Debates of March 13th, 1998

Light Stations

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

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian most in trouble and in deep water and rough seas appears to be my hon. friend. There is no substance of truth to him.

I have, as I mentioned in the response to his first question, visited many light stations. Light keepers have been of great assistance to many people. I was pleased to have the conversation on information at that time. Never was my vessel in any danger.

Back to the issue of safety, we are bringing in a new hovercraft for the west coast area, double the size of the existing one. We are bringing in 12 new lifeboats of a new design. We have increased the funding for the—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Sackville—Eastern Shore.

Fisheries

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, my question is to the same minister.

In October 1997 the coastal community network of B.C. received from the DFO $115,000 to address the serious concerns of fish stock conservations.

When coho stocks are in such serious crisis on the B.C. coast, why did his department advise HRDC to cancel the funding for the habitat mapping program and put 45 displaced fishers out of work?

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

Mr. Speaker, this is a bad day for the opposition on fisheries questions.

The organization that the hon. member is referring to received $14.7 million to assist displaced fishers on 48 separate projects. Yes, my department did fund to the tune of $115,000 in December last year a particular project to which he is referring on the west coast. Later in the evaluation of the next $460,000 that they requested we did not find it possible in conjunction with human resources development to fund that particular project.

But there is a continuing list of projects that we are approving—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Sackville—Eastern Shore.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, that is the reason why B.C. coast fish stocks are in such severe depletion. All we ever get from this minister are vague answers.

Only one day after the DFO announced a crisis in the B.C. coho stocks, with some of these species facing extinction, the government gave the axe to the program. Where is this government's commitment to protect fish habitat and support displaced fishers in the B.C. coastal communities who have been devastated by DFO mismanagement of the fishery?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member seems to be carping a little too much about this project and he has clearly found a red herring to pick on in this instance.

The fact is we have funded, for this same organization, project after project to the tune of $14.7 million in the last 18 months to 24 months. In a particular project it was viewed after the assessment as not being of the highest priority. Not that it is not a good project. It is, but we can fund only about one of four of the many excellent projects that come our way from community groups. Therefore we try to assess the best ones, the ones that have the best impact of these three criteria.

One, its impact on improving—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Fundy—Royal.

Agriculture

[John Herron, Progressive Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the minister of agriculture.

For 21 months Canadian dairy farmers have been asking the government to subject butteroil-sugar blends to appropriate tariff lines. On Wednesday the parliamentary secretary stated that the CITT might not solve the problem but at the end of the day it would take political will.

Two times trade tribunals have upheld the Canadian dairy industry's right to establish tariff lines. Why will the minister not show leadership on this issue instead of sending this matter to lawyers? Will he commit today to subject these blends to appropriate tariffs while dairy farmers wait for the CITT ruling? If not, why not?

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

Mr. Speaker, the government has taken this issue very seriously on behalf of the dairy farmers of Canada.

There have been different views on this issue. We have not been able to find, nor have our lawyers, the technical and legal grounds to put these products into tariff lines. In order to make sure no stone is unturned on this we have asked the highest trade court in the land, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, to review this.

What disappoints me is that to date, and I hope they change their mind, members of the executive of the dairy farmers of Canada have stated that they do not wish to go before that tribunal and argue their own case.

[John Herron, Progressive Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Mr. Speaker, New Brunswick and Canadian dairy farmers are extremely upset that the government has chosen to side step its responsibilities and commitments to Canada's milk producers by referring the butteroil-sugar blend issue to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal.

At the signing of the final act at the Uruguay round the government indicated that imports of dairy blends would be subject to import controls.

Does the minister understand that it is the cows which are supposed to be milked, not Canadian dairy farmers? Why do the government and the minister insist on milking Canadian dairy farmers to the tune of $50 million each year?

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

Mr. Speaker, one thing we have done very clearly for the benefit of the dairy farmers in Canada is worked with them on a rules based regime.

Following the rules based regime, the dairy farmers of Canada were helped very much when we won the NAFTA panel challenge and we are going forward with them on another panel challenge to the WTO. We will base that on a rules based regime. That has been a benefit to the dairy industry in the past and we will continue to follow the rules to which we are partners and signatories.

Mutual Life Of Canada

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Mutual Life of Canada announced yesterday the acquisition of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of Canada, headquartered here in Ottawa.

My constituents and those of my colleagues in the area are concerned with the impact of this acquisition on the employment situation in the national capital region.

Will the Secretary of State for Financial Institutions tell this House what the government can do to make sure job loss is kept at a minimum and that those employees who are affected will be treated fairly and even generously?

[Jim Peterson, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this very important question from the member for Ottawa—Vanier. Job losses are of course a major concern to this government, particularly when we have a merger such as this.

In a review of this issue, let me assure the hon. member and all members of this House that the question of jobs will be of paramount concern to us when we talk to the companies. We will try to minimize job losses. We will try to ensure that there are generous severance packages for those who might lose their jobs or take early retirement.

We want to see retraining packages so that people can take advantage of the 4,200 to 5000 new jobs which are predicted—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Calgary East.

Fisheries

[Deepak Obhrai, Reform, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the minister of fisheries.

First, this government forgot Christmas and Easter on the heritage calendar. Now we have been harpooned. This government has announced that the Prince of “Whales” is coming to town.

Is there something this minister should be telling us about Moby Dick? Is this some secret code name for a plan to finally stop U.S. overfishing off the west coast?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have to congratulate the hon. member on his floundering performance on this issue.

Chilean Refugees

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

For 22 days now, 16 political refugee claimants from Chile have been on a hunger strike. These claimants say that irregularities occurred during the review of their files by the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Can the minister assure this House that all documents made available to board members during the review of the files of these Chilean claimants are reliable and credible?

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

Mr. Speaker, first let me tell members of this House that I am personally following the case of these Chilean refugees, who took refuge in the basement of a church, in Montreal.

I met with officials of the Chilean community, and I can assure you that we will allow these people to use all available means under our existing legislation and system.

I am pleased that the Chilean community finally helped us identify these people, so that our department can do all the necessary verifications.

Lobster Fishery

[Angela Vautour, NDP, Beauséjour—Petitcodiac, NB]

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

Since lobster catches dropped by about 25% in 1997, and since fishing is one of my region's major industries, can the minister assure people working in that industry, including plant workers, that he will start listening to them and take the measures needed to ensure the protection of this industry against things such as inconsistent lobster measurements?

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

Mr. Speaker, I assure the hon. member that this is an extremely important question and I thank her for giving me the opportunity to say that we will be bringing in new lobster conservation plans within the next four weeks.

These will be based on the individual area, groups of fishermen, lobster fishermen who themselves have been asked by me to provide the best way in each area for conserving our lobster stocks.

Where they fail to come up with adequate plans, I will impose a plan on them. That will be done within the next four weeks.

Year 2000

[Jim Jones, Progressive Conservative, Markham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, according to Y2K expert Peter de Jager there should be no debate over whether or not the year 2000 problem exists.

With no direction or overall plan of attack by this government, thousands of businesses of all sizes will lose money, time and risk bankruptcy down the road in trying to tackle this inevitable deadline.

Is there any one person in this government who is responsible and accountable to ensure that businesses can make a smooth transition into the 21st century? If so, will that person please stand and be recognized for the record?

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

Mr. Speaker, the federal government is sparing no efforts to ensure that we meet our year 2000 requirement.

There is a special office in Treasury Board that has been set up in order to ensure that the public sector is able to meet the requirements of the year 2000. We have established teams in every one of the departments. We recently gave contracts that could go up to $1.4 billion in order to get the specialists we need to deal with that problem in good time.

Revenue Canada

[David Pratt, Liberal, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of National Revenue. With tax filing season upon us, over 22 million Canadians are now grappling with their 1997 tax returns. Can the parliamentary secretary tell us what efforts are being made by Revenue Canada to make the system more user friendly?

[Sue Barnes, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, a new national 1-800 overflow call centre is now open in Ottawa. The centre has the capacity to answer an extra 10,000 inquiries a day. This will pick up automatically if the regional call centre has a busy signal.

We have invited eight million Canadians to file their tax returns using telefile, using a push button phone. This will cut the processing time in half. Returns take just minutes to file over the phone. The service is available seven days a week and best yet, you get your refund faster.