Debates of Nov. 4th, 1997

Rcmp Investigation

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I talked with the ethics counsellor and he said that no minister had broken any of the guidelines.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that may be comforting for the Prime Minister, but I do not think Canadians are going to be happy with that answer. There are still some questions unresolved.

Canadians want to know how those confidential lists got into Pierre Corbeil's hands. The Prime Minister says that the ethics counsellor said everything is okay. Surely there should be a report available. The ethics counsellor must report to Parliament, not just to the Prime Minister over coffee.

Will the Prime Minister release a copy of the ethics counsellor's remarks or are we going to have to find out about the government's ethics at a criminal trial?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is making an attack which is based on information that is not available.

She should know that when something is in front of the courts, no minister can reply until the court has disposed of it. It is elementary.

Drinking Water

[Pierre Brien, Bloc, Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.

The federal government's intrusion in the matter of drinking water leaves us scratching our heads and points to a new source of potential confrontation with Quebec. Once again, Ottawa is trespassing on the established jurisdiction of the Government of Quebec.

Just as Quebec is setting up a water policy, is the federal government not opening the door to confrontation through its intervention by promoting duplication and overlap, when it is not needed in the area?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

No, Mr. Speaker. The hon. member is completely mistaken. We prepared the bill with a view to honouring areas of provincial jurisdiction and to acting only within federal jurisdiction to achieve a national priority.

[Pierre Brien, Bloc, Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec's water policy has not yet been drawn up, and the minister is already defining priorities.

By getting involved in the matter of drinking water, is the federal government not taking over what Quebeckers quite rightly consider a natural resource that belongs to them?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

No, Mr. Speaker. If the hon. member would care to read the bill, he would see that it is clear we have dealt only with matters of federal jurisdiction.

The details of the bill are clear. Provincial jurisdiction is respected. It is up to the provinces to deal with the other matters, and I hope they will.

Airports

[Jason Kenney, Reform, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP has revealed that more than a dozen ground handlers at Pearson airport are in the pay of Colombian drug lords to unload smuggled cocaine.

When we asked the revenue minister last month if drug inspection officers were being pulled away from planes to fast track certain shipments, he did not answer and he did not act.

Can the minister assure us today that not a single plane containing smuggled drugs has gone uninspected at Pearson airport?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the opportunity to speak on two situations.

I want to congratulate customs. Just in the last five weeks Canada Customs officers have seized about $10 million in smuggled cocaine from Trinidad.

On Friday, as a result of the good work of customs officers, a man with two false passports and a grenade was detained and subsequently turned over to police. This speaks to the good work that our customs officers are doing at our airports and our borders.

[Jason Kenney, Reform, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, let the record show that I asked the minister if any planes were not inspected. He did not answer the question.

Last month Dennis Coffey, a senior customs officer blew the whistle on lax inspection practices at Pearson airport. Instead of acting on these allegations, the minister's department intimidated Mr. Coffey.

While his bureaucrats were bullying Mr. Coffey, how many plane loads of cocaine were allowed to land and go uninspected at Pearson airport?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, once again the hon. member does not know the facts at all. He should look at the facts and the stories that have come out about the good work that customs do.

If the member is saying that we should inspect every piece of goods that comes through the border, he should be aware that Canada does over $1 billion of trade. I would need a lot of money from the finance minister to inspect every piece of goods. We do an excellent job. We have some of the best customs officers in the world and I am proud of the work they do.

Bc Mine

[Jean-Guy Chrétien, Bloc, Frontenac—Mégantic, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development.

In the BC mine issue, everyone is calling for an improved POWA to help older workers who have just lost their jobs. Only this Liberal government is turning a deaf ear.

Is the minister, who has had since last week to give this matter some thought, ready to change his position and allow this request?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, it is completely wrong to say that this government is turning a deaf ear.

Our government was the first to react to the situation of the workers who lost their jobs at the mine, the first, in late September, to put an offer of a package of up to $3 million in active job measures for workers on the table.

There was excellent news in the region yesterday. There was talk of Noranda creating 350 jobs in Asbestos. Clearly, things are happening. Our government wants to help these people re-enter the job market.

[Jean-Guy Chrétien, Bloc, Frontenac—Mégantic, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister does not know Quebec. The Asbestos region is not the same as the Thetford region.

Will the minister admit that, at least in the case of these older workers, what is needed is not active measures, but a form of income support that will see them through to retirement with dignity at the age of 65? Jean Dupéré and Louise Harel have already stated their position. It is now up to the minister.

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, each government is free to decide on its course of action. In the past, the Government of Quebec decided to intervene in the shipbuilding and clothing industries. It did so in its capacity as the Government of Quebec and is perfectly free to do so again.

I have responsibility for certain active measure funds and that is what I am offering them. The POWA was phased out one year ago and the workers themselves said it did not interest them unless it was improved, which would mean it was no longer the same program.

National Defence

[Leon Benoit, Reform, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the appointment of Judge Advocate General Brigadier-General Boutet expired on November 2, after having been extended last spring.

Boutet was the Judge Advocate General who oversaw the worst abuses in military history in Canada. Will the defence minister confirm whether Boutet's contract as Judge Advocate General has been extended?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the position of the Judge Advocate General has been extended for three months.

The military justice system is going through changes and we are looking at what we want to do in the future. We need an extra three months to do that, so an extension has been made for a three-month period.

[Leon Benoit, Reform, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Judge Advocate General is responsible for the military justice system.

It was reported earlier this week that dozens of military personnel stationed at CFS Leitrim were suspected of being cocaine users and drug traffickers.

The JAG's investigation into these allegations was dropped because it was so badly botched. In light of the newly leaked evidence, which the minister must have known about, why on earth has he extended the contract of the Judge Advocate General?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, once again the research of the hon. member opposite is not very good. It is not the Judge Advocate General who investigates these matters, it is the military police.

The military police have had the matter under investigation. They have not closed the file but they have suspended it because of insufficient evidence on which to lay charges. If further evidence is brought forward, then charges will be laid.

Meanwhile, we are extending the position of the Judge Advocate General—a separate issue altogether—because of the major changes being made.

We want to have a look at who is the best person to occupy that position and an additional three months is a wise move to make.

Telecommunications

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, Mercier, QC]

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

After benefiting from rate increases three times the rate of inflation, major telephone companies are yet again asking the CRTC to approve 100% to 200% increases, thereby jeopardizing the very concept of basic public telephone service.

The Telecommunications Act states that affordable basic service should be available across Canada. Does the government intend to remind the CRTC that—

[The Speaker]

The Minister of Industry has the floor.

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I could not hear the whole question. The hon. member should know that here, in Canada, we have the lowest telecommunications rates in the world, for both local and long distance calls.

I believe we have instructed the CRTC to support universal service, and this process is under way as we speak. We will see what the CRTC's decision will be.

Veterans Affairs

[Roger Gallaway, Liberal, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Veterans Affairs.

This morning in this building the Merchant Navy Coalition showed how for 52 years its members have been denied housing, have been denied education and service benefits given to other veterans.

Is the minister prepared to give all wartime merchant marine veterans the same benefits as other veterans?

[Fred Mifflin, Liberal, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Secretary of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency)]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for a very timely question.

A little more than five years ago Bill C-84 was passed which made merchant seamen fully eligible for all veterans benefits. With the passage of this bill there was finally tangible recognition of the key contribution merchant seamen made to the success of the Allied victory and the freedom which we enjoy and celebrate today.

Pearson Airport

[John Williams, Reform, St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transport said in the House earlier this year that the full cost of settling the Pearson airport fiasco would be $60 million, which appears in the public accounts.

We now find another $97.6 million buried in the supplementary estimates for adjustments to the Toronto airport lease.

Will the minister come clean, or is he just padding the Pearson payoff?