Debates of Nov. 20th, 1998

Michel Trudeau

[Clifford Lincoln, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, thank you for giving me permission to finish my statement.

I would like to express the deep feelings of members from all parties in offering to Mr. Pierre Trudeau, Mrs. Margaret Kemper, Michel's brothers Justin and Sacha, and all of their family our most profound sympathy.

If I may, it would not be out of place for us to salute in passing Michel's amazing and special friend, his dog Misha, who stayed by his side even when all hope was gone.

Mr. Speaker, I ask for your indulgence in this special circumstance to ask that we rise and pause for a symbolic moment in memory of Michel Trudeau.

Francophone Communities

[Jean-Paul Marchand, Bloc, Québec East, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear the case of the parents of Summerside, who are trying to obtain a French school in their region under section 23 of the charter of rights and freedoms.

Right now, the children of Summerside are obliged to spend an hour on the bus to get to school in the Évangéline region.

This case reveals once again the courage and tenacity of francophones, who, surrounded by an anglophone majority in Canada, are forced to fight provincial governments to be able to exercise their most fundamental right to education.

The Minister of Canadian Heritage should recognize their strength and give them real support. She should substantially increase support to francophone groups across Canada and give effect to the commitment made in this House to increase the budget for the court challenges program.

The Bloc Quebecois recognizes the work done by all parents in all the primarily anglophone provinces who are struggling for their children's rights—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Prince Albert.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Derrek Konrad, Reform, Prince Albert, SK]

Mr. Speaker, there is no disputing the historic facts of the residential school system and the harm it has done to many Indian families.

How was this allowed to happen? Canadian Indians were a people separated from Canadian society by law. They lacked the protections due as a right to all other people in the country.

Today many Indian people are reporting instances of mismanagement on reserves. Poor health, substandard housing and social dysfunction are endemic. This situation has come to pass under the Indian Act, the department of Indian affairs, and separate special status. Today, as in the past, it is anathema to point these things out without someone levelling charges of racism.

The minister has a huge bureaucracy with a budget of billions of dollars and responsibility for the welfare of all aboriginals and northerners.

We in the Reform Party will continue to point out their failures and weaknesses and to propose alternatives. Canada's aboriginals and indeed all Canadians deserve no less.

National Child Day

[Diane St-Jacques, Progressive Conservative, Shefford, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the caucus of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, to recognize national child day.

On this very special day, we think about what children need, what they can teach us and how we can ensure they receive all the love and support necessary to grow into healthy and responsible adults.

National child day is a time set aside to listen to children and marvel at all they have to offer. It is also a time to delight in the special meaning they give our lives and the hope they create for the future.

Let us take this opportunity to express our love, respect and support to all those who are this country's greatest asset, our children.

Solicitor General Of Canada

[Jay Hill, Reform, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, newspapers from coast to coast scream for the solicitor general to resign. They say he is a dead duck on life support, that his credibility is in tatters, that it is time to say goodbye, to relieve him of his cabinet post and for him to resign.

The only person who finds his behaviour acceptable is the Prime Minister. When did the Prime Minister's ethics sink this low?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's ethics are certainly a matter of the highest level. We should be proud of the Prime Minister's actions. He has said that he continues to support the solicitor general.

I want to say that I never knew the Reform Party could not think for itself and had to rely on newspaper editorials for its ideas.

[Jay Hill, Reform, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely absurd that the government allows the situation to continue. The fact is the solicitor general violated his oath of office by talking about an ongoing sensitive police investigation. He violated the trust of Canadians by compromising the APEC inquiry.

The Prime Minister is willing to let his cabinet minister get away with anything simply to avoid the embarrassment of having to fire him. Why does the Prime Minister lack the ethics to fire the solicitor general?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, why is the hon. member showing a lack of ethics by making these unwarranted insinuations and innuendoes? He is showing questions about his own ethics in asking this ridiculous question.

[Jay Hill, Reform, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, only the government continues to defend the solicitor general.

Let us look at what the Prime Minister is defending: a cabinet minister who ducks journalists, runs from the House and the truth, stonewalls, covers up, and does not know when to keep his mouth shut in public.

What does it say about the Prime Minister's own judgment and character that this is what he holds up as acceptable cabinet behaviour?

[The Speaker]

We are bordering when we start judging our own or anyone's character. I think the language is getting just a bit too strong.

[Grant McNally, Reform, Dewdney—Alouette, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says it is okay for the solicitor general to publicly discuss sensitive matters.

We are wondering if the Prime Minister also now thinks it is okay for perhaps the justice minister to comment on cases before the court as long as she is not the one who writes the final judgment.

When did the Prime Minister rewrite these so-called ethical guidelines to allow this kind of behaviour?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, was this a public discussion or was it made public by an NDP member who created the unfortunate situation we are discussing right now?

[Grant McNally, Reform, Dewdney—Alouette, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it does matter what cabinet ministers say, where they say it or whom they say it to. It is only the Prime Minister who does not realize that crystal clear fact.

I have a question for the government. As long as the Prime Minister continues to hang on to the solicitor general, does he not know that his historical record will read that he is the prime minister that had more arrogance than ethics?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, when the hon. member makes a personal attack like that it shows only one thing. He has a very weak case. He knows it and the country will know it.

When it comes to the ethics of the Prime Minister they are of the highest level. He deserves our praise and our support for the way he carries out his work on behalf of all Canadians.

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

Mr. Speaker, except for the Prime Minister, everybody knows it is high time the Solicitor General was relieved of his duties. It is the only way the government will be able to extricate itself from a major crisis.

In view of the fact that Canadians are unanimous on this issue, including those in the riding of Fredericton, why has the Solicitor General not been dismissed yet?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Solicitor General still has the support of the Prime Minister and of his colleagues.

I wonder why the Bloc Quebecois does not have other questions for the government. Of course, it agrees with our position on social union and on the health transfer. Thanks again for that vote of confidence.

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

Mr. Speaker, demagogy is certainly not the Deputy Prime Minister's strong suit.

Everybody knows the Prime Minister has the nasty habit of keeping ministers who are at fault until he can find a useful excuse to get rid of them, such as a letter to the CRTC or to the immigration tribunal.

If the Prime Minister has not yet dismissed the Solicitor General, is it because he has not yet found an excuse to get rid of him or because he has not yet found someone to replace him?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we already have a replacement here, namely the member speaking on behalf of her party. She may have already replaced everybody on the front benches in this matter.

[Richard Marceau, Bloc, Charlesbourg, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the solicitor general is on the political equivalent of life support. The Prime Minister's desire to keep him alive politically is the non-medical equivalent of aggressive life-support measures.

My question is a very simple one. How much longer is this going to last?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I repeat, during his official trip to China, the Prime Minister has confirmed that the solicitor general still has his full confidence, as well as that of his colleagues.

[Richard Marceau, Bloc, Charlesbourg, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we did indeed hear the Prime Minister defending the solicitor general this morning.

If he insists on continuing to focus parliament's attention and public opinion on the tragicomedy of the solicitor general, is this not because he clings to this as a diversion from his own involvement in the events in Vancouver?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, not in the least, absolutely not.

I reject the hon. member's assumptions on this matter. Once again I repeat, this matter is before the public complaints commission. So we should let the commission do its job.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister asks whether it was a public discussion. Indeed it was public discussion about a sensitive issue in a public place.

Yesterday in a radio interview involving both me and the Liberal member for Pickering—Ajax—Uxbridge, even he said he would find it difficult to defend the solicitor general.

The die is cast. What remains is for the deed to be done. Even members of the other caucus admit that there are problems. When will the Prime Minister do the deed and ask for the resignation of the solicitor general?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I simply want to repeat that the solicitor general continues to have the confidence of the Prime Minister.

I also want to point out that the NDP, with all its concern for social issues, unemployment, poverty and homelessness, has forgotten all these things. It cannot choose to ask a question in that regard. Again, it must be a vote of confidence in the way the government continues to tackle and make progress on dealing with these serious issues.