endorsed by the voters in Ontario. Mike Harris listened to the people of Ontario. He had the same message Reform did: Stop the madness of deficit financing, introduce a victims' rights bill and put an end to employment equity.

Can the Prime Minister tell the House when his government is going to start listening to the people of Ontario and stop this deficit financing, introduce a victims' rights bill and end employment equity?

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

Mr. Speaker, perhaps it is timely for us to observe that yesterday when the kissing cousins of the third party, the Conservative Party of Ontario, opened the session of Parliament there was a riot involving 5,000 people outside the legislature.

I very much hope the hon. member is not advocating that approach to public relations in government.

[Ed Harper, Reform, Simcoe Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting we should talk about the riot at Queen's Park. It was evident that many of those protesters were members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Can the government explain why federal employees were rampaging at Queen's Park when they should have been earning their federally subsidized paycheques?

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

Mr. Speaker, apparently we have touched a nerve.

The reason the government continues to enjoy the widespread support of Canadians is that we are performing as we said we would. We are fulfilling our red book commitments and we have every intention of continuing to do exactly that.

Social Program Reform

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development, to whom I say that we will never trade our votes for training programs.

Thanks to his UI reform, the minister will get, from the cheques to the unemployed, the money to finance his human resources investment fund, thus creating more duplication in manpower training due to the development of new federal training programs.

Given the consensus in Quebec on the need to transfer the whole manpower training sector to the province, and considering the significant savings which could result from such a transfer, does the minister agree that it is improper to reduce payments to the unemployed in order to finance new federal manpower training programs?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, first let me point out to the hon. member that the unemployment insurance system is very clearly a federal national responsibility. It goes back to 1940 when all the provinces agreed it would be the responsibility of the federal government to give people a sense of security against unemployment, and like any good insurance policy, to make sure that we reduce the risk.

The best way of reducing the risk in unemployment insurance is to get people back to work. That is one reason that over the years we have very carefully invested in a variety of programs to enable people to develop their employment prospects.

We are saying in the modernization of it that we have to get better. We have to use the money more effectively. We have to get better value for the money. Therefore, we have to begin to look at how we can streamline and consolidate many of the 40 some programs into several programs and do those where we can work in close co-operation with the provinces. That is very clearly part of what we want to do. We want to develop a series of co-operative relationships with the provinces to help people get back to work.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the only way to have an effective employment policy in Quebec is to have a sovereign Quebec that will control the UI system.

Will the minister recognize that his flat refusal to transfer the whole manpower training sector to Quebec, as the province is asking, is a blatant example of the hard-nosed attitude of the federal government and its lack of understanding of Quebec?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, with the indulgence of the member I remind him of my comment to his colleague earlier. I wrote to the Quebec employment minister offering to sit down and talk about issues of decentralization and devolution and the hon. minister of employment for Quebec said no.

I have had similar very productive, very constructive discussions in the province of the leader of the third party. We now have a series of locations dealing with youth services. The federal and provincial governments are now working together in five different centres developing joint projects in that area.

We are even working in the province of Quebec in a co-operative way. In the southwest corner of Montreal we have the RESO program in the area the hon. Minister of Finance represents thanks to his leadership.

My point is there are many ways in which we can help people. The most important thing is to get rid of the disputes between jurisdictions and get down to budget-

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Wetaskiwin.

Manitoba Entertainment Complex Inc.

[Dale Johnston, Reform, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House the Minister of Human Resources Development gave a very ambiguous response to a question asked by my colleague in regard to the $533,000 grant that was given to a group in Winnipeg known as Manitoba Entertainment Complex Inc.

Would he clarify today what process the group followed to obtain these funds and what was the criteria for qualification?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question. I think it is properly put and one which deserves clarification in comparison to what I heard yesterday.

The answer is very clear. The industrial adjustment service is a program that works nationally throughout Canada to help a broad range of communities which are facing adjustment problems, either the loss of major industries or the prospect of developing new industries. In each of these cases the IAS program is set up through an independent committee.

In the case of the new arena in Winnipeg the MEC worked out with the regional director of human resources to establish an independent committee. It is made up of people who are not involved in the program designed to bring the stakeholders together. There is no involvement by the minister. There is no direct involvement.

They work with all those involved in the project to find a way of making an adjustment. In this case the primary objective was to develop alternate plans to save 1,400 jobs at risk as a result of the decisions being taken in relation to the arena.

That was the process which was taking place, an independent committee making decisions and working with major stakeholders to ensure we could find the best means of saving jobs in Winnipeg.

[Dale Johnston, Reform, Wetaskiwin, AB]

I have a supplementary question, Mr. Speaker, for the same minister.

Was the minister aware at a time prior to the awarding of the $533,000 grant that some of the people in Entertainment Inc. were contributors to his campaign?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, after representing the city of Winnipeg for close to 24 years I must say with some modesty that a large number of people contributed to my campaign.

I say with some regret that of the fifty-five business partners in the MEC only five have made contributions to my campaign. All the rest went somewhere else, which is something I had better look into.

I did not have any connection whatsoever. I had no assessment of who was making applications to MEC or who was getting contracts. It was the responsibility of the independent committee to determine what kind of contracts were to be let and where the money should go. I had no involvement whatsoever, and I hope that clarifies the matter for the hon. member.

Endangered Species

[Len Taylor, NDP, The Battlefords—Meadow Lake, SK]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of the Environment and concerns the need to strengthen the current proposal for the endangered species protection act.

As presented, the minister proposes to apply the terms of the new act to only 4 per cent of Canada's total land base and eliminates the northern jurisdiction entirely.

Is it the minister's intention therefore to ensure effective protection of endangered species by broadening the premise of the proposed new act and at the same time by providing us with a guarantee that the new $2 coin in not the last place on earth where we will ever see a polar bear?

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question of the hon. member.

The hon. member has underlined one of the things that we have been trying to do in national government, and that is to respect jurisdictions.

We have come out with an endangered species framework, the first of its kind in Canada. We have also been very careful to respect the fact that provincial governments have jurisdiction in certain areas. That is why at first blush the legislation does not cover as many species as we would like.

In launching the process of the national endangered species act, not only have we seen the leadership that was already shown in the province of Quebec which had the first endangered species legislation but we have seen a number of other provinces come on board. We expect by the time the federal act is proclaimed that we will have at least seven other provinces contributing in a constructive way to a goal that I believe we should all share, and that is protecting endangered species.

Endangered species do not respect provincial boundaries. They travel nationally and that is why I think we need a national framework, which I know even the Reform Party would support.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of the hon. Harold Gilleshammer, Minister of Culture, Heritage and Citizenship for the province of Manitoba.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

Business Of The House

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, could the government House leader give us an idea of what is in store for next week?

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

Mr. Speaker, we will continue today, and if necessary tomorrow, with the debate on second reading of Bill C-93, the cultural property legislation, and seconding reading of Bill C-98 regarding oceans.

If these items are disposed of before the end of the day tomorrow, I propose to call second reading of Bill C-78, the witness protection bill, and Bill C-64, the employment equity bill. This will be for debate at report stage and second reading since the bill was referred to committee before second reading.

Next week we will commence with a motion for reference before second reading of Bill C-101, the transportation bill, followed by another motion for reference before second reading of Bill C-84, amendments to the Regulations Act.

We will then return, if necessary, to the legislation listed for today and tomorrow at the place where we left off. That concludes the weekly business statement.

[Ray Speaker, Reform, Lethbridge]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. My question is also with regard to procedure.

[The Speaker]

I take it that it has to do with the Thursday question on upcoming House business.

[Ray Speaker, Reform, Lethbridge]

Mr. Speaker, last week I asked the hon. member, the House leader for the government, what kinds of bills were in the works and what would be proposed in less than 10 days now.

I have not had a response to that or on whether there will be any legislation that will perhaps be delayed until the end of November or December when we would go into a format of closure. I would appreciate a response from the House leader, if possible.

The other question I have is with regard to procedure, how the government is handling procedure in the committees and the direction that is being given by the House leader and the whip of government.

Yesterday in the public accounts committee, while debate was going on with regard to the chairmanship, the government whip commanded the Liberal members and the Bloc members to vacate the committee after 25 minutes so that there was not a quorum for a discussion to proceed with regard to the chairmanship.

It looks like a very unacceptable precedent has been set. I would like to ask the House leader whether that is the kind of procedure that will continue in the House on other occasions as well.

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I think our whip is ready to respond to the second point raised by the hon. House leader for the Reform Party.

With respect to his first point, I was not able to be present at the House leader's meeting this week. I will endeavour to see what further information I can provide him in response to his question.

We have a number of bills listed on the Order Paper. These will be the measures on which we will be drawing for the legislative program of next week and ensuing weeks.

As I said to him last week, there may well be other measures in preparation that the government will be putting on the Order Paper within the next 10 days. I am sorry I cannot give him a precise list of additional measures at this point, but we will endeavour to assist the House in presenting the government's program in an orderly and meaningful way.