Debates of Oct. 28th, 1998

Social Policies

[Wendy Lill, NDP, Dartmouth, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think the minister understands the gravity of the situation.

Children are sleeping in overcrowded shelters, on hot air grates and in abandoned cars and it is starting to get cold. Today the city of Toronto passed a motion by a vote of 53 to 1 calling on the federal government to declare homelessness a national disaster.

Will the federal government take emergency action and use its resources now and open armouries and surplus office space to give shelter to the 200,000 homeless across Canada before winter sets in?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, in 1997 for the first time in over 15 years the standard of living of Canadians began to increase. For the previous 15 years it had been decreasing.

That is a very important. It is only by an increasing standard of living, by putting more Canadians back to work, over a million since we took office, it is only by giving Canadians skills, only by understanding that the purpose of government is not simply to help the rich, which the Reform Party would focus on, but the least fortunate, that we will be able to deal with our very real and serious problems.

Agriculture

[Rick Borotsik, Progressive Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, agriculture is in crisis.

Producers are selling at a loss. Income is down 55%. This is a $20 billion industry and the minister is fiddling while farmers are going down in flames.

The U.S. just announced an additional $6 billion for its support programs. The Liberal government has actually cut farm income support by 60% since it took office and rates second to last by the OECD.

The time for meetings is over. The time for action is now. What is the minister's plan and how much?

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's concern but I have a question to ask him.

Why in the Conservative platform in the 1997 election did he say his government would continue to expand the practice of cost recovery in areas of food inspection and regulatory oversight, speed up the elimination of subsidies and take more than $600 million out of the agriculture and agri-food industry?

I am meeting with the industries to work with the producers and the provincial governments to address this serious situation. I am not taking the approach the member would.

[Rick Borotsik, Progressive Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister by that answer is obviously not aware that there is a serious farm crisis right now. This minister keeps hiding behind NISA but NISA is not enough. Perhaps this minister should take some lessons from the minister of fisheries. He seems to find money for his industry.

When it comes to agriculture their pockets are empty. Is this because there is no political will from the minister of agriculture?

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

Mr. Speaker, I think we are showing political will, which is not cutting. We have one of the strongest safety net systems in the world. We are reviewing that at the present time in co-operation with all the players in the industry. We will continue to do that in order to continue strengthening our agri-food industry which I will agree is in a serious situation.

I look forward to the member's constructive offers of help in addressing this on behalf of Canadian farmers.

Foreign Affairs

[Sarkis Assadourian, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Aleksander Nikitin, a nuclear engineer and former captain in the Russian navy, is now facing execution. His crime is using information to focus full attention on deplorable environmental hazards posed by the aging fleet of Russian nuclear submarines.

What steps has the Government of Canada taken to work toward the exoneration of this Russian environmentalist?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly share the member's concern. In the past the Prime Minister has raised the matter directly with his counterpart. I have asked our embassy officials to be in attendance at the trial because there is a clear question of due process and an application of laws. In about two weeks I intend to be meeting with the foreign minister of Russia and I will attempt to take it up directly with him at that time.

Kosovo

[Bob Mills, Reform, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are concerned about the humanitarian crisis occurring in Kosovo. Canadians are also concerned about the possibility of hostages being taken, particularly when they are being sent unarmed. We all remember what happened in Bosnia. We had a total of 55 Canadians taken hostage. Will any of us forget Patrick Riechner chained to a post as a human shield? Canadians do not want that repeated.

Why is the minister sending unarmed Canadians into this war zone?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member well knows, last week at the OSCE we had discussions with Ambassador Walker who is heading up the verification team. There are several things in place.

First, the UN security council has passed a resolution that authorizes emergency protection for the verification team. Second, NATO has maintained its activation orders so it is on standby to respond. Third, there has been an agreement worked out with the Milosevic government. Fourth, we are in a position where we are seeing the adherence to the guidelines that set by NATO.

Under these circumstances we think it is important for Canada to contribute to—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Trois-Rivieres.

Ice Breaking In Ports

[Yves Rocheleau, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.

The problem of ice breaking in eastern ports is not one of costs and percentages, but of sharing the cost among regions. That is the real problem.

Does the minister think it reasonable for 80% of ice breaking costs to be imposed on users of Quebec ports that use only 50% of these services in all of eastern Canada?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, the rate scale, the scale was established by a committee of 10 people. Seven were from the Laurentians region, that is, Ontario and Quebec.

If the member really thinks this is not fair to ships using the ports in the maritime region, it is surprising that the committee members from this region set up such a scale.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Louise Hardy, NDP, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, in January the minister of aboriginal affairs released the Gathering Strength document but it does not deal with food security in the north.

In September a Manitoba report made recommendations to deal with the outrageous costs of food in first nation communities.

Third world status, poverty and hunger should not be a way of life for aboriginal families and aboriginal children. I am sure the minister wants to move heaven and earth to feed these families. How is she going to make sure they eat well this winter?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member points out, it is a challenge to ensure that peoples in the north have access to good quality food.

The cost of transportation of perishable goods to the north is extraordinary. That is why it is important for us as a government and for territorial governments to work together to ensure that fresh vegetables and perishable goods are made available to communities in the north.

Health

[Greg Thompson, Progressive Conservative, Charlotte, NB]

Mr. Speaker, between 25 to 30 Canadians die each year because of CJD, otherwise known as mad cow disease.

Three years ago the Canadian Red Cross ordered the single largest recall of blood products in the history of the country because of CJD contamination.

Will the minister now do what the British have done and what Bayer Inc. has done and ban the use of British plasma? The clock is ticking. The minister has a chance to do something. Will he act now?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, as I told the member last week, or perhaps the week before, we have received the Bayer report. We are looking at it.

We have in place not only the scientists at Health Canada but also the Blood Safety Council which is there to advise us as an independent body. We will take advice and we will do the right thing.

Government Response To Petitions

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 12 petitions.

Committees Of The House

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

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 14th report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights entitled “Victims Rights—A Voice, not a Veto”.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) your committee proceeded to consider the role of victims in the criminal justice system. The committee and its predecessor committee held hearings and a two day national forum at which appeared witnesses and participants who were broadly representative of those affected by, interested in and involved with the criminal justice system.

On behalf of all my colleagues on the committee I want to thank the minister and her staff as well as the justice department. What is more important is that we want to thank committee staff, including three clerks over two parliaments, Richard Dupuis, Luc Fortin and Roger Préfontaine.

Most important, we want to thank the outstanding work of our senior policy analyst, Philip Rosen and research associate, Marilyn Pilon. We are indebted to them for their diligence, for their professionalism and for their commitment to excellence.

There is unprecedented public and private agreement among members of this committee and among all parties in this report. Memories of this kind of co-operation will serve us well as we weather future storms, and there always are storms on our committee. I am very proud to table this report.

[Pat O'Brien, Liberal, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to table, in both official languages, the report of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs dealing with the quality of life of our personnel in the Canadian forces.

This report is entitled “Moving Forward: A Strategic Plan for Quality of Life Improvements in the Canadian Forces”.

I want to take this opportunity to express my thanks to all the members of our committee for their hard work and co-operation throughout this long and intensive study.

To the committee clerk, researchers and various staff who contributed directly or indirectly to this report, may I as chair on behalf of the whole committee and all my colleagues express our sincere thanks.

Our committee looks forward eagerly to the earliest possible implementation of our recommendations so that we can indeed improve the quality of life of our Canadian forces personnel and their families.

[René Laurin, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, further to this report, I wish to point out to the House, and I hope that the committee's chair will have no objection, that a portion of the text approved yesterday was missing from recommendation 75. Since we did not have time to go back to committee to approve the final report, I would like to be sure that the missing portion will appear in the official document.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

Unfortunately the report must come from the official opposition.

[Bob Speller, Liberal, Haldimand—Norfolk—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I was wondering if I could get unanimous consent of the House to revert to reports from interparliamentary delegations.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

Is there consent to revert to reports from interparliamentary delegations?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.