Debates of Nov. 4th, 1998

Canada Mortgage And Housing Corporation

[Ghislain Lebel, Bloc, Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday afternoon the Minister of Public Works and Government Services told this House that the $235 appraisal fee imposed on anyone securing a loan with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation was an average cost, so to speak, and that, if CMHC were to appraise every property individually, the cost would be much higher.

Since an appraisal is done on only one out of every twenty properties in Quebec, where is the truth in the minister's remarks: each appraisal costs $4,700 on average or the CMHC is filling its pockets at the expense of borrowers?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make the hon. member understand that, first of all, with this new appraisal and qualification system, every buyer gets an immediate response. So, our priority is to serve the buyer so that he can have a secured loan to buy a property.

Second, we are not the lenders and we make sure that, when financial institutions grant a loan for an appraised property, and building projects in general, there is premium to pay, a rather small one, in my view. And with modern technology—

[The Speaker]

I am sorry to interrupt the minister. The hon. member for Halifax West has the floor.

National Defence

[Gordon Earle, NDP, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, our troops face wretched decaying conditions.

Will the minister respond quickly to improve pay and living conditions for Canada's military and, as a partial means to find funds, provide Canadians with a complete listing of all big ticket, high tech military equipment currently mothballed in warehouses across this country?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we want to respond just as quickly as possible to the report of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs on quality of life issues.

A high priority for this government is to make sure that the men and women in uniform are properly looked after. We are going through an analysis of the 89 recommendations of that report just as quickly as we can, costing of the various recommendations and as soon as possible we will bring our report forward.

Fisheries

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.

Nova Scotia and Bay of Fundy lobster conservation measures are not being applied evenly across the board. If the minister wants these new regulations to work, then adjacent lobster fishing areas must have the same conservation measures. For instance, lobsters that are illegal to catch in district 33 are legal to catch in adjoining district 34. How is the minister going to prevent smuggling and illegal sales between these two adjacent districts?

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

Mr. Speaker, uniformity of measurement for legal lobsters is an important objective. We have put in place a number of measures in many different lobster harvesting areas of maritime Canada to achieve that. Nevertheless for historic reasons and sometimes because of the requests of the fishermen themselves, it has not been possible to reach a single uniform size across the entire board.

I certainly appreciate the hon. member's interest in making sure we arrive at that situation just as soon as we can.

Foreign Aid

[Sarkis Assadourian, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister for International Co-operation.

Officials in Central America have estimated that more than 12,000 people have died in floods and mudslides triggered by hurricane Mitch. Tens of thousands are injured and tens of thousands more have been left homeless.

What efforts has the Canadian government made to provide relief to the victims of this natural disaster?

[Claudette Bradshaw, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister for International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that all Canadians share the hon. member's concern.

Yesterday CIDA made an initial contribution of $1 million in emergency assistance through the Red Cross, the Pan American Health Organization and our embassy. A strategic reconnaissance team, including members of the Canadian forces disaster assistance response team, will be deployed today to Central America to determine what further assistance is needed.

I can assure all Canadians that the minister is monitoring the situation very closely.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the public gallery of a group of teachers who come from all over Canada.

These teachers are the participants of the third annual Teachers' Institute on Canadian Parliamentary Democracy. The objective of this forum is to recognize teaching excellence and foster a greater understanding of parliament.

Please welcome these teachers who are preparing future generations of Canadian citizens.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, today there was a Standing Order 31 statement in which one of our member's used the initials JC in his comments. In my zeal to be overly funny, as I sometimes do, I made a mistake.

I referred to a former member of this House whose initials are JC, Jean Charest. I apologize to you, my colleagues, for having done that. It will not be done again.

Points Of Order

[Carolyn Parrish, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this seems to be a day for apologies.

Unknown to me, on May 19 there appears to have been some misuse of letterhead and possibly envelopes from my riding office.

Immediate repayment will be made for any costs incurred and I thank the member opposite for bringing it to my attention.

[The Speaker]

I consider this matter closed.

Committees Of The House

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 109, I am pleased to table, in both official languages, the government's response to the 14th report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

Government Response To Petitions

[Gar Knutson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to seven petitions.

Committees Of The House

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Toronto Centre—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present in both official languages the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade on Bill C-35, an act to amend the Special Import Measures Act and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act.

Your committee has considered this bill and agreed to report it without amendment. In September 1996 a subcommittee of each of the standing committees on foreign affairs and international trade and finance initiated at the request of the Minister of Finance a joint study on the Special Import Measures Act. Their report, presented in December of that year, concluded that while the SIMA responded adequately to the Canadian business community's expectations, some improvements could be made. Their recommendations were received by the government favourably and virtually all were incorporated into this bill.

I take the opportunity to thank the many witnesses who participated in the SIMA review, the members of the subcommittees for their contribution to these amendments and the minister and his officials for their careful consideration of the subcommittee representations.

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I too have the honour to present, in both official languages, the second report of the Standing Committee on Health entitled “Natural Health Products: A New Vision”.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109 of the House of Commons, the committee requests the government table a comprehensive response to this report within 150 days.

About one year ago the Minister of Health asked the Standing Committee on Health to examine the issues related to natural health products, herbal medicines and alternative therapies. The committee took the mandate and listened to more than 300 live presentations and received over 1,000 written depositions on the matter.

The committee sat over the course of about eight months and through careful deliberation has come forward with a series of recommendations that it is confident the department and the minister will accept with great receptivity.

I take this opportunity to thank all members of the committee, past and present, for their diligent work, their thoughtful and energetic exercise in this matter, all the witnesses who wrote and who appeared before the committee, and all those government officials who made themselves available during the course of our deliberations as well as the committee staff for being so ready and willing to listen to our every little intervention.

[Gar Knutson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the 41st report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the selection of votable items in accordance with Standing Order 92. This report is deemed adopted on presentation.

Furthermore, I have the honour to present the 42nd report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the membership of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. If the House gives consent I intend to move concurrence in the 42nd report this day.

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. As the official opposition representative, I would like to make a brief dissenting opinion on the 41st presentation of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.

I bring to the attention of the House the displeasure of not just the official opposition but the rest of the opposition parties to the fact that although there were seven private members' bills selected from members of the House of Commons and there were three vacancies so that private members' business could have been debated and voted on in the House, instead the committee chose to select a Senate bill as the one and only votable private members' business.

The official opposition is very unhappy with that. We are very discouraged with the fact that Senate bills take priority over private members' bills from members of the House of Commons. I must say it has soured the committee considerably and it has made for very unhappy members of parliament on all sides of the House.

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Health in accordance with its order of reference of Tuesday, October 20, 1998. Your committee has considered Bill C-42, an act to amend the Tobacco Act. The committee has agreed to report it with amendments.

Again, I thank all committee members for the energy they put into its deliberation.

National Horse Of Canada Act

[Murray Calder, Liberal, Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-454, an act to provide for the recognition of the Canadian horse as the national horse of Canada.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Haliburton—Victoria—Brock for seconding my private member's bill, an act to provide for the recognition of the Canadian horse as the national horse of Canada.

This bill is designed to pay tribute to an animal that has played an important part in our national history and has helped to build Canada as we know it today.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Committees Of The House

[Gar Knutson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to move concurrence in the 42nd report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs tabled earlier today.

(Motion agreed to)

Petitions

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to present three petitions pursuant to Standing Order 36.

The first one deals with Canada's signing of a number of international trade agreements. The petitioners from Kamloops are particularly concerned about the fact that this restricts the ability of the federal government as well as other governments to promote economic growth and pass legislation to protect the health and well-being of Canadians.

They feel that we should be careful in terms of signing any further agreements, particularly some form of the MAI.

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition on another matter from a number of Canadians, namely Cam Murray and Robina McLaren.

They are concerned about the unfair tax system of Canada and point out a number of reasons why they feel our tax system is biased and unfair. They are calling for a complete remaking of our tax system with a reminder of the Carter commission as a guideline.