Debates of Oct. 6th, 1998

Fire Prevention Week

[Brenda Chamberlain, Liberal, Guelph—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am speaking today about Fire Prevention Week which this year runs from October 4 to October 10.

This year's theme “fire drills, the great escape” will emphasize the importance to individuals and institutions of having a fire escape plan for the home and the workplace.

Too many of us do not have any such plan in place, or if we have we have not actually practised it to see if it works. It remains a sad fact of life that each year hundreds of Canadians die needlessly in fires and thousands are injured. Much of this could be prevented by taking precautionary measures such as developing fire escape routes.

I urge all Canadians to take the message of Fire Prevention Week to heart. A good start would be to participate in the activities that will be held in communities all across Canada and to know and to practise fire drills at home and at work. The lives they save may be their own.

Flu Awareness Month

[Raymond Lavigne, Liberal, Verdun—Saint-Henri, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to call the attention of the House and of Canadians to the fact that October is Flu Awareness Month.

The combination of flu and pneumonia is one of the primary causes of death among seniors. It can cause illness, weaken individuals suffering from it, make them vulnerable to infection and even cause their death.

I encourage all Canadians at risk to protect themselves and others against the flu. An annual flu shot will prevent those at risk from getting the flu and may even save lives.

Please join with me in wishing success to the Canadian Lung Association and its partners and in encouraging Canadians to protect themselves against the flu.

Agriculture

[Jake Hoeppner, Reform, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, recent blockades of Canadian farm products by certain U.S. states have interfered with the movement of Canadian grain and livestock.

The Liberals are wrong when they claim that these border skirmishes are just grandstanding U.S. politicians. The disputes go much deeper. In fact the allegations of dumping grain by Canada into the U.S. market and the concern over subsidies on Canadian feed grains in the livestock industry have been major sources of these disputes for years.

U.S. documents suggest the Canadian Wheat Board has undersold farmers grain into the U.S. market in direct violation of NAFTA. There is also concern that grain companies are dumping surplus off board wheat and barley into the U.S. market.

If these border disputes are to be eliminated both Canadian and U.S. politicians must become receptive to the issues and problems of farmers. Only then can we hope to provide a fair and level playing field.

Education Savings Plan

[Claude Drouin, Liberal, Beauce, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on August 26, we learned that the Government of Canada had changed its policy on access to grants for education savings so that more families would become eligible for the new Canadian grant under the program.

From now on, contributions to an education savings plan for young people aged 16 and 17 will mean entitlement to the 20% grant announced in February's budget, if these contributions total at least $2,000 instead of $4,000 before the year of the individual's birthday.

The 20% grant will also be given when the child reaches a total of $100 a year instead of $300 over four years, regardless of which ones, before his 16th birthday.

This announcement made on August 16 by the Minister of Finance enables more lower income families to benefit from the Canada education savings grant.

Labrador Helicopter Crash

[René Laurin, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, a Labrador type helicopter returning from a medical evacuation mission in the Sept-Îles region crashed in Marsoui, on the Gaspé Peninsula, killing six military personnel.

The cause of the crash remains unknown, but this tragedy might have been avoided. We are asking the Minister of National Defence to do everything within his power to ensure the equipment used by our armed forces is reliable.

The Bloc offers its sincere condolences to the families of the victims.

Victims Of Genocide

[Sarkis Assadourian, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, October 4, 1998, members of the Canadian Armenia assembled with their fellow Canadians for the historic dedication of the monument erected by the city of Montreal commemorating victims of genocide.

The memorial stands as a symbol of healing for the Armenian community and will be a lasting tribute to all victims of ethnic hatred, including the Armenian genocide of 1915 at the hands of the Turkish government, the first genocide of the century but not the last as tragically ethnic massacres continue to take place every day.

May the memorial serve to remind Canadians of the horror of ethnic hatred and serve as a symbol of our diligence to oppose genocide as the worse example of man's inhumanity to mankind.

Forest Industry

[Reed Elley, Reform, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last week six Reform MPs and I visited the central coast of B.C. as guests of IWA union executives and the forest industry. It reinforced what many British Columbians know that the forest industry, the largest producer of jobs in the country, is in serious crisis.

We were concerned on this tour about the impact on our European market of the boycott by Greenpeacers. Never mind that this industry has suffered in B.C. from the collapse of the Japanese housing market. Never mind that the NDP government in Victoria has tripled the taxes it levies on this industry in the last five years. Now it also suffers from the silence of the Liberal government that has done nothing to correct the untruths in Europe that Greenpeace is spreading.

The government does not get it. If it sits idly by and does nothing for British Columbians, the extreme preservationists in Greenpeace will next take on the forest industry in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. No part of this industry is safe. Jobs are being lost, mills are shutting down and marriages are being torn apart.

When will the government speak out loud and clear to correct this desperate situation?

Human Rights

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

Mr. Speaker, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahater wants to play in the big leagues internationally but he is ignoring the rule of law.

Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and opposition MP Lim Guan Eng are in jail for disagreeing with him. Security forces are suppressing peaceful protests.

I call on all members of the House to speak out against these violations of human democratic rights. I call on all members to demand that the Malaysian government free Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Guan Eng.

Education

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with thousands of Canadian students who are about to launch a week of protest in cities and towns from Vancouver to Halifax.

The Canadian Federation of Students is leading this charge to show slash and burn governments that students will not stand still for full scale demolition of post-secondary education.

Students also are not standing still for a completely unfounded and discriminatory law that the Liberals forced through in the last budget. That law extended the bankruptcy waiting period for students from two years to a decade.

The government should be ashamed of the hypocrisy of its actions, hypocrisy ground in the fact that 93% of students pay back their loans. Compare this to the corporations that received loans from Industry Canada between 1982 and 1997. Only 15% of those corporate deadbeats made good on their loans.

I ask the government: Who is the better investment? I am introducing a bill tomorrow that will repeal this discriminatory law. What will the government do?

Breast Cancer

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Every day, some 50 women learn they have breast cancer, for a total of about 17,000 women annually. Over 5,400 of them will not survive the disease. That means today alone 15 will die.

A number of groups and associations are vigorously looking for a way to treat this disease, whose causes remain essentially unknown. While progress has been made, through prevention and screening, current treatment is often ineffective. Biopsies are still extremely painful, and other forms of treatment are still at the development stage.

The fight is far from over, and I call on all my colleagues, men and women, to contribute generously to the pink ribbon campaign.

Hom-Enet-Man

[Eleni Bakopanos, Liberal, Ahuntsic, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today in parliament members of the House are invited to a reception in 200 West Block to commemorate the 80th international anniversary of Hom-enet-man, the largest benevolent sports and scouts organization in the Armenian Diaspora.

This non-profit organization's mission is to invest in young people and to develop their devotion and will. In addition, it encourages them to become good Canadians and law-abiding citizens. It provides them with a good physical and moral education, encourages them to think and helps them develop a team spirit.

I congratulate the Armenian community and the Hom-enet-man organization on its 80th anniversary. Organizations such as this one have a mandate to inspire young people and to strengthen such basic principles of life as courage, discipline, honour and perseverance. Their involvement with young people clearly shows their devotion to the community—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for West Nova.

Lobster Fishery

[Mark Muise, Progressive Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, for months now native and non-native fishers have been illegally poaching lobster from the lucrative lobster fishing grounds off southwestern Nova Scotia, threatening the livelihoods of thousands of registered commercial lobster fishers. Each day thousands of pounds of illegal lobsters are landed and sold on the black market.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has done very little to curb this illegal activity. Law-abiding fishers are now threatening to take the law into their own hands if something is not done immediately to protect their industry.

Fishers in my riding are living in fear. They recognize that the government is doing very little to protect their industry. Some fishers have risked their own personal safety to notify DFO of illegal activity, only to have their pleas for help ignored.

The issue will not go away simply by ignoring it. I call on the Minister of National Revenue, the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the Solicitor General of Canada to join with the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to devise a strategy that will effectively put an end to this illegal fishery before the situation turns to violence.

The Late Pierre Savard

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is with regret that I note the passing of Pierre Savard, a great Canadian historian, who died on October 4. Born in Quebec City in 1936, Pierre Savard, a professor of history at the University of Ottawa, dedicated his life to the study and teaching of history.

Although he began his teaching career at Université Laval, it was here in Ottawa that he left his mark. He will be remembered as the director of the University of Ottawa's centre for research into French Canadian civilization, a position he held from 1972 to 1985, and as a full professor in the history department of that university, but especially as a proud French Canadian who was deeply involved and well respected in his community.

That community mourns as well, as is clear from the editorial in today's Le Droit , lamenting the premature death of Pierre Savard. On behalf of my colleagues, I extend our deepest condolences to his wife Suzanne, his children Marie, François and Michel, and to the rest of his family.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is the best country in the world in which to live. This is the case for most people living in Canada unless we ask the native population who is living in squalor on our nation's reserves. Many of our reserves endure third world conditions which Canadians generally believe are rich and privileged.

How are they to think any differently when audits from the Stoney reserve reveal that the chiefs and council receive salaries, honorariums and travel expenses totalling $1.5 million per year while most cannot put food on their table.

Scarce financial resources are not being directed to those most in need. For example, the Stoney nation claims to have a shortage of housing yet at least a dozen houses are vacant and some are being used by non-band members and unqualified people for some political reason remain in key financial management positions.

The reality is the government can no longer excuse these inequities. It can no longer deflect responsibility for fiscal abuse. It can no longer pump billions into the Indian system and not adequately account for every cent.

The aboriginal people of Canada deserve better and so do the taxpayers.

Apec Summit

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday when the solicitor general was questioned about his conversation on an airplane concerning the APEC affair, he could not seem to recall anything at all that he said. However, today, after counselling no doubt from the spin doctors, he categorically denies that he said anything inappropriate.

How is it that the solicitor general could not recall any of that conversation yesterday but today has total recall of that same conversation?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, as I said this morning in the House, I categorically deny the allegations as I did yesterday.

We have established that the comments of the hon. member, I believe, were titbits of words that were floating around in a noisy aircraft and are unworthy of this place.

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the solicitor general said he could not even remember who sat next to him. He did not know whether they were animal, mineral or vegetable. Today the minister admits that his seatmate was a friend, a lawyer and a Liberal Party supporter to boot.

How is it that yesterday the solicitor general could not even remember the gender of his seatmate and yet today recalls that it was a Liberal friend? How did that happen?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I have flown back and forth from Ottawa to Fredericton 300 times in the last five years. I know most of the people on that aircraft and I do not recall in each and every case whom it is that I sat with.

I inquired and I found out. That is the truth. That is the answer. He will have to live with it.

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this minister by his indiscretions has called into question the impartiality of the whole public complaints commission inquiry into the APEC affair. Now he has made matters worse by trying to cover up his own indiscretions with this cock and bull story.

Where is the minister's honesty? Where is his integrity? And where is—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, I ask all of you to be very cautious in the words you are using. The honesty of members is not questioned in this Chamber and I would remind hon. members of that fact. Please choose your words very carefully.

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I had a conversation with the gentleman who sat on the plane. He substantiated my story and I will not dignify that question with an answer.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the solicitor general in a few short hours has gone from “he was someone I don't know” to “actually we have been good friends for some time”.

He has gone from “I don't know who this person is. I don't know them by name” to “it is Frederick Toole from Saint John”. Great scott, we have gone from “I can't recall” to total recall and now to a rebuttal. When will we go to the resignation?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has at least three inaccuracies in that question and I will not respond.