House of Commons Hansard #125 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was countries.

Topics

The SenateOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Windsor West Ontario

Liberal

Herb Gray LiberalDeputy Prime Minister

Mr. Speaker, I think it has been well established that ministers do not answer with respect to any regional responsibilities. They answer with respect to departmental responsibilities.

The hon. member should know that because she has been here quite a while. Why does she want somebody to be elected for life without any recourse of the people originally carrying out the election to get somebody else if they do not like the way the job is done? That is not democratic.

In spite of what she says here, she and her party had a chance to have an elected Senate had they supported Charlottetown. They rejected Charlottetown. They have to live with the results of their irresponsibility.

The SenateOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Reform

Randy White Reform Langley—Abbotsford, BC

Mr. Speaker, this might surprise you. I am not quite prepared for this question.

I would like to ask the justice minister, once again who is from Alberta, just why is it that she will not stand up and answer the questions put—-

The SenateOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

The Speaker

The hon. member for Vancouver East.

Apec SummitOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

NDP

Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister. Today we heard how Canada brought honour to itself as a leader in the battle to end apartheid, a system deplored for its violent contempt of human rights. But at APEC the Prime Minister brought dishonour when he trampled on the rights of Canadian students to welcome a dictator deplored for his contempt of both human rights and human life.

Will the government come clean on APEC and reassure the young people of Canada that we are a defender, not an abuser, of human rights?

Apec SummitOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Windsor West Ontario

Liberal

Herb Gray LiberalDeputy Prime Minister

Mr. Speaker, I have to reject the premise of the hon. member's question. The Prime Minister is a vigorous spokesman for human rights. He was the chief protagonist of the charter of rights and freedoms. This should be recognized and the Prime Minister should be praised for his continuous defence of human rights in Canada and around the world.

Apec SummitOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

NDP

Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC

Mr. Speaker, for a Prime Minister who talks so much about human rights, his actions in Vancouver speak louder than words. Students opposed to APEC were detained without cause, violently attacked and are expected to defend themselves with neither funding nor support against a battalion of backroom government lawyers.

Will the Prime Minister and the government do the right thing and provide the legal representation for students attacked at APEC?

Apec SummitOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Fredericton New Brunswick

Liberal

Andy Scott LiberalSolicitor General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, it is because we respect due process that we would like to see it work and let the public complaints commission do its job as the students have requested.

Apec SummitOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Progressive Conservative

Scott Brison Progressive Conservative Kings—Hants, NS

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says it is more effective to engage dictators than to isolate them. The whole idea with engagement is that by engaging dictators in a dialogue, we can teach them something about human rights. My question for the Prime Minister is did Suharto learn about human rights while he was in Canada or did the Prime Minister take lessons from Suharto in systematic abuse of power and oppression?

Apec SummitOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Windsor West Ontario

Liberal

Herb Gray LiberalDeputy Prime Minister

Mr. Speaker, I reject the unwarranted premise of the hon. member's question.

I know it has been publicly reported that both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs raised the human rights issue with Suharto in Indonesia itself. That took a lot of guts. They should be praised for that and their continued defence of human rights in Canada and around the world.

Apec SummitOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Progressive Conservative

Scott Brison Progressive Conservative Kings—Hants, NS

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House the finance minister said we have separated politics from the administration of the public service. Yet when the Ontario ministry of finance requested information about the CPP from Bernard Dussault, the former chief watchdog of the CPP, Bernard Dussault wrote a letter saying he could not provide that information because it had to be vetted through a new committee of the department of finance which would review the information for its political sensitivity.

Will the minister tell us why his department gagged Bernard Dussault, or is this simply another abuse of power?

Apec SummitOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

LaSalle—Émard Québec

Liberal

Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, that is one supplementary question.

The fact is I am not aware of correspondence that Mr. Dussault may have had with the Government of Ontario. I will look at it.

Ice StormOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

Denis Paradis Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC

Mr. Speaker, several municipalities in my riding as well as in our region are complaining about not receiving payment for their ice storm damage claims.

Could the President of the Treasury Board tell this House where the money went?

Ice StormOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Hull—Aylmer Québec

Liberal

Marcel Massé LiberalPresident of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure

Mr. Speaker, under the disaster assistance arrangement, the provinces are responsible for both managing the situation and paying municipalities, individuals and organizations for the losses suffered. The role of the federal government is to reimburse the province afterwards, based on a set formula.

What happened in this case, is that the PQ government refused to pay the municipalities the amounts they may be entitled to, claiming this is a provincial jurisdiction. And the provincial government cannot hide anything because we are not paying—

Ice StormOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

The Speaker

The leader of the official opposition.

TradeOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Calgary Southwest Alberta

Reform

Preston Manning ReformLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, every day that the violations of the free trade agreement by the U.S. border states continue it hurts our farmers.

We welcome the decision by the government to take the first step toward ending this dispute through submitting it to NAFTA arbitration.

Will the minister tell the House what is the earliest possible date that a formal dispute settling panel can be set up and will he tell Canadian farmers what they are to do in the interim?

TradeOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

York West Ontario

Liberal

Sergio Marchi LiberalMinister for International Trade

Mr. Speaker, in response to my colleague's earlier question, I mentioned very clearly that going to NAFTA and WTO is but a first step. Clearly we will be seeing the American response and acting accordingly.

To the specifics of the hon. member's question, within NAFTA the first meeting must be held within 15 days. At the WTO it is within 10.

Canadian EconomyOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Bloc

Yvan Loubier Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC

Mr. Speaker, the minister of Finance makes all sorts of smart aleck remarks, but he failed to mention earlier that, in light of the increase in interest rates by the Bank of Canada and the latest figures on the downturn, financial analysts are the ones currently demanding that the minister take action to stabilize the economy.

Will the Minister of Finance still be a smart aleck when, in a few months, we are facing a full-blown recession because of him and thousands of jobs are lost because he failed to listen to economic indicators today?

Canadian EconomyOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

LaSalle—Émard Québec

Liberal

Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member must know that short to mid term interest rates are lower now than they were two months ago, and even last month. In fact, they are almost at an all time low for stimulating the economy.

Once again, perhaps the hon. member does not believe me, but “we believe the Canadian economy is strong and sound, not threatened”.

Canadian EconomyOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh.

Canadian EconomyOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Martin Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC

This was said by Lucien Bouchard, the premier of Quebec, in August.

Canadian EconomyOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

The Speaker

The hon. member for Oxford.

OceansOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

Liberal

John Finlay Liberal Oxford, ON

Mr. Speaker, this is the international year of the oceans. Since our country is bordered by the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans I ask the minister of fisheries what this government is doing to improve the health of our oceans.

OceansOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

Malpeque P.E.I.

Liberal

Wayne Easter LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Minister of Fisheries and Oceans

Mr. Speaker, the government recognized early in its mandate the importance of oceans. As a result, we introduced into law, effective January 1, 1998, the Oceans Act.

There have been many events taking place across Canada over this summer to celebrate the international year of the oceans. We do have an oceans strategy and we are working on that more thoroughly.

Recently two pilot marine protection projects were established in British Columbia and there are considerations for projects in the Atlantic and the Arctic as well.

Canada Pension PlanOral Question Period

September 24th, 1998 / 2:55 p.m.

Reform

Maurice Vellacott Reform Wanuskewin, SK

Mr. Speaker, let us see if we have this straight with regard to the firing of the chief actuary of the Canada pension plan.

We understand that the Minister of Finance is informed by the superintendent of financial institutions that there are serious problems with the highly respected chief actuary. The chief actuary is widely known as a man of integrity and competence.

The minister would have us believe that he did not even bother to ask about the nature of the problems. That is absolutely incredible.

Is this really the minister's position? Does he expect the Canadian public to believe this line?

Canada Pension PlanOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

LaSalle—Émard Québec

Liberal

Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, I go back to the point. The hon. member simply does not understand how the Canadian system works. Mr. Dussault reports to the superintendent of financial institutions. We have separated politics from the administration of the public service.

Consider carefully what Reformers are saying. They are suggesting that politicians should influence the choice of senior level public servants. They are suggesting that we should politicize the public service.

That would be the death knell of the finest public service in this country, and the Reform Party ought to understand that.