Debates of Oct. 4th, 1996

Air Transport

[André Caron, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is odd that it happened the very day that Air Canada had an agreement with Lufthansa specifically to use the Prague route.

How can the transport minister justify before this House that Air Canada never had an opportunity to be heard before it was decided to take the Prague route away from it and give it to Canadian? At least they could have listened to what Air Canada had to say.

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, as I have just said, it is not a question of reviewing the matter or making a decision. It is automatic. If the route is not established in 365 days, it goes to the other airline. It is very clear. Air Canada is aware of this rule.

Yes, they put out a press release saying that they were in the process of setting up an office, and it is too bad, but they did not clearly indicate that they were selling tickets long before the automatic application of the policy established by my predecessor, the former transport minister.

General Motors

[Alex Shepherd, Liberal, Durham, ON]

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

Over 15,000 auto workers are now out on strike in Oshawa, Durham and Ste-Thérèse. Canadian auto workers feel they are being used as pawns in negotiations between General Motors and the United Auto Workers in the United States. The cars are made by Canadians; they do not want their agreements made in Detroit.

Will the minister tell Washington that Canadians demand made in Canada solutions to their labour problems?

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Minister of Labour and Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the labour negotiations between General Motors of Canada and the Canadian auto workers fall under provincial law and not under the Canada Labour Code. Therefore, I cannot intervene in this dispute.

However, I am very concerned about the effects such a strike will have on Canadians and the Canadian economy. Therefore, I invite the parties to continue negotiating and to find a Canadian solution as soon as possible.

Canadian Heritage

[Ted White, Reform, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Speaker, despite the claims of the Deputy Prime Minister, Canadians from coast to coast are complaining about the cost of the flags program. They typically state that the certificates alone must have cost more than $1 million and surely that money could have been put to better use.

Since the Minister of Canadian Heritage originally stated that this program would be funded by corporations, could she please tell the House how much money the corporations have given toward the purchase of flags for this program? And while she is at it, could she please tell the House how much of her personal money she has put into the program?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would have to challenge the hon. member's claim that complaints are pouring in from across the country. In fact, calls are pouring in from across the country. In the first eight months of the program we have received over three million calls from Canadians who obviously believe this program has something to offer.

I will say that we have also received a commitment from a very large number of corporate presidents for the corporate flag challenge, which I believe will be launched on November 1.

[Ted White, Reform, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I take it then that the corporations have donated nothing. It is interesting that out of three million calls, two and a half million have gone unanswered because of the busy signal.

It has taken the taxes of 1,600 Canadian families to pay for this program. In addition, owners and employees of flag shops across the country are being put out of work by a government program which competes directly with them. Now a Léger and Léger poll shows a dramatic increase in support for separatism since the program was introduced.

Is the minister so blinded with ideology that she cannot see that her flags program is playing into the separatists' hands and contributing to the break-up of Canada?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I suppose I should say that as usual the Reform Party has it all wrong. In fact, in the Léger and Léger poll which came out today, there has been a significant drop in support for the Parti Quebecois and for the Bloc Quebecois. As usual, the member's polls are probably way behind.

Rail Transportation

[René Canuel, Bloc, Matapédia—Matane, QC]

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

In early July, Canadian National announced its plans to sell or abandon the Matapédia-Gaspé line. So far, the section between Chandler and Gaspé has not found a buyer and may disappear altogether.

Does the minister realize that this railway network in the Gaspé is in danger of disappearing altogether and that especially in the winter, local communities will be deprived of the only safe means of transportation in this region?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, railways throughout Quebec are in the same situation as those in the rest of Canada. If there are doubts about safety, we cannot let passengers continue to use these lines.

If the problem is a lack of proper maintenance or if an accident creates a hazard, then, as is the case in other parts of the country, they will have to resort interrupting service. It is impossible to do otherwise and at the same time protect Canadian travellers.

[René Canuel, Bloc, Matapédia—Matane, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is not the same everywhere. In the Gaspé, Radio-Canada has practically been taken off the airwaves. And now the government also wants to make cuts in transportation. It is not the same everywhere.

Could the Minister of Transport at least give us a guarantee today in the House that he will take the necessary action to have the passenger train service maintained along the entire Matapédia-Gaspé line?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we are now looking into a number of different routes, especially fairly short ones. We are considering ways to continue the service referred to by the hon. member. The decision cannot be made now, because investigations and studies have not yet been completed.

Canadian Heritage

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we continue to ask questions about the flag program because it is very symbolic of something the government is doing wrong. It symbolizes two things. One is that the government has very poor spending priorities. It will shut down the lighthouses, it will shut down the coast guard in my province and then it spends far more money on the flag program. Also, there is no unity plan coming out of the minister's office. There is no plan A and no plan B. There is a plan F for flags and that is it.

Will the minister ever come out with a comprehensive plan for national unity, or do we just have to find it in between the cracks?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the member was absolutely right when he said there is something symbolic. Obviously, there is something symbolic in the fact that in the riding of Fraser Valley East, one in 13 households have thought this program was worthwhile.

I think I made the point yesterday that the flag program is only part of an overall government approach that seeks to build for Canadians a sense of ownership of their country. Flying a flag is not going to save the country but it is certainly giving Canadians a positive public expression of their belief in the capacity of this great country. It has obviously struck a cord with a lot of Canadians, including the hon. member who used his own fax lines at considerable cost to the taxpayers to fax my office in Ottawa from his office in British Columbia to get the flags.

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the people the minister needs to talk to about national unity are the separatists in Quebec. The rest of us are already proud Canadians and we do not need a flag to prove it. Her flag plan is a failure. Of

all the flags the minister has sent out, only 8 per cent have gone to the people of Quebec. When the people in the west want to order a flag they have to go to their MP's office or phone in on the French only line because it is the only line that is open.

How many separatists in Quebec does the minister really think she is going to persuade to become federalists with this flag program?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, it is an unfortunate manifestation of the narrowness of the hon. member if he thinks it is only one part of the country that needs to work on the links that are going to keep this country together.

In fact, 2,677 households in the member's riding obviously thought the Canadian flag was important enough that they wanted to fly one.

I would have to say that with the kind of narrow view expressed by members of the Reform Party, I think it is unfortunate that instead of working with the government to try to build this nation, they are only interested in scoring cheap political points.

Land Mines

[Marlene Catterall, Liberal, Ottawa West, ON]

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

Canada has taken a leading role on the world ban of land mines, most recently this week with the announcements by the Minister of National Defence of the destruction of two-thirds of Canada's stock of land mines, and by the Minister for International Cooperation of an additional $2 million to clear land mines around the world.

Has the conference in Ottawa this week given us any real progress on this issue? Is there reason to hope that the scourge of land mines may be removed from this earth?

[Francis Leblanc, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of the conference was to bring together like minded countries from around the world to work toward the goal of a global ban on the heinous weapons which are anti-personnel mines.

The conference has already had a demonstrable effect. The number of countries that have committed themselves to such a ban increased from some 14 a year ago to over 47 today in time to participate in this conference. We hope that more countries will join this accelerating bandwagon in time to have a really strong resolution on these weapons at the UN this fall.

In addition, the conference brought together not only governments but also parliamentarians and NGOs active in this area to develop an action plan to lead to the global elimination of these weapons.

The Pearson Airport

[Ghislain Lebel, Bloc, Chambly, QC]

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

The government is still facing lawsuits on the order of $660 million following cancellation of the Pearson airport contract. And this is all because the Liberals, since coming to power, have refused to listen to the official opposition, which is asking them to get to the bottom of this political and financial scandal. The minister obviously has no intention of taking any action.

Is the minister not admitting that the federal government is sitting back and doing nothing while it waits for the courts to decide how much Canadian taxpayers will have to pay for the mistakes of this government, which is trying to protect its friends involved in the privatization of Pearson?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, yes, we must sometimes wait on the courts, but I can assure the hon. member that as soon as we are in a position to make a decision that will be right for all the individuals involved, we will do so.

Canadian Heritage

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have news for the heritage minister: There is no free lunch and there is no such thing as free flags. A dozen hospitals in this country could have been kept open for $23 million. For $23 million, enough police could be hired to do a better job of protecting society.

When will this minister wake up and get her priorities straight and stop wasting my grandchildren's money? Does she not realize that my grandchildren and hers are going to be paying for these so-called free flags on borrowed money?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, my priority and the priority of this government is to make sure that my grandchildren have a country. We will do anything to involve ordinary Canadians in the capacity to express their love for their country. Flying a flag

is not going to save the country but flying a flag is part of the fact that as Canadians we have to start celebrating who we are and standing up for the fact that we have the greatest country in the world. The flag can do that. I think the member should get on board the program, as obviously many of his colleagues already have.

Canadian Wheat Board

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

Mr. Speaker, at this hour at a news conference in Regina the minister of agriculture is apparently making an announcement concerning the Canadian Wheat Board.

The rumours this morning suggest the minister is announcing a costly plebiscite on barley marketing.

Can the parliamentary secretary confirm these rumours and, if so, will he also acknowledge that this important decision was made without the consultation of the producer elected Canadian Wheat Board advisory committee?

[Fernand Robichaud, Liberal, Secretary of State (Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, it is true that the agriculture minister is now in Regina and that he should be momentarily starting his news conference to announce his response to the Board's report.

Rather than confirming or denying the rumours that the member seems to want to put before us, I would invite him to come to my office to listen to the minister at the news conference, which will provide him with all the answers he wants.

Government Services

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

Mr. Speaker, members of Parliament, their staffs, individuals and associations across the land make extensive use of the government telephone directory which was last updated in 1994.

Would the parliamentary secretary for public works and government services confirm whether the government intends to publish an updated version and, if so, when?