Debates of Oct. 6th, 1997

Health

[Grant Hill, Reform, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, natural health products are very important to Canadians as a preventive tool. The federal government has been restricting choice in this area through three proposals, cost recovery, removing products arbitrarily from the shelves and the international Codex proposals.

The health minister has been inundated by letters on this issue. These irate citizens have influenced the minister. To his credit, he has reversed his stand on the one issue of cost recovery proposals. He still has a lot of work on this file, though, in returning to the shelves products that have been removed arbitrarily and also in shutting down these Codex activities.

Congratulations to the members of the public who took the time to write letters to the health minister on this issue. This is a victory for them. They know that an informed Canadian public is a far better judge of its health care needs than some distant bureaucrat in Ottawa.

Audio-Visual Production

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Canadian Heritage released a first report on the new television and cable fund for the production of Canadian programs.

This government initiative resulted in the production of over 2,200 hours of Canadian programs in the past year. In 1996-97, over 376 projects received financial support from this fund, for a total investment in excess of $624 million.

While all regions of the country benefited from the fund, audio-visual production more than doubled in the Toronto and Montreal areas.

Audio-visual production creates over 30,000 direct jobs and 72,000 indirect jobs in Canada. Our government is very proud to have been the instigator of a project which, while creating jobs, also supports and helps—

[The Speaker]

I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member. The hon. member for Yukon.

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Yukon.

Yukon Weather Station

[Louise Hardy, NDP, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government's decision to close the Yukon weather station will have a detrimental effect on the Yukon economy and the safety of the northern travelling public. All that will be left of the federal government presence in the north will be a new but empty federal building with no workers to provide flood warnings, extreme weather warnings or aviation services.

The Yukon weather centre operates with 12 highly qualified people and has been in the north since 1942. In the middle of the national unity debate the federal government is telling us that its policy for the north is still one of downsizing and budget cuts and not one of a truly human relationship between the government and its people.

The federal government is more than happy to provide bonuses of $12 million to its top bureaucrats. That bonus would have kept the Yukon weather forecast station operating for another 10 years. It is time for this government to live up to the words of the throne speech and to keep the only northern forecast station in the north.

Bloc Quebecois Leader

[Jacques Saada, Liberal, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the Bloc Quebecois leader said that Acadian artists should settle in Quebec to avoid assimilation.

The hon. member should know that French Canadians deserve praise for their efforts and that they did not wait for the Bloc Quebecois and its paternalistic statements to fight for their identity. But the member's comment goes much further. The Bloc leader is in fact encouraging ethnic grouping.

I will refrain from saying what happens, as history teaches us, when ethnic grouping is encouraged on a territorial basis.

I say to this House that the overwhelming majority of Quebeckers reject this narrow and dangerous vision, which dates back to the last century.

When making such comments, the Bloc Quebecois leader does not in any way represent Quebeckers, whether they are federalist or not. Will the member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie now tell anglophones in Quebec that they will have to leave their province to avoid assimilation?

Out of respect for Acadians and for the whole—

[The Speaker]

I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member. The hon. member for St. John's East.

Newfoundland

[Norman E. Doyle, Progressive Conservative, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, given the fact that the province of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to suffer from having the highest unemployment rate in all of Canada, which at 20 percent is more than double the national average, it is only proper that this Newfoundland tragedy be described for what it really is, a national disgrace.

As such it is indeed deserving of the special attention of the Government of Canada. It is a chronic problem and a lack of a solution to it does nothing for the image of Canada among the leading industrialized nations of the world, of which Canada is one.

Surely a nation that can put a man in space can do something about a long-standing problem a whole lot closer to home. Therefore I call on the prime minister and the Government of Canada to give this issue the attention it needs and the attention it deserves.

Foreign Affairs

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, as you know, Canadians strongly support the fight against international terrorism, but Canadians also believe in maintaining the integrity of the Canadian passport.

Unfortunately that integrity and the safety of Canadians abroad have been compromised by Israeli agents using Canadian passports for an operation in Jordan.

When will the prime minister ask the Israeli prime minister for a formal apology over this unfortunate incident?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, my Minister of Foreign Affairs has been in touch with the minister of foreign affairs of Israel who said that his country and his government regret very much the incident that occurred last week and that they will initiate discussions with this government to make sure that the same thing is not repeated in the future.

I agree with the leader of the opposition that it is extremely important for Canadians that the integrity and the value of the Canadian passport not be jeopardized by the actions of other people, as was the case in Jordan last week.

We have communicated with the government and it replied to the minister over the weekend and this morning that—

[The Speaker]

The hon. leader of the opposition.

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the fact that there are discussions, but our question was when is the prime minister going to ask for a formal apology from the prime minister of Israel.

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, when the minister of foreign affairs of a country expresses regret on behalf of his country and his government to the Minister of Foreign Affairs it is in my judgment an acknowledgement by that government.

I recognize that the prime minister of Israel has not called me to offer the same comment, but the Minister of Foreign Affairs has received this assurance from the official spokesman of the government, the minister of foreign affairs for Israel.

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what Canadians want are some straight answers and some action on this issue.

For over a week now the government appears to have been in the dark on this issue and has been keeping Canadians in the dark. The government appears unsure of its facts and it is hesitant and uncertain when it does disclose to the House what it knows.

The government is handling this issue like amateurs. That is embarrassing surely to the government, it is embarrassing to this House and it is embarrassing to Canadians.

What concrete steps is the prime minister prepared to take to present all the facts concerning this incident to Canadians and to prevent this type of incident from occurring again in the future?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we acted extremely diligently because we immediately called back the ambassador to Canada for consultation. It is the strongest form of protest that could have been expressed under the circumstances, short of cutting relations with a country.

The reply from the minister of foreign affairs came a couple of days later because of the religious situation in that country. The Israeli government was not in a position to reply to the government but it communicated with the Minister of Foreign Affairs as soon as possible, according to what the minister of foreign affairs of Israel said to my colleague.

Political Contributions

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, a company called Videon Inc. wanted to build a hotel in Shawinigan, so it applied for a $600,000 federal grant. Videon had not donated a cent to the Liberals ever before, but the very year it applied for this grant it made a donation of over $5,000 to the Liberal Party. In fact the Liberal fundraiser in that area is now under criminal investigation.

Will the prime minister suspend this grant until the police can confirm that this was not extortion of Videon Inc.?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

The information given is not proven because I do not know of anyone who is under investigation.

Contributions to political parties in Canada are made under law and are public. Every contribution is known. We will wait for the investigation. I do not know who she is referring to. I do not know if he is from my riding or another riding or from Montreal. Let the police do their work before making frivolous accusations.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this truly is a wait and see government. It says wait and see about everything. In fact, this $600,000 grant to Videon was reported and announced a full month after a letter went to the police from the minister of HRD to turn in this Liberal money man. Therefore, it is no surprise. We do not need to wait and see. The tainted grant went ahead anyway and the Liberal bagman was still working for the Liberal Party.

If the Prime Minister is not bothered by these sort of fundraising tactics, will he at least put this grant on hold until the police clear up the Shawinigan shakedown?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we know about the police investigation in my riding but nothing has been made public. This is a fabrication by the hon. member.

Let us wait for the police to do their job and get to the bottom of this. If something is wrong then the person or persons will have to face the law. I do not know if there is any relationship between that person or this person and my riding. Everything has been done above board and according to the rules and regulations of—

Foreign Affairs

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last Friday, Norman Spector, the present president and publisher of the Jerusalem Post, former Canadian ambassador to Israel and former executive assistant to a Prime Minister of Canada, stated that for many years Ottawa had collaborated with Mossad agents by providing forged Canadian passports.

Would the Prime Minister confirm that, as stated by Mr. Spector, there is or has previously been collusion between the Canadian and Israeli secret services on the use of Canadian passports by Mossad agents?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have been informed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs that Mr. Spector's accusation is completely unfounded.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, similar allegations have been made by a former CSIS agent and a former agent of Mossad.

I want to ask the Prime Minister whether he would agree that these allegations are sufficiently serious for him to take the time to have them checked by means of an internal investigation, for instance?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, there has been an investigation, and the conclusion was that there was no collaboration between our agencies and Mossad on the use of a Canadian passport for unacceptable purposes.

[Maud Debien, Bloc, Laval East, QC]

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

Last week, the minister seemed as surprised as we were to hear that Canadian passports had been used in a terrorist operation. He obviously did not seem aware of the fact.

How can the minister, who just signed a joint agreement with Israel, be so sure of himself and dismiss out of hand the allegations of collusion between the two governments made by Mr. Spector?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, no surprise was involved. When these two gentlemen were arrested in Jordan and claimed they had Canadian passports we immediately visited them. We were told they did not want our services. That raised our suspicions. We went to the Jordanian authorities to ask for information. They gave us the information. As soon as we got the information we acted directly. The prime minister denounced it to the House. We recalled our ambassador and started discussions to lead to a resolution in this situation.

The member suggests they were supplied. The fact of the matter is that we have followed step by step a series of actions to make sure that we defend our integrity. The comments of Mr. Spector are simply irresponsible and help create the problem not solve it.