Debates of Nov. 26th, 1998

Agriculture

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to see all parties in the House recognize the farm crisis, the droughts we had in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, the low prices of grains, the tremendous problem in the hog industry, the need for our provinces and the federal government to co-operate. Can the minister of agriculture relate to the House how he plans to co-operate with our provincial governments to alleviate this farm crisis?

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

Mr. Speaker, the support of the member for Miramichi and my colleagues on this side of the House and their bringing the views of this unfortunate situation before my cabinet colleagues have been very helpful. We will work to do what we can as quickly as possible in order to alleviate the disaster situation on too many farms.

Health

[Grant Hill, Reform, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this is the anniversary of the Krever report on tainted blood. Judge Krever suggested we compensate every single victim. A year later not one single victim has been compensated by this government. Twelve hundred victims died during the course of this year. Is there anybody across the way who will stand up and say they do not have a twinge of conscience over the abandonment of those individuals? Somebody stand up.

[Elinor Caplan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, one year ago the Government of Canada received from Judge Krever 17 recommendations aimed directly at the federal government. I want all members of the House to know that all 17 have been acted on. We immediately established the national Blood Safety Council. We have two new blood agencies, Héma-Québec and the Canadian Blood Services. We have injected $125 million to enhance Health Canada's blood regulations—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Macleod.

[Grant Hill, Reform, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I guess the parliamentary secretary on her first question in the House could be excused for that nonsense—

[The Speaker]

I ask the hon. member to be very judicious in his choice of words and I ask him to please go directly to his question.

[Grant Hill, Reform, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the first recommendation was to compensate all the victims. If the parliamentary secretary can stand up and say she is proud of the record, I am not.

[Elinor Caplan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, this issue is much too serious for crass partisan politics. He knows full well this government has put more than $1.3 billion in this issue and $800 million to settle class action lawsuits. We believe that people need care. We put $300 million and offered to do our share with the provinces to make sure that over the course of their lives, people who have been infected with hepatitis C will get the care they need.

Agriculture

[Dick Proctor, NDP, Palliser, SK]

Mr. Speaker, media reports indicate that the government caucus and the minister of agriculture finally accept the severity of the situation affecting many Canadian farmers facing the worst crisis since the dirty thirties. But the same report suggests all cabinet ministers may not yet be on side.

My question therefore is for the Minister of Finance. Does the minister accept the tragic reality facing tens of thousands of Canadian farm families and, if so, will he commit today to both a short term disaster relief program and longer term protection for our beleaguered farm families?

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

Mr. Speaker, I met with my cabinet colleagues as recently as over breakfast this morning and lunch today. I can give the assurance to the hon. member that my cabinet colleagues fully understand the severity of the situation that too many Canadian farmers are in at the present time.

[Rick Laliberte, NDP, Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, our farmers all agree that they are victims of international trade wars that are driving our prices down. This government abandoned our producers by prematurely cutting federal support. The finance minister in 1995 announced the elimination of the Crow benefit. Our farmers lost $320 million per year just in Saskatchewan.

Will the Minister of Finance support an immediate and long term national disaster relief program to save our family farms and keep them competitive worldwide?

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

Mr. Speaker, yes there were adjustments made but the hon. member forgets to tell everybody that Saskatchewan received nearly $900 million in a one time capital payment.

Apec Inquiry

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

Mr. Speaker, today the noose got a little tighter around efforts to uncover the truth about APEC. The federal court has placed the RCMP public complaints commission in a freeze mode and the process has taken so many blows that the only person in Canada that has confidence in the process is the Prime Minister and perhaps his deputy. They prefer to hide behind any cover they can find. First it was the solicitor general, now it is the mortally wounded APEC panel.

Canadians want the truth. When will they get straight answers and an independent judicial inquiry?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian people have always been getting straight answers from the Prime Minister and his colleagues. What is missing is straight questions from the hon. member and his colleagues.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister have mastered the art of saying much but saying little, the test of integrity is performance, not Liberal talking points. The pathetic broken record responses from the Deputy Prime Minister do nothing to improve the faith.

If the government wants to get to the bottom of APEC, why is it sponsoring Bill C-44 which would allow the cabinet to fire the public complaints commission chair without any correspondence? Perhaps the President of the Treasury Board can listen to this question and answer.

[Marcel Massé, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-44 has cleaned up a mess left by the Conservatives because of such patronage over their various years.

Out of 3,000 people named by order in council we have cut over 800 and we have saved millions of dollars by doing it.

Foreign Affairs

[Sarmite Bulte, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The visit to Canada of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson marks the 50th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights.

What discussions did the minister have with Ms. Robinson about the decision of the British House of Lords on the extradition of General Pinochet?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member properly points out the importance of the visit of the UN high commissioner. We had an opportunity to discuss many subjects.

The decision on the Pinochet case highlights, as the high commissioner said, the importance of establishing an international criminal court and she encouraged Canada to continue its leadership in establishing this important new institution.

Golden West Document Shredding

[Werner Schmidt, Reform, Kelowna, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister of public works was responsible for shredding 22,000 boxes of confidential private information on Canadian families. Instead of shredding that information, it was sold at a profit.

Yesterday the minister told us that everything is okay, after all he knew about it since July. The privacy commissioner does not think so. He is launching his own investigation.

Why did the minister keep this scandal of a major breach of privacy a secret? Just how bad is the news?

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, when my department realized there was a breach of contract we reacted right away. We cancelled the contract and all the security checks the firm had.

We did not hide anything. It was all in the paper. The member just realized it now, five months later. If the privacy commissioner wants to have an investigation we are ready, my department and I, to co-operate with the privacy commissioner.

Ice Breaking Policy

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister accused the Bloc Quebecois of spreading misinformation about ice breaking.

Yet, he knows that the Bloc Quebecois has been dealing closely with the shipping industry on this issue.

My question is for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. With the legitimate protests and unanimous outcry from the industry and the implementation of the new fee schedule due in less than a month, will the minister declare a moratorium until his policy can be amended as required?

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

Mr. Speaker, I met yesterday with a group from the industry to discuss their counterproposals. I am currently examining their remarks from yesterday and the counterproposal they gave me last week.

At the moment, there is no good reason to act on the member's request. We will see. I have to discuss the matter with my cabinet colleagues as well.

Labour Market Training

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, a recent report from the Canadian Labour Force Development Board states that Canada's labour market training system is in chaos and confusion.

After dumping training on to the provinces and slashing the spending by $700 million, now there is no planning, no co-ordination, no national standards and access is getting to be a joke.

Will the minister of human resources accept that labour market training is in crisis and will he use the EI windfall surplus to restore the $700 million gutted from our training programs?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, we have not dumped the responsibility on to the provinces, but for a very long time the provinces wanted a better partnership with the Government of Canada. We have negotiated this agreement with the provincial governments, including two NDP governments in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

We have invested $800 million more in active measures to help unemployed Canadians get back to work and that will bring the total amount to $2.7 billion per year to do precisely that job in partnership with the provinces.