Debates of May 7th, 1998

Alberta Forest Fires

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we are monitoring this situation very carefully both through Emergency Preparedness Canada and through the land forces western area. General Ross has been in touch with provincial officials. I have placed a call to the minister who is responsible and if we can be of any assistance we will be. We certainly want to be of assistance to the people of Alberta.

Justice

[Paul Forseth, Reform, New Westminster—Coquitlam—Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the days of the justice minister's failure to act on victims rights are numbered. It has been 738 days since the victims bill of rights motion went to committee. The clock is ticking, or should I say the calendar is flipping.

The other day the minister talked about a national forum and writing to the committee but victims do not want a professor's lecture about “timely” or “maybe soon”. How many more days do Canadians have to wait before the justice minister takes real action for victims of crime?

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

Mr. Speaker, I find the hon. member's question very interesting. As late as last week I had the opportunity to meet with the representatives and leaders of national victims groups in this country. As far as I was able to tell, they were very pleased with the strategy that this government is taking. They are looking forward to participating in the national forum in June.

Canada Post

[Réjean Lefebvre, Bloc, Champlain, QC]

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

Yesterday in federal court, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers filed an application for disqualification of Justice Guy Richard. At the same time, CUPW was calling for the Minister of Labour to sign a negotiated agreement.

Does the Minister of Labour intent to bow to the demands of the union and to resume negotiations?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, both labour and management, CUPW and the post office, have the right to sit down and negotiate.

The union has filed before the court and hearings have been suspended until the 12th. The union has the perfect right to do this and the courts will decide.

Herring Fishery

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

Mr. Speaker, there is another crisis brewing in southeastern New Brunswick.

The fishers of southeastern New Brunswick took only a few days to fill their herring quotas. This proves the resource is there. The processing plants tell us they are running at half capacity, yet the fish are there and the people need to fish.

Will the Minister of Fisheries give serious consideration to the recommendation presented to him today by the Maritime Fishermen's Union that he do something to help the families who depend on the herring fishery?

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

Mr. Speaker, the issue with respect to the crab in area 12 is that the stocks have declined some 25%.

I have to tell the hon. member and hon. members from all parties that we will not jeopardize the stocks of our natural resources and our fish stocks simply because of political pressure exerted on behalf of those who want to continue fishing despite the fact we do not have the resources to support it.

Hepatitis C

[Greg Thompson, Progressive Conservative, Charlotte, NB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister in response to a question by the member for Macleod was talking about the provincial minister's statement last week with regard to the upcoming meeting on the hepatitis C compensation package. I am quoting from page 6597 of Hansard . The Prime Minister said “they all said”—referring to the ministers—“that there should be in the statement further compensation for the pre-1986 victims”.

Does the Prime Minister live by those words? Is that a change in position or just more confusion on the part—

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the member can immerse himself in details from this statement or that, but it is clear that the provincial authorities changed their position over recent days. That is the very reason we said we want to meet with them and forge a new consensus because our focus is on the best interests of the victims.

Justice

[Bob Mills, Reform, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in this House some 13 months ago I asked the former justice minister about a nine time convicted pedophile who was released into my riding. The experts said he would reoffend. I asked the minister what would I tell the parents of the 10th victim. The minister said that we have new legislation which will prevent an offending pedophile from ever doing this again.

On Friday I met with the father of the 10th victim, a five year old girl.

I would like to know from the present justice minister what sort of an excuse she is going to have—

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Justice.

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

Mr. Speaker, obviously the situation that the hon. member refers to is a very serious one and a very tragic one. My colleague the solicitor general and I have discussed this issue and we are going to be looking at it further.

Rail Transportation

[Claude Drouin, Liberal, Beauce, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the consortium that includes Bombardier has just made a proposal to the governments of Canada, Ontario and Quebec in order to complete studies for the construction of a high speed train between Quebec City and Windsor.

Could the Minister of Transport tell us whether this proposal will be included in his review of passenger train services in Canada?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I have just received the Bombardier report. It is a long and complex proposal. It must be studied in the context of our review of policy on shared rail services.

As the hon. member knows, the Standing Committee on Transport is currently studying the situation. I eagerly await the committee's recommendations.

Statistics Canada

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, Mercier, QC]

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

Charles Castonguay, a noted expert, testified before the Standing Committee on Official Languages that Statistics Canada took unacceptable liberties in incorrectly interpreting the data from the latest census on the status of French in Canada.

Is the minister prepared to bring scientific rigour back to Statistics Canada and restore the credibility it had before it became a propaganda tool?

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of Statistics Canada. It is recognized worldwide as one of the finest statistics agencies. It is recognized every year in the English magazine The Economist as the world's top statistics agency.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, it is a very special day for all of us in the House because we will be honouring some of our own.

I draw to your attention the presence in the gallery of some of the military and civilian personnel who were so instrumental in helping their fellow Canadians cope with the devastation caused by this winter's ice storm.

Our distinguished guests worked day and night in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick helping their fellow Canadians deal with the effects of the storm. Many ice storm victims have said how delighted they were at the arrival of the military and the volunteers. They knew their burden would be lightened.

It is appropriate that we on behalf of all the citizens of Canada honour these, our very own Canadians, this week, the week of emergency preparedness.

When the ice storm hit you, my fellow Canadians, were prepared to answer the call for help. You answered it with bravery and selflessness.

On behalf of all the members of the House who represent 30 million Canadians, we thank you.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, there will be a reception where you can meet each of these people in Room 237 after question period. You are all invited.

Business Of The House

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

Mr. Speaker, we would like to ask the government House leader about the business of the House for the remainder of this week and next week. Perhaps he could give our colleagues in the House an idea of how many days are left in the business schedule of the House of Commons.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, this is one of the most reasonable questions I have heard in a long time. Today and tomorrow we will continue with the report stage of Bill C-19, the labour legislation, which we certainly hope to have completed by tomorrow.

On Monday we shall call the report stage of Bill C-26, followed by Bill C-3, the DNA bill. On Tuesday we will likely return to Bill C-19. I would like to consult my colleagues more formally about that bill.

If Bill C-36, the budget implementation legislation, is reported from committee in time, we would commence report stage of that bill on Wednesday. Otherwise, during the rest of the week we hope to complete Bill C-19 and Bill C-26, and get a start on the report stage of Bill C-39, the Nunavut bill, or Bill C-37, the Judges Act amendments, if ready, and perhaps to make progress on Bill C-3.

Next Thursday shall be an allotted day.

Privilege

[Greg Thompson, Progressive Conservative, Charlotte, NB]

Mr. Speaker, in question period today I referred to a reply given by the Prime Minister yesterday in response to a question on page 6597 of Hansard . In that reply he said “there should be in the statement further compensation for the pre-1986 victims”.

Apparently there was a lot of pressure by the PMO to change that statement in Hansard . I am trying to find out from the government whether the Prime Minister is willing to live by those words. It would mean a great deal to all—

[The Speaker]

At first blush it would not be a question of privilege. I did hear the hon. member raise that as a question today. For whatever reason the question was not answered directly. I make no judgment on that. But I judge this is not a question of privilege.

We have looked at Hansard , we have listened to the tapes. The words quoted by the hon. member are the words in Hansard . If there has to be any clarification, perhaps it will be forthcoming from another place. As far as we know from our research there was no pressure brought to bear and no changes were made from the precise words that were said.

[Paddy Torsney, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a question of privilege about an incident that brings this House into disrepute. During members' statements my colleague from Port Moody—Coquitlam was speaking eloquently about an important national skills competition happening in British Columbia. A member from the official opposition was clearly heard by me and others in the House to have yelled at him “speak English”.

All members of this House are privileged to be elected. This Chamber is enriched by a wealth of individuals from a variety of backgrounds. We represent various regions and we all have unique accents. Each of us comes here to participate equally in representing our constituents and all Canadians. When members belittle the participation of certain populations of our nation, when they use comments designed to intimidate and inhibit—

[The Speaker]

In my view this is not a question of privilege. I did not hear the statements made. Perhaps they were made. No member was mentioned. I would hope all hon. members, if these words were used, would not do things like that. It does not help us in the course of debate.

I hope that whatever accents we have, I or anyone else, this will in no way be reflected on. As far as I know, this is not a question of privilege.