Debates of Oct. 26th, 1998

Millennium Scholarships

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister contends that all is settled with respect to the federal government's spending power and Quebec's right to opt out.

But this is the Prime Minister who wants to celebrate the new millennium by infringing upon Quebec's jurisdiction over education, with his millennium scholarships.

When he goes door to door, how will the Minister of Human Resources Development justify this new interference in education with the millennium scholarships, which no one in Quebec wants?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the Quebec National Assembly unanimously approved an approach to the millennium scholarships. The Prime Minister of Canada wrote the premier of Quebec a letter, saying it was a good approach. The millennium scholarships are no longer a contentious issue, except when the Bloc Quebecois and the PQ are trying to pick a fight, and Quebeckers have had enough.

Agriculture

[Murray Calder, Liberal, Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the minister of agriculture.

Over the weekend I had a chance to talk with five farmers in my riding about low commodity prices. What I would like to know and what they would like to know, concerning the suffering it is causing in rural Canada today, is whether the minister is aware of it. What does he plan to do to address this problem?

[Lyle Vanclief, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly are aware of the unfortunate circumstances that low commodity prices in the world are bringing to many of our Canadian farmers.

I remind everyone that we already have one of the best safety net systems in the world. For example, it has $2.5 billion in the NISA accounts. We are making arrangements so that farmers can draw on that earlier if they need it.

In addition, last week I called a meeting for November 4 of the key farm leaders in Canada and the provincial governments so that we could talk about the realities of today, how we will discuss those and how we will approach improving the situation for Canadian farmers.

Gasoline

[Jason Kenney, Reform, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the other day the Minister of the Environment announced with glee a new tax on gas. She said it would cost Canadian consumers only about a cent a litre. However, a Liberal member, the member for Pickering—Ajax, the respected chairman of the Liberal caucus on gas pricing, said it would cost as much as 15 cents a litre.

Who is right, the minister who says it is a cent a litre or the Liberal member who says it is 15 cents a litre? Which one should we believe?

[Christine Stewart, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to have the opportunity Friday to announce new regulations for the reduction of sulphur in gasoline.

The decision was taken as a result of a study done by the federal government, provinces and territories working together with the oil refinery industries, the automobile manufacturers and other stakeholders. They all agreed that the cost would be $1.8 billion to reduce it to the levels I have regulated. However, the costs of not acting are many times higher in terms of health.

This translates in terms of cost to the oil refiners of one cent per litre, according to the report of this committee.

[Jason Kenney, Reform, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we can mark that down as another Liberal evasion to a straight question. Let me try again with this minister.

I asked her who was right, the member or she. Industry experts say it will be a lot more than a cent a litre but my question is we have a respected Liberal member here saying it will be 15 cents a litre, so who is right? Is the minister saying that Liberal member is wrong, yes or no?

[Christine Stewart, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I have based my regulations on a study that, as I indicated, involved different levels of government, the oil producers, the refiners and the automobile manufacturers.

They presented a report which indicated very specifically what the costs would be. In fact, health people in this country indicate that the health costs of not acting are much higher than estimated in that report.

East Timor

[Svend Robinson, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This morning the minister met with the Timorese leader and Nobel prize winner José Ramos-Horta who has urged our government to support the right of the people of East Timor to self-determination and an internationally supervised referendum.

Will the minister honour the promise his party made in 1991 or will he continue to attack the East Timor alert network, to apologize for Canadian protesters and to put embarrassment to Indonesian dictators ahead of the rights of the people of East Timor?

Will he now support East Timor's right to self-determination, yes or no?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to report to the House that we had a very useful discussion with José Ramos-Horta this morning during which he expressed appreciation for the strong interest the Canadian government has taken in supporting initiatives in East Timor.

I indicated to him that we are strongly supportive of the UN sponsored process of negotiations going on. In fact, I met with Portuguese officials on the weekend to discuss this and we also indicated that we believe there has to be a full involvement of East Timorese people in whatever arrangements are made. To that end, we have agreed to provide direct funding to a major meeting of the East Timor network dialogue group which brings together all parties to the dispute to find a resolution.

Taxation

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance who will soon be known as the Grinch who stole Christmas.

Canadians last week were shocked to find that the government has now decided to tax fun by taxing things like Christmas parties. The cost of a Christmas party is now to be a taxable benefit.

Will the Minister of Finance simply stand and say, no, the government is not that badly off that it is going to start taxing fun, Christmas parties, Hallowe'en parties and the like?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member because sitting between the solicitor general and the human resources minister, I feel like the Maytag repairman.

Let me say that it is not true what the hon. member has said. In fact we only recognize a tax benefit if it is over $100, any gifts over $100. I do not know about the hon. member, but I do not get invited to many Christmas parties where the cost is more than $100. Perhaps he gets invited to some rich parties. The limit is $100. Only when it is over $100 does it become taxable.

The Constitution

[André Bachand, Progressive Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is a desire for change, for renewed federalism, not only in Quebec but in all the rest of the country as well.

The only one who seems not to share that desire is the man who should spend less time patting himself on the back and more time doing his job, our famous Machiavelli of Canadian politics, the Prime Minister of Canada. Divide and conquer, that is what the government's constitutional strategy is, in a nutshell.

With all the statements the Prime Minister has made, does the Liberal government not realize he is giving the kiss of death to the leader of the federalist forces in Quebec?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I would be only too pleased at any time to compare on the record of the Mulroney years to this government's record on enhancing the federation.

The method the Prime Minister wanted to use is a step-by-step one, solving one aspect at a time, rather than coming up with a huge change all at one time. That does not work, and does nothing to promote the evolution of the federation.

I believe the Prime Minister's approach has worked well in recent years, and we will continue with it, advancing the federation in conjunction with the provinces, respecting their jurisdictions and priorities.

[André Bachand, Progressive Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister considers himself the leader who has done the most for the constitution. The most, yes, but the most damage.

When it comes down to it, the best ally the Quebec sovereignists and Lucien Bouchard have in Quebec is the Prime Minister himself and his gang.

With the attitude the Prime Minister and his troops have toward constitutional matters, I have a suggestion to make: the true federalist forces in the country have a clear, cut and dried strategy to suggest to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and the Liberal government. Shhh, keep absolutely quiet for the next 36 days. Not a word.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the responsibility of the Government of Canada is to govern, and govern it does, for all Canadians, including Quebeckers.

From what I can see, the Liberals do not seem to be the ones who are the allies of the Bloc Quebecois. They are not the ones clapping at the moment.

Pensions

[Larry McCormick, Liberal, Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox And Addington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the well-being of nearly one and a half million Canadian pensioners depends on them applying every year for the guaranteed annual income. Since next year is the International Year of Older Persons, what can the Minister of Human Resources Development do to make it easier for Canadian pensioners to get the income support they need?

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

Mr. Speaker, as a matter of fact we are making major service improvements in 1999 to the renewal of guaranteed income supplement and spousal allowance benefits as part of the International Year of Older Persons. These changes will permit over one million seniors to renew their benefits automatically. No more will pensioners have to rush to complete unnecessary paperwork or worry about having their payments interrupted. This is the best improvement to the GIS-SPA program in 31 years.

The Constitution

[Rahim Jaffer, Reform, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians throughout the country have expressed a desire to see the federation run differently.

We had the Calgary declaration and the premiers' social union proposal, which even met with Lucien Bouchard's approval.

On the eve of the Quebec election, why is the Prime Minister refusing to recognize Canadians' desire for change?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the government wholeheartedly supports the Calgary declaration.

We are negotiating the social union with the provinces and I repeat that we will be more successful in our efforts to do so if we have a government in Quebec that believes in Canada, that wants to improve it, and that will share with other Canadians all the expertise, all the knowledge, all the culture of Quebec, which is a culture of trust, not the culture of mistrust the Bloc Quebecois is trying to impose on us.

Young Offenders Act

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is another consensus in Quebec that the federal government is refusing to respect, and that is the consensus around young offenders.

The approach the Minister of Justice has taken in her bill is completely at odds with the current approach in Quebec.

How can the Prime Minister claim to have sorted out the issue of Quebec's distinct character when his justice minister is getting ready to impose Canada's young offenders model on Quebec?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, in fact that which we are proposing, as opposed to being in contradiction to that which Quebec does, our strategy builds on much of that which the province of Quebec has pursued. Indeed, let me say the hallmark of the young offenders strategy is flexibility, because in this federation we as a federal government believe it is important to provide the provinces with the opportunity to pursue their own individual agendas in key areas.

Justice

[Peter Mancini, NDP, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States has publicly decried the recent murder of an American doctor. He said that the United States will not tolerate violence directed at those providing legally protected medical services.

Our Prime Minister has said nothing. Three doctors providing legal abortions for women in Canada have been shot in the past four years. Why has the Prime Minister not spoken out?

Will the government announce additional support for the task force investigating the shooting?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member raises a very important and a very serious question.

The government is committed to working with law enforcement officials in the United States. In fact this morning I instructed my department to do whatever it can, including providing additional resources to work with officials in the United States to put a stop to this kind of horrendous violence.