Debates of Nov. 2nd, 1998

Aboriginal Communities

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we recently learned that this finest of countries, Canada, is far from heaven on earth for its aboriginal people. According to a Department of Indian Affairs report, the living conditions of on-reserve Indians are comparable to those of the people of Russia, Brazil, Mexico and the third world. According to the human development index for status aboriginals, Canada ranked 47th of the 174 UN member countries.

To top off this already bleak picture, regrettably, over half of Canadians believe that there is no difference between their living conditions and those of the aboriginal people.

This is why the Bloc Quebecois is urging the Canadian government to act promptly and energetically, not only to improve the living conditions of aboriginal people, but also to change the social perceptions of which they are victims. This is an urgent matter.

Quebec Election Campaign

[Robert Bertrand, Liberal, Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois must not feel like the odd man out any more. Indeed, over the weekend his colleague from Rimouski—Mitis also stated that a vote for the PQ was a vote for a referendum, but she specified the timeframe.

As for the Quebec Premier, he made himself very clear this weekend when he said anyone who does not share his views does not love Quebec. On November 30, Quebeckers will have an opportunity to let everyone know how much they love Quebec by voting in favour of keeping Quebec within Canada, that is by voting Liberal.

Columbia

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, since the civil service strike in Columbia started on October 7, nine more trade union leaders have been murdered, bringing the total to 2,700 trade union activists and organizers killed since 1987.

The death toll alone in the past three weeks includes Hortensia Alfaro Banderas, the president of the nurses union; Macario Barrera Villota, the president of the teachers union; and Jairo Cruz, the president of the local branch of the United Workers Centre. Others include Hector Fajardo Abril, Hernando Hernandez, Gabriel Alvis, Jésus Baldivino, Jésus Bernal and Jorge Luis Ortega Garcia. Nine more martyrs for the national trade union movement, nine more murders for the international right wingers of the world who would rather kill than share their hoarded wealth.

It is only tyrants who fear the labour movement. Canada should condemn Columbia in the strongest terms possible for failing to protect the right to organize and the right to free collective bargaining.

Housing

[Charles Caccia, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the interim report of the Toronto mayor's homelessness action task force reveals that in Toronto alone about 3,000 individuals stay in shelters. In addition about 37,000 are on a waiting list for subsidized social housing. An additional 40,000 are spending more than half of their income on rent or living in extremely precarious housing.

The situation in other Canadian cities is also serious. It has been described by municipal leaders as “a national disaster”.

Evidently this is an issue requiring urgent and immediate attention. Federal and provincial assistance is needed in the form of funds toward the construction of social housing units so as to provide a home for the homeless.

Twentieth Anniversary Of Adisq

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski—Mitis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday evening, ADISQ, the Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo, celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Molson Centre, in Montreal.

During this time, ADISQ, which works on behalf of Quebec's popular music industry and whose existence is proof of the industry's vitality, spared no efforts to promote Quebec's talent and have it recognized.

The Bloc Quebecois is proud to have worked closely with ADISQ to have neighbouring rights recognized in the federal legislation on copyright.

We hope the federal government will soon include the rights of creators and performers, as part of phase III of the review of the Copyright Act.

Culture has always been a priority for the Bloc Quebecois, and for the Quebec government, as demonstrated by the commitments it made yesterday.

Long live the ADISQ gala, and congratulations to the winners and to all the nominees. Each and everyone of them contributes to the vitality and the richness of Quebec culture.

Lobster Fishery

[Gerald Keddy, Progressive Conservative, South Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has stated that he accepted all the conservation harvesting plans proposed by Nova Scotia lobster fishermen for 1998 and 1999. What he has not stated is that these plans have been changed.

The discussions with fishermen promised an evenly implemented across the board plan to double lobster egg production. The minimum carapace size would be increased to 3 8/32 inches. Egg-bearing females would be v-notched and females with a carapace of over 5 inches would be released. This was supported because it was seen to be applied evenly across all lobster fishing areas.

We now learn that this is not to be the case. In short, once again this government has been advised by fishers to apply one set of conservation measures. The rules have been ignored, their advice has been ignored and another set of measures has been applied.

For instance where fishers share a line, between district 33 and district 34, they are so close together that the buoys entangle. How does it expect one side to obey conservation—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Lambton—Kent—Middlesex.

Down's Syndrome

[Rose-Marie Ur, Liberal, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, November 1 to November 7 is National Down's Syndrome Awareness Week. Each year communities across Canada officially recognize this week and host a variety of events.

Down's syndrome is a chromosomal disorder which affects one out of every 700 children born in Canada. This disorder causes delays in physical and intellectual development. The actual cause of Down's syndrome is still unknown.

During this special week the Canadian Down's Syndrome Society will be conducting a public awareness campaign to focus attention on the unique abilities, strengths, and contributions of Canadians with Down's syndrome.

In my riding, the Lambton, Middlesex and Wallaceburg Associations for Community Living are part of the national non-profit charitable organization whose mandate is to enhance the quality of life for all individuals with Down's syndrome.

Year 2000

[Philip Mayfield, Reform, Cariboo—Chilcotin, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government claims most departments will be ready for the year 2000, but only most departments. What does this mean?

Nineteen departments are identified as having mission critical systems. These are systems where a problem like the Y2K bug will directly affect the health, safety, security and economic well-being of Canadians. These systems keep track of food inspection, security intelligence, air navigation, weather forecasting, search and rescue, and the pension plan.

Will the computer programs be ready for January 1, 2000? Hardly. In fact, recent government surveys show that the Department of National Defence is not ready for the year 2000. If our defence systems fail, the lives of Canadians could be at risk.

Canadians need to know how serious the Y2K problem is. It will affect our daily lives. The question now is how will we be affected? The government's repeated comments about making the necessary efforts are not realistic or responsible. Is the government too far behind to catch up? When will we know?

The government has done too little too late in addressing this urgent situation. So much is at risk, the government should be ashamed of itself.

Veterans

[Janko Peric, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to pay tribute to the thousands of Canadian men and women who risked their lives to secure our freedom.

Veterans continue to help improve the quality of life of Canadians. In my riding of Cambridge, the Preston, Galt, Hespeler and Ayr legions donate thousands of dollars and hundreds of volunteer hours to our community each year.

As Remembrance Day approaches, I would ask all Canadians to reflect on the sacrifices of Canadian veterans and thank them for their continued contribution to our daily lives.

To all of those men and women, thank you for your courage, dedication and love of country. God bless you all.

Youth Crime

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians want action and are tired of rhetoric from a Liberal government that is soft on youth crime and light on legislation.

Since the April 1997 justice committee report on the youth criminal justice system, the Minister of Justice has repeatedly told Canadians that we would be seeing new legislation in a timely fashion.

Behind closed doors last December in Montreal with her provincial and territorial counterparts, the minister promised a draft bill by next year's meeting.

On May 13, 1998 the justice minister finally broke free from her bureaucratic masters and told the House of Commons that she would be introducing a new young offenders bill this fall.

At last week's meeting with provincial and territorial governments the Minister of Justice broke that promise. She had no draft legislation and no commitment for legislation this fall; just more vague promises.

If the Minister of Justice cannot be trusted to keep her promises on this legislation, why should she be trusted to introduce any legislation that truly addresses youth crime?

I urge the minister to show that her word means something and introduce new youth justice legislation this fall.

Employment Insurance

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister admits that he wants to skim money from the employment insurance fund, money that is not his, but there is one small problem: it happens to be against the law.

The Prime Minister has ordered the finance minister to meet in private with the Employment Insurance Commission to get it to change the rules without public scrutiny or debate.

Why this hush-hush meeting to change EI? Is the Prime Minister actually ashamed, as he should be, of what he is doing?

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

Mr. Speaker, quite the contrary. We are very pleased with our record in EI.

When we took office in 1993, EI premiums were at $3.07 and going to $3.30. We froze them. Since then we have reduced them every year to $3 to $2.95 to $2.90 and to $2.70. We will continue those reductions in EI premiums.

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the finance minister was scheduled to meet with the Employment Insurance Commission on November 13. Today we are hearing that the minister wants to delay his EI announcement until after November 30. Employers and employees must now wait until after the Quebec election to learn how much they will be ripped off in EI overpayments.

If the finance minister's EI changes are not bad news for workers and businesses, why is he waiting until after the Quebec election to make his announcement?

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

Mr. Speaker, very simply, every announcement the government has made on EI premiums has been welcomed by employers and by employees and they will be in the future.

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I will tell you who will not welcome this announcement. The largest number of Canadians paying employment insurance are the poorest of the working poor, Canadians earning less than $10,000 a year. Literally two million of them will get hit by the Prime Minister's EI changes.

Why is the Prime Minister picking on the poorest Canadians for this employment insurance tax grab?

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

Mr. Speaker, I find this new found concern for the poor a little unusual coming from that leader.

If he has such profound concern for these people, why did he not support our bill last year when we cut 400,000 low income Canadians right off the tax rolls? Why did he not support the $1.7 billion we gave to the child tax benefit to help the poor working families?

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we would have done one better. We would have taken a million families off the low income rolls, giving them a tax cut.

The employment insurance is the worst kind of tax because it hits the working poor the hardest. It does not make any sense. These people are being gouged by the Prime Minister and the government.

According to the chief actuary of the plan, every worker should get $350 back and small businesses should get $500 back for every worker they employ.

In all seriousness, why is the Prime Minister punishing the working poor?

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

Mr. Speaker, I again find unusual what the Reform Party is saying because in securing the dividend of January 1998, last year, the Reform Party urged the government to use the EI surplus to pay down the debt.

In Fresh Start the Reform Party said we should only cut EI premiums by 28% and cut them for the employers only.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, workers and employers should be paying lower premiums. Four years ago the finance minister said:

There is nothing more ludicrous than a tax on hiring. But that is what high payroll taxes are—they affect lower wage earners much more than those at the high end.

Four years ago the Liberals had an excuse, that they were running a huge deficit. That was great then. What is their excuse today?

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

Mr. Speaker, the excuse is very simple. If we were to cut payroll taxes to the extent advocated by hon. members opposite we could very well be in a deficit, and we will not do it.

Health

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government is responsible for what is happening in health care after cutting transfers to the provinces in that area by 35%.

Yet now it is about to announce, in the next budget, the creation of a new health program, even though all the premiers would rather have a transfer payment refund.

Will the Minister of Health confirm that the government is about to repeat the same mistake it made with the millennium scholarship fund by unilaterally creating a new health program, using money that comes from cuts in basic services?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has already stated the government's intention to reinvest in health care, but the member will have to wait for the budget to get the details.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government's intentions are really something we should be talking about, because it has demonstrated a real obsession with visibility by creating the millennium scholarship fund.

In the area of health care, should the government not give priority to efficiency by respecting provincial jurisdictions rather than by being concerned only with visibility?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we are currently having discussions with my provincial counterparts regarding ways of improving the health care system.

However, I can tell the member that the most important thing is to recognize health as a priority, which we have done. As the Prime Minister himself has said, we intend to reinvest in that area, and we will do it soon.