Debates of March 19th, 1998

Employment

[Bob Nault, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, the member will know if she has talked to the local officials on the ground that there is a program in place to deal with laid off workers. If the member would spend a little time looking at this, we will be quite willing and prepared—

[Louise Hardy, NDP, Yukon, YT]

They need help. The government has money. Help them.

[Bob Nault, Liberal, Kenora—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if the member would listen and not yell across the room, maybe she would hear the answer.

The answer is that there is a transitional program in place for workers who are laid off. Once we put in that program we will help the individuals who are laid off look for work and find work elsewhere.

The Environment

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

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

Last week the minister reintroduced the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and stated in the House that her department had sufficient resources to deal with every element of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act in its current form. Yet her own deputy minister stated in committee that there were not enough resources to enforce all the existing regulations.

How does the minister square what she said in the House last week to what her deputy minister has said? How does the minister expect her department to enforce a new act when it does not have the resources to enforce the existing act?

[Christine Stewart, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to respond to the question. What I said last week is that there is within my department resources available to deal with all enforcement issues necessary, including inspections.

The deputy minister was before the committee. He did respond that there is a review under way to find how we can reallocate some resources to make sure that we have effective enforcement within the department.

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

Mr. Speaker, if the minister is serious about inspections, she might want to listen to this point.

On February 26 one of the minister's officials stated when referencing what happens to a CEPA regulation in Ontario, “If we do not have the resources, then it basically sits in a file until an investigator is freed up, and if an investigator is not freed up over a period of a year or two years, then the file just gets closed”.

Canadians want to know how many broken environmental regulations end up in a file that gets closed.

Why does the minister even bother having environmental regulations if she does not intend on having anyone to enforce them?

[Christine Stewart, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, all the regulations we put in place are enforced.

I would also like to say that enforcement is a serious concern to me as it is for many Canadians. I have asked my department to review our enforcement activities and to find the resources to make sure that our environment is adequately protected.

Taxation

[Alex Shepherd, Liberal, Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of National Revenue.

Millions of Canadians are now in the process of filing their 1997 income tax returns. In spite of assurances in the past, many taxpayers feel that they have little or no rights. What actions are being contemplated to ensure that those who pay the bills have rights and are treated with respect?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, I want thank the hon. member for Durham for his question and his genuine interest in ensuring that Canadian taxpayers are treated with the respect that they deserve.

Fair treatment for taxpayers is of foremost importance to both Canadians and the national revenue department. Just yesterday I released a public discussion paper entitled “Ensuring Fair Customs and Revenue Administration in Canada” in which I make a clear commitment to ensure that fairness is a cornerstone of our tax system.

I look forward to the input of Canadians and my fellow—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Surrey Central.

Canadian International Development Agency

[Gurmant Grewal, Reform, Surrey Central, BC]

Mr. Speaker, CIDA gives out contracts worth billions of dollars. My home province of British Columbia receives only 3% to 4% of these contracts, even after the open bidding contracting system was installed. The two central Canadian provinces received well over 90% of those contracts.

Can the minister come clean and explain the inequitable and unfair treatment that British Columbians are receiving? What has she done to address this unfairness?

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

Mr. Speaker, we now have an open bidding system. The only way contracts can be won is to actually go out and bid on them.

I am sorry but British Columbians do not bid very much on those contracts. I have personally travelled to British Columbia to encourage people to try to make some bids on these contracts. If they bid on them, they have a very good chance of getting contracts.

Victims Of Hepatitis C

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, destruction of some documents, refusal to divulge others, court challenges, anything to hinder the work of the Krever commission.

This morning, we have learned that the federal government recognized, long befor the final report was tabled, its responsibility toward victims of hepatitis C.

Again, how can the minister justify his government's contemptuous attitude in recognizing privately its responsibility toward victims, while claiming exactly the opposite before the commission and the Canadian hepatitis C society?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Justice Krever received documents and heard the testimony of officials of the Department of Health on all the events, at the time.

We have now received Mr. Justice Krever's report. We have accepted the recommendations concerning the department and the ways of assuming our responsibilities.

We are holding discussions with the provincial departments, including the department in Quebec, to set up a compensation plan for victims. We will be announcing it when we are ready.

Health

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, evidence released today shows Monsanto, with its Liberal aides turned lobbyists, is behind a major campaign to get bovine growth hormone approved in the milk we drink.

The health minister rejected his own scientists' concerns and set up more review panels while including Monsanto on a Canadian delegation overseas that voted against further review of the rBST.

Will the minister let his own scientists do their jobs or will he let Monsanto dictate the health protection agenda for the country?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, in what is becoming a pattern the hon. member has her facts wrong.

The so-called delegation to Geneva was headed by the director general of food safety in the health protection branch. Invitations were sent to dozens of Canadian interests to accompany the delegation, including the Consumers' Association of Canada.

The decisions made and votes cast were those only by the officials. In fact there was a motion to prolong the study of rBST. That motion was adopted.

Firearms

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I asked the Minister of Justice if the same flawed statistics that were used by the Liberal government to justify gun registration were also relied upon by members of her department when they made their pleadings before the Alberta Court of Appeal. She did not answer that question.

She also referred to a letter that she tabled in the House dated December 30. In that letter there is a reference by the commissioner to a letter from her department dated September 25. Will she answer yesterday's question and table that letter today?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out to the hon. member, and I would be happy to file this with the Speaker, the report to which he refers incessantly is the “Illegal Movement of Firearms in Canada”. In annex A of the report the methodology is set out.

If the hon. member bothered to inform himself he would see that there has been no misrepresentation. There has been no attempt to in any way misuse or conceal data. In fact the statistics—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Lanark—Carleton.

Industry

[Ian Murray, Liberal, Lanark—Carleton, ON]

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

Many people in various regions of the country have worked long and hard to attract a semi-conductor manufacturing plant to Canada. Can the minister tell us if this effort has reached a dead end or is there still hope that a major chip fabrication plant will be built to serve our high tech industry?

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, the effort to attract a major semi-conductor manufacturing facility to Canada continues to be a top priority of investment partnerships Canada. It is working together between my department and that of the Minister for International Trade in partnership with the provincial governments in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, as well as the private sector and many representatives from various universities and colleges across Canada.

I am convinced, based on the information we have gleaned, that we remain a very competitive site for the location of such a facility. I am determined that Canada will win such a facility in the near future.

Light Stations

[John Duncan, Reform, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, 80% of British Columbians want their light stations staffed. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans refuses to state his intentions to maintain staffing of lighthouses because of the byelection in British Columbia on March 30.

The government's retirement incentive for light keepers expires March 31 but light keepers cannot decide their future because the minister will not disclose the plan.

Will the minister commit today to maintain staffing of British Columbia light stations?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will recall that there is some period of months, in fact years, that this has not come to the decision he would like and in fact has not been made. The byelection he talks about has only been in progress for a few weeks.

It seems to me that the logic of his putting the two things together is totally false. I will be making a decision on that subject in due course at the appropriate time.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

I wish to draw the attention of members to the presence in our gallery of the Hon. Yero Boly, Minister of Territorial Administration and Security of Burkina Faso.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.