Debates of May 12th, 1998

Aboriginal Affairs

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, very clearly the government honours the fiduciary relationship that we see between the crown and first nations.

In Gathering Strength we also identify that it is appropriate for us to add other partners to our relationships so that we can altogether improve the lives of aboriginal people. That includes the provincial governments, municipal governments, third parties and the voluntary sector.

[Gordon Earle, NDP, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, when in opposition the present finance minister called on the federal government to honour the tax immunity of aboriginal Canadians.

Now this justice minister has intervened on the side of the Government of New Brunswick to appeal a lower court ruling exempting aboriginal people from sales tax.

Could the justice minister explain how this action is consistent with the finance minister's previous statement, let alone the government's goal of working in partnership with aboriginal peoples?

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

Mr. Speaker, the action taken by the government is in no way inconsistent with our fiduciary obligation.

Young Offenders Act

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice knows that the Young Offenders Act is administered by the provinces and is supposedly funded 50:50 by the federal and provincial governments.

Yet the minister should also know that the real federal contributions only amount to about 30% of total administrative cost, downloading the majority of these expenses to the provinces.

Is her government prepared to put its money where its mouth is and make sure the provinces do not get stuck with the bill on her recent musings about changes to the Young Offenders Act?

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

Mr. Speaker, let me reassure the hon. member that we continue our cost sharing discussions with the provinces. I will not pretend those discussions are not without difficulty, but in most cases they are going forward quite well.

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

Mr. Speaker, according to the leak to the media yesterday the minister has no intention of lowering the age limit of the Young Offenders Act to cover those under the age of 12.

She should also know that children between the ages of 10 and 12 are being recruited by youth gangs to do their dirty work because they know they are exempt from prosecution.

Will the minister extend to parliamentarians the same courtesy she did to the media and confirm she has no intention of lowering the age of responsibility to under 12?

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

Mr. Speaker, let me reassure the honourable House that I have no intention before release of that document later this afternoon of commenting on its content. Let me reassure members of the honourable House that neither I nor my department had anything to do with that leak. In fact, let me reassure—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Justice, if she wants to continue.

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Edmonton West, AB]

The hon. member asked this question of my colleague, the solicitor general. I want to inform the honourable House that the RCMP has been asked to investigate the leak, the alleged leak, regarding our response—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

I cannot wait for tomorrow. The hon. member for Vancouver Kingsway.

Trade

[Sophia Leung, Liberal, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister for International Trade. It is about a recent move by U.S. customs to reclassify predrilled boards as ordinary lumber.

This seems to contravene the free trade agreement and will threaten jobs in western Canada. How will the government protect the Canadian lumber industry from this threat?

[Julian Reed, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I commend my hon. colleague for keeping the government fully aware of the importance of this issue.

On May 7 the government met with the stakeholders in the softwood lumber issue. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the recent reversal of the U.S. customs service proposal to reclassify drilled studs.

We will be commenting on the proposal by May 15 and we intend to pursue the matter vigorously.

Immigration

[John Reynolds, Reform, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

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

A Vancouver immigration consultant, Iraj Rezaei, is facing 18 charges ranging from passport forgery to counselling false refugee claims, to threatening and assault. While he awaits trial he continues to counsel unsuspecting immigrants via his new website on the Internet.

Has the minister asked the Minister of Justice to seek an injunction to stop this evil man from practising his fraudulent trades?

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

Mr. Speaker, as you are well aware, I cannot comment in any detail on the case of a person currently residing in Canada, but I can assure the hon. members of this House that our Immigration Act contains all of the mechanisms necessary to deal with these actions by individuals.

Varennes Tokamak

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today the verdict was brought down. The Varennes tokamak is shutting down, after winning an award of excellence for its work. How ironic!

Is the government not ashamed of having been so shortsighted as to bring about the death of this highly promising research project, in order to save $7.2 million, after 20 years of successful efforts and more than $150 million in investments?

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

Mr. Speaker, in the course of the government's program review process some very difficult decisions had to be made about priorities.

It was determined in that process that fusion research which has a payback that is at least 30 to 40 years in the future could not at this time be a priority.

Over the course of the last number of years we have invested something in the order of $90 million in the facility at Varennes. We provided an additional $19 million to assist with an orderly shutdown.

Unfortunately, in terms of establishing priorities and living within the confines of fiscal responsibility, tough decisions have to be made.

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I asked the Minister of Health about unlicensed blood products being used in hospitals without the knowledge or consent of patients.

Today we have learned the situation is even worse than we thought. The chair of the transfusion practices committee of the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg says unlicensed human serum albumin is being used 100% of the time.

What steps is the minister taking to deal with the apparent shortage of fractionated blood products? Could he explain how it is that we have unlicensed product on the market five months after the government established the licensing requirements?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, as a result of the facts referred to by the hon. member yesterday in question period, officials have been requested to look into the matter to find out what the facts are. I will respond to the hon. member's questions of yesterday and today as soon as they have completed that inquiry.

I share her concern that either unlicensed or unsafe products may be used. I also worry about the blood supply in general and the shortage. We continue to encourage donors to be as generous as they have in the past.

I will respond to the member when I have the information.

Taxation

[Charlie Power, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

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

The number of American work visas issued to Canadians has increased over 50% in just four years. There is one major reason for this. Our government continues to follow high tax policies which drive our best and brightest south of the border.

My question is for the minister. When will the government offer real tax relief so that those Canadians who choose to stay at home and work will not at the same time be taking a vow of poverty?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the high tax policy in this country was established by the previous government.

Since we have taken office we have brought in a series of targeted tax reductions. In the last budget I am delighted to announce that we were able to take off the 3% surtax imposed by the Conservative government for 83% of Canadians.

Nuclear Testing

[Alex Shepherd, Liberal, Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Natural Resources.

Following India's alarming nuclear test yesterday many in the international community are pointing to Canada as a source of technology transfer. India entered into agreements with Canada regarding the peaceful use of these technologies.

What safeguards exist in these sales of nuclear technologies?

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to make this very clear. After the first deplorable test by India back in 1974, Canada suspended all nuclear trade with India. We then developed a much more stringent non-proliferation policy in the mid-1970s.

In 1976 Canada terminated all nuclear trade with India after it became clear India would not comply with our non-proliferation policy.

Any reactor, researcher or otherwise sold or provided to any country today would have to adhere to those much higher standards that apply in this day and age.

Points Of Order

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my point of order arises out of something that was raised in question period but which I think should more properly be raised under a point of order. The government has asked the RCMP to launch an investigation into the supposed leaks of the government's policy on the TAGS program, thus intimidating the media and public servants while at the same time and on the same day as this announcement is made we see the details of the government's response to the Standing Committee on Justice with respect to the YOA all over the newspapers this morning.

These are sort of two points of order, Mr. Speaker, but I hope you will hear them both at once. There is the point of order having to do with the fact that the government is very concerned and sanctimonious when other people leak information and yet there is good reason to believe, although the minister denies it, that the government does from time to time deliberately leak details of responses or proposals that it is going to make the following day.

My other point of order which deals with the same thing is that if the minister is making a response to a committee report it should be done either in the House or in committee and not in the context of a media announcement.

Both these things have to do with respect for the House of Commons and the fact that the business of the House of Commons should be conducted in the House of Commons. We want to see—