House of Commons Hansard #120 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was judges.
Charlie Penson Reform Peace River, AB
Mr. Speaker, that is not what the House understood on Monday. It understood that this government did not have much involvement with this deal, that it was basically EDC that put this deal together.
EDC official Rod Giles said that the loan had to be approved by cabinet before it could go through because it was a Canada account loan.
Will this minister now admit that cabinet had full knowledge of this deal before it went through?
Sergio Marchi LiberalMinister for International Trade
Mr. Speaker, I am surprised that our trade critic does not understand the process. The fact is that no one on this side has ever said that the Government of Canada was not involved.
What we said to the allegations was that financial due diligence was done. It was done by EDC on financing and the contract specifics were done by AECL. Then, after their work, of course the cabinet made the final determination, as it did in terms of giving a broad spectrum.
I do not know why the members are surprised. That is the way things have always been done.
Francine Lalonde Bloc Mercier, QC
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Industry.
The GM plant in Boisbriand is in trouble. It is the only car manufacturing plant in Quebec. The jobs of thousands of workers are at stake. Yesterday, the Minister of Industry said he was prepared to work with GM to save the Boisbriand plant.
In order to reassure plant workers, is the minister prepared to tell us what specific action he plans to take to help save the Boisbriand plant?
John Manley LiberalMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her question, because it is a very important one.
The report on the competitiveness of the automotive industry released yesterday indicates that this sector is very competitive here in Canada. We have made the necessary investments. We have taken economic decisions to ensure that our sector is competitive. GM has the capacity to do very well—
Alex Shepherd Liberal Durham, ON
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. The millennium bug is threatening to bring havoc to our small and medium size business communities with the result of job losses.
What is the minister prepared to do to come to the assistance of our small and medium size businesses to ensure that they and the jobs they create will be there in the year 2000?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, we are prepared to take immediate action. On behalf of the Minister of Industry and the President of the Treasury Board I am pleased to announce that retroactive to last January 1 and until June 30, 1999 all small and medium size businesses in Canada will be entitled to take a 100% capital cost allowance on all purchases up to $50,000 in hardware, software and information technology.
Retroactive to January 1, SMBs gearing up for the millennium bug will be allowed to deduct 100% of their purchases in this area in the first year.
I would like to thank the industry community, the members of this House—
Mike Scott Reform Skeena, BC
Mr. Speaker, we thought softball was played only in baseball diamonds.
Yesterday we made the tiniest bit of progress with the minister of Indian affairs when she finally admitted that British Columbia belongs to all the people of British Columbia. The native summit in British Columbia representing 3.5% of the population is claiming the entire province.
How does the minister reconcile these two completely opposite points of view so fundamental to B.C.'s future?
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Mr. Speaker, there are so many points I would like to make. In the context of the question, it sounds like the member is assuming it applies only to some people, that British Columbia applies only to some of its residents. It is so obvious it applies to all. The member is so wrong when he says and tries to assume that first nations feel they are laying claim to all of British Columbia.
Chief Victor Jim from Wet'suwet'en said: “I think this is going to be good for the territory. It is going to be good for the economy and in the long run I think it will bring the aboriginal and non-aboriginal people together”. He says—
Mike Scott Reform Skeena, BC
Mr. Speaker, just because people say it is so does not make it so. The native summit claims all of British Columbia. The minister knows this position cannot possibly prevail. She knows this is impossible.
When will this minister and this government admit their irresponsible actions and words over the last few years have raised expectations to impossible levels? When will they admit publicly that these demands cannot be met?
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Mr. Speaker, I absolutely deny what the hon. member is saying. They just do not get it.
The chief also said: “We were here before the white man came. The sharing is going to have to continue, but we are going to have a more focused working relationship”.
The people of British Columbia know that this can work. Nine out of ten support settling land claims with compensation. Seventy-two per cent say it will not harm the economy, in fact it will improve it.
The people of British Columbia appreciate the approach we are taking. They know this is the right track and it has been proven in other parts of the country—
Lorne Nystrom NDP Qu'Appelle, SK
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.
The TD bank and the CIBC wish to merge. Yet despite that, yesterday Charles Baillie, CEO and chairman of the TD bank, said he did not think that the proposed mergers are “necessarily good public policy or good for Canadians”.
I wonder whether the Minister of Finance agrees with the president of the TD bank.
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, it is our intention to monitor all the mergers, Bank of Montreal, Royal, TD, CIBC, the Bloc and the Reform Party, all summer. We will check them all out.
Lorne Nystrom NDP Qu'Appelle, SK
Mr. Speaker, if the minister can monitor the merger of the Reform and the Bloc Quebecois, that is okay, but what I want is a decision on the other mergers.
I have been travelling the country extensively in the last couple of months. An increasing number of Canadians are in opposition to the mergers.
There is growing opposition in his Liberal government backbench committee against the mergers as well. I wonder whether the minister might consider over the summer the idea of having a vote in parliament in the fall at the appropriate time, better yet a free vote, so we can express the will of our constituents on the wisdom or lack thereof of these proposed mergers.
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member there will be full public hearings and plenty of opportunity for debate. I do intend to concentrate and think about it this summer.
Hull, a small restaurant, the moon in the sky, the member from Rimouski, the member for Wild Rose, a tourtiere, a bottle of wine, she talks about flags, he talks about prisons—it's going to be wonderful.
Gerald Keddy Progressive Conservative South Shore, NS
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Natural Resources knows that the B.C. forest industry suffered losses of $192 million in 1997. This was due in large part to strikes, market shutdowns and the impact of the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber agreement.
Recent U.S. customs rulings have restricted imports of Canadian lumber even further. What actions have the Minister of Natural Resources and the government taken to resolve the impact of these restrictions on Canadian lumber and the impact on the B.C. economy?
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman knows that the major portion of forest management is within the jurisdiction of the province of British Columbia.
But within federal jurisdiction we have been taking a number of initiatives. For example, the Minister for International Trade continues to work on the issue of Canadian access into the U.S. market four our softwood lumber, including the most recent customs ruling by the United States.
We have also met with the Government of British Columbia to organize an effort to ensure that Canadian access to European markets for our lumber supplies will not be impaired by certain consumer action—
John Herron Progressive Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
Mr. Speaker, the government owned Port Radium mine employed native Deline workers, over half of whom died from work related cancer, carrying uranium ore like sacks of flour.
In order to enhance the trust the minister tried to build yesterday, will she ensure that no government communications in the future ever question the effect of uranium mining on the health of the Dene people?
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Mr. Speaker, I am glad to report to the House that yesterday I, along with my colleagues the Secretary of State for Children and Youth, the Minister of Natural Resources and the Minister of Health, met with a delegation of the Dene from Deline. We talked about the historical impacts of uranium from the Port Radium mine.
One of the things we identified as being important was to get the facts straight, to share together and find a means to ensure that the issues we are dealing with are common and well understood. That would be part of the go forward strategy that we talked about yesterday.
Raymonde Folco Liberal Laval West, QC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday Nova Scotia became the last province, with the exception of Quebec, to adopt the Calgary declaration.
Can the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs tells us what the level of support of the Calgary declaration was across Canada, and what the message is that this sends to all Quebeckers?
Stéphane Dion LiberalPresident of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, with the exception of one Bloc Quebecois-commissioned survey in which it directed the questions, all opinion polls held and compiled in Quebec, and all consultations and votes held in the nine provinces and two territories, show a very strong support for the principles of the Calgary declaration.
Behind that very firm support lies a profound desire to live together, eyes resolutely fixed on the future, and Quebeckers and other Canadians are reaching out their hands to each other and saying no to division, no to separation.