Debates of April 29th, 1998

Hepatitis C

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, this $1.1 billion is offered to blood injured Canadians, Canadians injured by reason of fault on the part of those responsible for administering the system.

There are 12 governments in this country committed to quality medicare, health care throughout the country for all victims of all illness and all harm, and medical research. That surely is the first and most important responsibility of government.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

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

Mr. Speaker, last fall the Conservative Party revealed a potential case of influence peddling within a ministerial office of the Government of Canada.

At that time the President of the Treasury Board denied that his office had any connection to the illegal activities going on. At that time it was still under investigation.

Today in a Montreal courtroom it was confirmed that Liberal Party worker and fundraiser Pierre Corbeil pleaded guilty to charges of influence peddling.

Can the minister repeat to the House today that no one in his office had any connection with the illegal activities of Pierre Corbeil?

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

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP has completed a full investigation of this matter. Today, the only person charged by the RCMP has made a court appearance and the case is closed.

[André Bachand, Progressive Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today, Pierre Corbeil pleaded guilty of influence peddling. The crown attorney has released the document used in evidence against him.

According to our sources, it seems clear that this information originated with Jacques Roy, executive assistant to the President of Treasury Board in his Montreal office.

Can the minister still deny his office's involvement? Can the House have the real answer this time?

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

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP was alerted by a government minister who called for an investigation.

A complete investigation was carried out, including the allegation referred to by my colleague in the House. The investigation is now complete, the charge has been laid, and the judge has rendered his decision. The case is closed.

The Environment

[Aileen Carroll, Liberal, Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the ministers of energy and environment met last week in Toronto to approve a process to examine the impact, cost and benefits of implementing the Kyoto protocol. They agreed that climate change is an important global problem and that Canada must do its best to address it.

What is Canada doing to ensure it meets the commitment we made in Kyoto?

[Karen Kraft Sloan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that the Minister of the Environment has signed the Kyoto protocol at the UN today. I am also pleased to say that Canada is one of the early signatories of this protocol.

Hepatitis C

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this side of the House does not want to hear anything more from this health minister. The public does not trust him. We do not believe his statistics. He cannot even provide the numbers. We do not trust his excuses for abandoning the victims. If this minister had any principles he would have resigned weeks ago. This minister has lost the confidence of the House. He has lost the confidence of the Canadian people.

There is only one question left to ask him. When will he tender his resignation as Minister of Health?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, to all members of parliament who said that this was not a vote of confidence, the hon. minister confirmed that it was. We have confidence in the Minister of Health. He was the first in Canada to raise the issue and worked to make sure that all the provinces were involved in order to offer compensation to the victims of hepatitis C.

Atlantic Groundfish Strategy

[Yvan Bernier, Bloc, Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-De-La-Madeleine—Pabok, QC]

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

Last week in Halifax, the Minister of Veterans Affairs said that the measures that will be implemented when TAGS ends will apply only to those still receiving benefits under TAGS next August.

Can the minister corroborate his colleague's statement and, if he can, under what principles will he exclude close to 20,000 fisheries workers, with no support? How? And under what criteria?

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

Mr. Speaker, when there was a crisis in the fishery in 1993 because of poor management by the government that preceded us, we set up a $1.9 billion program to come to the rescue of over 40,000 workers.

We are obviously fully aware that this contract had a certain number of conditions, which were implemented and which helped people in recent years.

Now that we see that the stocks are not returning as we had hoped, my colleagues and I are working very hard to make the decisions that will help people cope with the environment in which they will find themselves in August.

Hepatitis C

[Chris Axworthy, NDP, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Justice and follows from my colleague's point.

The Minister of Health has said that if he were to compensate the pre-1986 hepatitis C victims it would bankrupt the health care system.

To the Minister of Justice, now that she has had a moment to think about it, how much money is available within the Department of Justice to defend against those cases? Why is there money for lawyers? Why is there not money for pre-1986 hepatitis C victims?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, while we are talking about fanciful calculations, maybe the minister could tell us how much money we saved in legal fees and how much time we saved by offering meaningful compensation to those infected between 1986 and 1990.

We have put the money where it should be, which is in meaningful compensation for those harmed by those responsible.

Points Of Order

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, earlier the Minister of Health indicated that he would prepared to put up documents. We formally ask the House that the minister table those documents pertaining to hepatitis C victims prior to 1986 today.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

With respect, I do not believe that is a point of order. I would seek the counsel of the clerk to find out whether that is indeed a point of order.

The minister is not required to table the document unless he has quoted directly from the document. He may be invited to do so, and we invite the minister to table the document, as requested. However, the minister is not required to do so unless he quotes directly from it.

Committees Of The House

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 109, I have the honour to present in the House, in both official languages, the government's response to the report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade entitled “Canada and the Circumpolar World: Meeting the Challenges of Cooperation into the Twenty-First Century”.

On behalf of the government and especially the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, I would like to express our appreciation for the efforts of the standing committee in producing such a substantive report which highlights the importance of northern circumpolar issues in Canada's foreign policy agenda. These issues are of particular significance given Canada's current chairmanship of the Arctic Council.

Government Response To Petitions

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

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

Committees Of The House

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table the second report of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food which concerns Bill C-26, an act to amend the Canada Grain Act and the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act, and to repeal the Grain Futures Act. The committee studied the bill, which was referred to it on March 27, 1998 by the House, and has decided to report the same with amendments.

I take this opportunity to thank all members of the committee from all sides for their co-operation and a job well done. I also thank the officials and the witnesses who appeared before us and the committee itself.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the 30th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding its order of reference from the House of Commons of Thursday, February 22, 1998 in relation to the main estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1999, in regards to Vote No. 20 under Privy Council Chief Electoral Officer. The committee reports the same.

Canada Pension Plan Act

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

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-395, an act to amend the Canada Pension Plan (early pension entitlement for police officers and firefighters).

Mr. Speaker, this bill has been requested by police officers and firefighters for quite some time. It would amend the Canada pension plan to provide for early pension entitlement for police officers and firefighters. It would provide for reduced benefits at age 55 and for unreduced benefits at age 60. It addresses the special needs of these two occupations, namely that they are dangerous occupations and at times the lives of these individuals are on the line during the course of their duties.

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

Petitions

[Garry Breitkreuz, Reform, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have quite a number of petitions. I am pleased to present another petition with the signatures of 25 concerned Canadians, mainly from Kitimat, B.C. The petitioners believe the removal of section 43 would strengthen the role of bureaucrats while it would weaken the role of parents in determining what is in the best interests of their children and therefore would be a major unjustified intrusion by the state into the realm of parental rights and responsibilities.

These petitioners are suspect of the government's motives as it continues to fund research and court challenges by groups that advocate the removal of section 43.

The petitioners request parliament to affirm the duty of parents to responsibly raise their children according to their own conscience and beliefs and to retain section 43 in Canada's Criminal Code as it is currently worded.

[Garry Breitkreuz, Reform, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the next major petition which I am presenting has 91 pages with 2,275 signatures. These citizens are concerned about violent crime and they want safer streets. They are concerned that the government is now implementing stricter gun controls despite the fact that in 1995 a Canadian Facts survey showed that 90% of Canadians do not believe that will solve violent crime.

These petitioners request parliament to repeal Bill C-68, the Firearms Act, and to redirect the hundreds of millions of dollars being wasted on registering legally owned guns to other more cost effective measures to improve public safety such as putting more police on the streets, having more women's crisis centres and more suicide prevention centres.

[Rose-Marie Ur, Liberal, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I am pleased to present this petition which is signed by constituents living in Wallaceburg, Dresden and Tupperville. They request that parliament support the immediate initiation and conclusion by the year 2000 of an international convention which will set out a binding timetable for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

[Daniel Turp, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of over 5,000 residents of the town of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, I have the honour to present a petition asking Parliament to regulate the passage of trains on tracks around Salaberry-de-Valleyfield to ensure greater safety for cars, pedestrians and children, who are at considerable risk when trains run through town.

[Louise Hardy, NDP, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition on behalf of Canadian residents who are deeply concerned and believe that the provocation defence as it is currently used in femicide and wife slaughter cases inappropriately and unjustly changes the focus of the criminal trial from the behaviour of the accused and his intention to murder to the behaviour of the victim who from then on is identified as the one responsible for the accused violence.

Therefore the undersigned request that parliament review and change the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code.