Debates of Dec. 9th, 1998

Child Poverty

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out to the hon. member for Shefford and to all the members of this House that, in the past two budgets, children have indeed been the priority for the Minister of Finance and for this government.

We invested in the national child benefit, which we negotiated with the provinces and which represents an $850 million investment that will increase to $1.7 billion, starting in the year 2000, to help Canadian children who live in poverty.

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

Mr. Speaker, in spite of the minister's claim, the situation in this country has deteriorated to the point where, last month, it generated concern among officials from the UN committee responsible for looking at Canada's efforts to reduce poverty on its territory.

Will the minister reiterate his intention to improve Canada's performance with regard to child poverty by introducing a comprehensive plan with real objectives and timetables?

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

Mr. Speaker, we are obviously very concerned about the issue of poverty, particularly child poverty in this country.

That is why, in recent years, we have introduced a number of measures such as the national child benefit, which also helps the provinces improve the quality of programs and services for children living in poverty.

This is why we introduced the family income supplement within the—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Human Resources Development has the floor.

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Papineau—Saint-Denis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to reassure the members of this House by telling them that eliminating child poverty is a priority and that all our programs reflect that priority.

This is one of the reasons why we reintroduced the youth employment strategy, because the parents are often young. All of our programs form a plan designed to fight child poverty.

National Defence

[Art Hanger, Reform, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, several weeks ago I asked the Minister of National Defence whether his department was to be cutting back on the number of troops to deal with the cash crunch the military is facing. The reply at that time was no, they had no plans to do such a thing.

Yesterday, however, I asked the chief of defence staff in committee the same question. He confirmed what other troops of all ranks have been saying for some time, that there are planned cutbacks.

Why did the defence minister tell the House that there would be no further cuts when in fact his department was planning that very thing?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I think as many of my colleagues on the committee are saying, the hon. member has it quite wrong. There are no plans of further reductions in troop levels.

There is no doubt, though, there are a lot of pressures. We have had a 23% reduction in budget in the last four years, a 30% reduction in troops and there are a lot of pressures that have to be dealt with.

We have to continue to look at all different kinds of options and that is what the CDS was saying yesterday, that it would be responsible to look at it.

We would be an awful lot worse off if we had to deal with the kind of budget the Reform Party proposed, because it wanted to cut $1 billion. That would certainly reduce troop levels.

[Art Hanger, Reform, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the military, the House and the country have to wait a few more months and they will see what the Liberal government will do to the military. It will gut it to the point where it will not even be effective anymore.

The chief of defence staff said in committee yesterday: “All options are open and of course we have to look at this”, referring to troop cutbacks.

How long will the minister keep his hidden agenda the way it has been?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, there is no hidden agenda.

As the CDS said we have to continue to look at all different options to meet the cost pressures. But there are no plans to that extent. The hon. member is just speculating.

Health

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have just been greatly astounded by the Minister of Health's admission that the health system needs reinforcing.

I have a question for the minister. Does he not understand that the best way of doing so is not to add programs on top of what is already there, thus creating duplication, but rather to hand back to the provinces the money cut from them?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the best way to proceed is in partnership with the provinces. We have every intention of proceeding in this way.

At the present time we are in the process of discussing with our partners effective approaches to reinforce the health care system, and this will continue.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health's spirit of partnership was somewhat lacking when the time came to unilaterally take $6 billion from the provinces.

What I am asking him, and what is of concern to us, what is of concern to the premiers, is not whether funds are short in the health field. Everyone in Canada admits this. What I am asking is this. Does the minister intend to ride roughshod over health, bringing in new programs that will keep his employees busy, or does he intend to return the money he took from the provinces which has led to the problem now facing us? That is what we want to know.

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, it is our intention to work along with our partners to ensure that the needs of our health system are met.

The Prime Minister has already said the health will be the object of our next major investment. With money, with work, with partnership, we are going to reinforce the health care system.

Agriculture

[Howard Hilstrom, Reform, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, now we know how the minister of agriculture really feels about the crisis in western Canada and across the whole country. While he cries crocodile tears out west his bureaucrats in Ottawa have been writing a report that concludes there is no agriculture crisis. According to them farmers are just faking it. Is the minister denying much needed emergency relief because he does not believe there is a crisis?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have indicated very clearly in the House and across the country the seriousness of the situation, contrary to the hon. member who last week on national television said hog farmers were just crying. We know they are not crying. They are serious and so are we.

[Howard Hilstrom, Reform, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, once again the minister is not telling the entire truth—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Laval East.

Atomic Energy Canada Limited

[Maud Debien, Bloc, Laval East, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Financial Administration Act provides that the business plan of each crown corporation must be approved by the government and that a summary of this plan is to be tabled in parliament.

According to the auditor general, however, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited has not met this requirement for the past three years.

When does the President of the Treasury Board intend to show transparency and let us know the size of the financial black hole that Canada's nuclear program is?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, I believe the question related to the AECL, but in all the racket I may have missed a portion of it and I would welcome a repeat.

In terms of the business plan with respect to the AECL, it is before the proper authorities now for consideration and as soon as that consideration is complete it will be dealt with in the appropriate manner.

[Maud Debien, Bloc, Laval East, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a supplementary for the Minister of Finance.

In his March 1996 budget, the Minister of Finance announced that financial support for AECL would be cut. However, the public accounts reveal that they increased by 13% in 1996-97.

How can the Minister of Finance justify such a variance between what his budgets say and what his government actually spends?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, in the very difficult process of program review, the government's support for AECL has been reduced from $174 million a year to $100 million a year. That is a massive reduction.

There may be some cashflow variations or cash profiling variations from year to year. At the end of the program review process, the number will be no more than $100 million.

Revenue Canada

[Jason Kenney, Reform, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Revenue Canada is rife with internal reports that hundreds of positions are being moved from Ottawa to Shawinigan, the Prime Minister's constituency.

Revenue Canada employees are calling talk shows and reporting that they have been issued pink slips because their positions are being moved.

Can the minister of revenue confirm or deny for us whether positions are being moved to Shawinigan and, if so, how many?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, Revenue Canada for a long time has decentralized much of its workload to places around the country, to Prince Edward Island and to other places. This has been an ongoing process.

There has been a reallocation of staff all over the country but this is part of what Revenue Canada has been doing, relocating staff from Ottawa to regions across the country, not only in Quebec but in P.E.I. and in other parts.

We think this is good. We think this is one of the ways we can better serve Canadians across the country.

[Jason Kenney, Reform, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, clearly the minister does not have a clue what is going on in his department yet again. Clearly the minister does not understand how many jobs are being moved from Ottawa, coincidentally I am sure, to the Prime Minister's constituency.

Could the minister tell us how many hundreds of public service jobs are going to Shawinigan as a going away present from an outgoing Prime Minister?