Debates of Sept. 22nd, 1998

Agriculture

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

Mr. Speaker, if the member across is aware that I have had an invitation to meet with Secretary Glickman, it is obvious that he is intercepting my mail because I have had no such invitation from Secretary Glickman.

However, I have had three personal phone calls with him and will continue that dialogue as well as discussions between our minister of trade, Minister of Foreign Affairs and our ambassador in the United States. We will continue to pressure and point out to the Americans that they are breaking international law.

Apec Summit

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

Mr. Speaker, it is now clear that we have a triple E Prime Minister: evasive, elusive and erroneous.

The Prime Minister clearly showed his contempt for Parliament yesterday by hiding behind the solicitor general on APEC.

The solicitor general clearly showed his lack of knowledge in his own portfolio by confusing an RCMP complaints commission with a public forum.

I ask the Prime Minister, not his human shield, the solicitor general, did he or his office give the RCMP instructions to remove the protesters from the UBC campus and will he give an accounting in this House?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, there will be an inquiry into it. I saw protesters when I was there. I did not ask anybody to withdraw them at all.

A place was provided for protesters in Vancouver and on the campus. That was the plan. There were to be protesters and there were. The problem that occurred is being analysed by the commission at this time. It will report and we will act accordingly.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what part of this is not a criminal proceeding. The Prime Minister and the solicitor general do not understand.

This is a question of political interference from the highest office in the land and the Prime Minister is hiding behind this. Canadians deserve to know what has happened in this affair. There should be a detailed explanation, and I ask the Prime Minister again, or the solicitor general, will they guarantee that they will broaden the mandate of the public inquiry to allow for the question of political interference to be examined at that level.

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, once again my critic from the Conservative Party fails to understand this process, that the public complaints commission itself will make the decisions as to the nature of this investigation.

I have every confidence that it will do it in a way that will satisfy all our interests if we let it do its job.

Literacy

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, September 8 was International Literacy Day. Recent data shows that 22% of Canadians have extremely limited literacy skills and another 26% lack sufficient skills to do their jobs properly or participate fully in Canadian society.

What is this government doing to improve the literacy skills of the 48% of Canadians who need our help?

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

Mr. Speaker, there is no question that literacy skills are crucial in order for anyone to succeed. This is why our government has increased by 30% funding for literacy since we took office in 1993.

Our government cannot do things alone. This is a responsibility for everyone to make people in Canada more aware and more sensitive to the needs of developing these literacy skills. That is the reason our government is sponsoring a number of events and festivals around the country to make people more aware of the importance of developing those skills.

Agriculture

[Howard Hilstrom, Reform, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the agriculture minister and his weak-kneed sister, the trade minister, have shown that—

[The Speaker]

I ask the member to be judicious in his choice of words.

[Howard Hilstrom, Reform, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the farmers of Canada will not be judicious in their words when they ask this minister questions outside the House.

In any event, we have seen for six days now that the South Dakota government has been rejecting our imports even though they have been passed at the international border.

When will the minister solve this and what is he doing today?

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

Mr. Speaker, there was a suggestion made. The hon. member should have listened to the previous answer and he would not have had to ask it again. However I will repeat.

We are constantly pressuring the United States and the federal government in the United States, whose job it is to keep the states in line with the international agreements to which they are signatories. If they do not do that there are clauses and actions we can take through NAFTA and WTO, and we will do that.

Scrapie

[Hélène Alarie, Bloc, Louis-Hébert, QC]

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

Since January 1997, following the preventive slaughter aimed at controlling scrapie in sheep, 11,000 sheep have been slaughtered in Quebec by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. There has been a total lack of information and transparency, and the producers have lost faith in the agency.

Will the minister agree to look at the situation immediately and put an end to the slaughter?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am certainly sympathetic to the unfortunate situation of the plight of the young sheep industry and the sheep meat industry in the province of Quebec.

Over the last three years, however, the federal government has given $200 million to the province of Quebec in order to support its farmers and their income. The province of Quebec chose to use that as price support and not as income support. I sent a letter to the minister of agriculture for the province of Quebec a number of months ago asking him to sit down and discuss this matter with me. He has yet to respond.

Trade

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister for International Trade. It has to do with the shameful capitulation by the government this summer to the Ethyl Corporation over the suit brought against the government with respect to the banning of MMT, thus proving that the government is not able under NAFTA to legislate in the public interest with respect to environmental matters.

Given the lesson the government has learned about NAFTA, will the minister now commit to rejecting any multilateral agreement on investment that includes this kind of investor state dispute settlement process?

[Sergio Marchi, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, there is no lesson because the MMT situation never went to a NAFTA panel.

Apec Summit

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

Mr. Speaker, I am ashamed to rise today in this House as Progressive Conservative foreign affairs critic.

I must say that human rights have been violated, not in Indonesia or elsewhere, but right here, in Canada, at the APEC summit in Vancouver.

In the name of freedom of expression for all Canadians, after the excuses he made today and his statement that members of his staff will testify, will the Prime Minister confirm to this House that he and all of his ministers concerned will go and testify before the commission? Yes or no?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I can only once again repeat that the public complaints commission is mandated. It is an instrument that was put forward through parliament by the former government to deal with complaints against the RCMP. If members opposite will give it a chance, it will do that in the fine fashion it has done it in for the last 12 years.

Canadian Economy

[Yvon Charbonneau, Liberal, Anjou—Rivière-Des-Prairies, QC]

Mr. Speaker, during the summer, many questions were asked about the value of the dollar and the state of our economy. Thanks to the decisions of this government and despite a difficult international context, fears have generally settled down.

As an example of these positive economic interventions, I would like to ask the Secretary of State, Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, to tell us what the federal government has done to help the Société de développement Angus in Montreal's east end.

[Martin Cauchon, Liberal, Secretary of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to thank my colleague for his excellent question, one which will give me an opportunity to tell the House about the Canadian government's policy. In Montreal, a strategy was developed in February 1996 which has resulted in the creation or preservation of 25,000 jobs.

It was in this context that we stepped in when Ateliers Angus shut down and helped form the Société de développement Angus.

This summer, and it is to this that the hon. member is referring, we contributed $3 million towards the creation of Technopôle environnemental in order to revitalize Montreal's east end. This vision—

[The Speaker]

I am sorry but I must give the floor to the hon. member for Yorkton—Melville.

Agriculture

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

Mr. Speaker, as I listen to the agriculture minister's answers it seems he is taking his direction from the minister of fisheries.

We have been asking him about the talks he is having with his counterpart in the U.S., Secretary Glickman. It is obvious these talks are very ineffective because Canadian trucks continue to be harassed as they cross into the U.S. Why is he not acting?

Why did he not realized that he could not resolve this and call upon the Prime Minister to intervene, to do something and to take some action against an American counterpart?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am glad that the Reform Party has finally taken an interest in this. Other than a note that was passed across to me by one of his colleagues to meet me after question period, this is the first time the Reform Party has brought this issue forward.

In fact, this issue has gone on for six or seven days. Now that they have shown some interest, I can assure them that we will continue to act on behalf of the western Canadian farmers.

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, that would bring to a close the question period.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

I would like to draw to your attention the presence in our gallery of a former colleague to many of us and now the honourable Minister of Small Business, Tourism and Culture for the province of British Columbia, the hon. Ian Waddell.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.