House of Commons Hansard #34 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was wheat.
Monte Solberg Reform Medicine Hat, AB
Mr. Speaker, we have 9.1% unemployment. Some 1.4 million people are unemployed in the country today. This strike will cost Canadian businesses about $40 million a day.
How can the minister stand there and not do anything at all, knowing that hundreds of thousands, millions of Canadians, will suffer because of its inaction? When will the government legislate them back to work?
Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, I would like these people to realize that we are protecting seniors. In that way the government has reacted very well.
We have negotiated with Canada Post to deliver employment insurance and social security benefits that Canadians need. I would like Canadians from coast to coast to know that we have organized the establishment of over 400 distribution sites so that social benefit cheques will be available to them.
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Mr. Speaker, now a question from the only party in the House that sees the workers of CUPW as Canadians.
The current crisis facing Canadians and Canadian businesses is because the Minister of Public Works and Government Services has turned Canada Post into a cash cow with excessive dividends and demands for the government instead of quality postal service for all Canadians.
Will the minister advise the House that the government will get its greedy little fingers out of the coffers of Canada Post so that bargaining between the management and CUPW will begin in earnest in an atmosphere of openness and fairness?
Alfonso Gagliano LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, at the moment that we speak and since last night talks have resumed.
Canada Post is at the table with the union. Canada Post has a mandate to negotiate. I am sure that with good will from both parties we will have a negotiated settlement as soon as possible.
Wendy Lill NDP Dartmouth, NS
Mr. Speaker, there is another area in which Canadians are being sidelined for profit. That is telephone service.
Since 1992 some local phone rates have increased by over 100%. Thousands of homes are without phones because the rates have gone through the roof. Now phone companies have gone to the CRTC wanting more increases so their shareholders will have higher dividends.
My question is for the Minister of Industry. How will the ministry make basic telephone services affordable for all Canadians?
John Manley LiberalMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, this is a very good question. I know the member will be aware that Canada currently has the lowest telephone rates in the world both for local and long distance service.
She will also know that we have moved to ensure that basic service is made available. We have asked the CRTC to ensure that is the case and that it is increasing telephone service across Canada.
Canadians will have access not just to basic telephone service but to the very best services the new technologies have to offer as well, as we become the most connected nation in the world.
Peter MacKay Progressive Conservative Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Ottawa RCMP Association president stated that the Liberal government singled out the police as scapegoats in the Airbus affair.
Earlier the government tried to cover its tracks on this Airbus matter by placing a gag order on a golden handshake for former Staff Sergeant Fraser Feigenwald. The rank and file of the RCMP are not accepting responsibility for political interference in the matter.
My question is for the Prime Minister. Will he live up to his shallow rhetoric on government accountability and tell the House once and for all who is responsible for this mess?
Andy Scott LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, we have been through this many, many times. The fact of the matter is that an investigation was done, hearings commenced, the Staff Sergeant resigned, and they stopped.
Peter MacKay Progressive Conservative Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have repeatedly quoted from a document signed by Brian Mulroney as a means to protest their innocence.
How does the Prime Minister reconcile this fact with the fact that we have another letter charging that an innocent man has done something in a foreign land? This letter is still existing out there. When will the letter be withdrawn and when will we have a public inquiry into the matter?
Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned at the suggestion the hon. member has just made.
It seems to me he is suggesting that the government interfere with an ongoing police investigation. I would think that hon. member would be the first to complain if we were to do so.
Guy St-Julien Liberal Abitibi, QC
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister for International Cooperation and Minister responsible for Francophonie.
The Francophonie summit was held at Hanoi this past November 14 through 16. Could the minister tell us how the summit turned out and if Canada attained its objectives?
Diane Marleau LiberalMinister for International Cooperation and Minister responsible for Francophonie
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform this House that Canada attained all of its objectives at the Francophonie summit in Hanoi. Most particularly, Moncton was selected to host the 1999 summit.
The Francophonie has elected its first Secretary General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, we succeeded in advancing the Francophonie in a number of areas, particularly the information highway, the permanent international criminal court and human rights.
Francophonie SummitOral Question Period
The Speaker
The hon. member for West Kootenay—Okanagan.
Jim Gouk Reform West Kootenay—Okanagan, BC
Mr. Speaker, I have a little collective bargaining lesson for the Minister of Labour.
Collective bargaining has four parts: negotiate, conciliate, mediate and a settlement mechanism. Canada Post and CUPW do not have a settlement mechanism; they have a confrontation system.
When will the minister put a settlement mechanism in place and stop holding Canadians to ransom?
Lawrence MacAulay LiberalMinister of Labour
Mr. Speaker, as Minister of Labour I am trying not to come up with statements that will harm the discussions between CUPW and the post office.
I want to see a collective agreement. Let the parties sit down and come up with an agreement that will be better for all Canadians: a Canadian solution to a Canadian problem.
Antoine Dubé Bloc Lévis, QC
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport.
When I met with executives of Via Rail on November 10, they confirmed their intention of having the Océan and Chaleur trains back up under the Quebec bridge all the way to Sainte-Foy.
Does the Minister of Transport find this a safe solution, and what does he intend to do with the Lévis station?
David Collenette LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, as I have already stated in this House, no decision has been taken on rail service at the Lévis station in the hon. member's region.
I must, however, inform the hon. member that Via Rail has asked CN to defer the decision until January 13, in order to make holiday season travel easier for everyone.
Peter Mancini NDP Sydney—Victoria, NS
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport. Yesterday I asked the Minister of Transport what he knew about a complaint laid with the RCMP about alleged wrongdoings by Canada Ports police officials.
The minister told the House that he understood the investigation was under way and he could not comment further.
Outside the House the minister changed his tune and said the RCMP were evaluating the complaint to decide whether or not to launch an investigation.
Still later, an RCMP spokesperson in Halifax said that the force was assessing the nature of the complaint.
Is there an investigation under way or not and, if not, why not?
David Collenette LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, I have been quite consistent. The fact is that certain allegations of wrongdoing were made. They were brought to the attention of the RCMP. They are evaluating that particular complaint and will decide whether or not to investigate.
Scott Brison Progressive Conservative Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Speaker, at a foreign affairs committee meeting earlier this month the president of the Export Development Corporation, Ian Gillespie, confirmed that the EDC was reluctant to sign a code of ethics championed earlier this year by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
How could the Canadian government ask Canadian corporations to sign this code of ethics when crown agencies are unwilling to sign the code of ethics and play by the same rules?
Julian Reed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Minister for International Trade
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question. I will take it under advisement and report back to him.
Lynn Myers Liberal Waterloo—Wellington, ON
Mr. Speaker, a recent survey found that nearly one in two Canadians would fail the citizenship examination given to immigrants. This suggests that a large number of Canadians lack the basic civic knowledge required to understand and participate in Canada's public life.
My question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage. What role does she think the federal government should play to ensure that history and civics are taught in schools across Canada? Does she think that the federal government should develop national standards in these areas?
Sheila Copps LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Waterloo—Wellington for his question. I know that in his past life he had a particular interest in heritage.
The statistics he quoted are of concern to all of us. That is why at the last meeting of federal-provincial ministers of culture we agreed to establish a pilot program with the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education at its request because it said that we needed more material to teach Canadian about our own history.
We are working with the CCME. At the next meeting of the ministers of education we hope to have a very concrete proposal for a clearinghouse for Canadiana that will be available to all Canadian students.
Randy White Reform Langley—Abbotsford, BC
Mr. Speaker, a million Canadians who want jobs cannot find them. Millions of others who have jobs basically have not had a pay increase in years. Meanwhile Canada Post has guaranteed lifetime employment to its 45,000 unionized members and offered them a 3% pay increase over two years. This strike will cost Canadians millions of dollars.
Is this what the government and the Minister of Labour call fair?
Lawrence MacAulay LiberalMinister of Labour
Mr. Speaker, what the government calls fair is the collective bargaining system.
Let the collective bargaining system work. Let the people in CUPW and the post office sit down and come up with an agreement that will be better for the people of Canada.