Debates of Dec. 7th, 1998

Agriculture

[Sergio Marchi, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, if he does not trust our words here is what the Canadian Federal of Agriculture said: “Congratulations are in order for both the agriculture and trade minister for Canada. The agreement marks a positive step forward in Canada-U.S. agriculture trade relations and is good news for Canadian producers”.

As of 1 o'clock this afternoon, the only blockade we can speak of is a group of farmers on Montana's border. The other blockades have ceased. This one, I am assured, will cease as of 4 o'clock. Trade was not severely restricted this weekend.

[Charlie Penson, Reform, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that is rather interesting because two things simply have not changed. The government's so-called deal with the Americans on Friday did not change the fact that Americans blockaded our border two days afterward. It did not change that we are still subject to high subsidies by Europeans and Americans.

When will the minister get out from under his desk and do something to help Canadian farmers?

[Sergio Marchi, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, one has to wonder which side the trade critic for the Reform Party of Canada is on.

What he is asking is that the blockade should have been bigger and longer. If we look at what happened over the weekend, those blockades were already set. I believe, as does the American side of the equation, that this agreement led to those blockades being much smaller.

In fact, the only protest left is the one in Montana. It started in three states. I think the member should recognize that progress was made, which is also for Canadian producers themselves.

Poverty

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.

With the sting still burning from the UN attack on his government's abysmal poverty record, today the minister must be reeling from two more devastating reports.

The CCSD report blames the feds for the declining well-being of Canadian children, and the National Council of Welfare takes the hot air out of the much touted child tax benefit and condemns it for ignoring the poorest of the poor.

If the minister can pull himself out of his chair to face the music, will he commit today to invest the funds necessary to ensure that no children go hungry in Canada?

[Bonnie Brown, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, as I said on Friday, the government is always appreciative and respectful of the research work done by outside agencies commenting on the social policies of the country. We try to learn from those reports.

As far as the charge about the national children's benefit not helping the poorest of the poor, we have found out through our statistics that there are many children in low income working families who have fewer resources than those in welfare families.

We are therefore trying to help low income working families have access to at least the same resources as those on welfare and we make no apologies for that.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, poor people cannot survive on Liberal lip service any longer. The truth is that instead of reversing its dreadful attack on the poor, this government is set on providing tax breaks to the wealthy.

On Friday, the Liberal majority report of the finance committee called for billions in tax cuts for upper income earners. Will the minister promise today to stop catering to the wealthy? Will he do the right thing and commit to a real strategy to fight poverty in Canada, yes or no?

[Bonnie Brown, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, the member knows very well that a report from a standing committee is one of several advisories that is put forward to the finance minister.

The finance minister knows that it is a very high priority for this government and many members on this side to keep the poorest in Canada in mind. That is proven by the fact that we will have $1.7 billion in the national child benefit by the year 2000.

We believe that the best social policy is a job and we are proud of our record. There have been 103,000 jobs created in the last month alone, with more than half—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Brandon—Souris.

Agriculture

[Rick Borotsik, Progressive Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food will be going before his cabinet colleagues again with a revised proposal for farm income supports.

Maybe he could use a little ammunition. Since 1995 there have been 1,053 farm bankruptcies. Ironically, that is the same year that the Liberal government started cutting back on farm support systems.

When the minister goes before his cabinet colleagues tomorrow, is he confident that he is going to get a positive response from his cabinet colleagues?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his support and encouragement to this government to do something for farmers.

We take this seriously and we will continue to take it seriously. If we come forward with a program it will meet a number of criteria that we know it has to meet. I said before that it is my intention and hope to make an announcement before Christmas. I go by that deadline and we will continue that way.

[Rick Borotsik, Progressive Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, if this government and this minister took it seriously, two years ago they could have been looking at support programs, not now when it is a full-blown crisis. The criteria that the minister talks about is money being put into the farmers' pockets. Unfortunately cash will not flow until March 1999.

Is the minister prepared to change the criteria and put cash in farmers' pockets this year so that the farmers can have an early Christmas present and get back on the land this spring?

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Conservative Party too for its new-found interest. The member said that we should have taken this seriously two years ago when we talked about an agricultural program, a policy for our government. There is that party over there that 18 months ago, before the election, wanted to do away with the ministry of agriculture, increase cost-recovery fees and reduce subsidies to agriculture.

What a pleasant turn of events from the Tory party.

1999 Francophone Summit

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in September 1999, Canada will host the eighth Francophone Summit in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Could the Minister responsible for Francophonie give us an overview of the preparations for the summit?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister for International Cooperation and Minister responsible for Francophonie]

Mr. Speaker, I am in fact just back from Bucharest, where I presented the report on preparations for the Moncton summit.

I can say that the infrastructure is in place and that programming on the theme of youth is well underway. The memorandum of understanding between Quebec and New Brunswick was signed in May. Everything is running smoothly, and the ministers responsible for Francophonie are very happy with the progress to date.

Fisheries

[John Cummins, Reform, Delta—South Richmond, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last week I reminded the minister of fisheries of the north coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands and the designated no-kill zone for coho salmon by fisheries scientists. Yet he opened the sport fishery for his friends at Oak Bay Marine Group which killed in the neighbourhood of 30,000 coho.

Does no-kill to this minister mean that only his friends and campaign contributors can go fishing?

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

Mr. Speaker, the program for coho recovery was very successful in British Columbia last year. We have had improvements in just about every area. The numbers are not as good as we would have liked on the north coast with respect to the upper Skeena River where, of course, there is interception by Alaskan fishermen.

In addition, there are some problems in the upper Thompson which remain, but overall it was outstandingly successful and the measures taken dramatically improved the situation over what would have been the case had we not taken those difficult measures last year.

Canadian Human Rights Act

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

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on any grounds against men and women. Paradoxically, however, one class of citizens is excluded, as section 67 provides that nothing in the act affects any provision of the Indian Act.

As we celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights this week, will the Indian affairs minister commit to make representations to her colleague, the human resources development minister, to get him to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act so that it will also protect the rights of aboriginal people?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice already stated in this House that the entire human rights legislation will soon be reviewed by the government. We will indeed be looking at this aspect of the legislation.

Government Expenditures

[Lorne Nystrom, NDP, Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Finance.

This summer the Business Development Bank spent $24,000 on golf club membership fees for Jean Carle, the former director of operations for the prime minister's office. The same Jean Carle was teeing off on students this time last year at the APEC conference.

I ask the minister who wants to be prime minister if he can explain why his government spent $24,000 on Jean Carle's golf fees when the unemployed cannot collect employment insurance, when children are living in poverty, when farmers are going bankrupt and when hospitals are closing?

How can he justify that when he wants to be prime minister of the country?

[Walt Lastewka, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, as mentioned earlier in answer to a previous question—and maybe the member was not listening—the Business Development Bank is a very proactive agency. It operates on a commercial basis. It does a good job at being proactive and arranging partnerships with other financial institutions.

General memberships involve—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order. The hon. parliamentary secretary still has time if he would like more time to answer.

[Walt Lastewka, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I point out that general memberships are a recognized business practice. The financial institutions arrange for partnerships with other financial institutions or with private enterprises. The Business Development Bank has been very proactive in making—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Tobique—Mactaquac.

Parliament Hill

[Gilles Bernier, Progressive Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Mr. Speaker, in a news report this morning the public works minister said that the auditor general is completely wrong in saying that the Hill renovations are way over budget.

In March 1997 the minister submitted a construction plan to Treasury Board showing the cost of major renovations at over $750 million.

Does the minister want us to believe his March 1997 plan or his September 1998 plan?