Debates of Dec. 9th, 1996

Radio Canada International

[Jim Abbott, Reform, Kootenay East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the House knows that the heritage minister is highly creative in funding her pet projects, such as flying flags or her special information office. However, she seems to be incapable of finding funding for Radio Canada International.

Does she think it is more important to have a highly respected international radio voice whose job it is to promote Canada to the world at a cost of $16 million or a highly politicized secret Canada information office whose job it is to promote Liberal pre-election propaganda to Canadian voters at a cost of $20 million?

[Guy Arseneault, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I am quite amazed at the question posed by the hon. member. On March 28 the hon. member for Kootenay East said that

the Minister of Canadian Heritage had picked the pocket of the CBC by supporting Radio Canada International and giving it finances.

I would say that he is picking and choosing himself.

[Jim Abbott, Reform, Kootenay East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that subsequently the minister removed $414 million from CBC funding. The minister is slashing and burning the CBC and she is getting away with it with impunity.

Four hundred and fourteen million dollars was removed which is why the CBC removed its funding for Radio Canada International. The Reform Party position is to see continued public funding for CBC Radio and privatization for CBC television.

What is the position of the government? Is it going to find funding for Radio Canada International, yes or no?

[Guy Arseneault, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member never ceases to amaze me. The Reform Party wants to privatize the CBC. We have just approved $800 million for the CBC budget, a measure which the Reform Party voted against. We have a $200 million production fund which the Reform Party voted against.

The Reform Party wants to privatize the CBC. It wants to play politics with it.

Transit Strike

[Beryl Gaffney, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Labour. For two weeks a bus strike has been in effect in this region. Students, seniors, the poor and the business community have been seriously affected.

Rather than taking the side of either labour or the transit commission, will the government take the side of the transit user? Will the minister legislate an end to the OC transit strike before this House rises?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Labour Code which governs these talks provides for free collective bargaining. I think we should allow the free collective bargaining system to work the way it works in most cases, especially in this case.

I said on Friday that I was inviting both parties to go to the negotiating table. They asked me to appoint a mediator which I did right away. They should use the services of a mediator. Instead of asking the minister to legislate they should mediate. They should go to the negotiation table and do their work. That is what I am asking. I asked them on Friday and I ask again today: Go to the negotiating table and settle the problem.

Canadian International Airlines

[Paul Mercier, Bloc, Blainville—Deux-Montagnes, QC]

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

The Canadian International issue shows once again the government's inability to make rational decisions in order to solve problems. Indeed, whether it be deregulation or assistance measures for Canadian International, the government is completely lost.

How can the minister say that he set up a committee on the return to regulation in transportation when he has always preached deregulation? Are we to understand that the only solution found by the government was to set up an inefficiency and mismanagement bonus through its selective reduction of taxes applicable in reality only to those who intend to stay non cost-effective?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to have the support of the hon. member for the government's program of deregulation in the airline industry. We have absolutely no plans to re-regulate the industry. We have no intention of doing it.

What I offered to Mr. Buzz Hargrove of the auto workers Thursday of the week before last, more than 10 days ago, was that I would look at a report he gave to me on certain airline industry issues. He rejected it out of hand. I repeated the offer to look at the report he had given me. I repeated it last week and he rejected it again quite bitterly. I then put it in writing and he rejected it again.

He has now accepted the offer. My only regret is that if he had done so over 10 days ago, millions of dollars of ticket sales would have taken place for Canadian. Unfortunately the company did not get those sales because of the intransigence of Buzz Hargrove.

Zaire

[Bob Mills, Reform, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is more than obvious that the mission to eastern Zaire was little more than a dream in the Prime Minister's mind. Not only did our troops never deploy to the proper area, but we are getting little local co-operation and the crisis has diminished.

It is only the government's big-headed pride that is going to force our soldiers to miss Christmas with their families for no reason. How long is the government prepared to leave our troops stranded in Africa with no real mission, just to satisfy the Prime Minister's ego?

[Douglas Young, Liberal, Minister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, this is a very sad commentary on a situation that has improved dramatically to a point that it is unparalleled in history to see so many people repatriated without the firing of a single shot, without having to commit anybody into a dangerous situation on the ground.

People around the world understand that the initiative led by the Prime Minister of Canada has led the single largest repatriation of humanity in history.

Unemployment

[Chris Axworthy, NDP, Saskatoon—Clark's Crossing, SK]

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

We know now that unemployment in Canada is stuck at 10 per cent. Yet in Saskatchewan with a New Democrat government the unemployment rate is the lowest in the country. We know too from the government's own studies that unemployment costs the country billions and billions of dollars in lost revenues and would contribute to addressing the deficit had the problem of unemployment been addressed.

Knowing that the government of Saskatchewan has developed a partnership approach to dealing with the economy which has generated an unemployment rate that is the envy of the country, when will the Minister of Finance speak to the minister of economic diversification and development in Saskatchewan to find out how to deal with unemployment?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Talking about partnerships, Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member wants to take a look at what the government has introduced, whether it is technology partnerships by the minister of energy; Team Canada which has become one of the most important innovations in international trade around the world and is in fact a partnership with the federal government, the provincial governments and the private sector; or the multitude of youth programs introduced by the minister of HRD, he would see before him a government committed to partnership. It is the reason the private sector created over three-quarters of a million jobs.

In terms of Saskatchewan we are delighted to see the tremendous number of new jobs created, with retail sales going up as a result of the agricultural boom occurring in western Canada. I would certainly thank the senior minister from Saskatchewan, the minister of agriculture, for what is going on in Saskatchewan.

Canadian Economy

[Jean Charest, Progressive Conservative, Sherbrooke, QC]

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

Now that we know the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defence are completely out of touch with the real situation in Zaire, and the Minister of Finance has just announced that the agriculture industry is booming, although the price of grain is dropping, I would like to know if the Minister of Finance is aware that, under his government, Canadians are getting poorer.

I wonder whether it is because they only show him the bank statements, or maybe he only gets the news about the stock exchange or about our exports. Does he know that real incomes are going down and that the unemployment rate is the highest it has been since the depression in the 1930s? Is the Minister of Finance in touch-

[The Speaker]

The Minister of Finance has the floor.

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps I could provide some figures to help the hon. member.

The annual rate of 3.3 per cent in the third quarter is the highest rate since the end of 1994. Since we came to power, three quarters of a million new jobs have been created in this country.

Interest rates are at their lowest level in 40 years. Inflation is low. Manpower productivity is rising. Our competitive position, compared with the United States, is the best it has been in 46 years.

Let us take a look at what kind of shape the country was in three years ago when we took office. There were 39 tax increases and we have not increased personal taxes once. The debate is now how to lower them. We have become the major exporting country in the world-

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of Mr. Victor Musiyaka, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine.

Government Response To Petitions

[Paul Zed, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to five petitions.

Canada Shipping Act

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, for the Minister of Transport]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-73, an act to amend the Canada Shipping Act and other acts as a consequence.

(Motion deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

Petitions

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to present a petition pursuant to Standing Order 36.

The petitioners note that Canada is currently undertaking to conclude the sale of two Candu nuclear powered reactors to China and in so doing will commit $1.5 billion of the Candu deal with China to be financed by the Export Development Corporation.

The petitioners also note China's record of military assistance to countries known to have clandestine nuclear programs and that China's human rights violations are notorious both at home and in Tibet.

The petitioners therefore request that Parliament cancel the planned sale of Candu reactors to China and immediately withdraw from all arrangements concerning financial and technical assistance to China for the nuclear reactor technology.

[Jim Abbott, Reform, Kootenay East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to present a petition.

In 1996 the province of Alberta is represented by an unelected, unequal and ineffective Senate. The petitioners point out that in the 21st century the electorate of Alberta wishes to be represented by an elected, equal and effective Senate.

They therefore call upon Parliament to affirm its commitment to a triple E Senate and immediately move to permit the selection of senators by the people of Alberta.

[John Solomon, NDP, Regina—Lumsden, SK]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 it is my pleasure to present a petition on behalf of constituents of Regina-Lumsden as well as individuals living in Edenwold, Milestone, Silton and other parts of the province of Saskatchewan.

The petitioners are concerned about the application of the GST to reading materials. They believe it is unfair and wrong. Education and literacy are critical to the development of our country and a regressive tax on reading hampers that development.

They call upon Parliament and the Government of Canada to demonstrate their commitment to education and literacy by eliminating sales tax on reading materials. They ask Parliament to zero rate books, magazines and newspapers under the GST and to zero rate reading materials under the proposed harmonized sales tax.

They also ask the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada to carry out his party's repeated and unequivocal promise, which he has broken, to remove federal sales tax from books, magazines and newspapers.

Questions On The Order Paper

[Paul Zed, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Milliken)]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

The House resumed consideration of the motion.