Debates of Nov. 27th, 1998

Immigration

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think the minister spoke to her officials this morning.

How can the government justify refusing this visa to an Irish democrat, a man who has chosen peace, and whose leader, Gerry Adams, was welcomed here a few weeks ago, when the government went out of its way to welcome the Prime Minister's dictator friend, President Suharto, last year?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, again, there was no refusal, because there was no application.

Public Works And Government Services

[Val Meredith, Reform, South Surrey—White Rock—Langley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, confidential documents from the Privy Council Office were discovered unshredded in a Burnaby warehouse, as were restricted NATO documents.

The minister has known about this for months, yet he ordered his department to cover up this massive security breach to avoid media attention. He went so far as to keep this information from the privacy commissioner.

Just how serious was this breach of security that the minister was afraid to inform the privacy commissioner?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have been saying since Wednesday that the moment we learned about this incident we acted right away. We took all necessary security procedures. We removed the material that was in the warehouse. We called the RCMP. Since then, the RCMP has been investigating. This has been open. I did not order anybody to hide anything.

[Rob Anders, Reform, Calgary West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, despite the minister's denial on Wednesday, Canadians now know that sensitive documents were shipped to Korea, China and the United States instead of being burned and shredded.

Will the minister tell us just who in these foreign countries has received our secrets? Their military or industrial concerns? Who in China is reading our confidential NATO documents?

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

Mr. Speaker, it seems that the other side does not listen to the answers. I said that as soon as we learned of this, we called the RCMP to investigate. They are investigating. We received a preliminary report of the investigation. I want to make sure they get it right. Sergeant John Ward said “We are quite sure that no national security issues were compromised”.

Official Languages Commissioner

[Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral, Bloc, Laval Centre, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today we read in the National Post that the government is getting ready to appoint a new official languages commissioner.

Although the government promised to appoint a successor to Dr. Goldbloom before Christmas, the Bloc Quebecois has not yet been consulted on the matter.

Does the government intend to respect the precedent it recently set for the position of access to information commissioner and allow the House to debate the matter?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her question, which is a very important one. I must inform her that the allegations in today's papers are completely false.

[Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral, Bloc, Laval Centre, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would still like the minister to elaborate.

According to the article in the National Post , two people are on the short list: Jean-Jacques Blais and Jean-Pierre Kingsley.

Since Mr. Kingsley indicated in the same report that he has never been contacted in this regard, is the government not getting ready to reward another friend of the regime and hand out a patronage appointment to Mr. Blais?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, in fact the member has just confirmed what I told her. I told her that the allegations were false. One of the two persons apparently mentioned in the article has also said it is false, so false it is. And now there is even a witness.

Canada Post

[Werner Schmidt, Reform, Kelowna, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada Post is about to force postal franchises out of business across this country by imposing a restructuring of commissions on stamp sales. Atlantic Canada will be especially hard hit. In fact none of the postal outlets in Atlantic Canada say they will be viable after this imposition.

The minister knows that allowing Canada Post to close businesses is a hardship on these people. Why is he allowing Canada Post to force these people out of business, killing jobs and disrupting the postal service in Canada?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have been informed by Canada Post that it has been working with the franchisees to make sure that in the new system of commissions for the new projects they have, those outlets with a counter in their store will not lose any money.

I ordered a moratorium for two months which expires December 1, next Tuesday. I am sure that next Tuesday Canada Post will make the right decision and the right announcement. The member should wait for that announcement.

[Werner Schmidt, Reform, Kelowna, BC]

Mr. Speaker, that is very interesting. Does the minister admit by that statement that Canada Post will announce on Tuesday that there will indeed be a moratorium on the imposition of the new commission structure?

The minister knows he can change this and keep these people in business if he imposes a moratorium thereby protecting small business and the postal services in Canada.

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

Mr. Speaker, December 1 is next Tuesday. I hope the member will wait until Tuesday before drawing any conclusions.

Canada Post wants its franchises, its postal outlets to continue giving service to Canadians and they will do so. We will make sure that they continue giving good service. Whatever decision Canada Post makes, those franchises will not lose any money.

Agriculture

[Hélène Alarie, Bloc, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the hog industry is going through the worst price crisis it has ever experienced.

In order to help farmers, the Canadian Pork Council is suggesting that Canada consider the food aid program and send 10,000 tonnes of pork to Russia for humanitarian purposes.

My question is for the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. Is he prepared to take that course of action?

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

Mr. Speaker, this government has always actively participated in food aid programs and in international support.

I have certainly had a number of comments from the pork industry and other agriculture and agri-food industries to the effect that this government should take this into consideration as it always has. We will take that consideration and will discuss it among our cabinet colleagues as a government.

Justice

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice.

A month ago the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights tabled the report “Victims Rights: A voice, not a veto”. What has the minister done with these recommendations?

[Eleni Bakopanos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to congratulate all the members of the justice committee, and my colleagues who held town hall meetings to give victims an opportunity to have a real voice within the Canadian justice system.

The minister brought forth these recommendations at the last meeting of the provincial and territorial ministers. She will be responding very soon in order to ensure there will be a real voice for victims in our system.

National Defence

[Art Hanger, Reform, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, another helicopter mishap and the minister has not even been able to get the helicopters off the ground. I do not think the minister is treating this issue with the importance it should have.

It will be another two years before a new Cormorant helicopter comes into service. The defence department has said that operating the Labradors beyond 1998 is a significant risk.

Will the defence minister look at leasing new helicopters as a stopgap measure?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, there was a small electrical fire in the anti-icing system of one of our Labradors. It was put out. No one was injured. Damage to the aircraft was minimal.

As I have said many times, we only put our aircraft in the air when they are safe to fly. Regarding the life of the Labradors, the Labradors will be able to function with a high maintenance level and the overhaul level applied in their maintenance until we get the new Cormorants.

[Jim Hart, Reform, Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence is the only Canadian who has confidence in the Labrador helicopter, a helicopter that is 35 years old and now apparently has developed a spontaneous combustion problem.

Two incidents have taken place since the October 2 tragic incident that saw six of our air crew killed. When will the minister do the right thing and lease new helicopters? Are human lives worth less to this government than leasing new helicopters?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I have more confidence in these helicopters and more confidence in the people who operate and maintain them than certainly the hon. member and the leader of his party have.

We definitely keep a very high level of maintenance. If we need additional resources in the operation of our search and rescue mission, even the leasing of aircraft, we are quite prepared to entertain that.

Poverty

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, chronic poverty is Canada's worst human rights problem and this week we got an earful about it from the United Nations. The UN asked Canada some very tough questions.

It asked why in such a rich country we tolerate escalating rates of child poverty and poverty among women. It asked why we were fighting the deficit on the backs of the poor and the unemployed. These are questions we in the NDP have been asking for years.

Will the government heed the warnings from our colleagues at the UN and use the next federal budget to fight the real deficit in the country, the social deficit?

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

Mr. Speaker, I reassure the opposition that our government has had very good answers to provide to the people in Geneva at the United Nations, of which we are a very proud member.

These answers will include the commitment we have made as a government to fight child poverty by investing $1.7 billion more in the national child benefit. That is a great deal of money and is on top of the $5 billion we already put toward children in the country.

We will be very pleased to speak about last year's budget which included the Canadian opportunities strategy that helps with access to education which provides better jobs for Canadians. We will be speaking about—

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member for Winnipeg Centre.