Debates of May 8th, 1998

Fisheries

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the minister of fisheries. It seems that the Liberal patronage appointment of the former member for Selkirk—Red River as head of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation has led to a situation that would be comical if it were not so tragic.

Apparently the chairman of the board will not allow Mr. Fewchuk to do his work. It is reported that they might not give him keys to the washroom.

I wonder what the minister has to say about this. Surely we are all concerned about the future of this corporation. I wonder what he has in mind to deal with this very difficult situation.

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

Mr. Speaker, there certainly are management problems with the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. They relate, as the hon. member has indicated, to certain differences between the directors and the president of the association.

I would point out that it is extremely important to have an effective organization marketing on behalf of the freshwater fishermen of Canada. This is a particularly important one. We have appointed a former deputy minister of fisheries, Mr. Bruce Rawson, to look into this matter. I am awaiting his report day by day and I am hoping it will come soon.

Canada Labour Code

[Jean Dubé, Progressive Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear the Wal-Mart appeal. Employees at the Windsor store will therefore have to form a union, although they voted 151 to 43 against doing so.

In light of these events, will the government now agree to drop clause 46 from Bill C-19 and reassure the workers of this country that their democratic decisions will be respected?

[Brenda Chamberlain, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, the decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board in the Wal-Mart case was upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal. This is a provincial issue.

Agriculture

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

It appears that some Americans are making threatening statements regarding Canada's export of wheat to the United States, are asking Canada to lower its dairy subsidies and are continuing to challenge the effectiveness of our marketing boards.

Would the minister tell the House what approach he will use to defend Canadian farmers?

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

Mr. Speaker, we know that there were some comments made by some people in the United States yesterday, but I think it is important that we distinguish between political rhetoric from some U.S. senators and the position of the U.S. government.

Both Canada and the United States recognize the value of a rules based trading regime in both NAFTA and the World Trade Organization. We are living and working within those rules.

There is a difference between rhetoric and reality, and the reality is that Canada will continue to abide by the rules.

[Jay Hill, Reform, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as the minister just said, there is a lot of rhetoric about this issue and most of the rhetoric is coming from the minister himself.

The fact is that the United States has threatened to rewrite NAFTA to cap our sales because it believes that the compulsory nature of the Canadian Wheat Board allows the Canadian Wheat Board to dump unfairly priced wheat into the United States.

We need to know what exactly the government will do to protect the future of wheat sales going to the U.S. Will the government do something or will it just continue to spout rhetoric?

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

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member would pay attention, examinations have been done by the Canadian Wheat Board in the past and by a number of international and independent groups. The actions and sales of the wheat board have been examined before.

When we have asked the United States to give us one example of where the Canadian Wheat Board is not trading fairly and not trading by the rules, it has been unable to do that.

I will repeat. We will play by the rules and we will ensure that the United States does the same.

Information Canada Office

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski—Mitis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Acting Prime Minister.

Public rumour has it that the ICO will now come under the Minister of Public Works, who is already responsible for ensuring the government's visibility, or the Privy Council Office.

Will the Acting Prime Minister admit that the only responsible thing to do would be to end this shameful waste of public money by abolishing this propaganda office and turning over the money thus saved to creators, who certainly need it these days?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I take the hon. member's question merely as a clarification of the government's management, and I will discuss the matter with the other members of Cabinet and the Privy Council.

Banking

[John Solomon, NDP, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Mr. Speaker, neither the Liberal caucus nor the Competition Bureau looking into the proposed bank mergers has the mandate or is taking the responsibility for studying the impact on job losses.

Potentially thousands of jobs could be lost. In Regina 33 local branches belong to one of the merger partners. Their customers and employees can read the writing on the wall and it is not very good news.

Will the government be supporting my motion next Tuesday to allow immediate industry committee hearings on the impact of the bank mergers on consumers, small businesses and rural Canada?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know, particularly because of his function in his party, that private members' hour is just that.

Human Resources Development

[Jean Dubé, Progressive Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, at a recent meeting with officials of the human resources development offices in Madawaska—Restigouche I was disturbed to learn that major cuts have been made to summer career placement programs.

These offices represent one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country, yet the minister saw fit to take away what little students in the area can find to put themselves through school.

How can the minister look these affected students in the eye and justify the department's action?

[Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Liberal, Secretary of State (Children and Youth)]

Mr. Speaker, the member should know that we have a $120 million summer student employment program, as well as many other opportunities in other programs.

Unfortunately, because there is such a huge demand for summer employment funding, we have had to redistribute the resources to meet the needs across the country, not just in certain ridings, but in every riding.

This unfortunately has happened and we are dealing with it. We are working on it and we hope that we can reach more students and not ignore and leave some out.

Employment

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

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

What evidence does he have to show that this government's approach to job creation and economic growth is working for Canadians?

[Tony Valeri, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, certainly we are very pleased to have the unemployment rate down over one percentage point from a year ago.

There was strong job growth in April especially since it led the decline in the number of unemployed Canadians. The unemployment rate is now at its lowest level in almost seven years.

Over 171,000 new jobs have been created so far in 1998. There have been 543,000 jobs created since December 1996. All of these jobs have been in the private sector.

We will continue to do what we said we would do and that is to make sure that the fundamentals are right. We have eliminated the deficit. We will keep interest rates low to ensure that inflation stays stable and we will continue on that track.

Cida

[Gurmant Grewal, Reform, Surrey Central, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the foreign affairs committee, in the presence of the minister responsible for CIDA, some Liberal backbenchers said that if B.C. businesses want to get CIDA contracts they should move their businesses to Ontario.

Will the minister publicly denounce these irresponsible comments?

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

Mr. Speaker, all I can say—

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

If the hon. minister wishes to answer it is totally up to the minister.

[An hon. member]

Name the member.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

This will bring an end to the question period.

Points Of Order

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During question period the Secretary of State for Children and Youth said that tuition fees in B.C. are skyrocketing.

I would like to correct that and point out that B.C. has had a—

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

That is a point of debate, not a point of order.

[Gurmant Grewal, Reform, Surrey Central, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am wondering if these are irresponsible comments.

Why will you not allow—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.