Debates of Oct. 27th, 1998

Scrapie

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

Mr. Speaker, I am continuing to work with the sheep industry and the unfortunate situation that some of them are in.

I was pleased to announce this morning that we have increased the maximum cap for animals having to be destroyed because of this disease from $300 to $600 per animal.

This is in addition to the nearly $2 million which will be paid to producers affected by this disease in Quebec in the last year or so. In addition, we are putting close to $400,000 in place for research, to assist in the funding of an animal identification program in Canada and to implement a flock certification program. As well, the Farm Credit Corporation has put in place a 24 month deferred loan program to assist these producers.

Apec Inquiry

[Jim Abbott, Reform, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I allege three things.

Number one, that the Prime Minister or his office was involved in using the RCMP to suppress Canadians' freedom of speech at APEC.

Number two, I allege that the Prime Minister or his office is involved in the continuing work against the commission.

Number three, I allege that the CBC legislation pending is because the Prime Minister did not like the CBC coverage of the APEC affair.

Will he give us an independent inquiry to show my allegations to be untrue?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, in 1988 parliament decided how to deal with citizens' complaints against the RCMP. It created the Public Complaints Commission. It has operated effectively for 10 years. That is the way parliament decided to deal with such situations and that is what is happening now.

[Jim Abbott, Reform, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Mr. Speaker, once again the solicitor general does not know what he is talking about.

This commission was derailed in the spring. This commission was derailed in September. This commission is currently derailed because of allegations against the chair. The only thing that has not happened to this commission is a decent burial.

Will the solicitor general give Canadians what they want and what they must have, the truth about APEC and the Prime Minister's involvement in stopping Canadians' freedom of expression?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the Public Complaints Commission will get to the truth exactly the way parliament intended it be done.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the solicitor general.

The solicitor general's unilateral $8.5 million cut in funding for the RCMP in British Columbia and the Yukon means less money to fight organized crime, less money to fight drug trafficking and less money to fight white collar crime. It hits small detachments especially hard.

Will the minister now listen to the people of British Columbia and the Yukon? Will he restore to the RCMP the funds that were cut, give them back the ability to fight crime in our communities and stop turning them into bean counters?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the amount of money made available to fight organized crime in the last budget was a $7 million or $8 million increase over the year before.

The reality is that the way the money is spent by the RCMP is an operational question left to management of the RCMP, a very respected police force in Canada.

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

Mr. Speaker, now that they have frozen RCMP cadet training, the Liberals want to impose alternate service delivery on the RCMP support staff at the Regina training academy.

ASD is another step down for our public service, where they are fired and then offered their job back at half pay. Under ASD government employees are always sitting ducks and all services are defunct.

Why is it always Saskatchewan that is devastated? Will the government back away from another silly decision or will this be another solicitor general debacle for the RCMP?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, the RCMP is experiencing financial restraint like everybody else. In this case it has temporarily stopped training at the depot in Regina. This has happened many times before. It is not unusual. It is simply a function of the way that the RCMP chooses to manage the situation.

Helicopter Purchase

[David Price, Progressive Conservative, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in 1993, the Prime Minister took a calculated risk in canceling the helicopter contract. In 1996, he took another calculated risk in selling seven Chinook helicopters for $16 million.

Will the Prime Minister stop placing human lives in danger and, to this end, retire the fleet of Labradors and replace them with other helicopters?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we do not put lives in danger.

The previous Conservative government was willing to waste an awful lot of taxpayers' money to buy a very inappropriate helicopter. This government did the right thing. It cancelled that contract. It is in the process of tendering for another helicopter that better meets our search and rescue needs, at a fraction of the price.

[David Price, Progressive Conservative, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I guess for this government money is more important than lives.

The government continues to risk lives. In 1996 it sold perfectly good helicopters that could have been used for search and rescue. We cannot get them back.

Today the chief of air staff said “Nothing says we have not missed an undetected flaw in the remaining aircraft”. He also confirmed today that there are offers on the table from Boeing and from the United States to loan Canada helicopters.

Will the Prime Minister stop the madness and get some help?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we have the crews and the equipment we need to do the search and rescue job. We not only have Labrador helicopters, we have Griffons, Sea Kings and fixed-wing aircraft like the Hercules and the Buffalo. We have expert crews that are anxious to get back into a full search and rescue operation. They will do that and they will do it with safe equipment.

If we need other machinery, we have it there as a back-up to call on when necessary. But we have the tools to do the job.

Foreign Affairs

[Shaughnessy Cohen, Liberal, Windsor—St. Clair, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Lim Guan Eng is a Malaysian opposition MP who is spending 18 months in jail for criticizing a friend of the Malaysian Prime Minister. He lost his seat and he even lost the right to practise his profession as a private citizen. What has Canada done to protest this action, to support Lim Guan Eng, to support freedom of speech and to support the rule of law in Malaysia?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I know the hon. member has already met with Mr. Lim Guan Eng's family. I thank her and the member for Mount Royal for raising awareness on this issue.

I can report to her and to the House that the high commission in Malaysia has already made a direct representation to the ministry of foreign affairs in Malaysia. When I visit Malaysia next month I hope to be able to seek the opportunity to raise the matter directly with the minister of foreign affairs.

Health

[Grant Hill, Reform, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the health minister tries to distance himself from the BST internal memo, yet this internal memo states very plainly that there are three to four meetings per week and that the individual from the minister's office who attends is John Dossetor.

I want to know directly from the minister, if he is being so open on this file, why does he hide the fact that his office is directly involved in risk management? Why would it need risk management on a policy like this?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I will tell the member what we did. When the Senate committee on agriculture wanted scientists from Health Canada to testify and when the scientists said they were reluctant to go, I ensured that they were told the minister's office wanted them to attend, that it was their duty to attend, and that they should be there to answer questions. They did exactly that.

What did they say? They made it clear that Health Canada has not approved BST. There have been suggestions that we have been pressured to approve this drug. It has been under consideration by Health Canada for nine years. If that is what pressure is, it is not working very well.

Social Programs

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the interview he requested from La Presse last weekend, the Prime Minister regretted not having $20 billion for social programs. But on September 13, speaking before the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, he boasted that his government had just paid down $20 billion on the debt over 15 months.

Is the Prime Minister not ashamed of himself for laughing at people by claiming not to have any money for social programs when all of the $20 billion surplus accumulated in the past 15 months went to paying down the debt without a penny going to health?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, a look at the last budget reveals that the government doubled funding for medical research and development, financed the medical transition fund and spent, over five years, in excess of $7 billion on transfer payments to the provinces, most of which were for health.

Bank Service Charges

[Lorne Nystrom, NDP, Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, my question is also for the Minister of Finance. A study was released yesterday by the consumer group Option Consommateurs. It indicated that Canadians are being gouged by outrageous bank service charges. Even the MacKay task force recommends fair, reasonable and non-abusive transaction practices.

In light of that, is the minister now ready to take action to protect Canadians against unfair and abusive bank service charges?

[Jim Peterson, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to compliment Option Consommateurs for the good work it has done on behalf of low income Canadians with respect to banking services.

The member is quite right. We have two major concerns in this area. One is access for the 650,000 Canadians who do not have bank accounts and who cannot get out of poverty unless they have access to basic bank accounts. The other concern is the service fees that would be charged for a basic bank account. These matters have been looked at by the MacKay task force and the House of Commons is looking at them. They are very serious concerns for us. I thank the member for the question.

Transportation

[Bill Casey, Progressive Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

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

Nova Scotia started charging a fee to drive on the Trans-Canada Highway and the federal government did nothing. Now New Brunswick is planning to charge a fee to drive on the Trans-Canada Highway, creating a huge trade barrier and projecting a profit of $321 billion. First Nova Scotia and then New Brunswick. The next logical thought is that it will start in Quebec as well.

Will the minister use his constitutional authority to intervene on this huge interprovincial trade barrier and stop the madness of interprovincial trade barriers by the provinces?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the government has used its constitutional authority on putting forward an agreement on internal trade. None of what has occurred on the east coast contravenes the transportation provisions of that agreement.

If one of those provinces feels aggrieved, it has the right to resort to conciliation and then a panel to resolve it. We prefer to use the agreement we have put together to resolve these issues in an amicable way.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of His Excellency, the Right Honourable Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, President of the National Assembly of Cameroon, and a delegation of members.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.