Debates of Oct. 15th, 1999

Canada Customs And Revenue Agency

[Louise Hardy, NDP, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, the government will not honour pay equity. It will not honour child care. It will not even provide housing. There is a farm crisis. We have first nations people in the country who go hungry. They get $51 a month for food for them and their children, and there is going to be this huge party.

Will this new tax agency do what it wants, when it wants with our money?

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

Mr. Speaker, I believe the Speech from the Throne has stated quite eloquently what the government has done and what it will do in the near future.

With regard to the new Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, I told the member that we are very proud of what we are doing. This agency will provide much better services to the population. We are providing good services now but we want to do much better in the near future.

Standing Committee On Transport

[Bill Casey, Progressive Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, a week before the first meeting of the transport committee, the National Post and the the Globe and Mail reported that the Minister of Transport had selected the member for Hamilton West to be elected as the new chair of the committee, even though there had not been a meeting. Yesterday, right on schedule, all the Liberal members on the committee voted just like the minister predicted they would.

Will the minister commit to respect the committee system and honour the system not preordained—

[The Deputy Speaker]

I am afraid that while the question may be of interest it does not fall within the administrative competence of the government. It is out of order.

Does the hon. member have a supplementary question?

[Bill Casey, Progressive Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, you are probably right, it is out of order because the minister is supposed to stay out of committee affairs. Committees are supposed to answer to parliament but the minister preordained the vote in a committee meeting.

I am asking the minister to commit to never doing that again, allow the committee to do its work—

[The Deputy Speaker]

I am afraid that the hon. member is in as much trouble with his supplementary as he was with the one that he admitted was out of order at the beginning.

The hon. member for St. Paul's.

Crime Prevention

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

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

On Tuesday the Speech from the Throne said the government would work with Canadians to ensure that our communities continue to be safe.

Could the minister tell us what initiatives the government has taken to help communities deal with crime?

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

Mr. Speaker, this gives me the opportunity to share with the House the remarkable success of a program that we on this side of the House are very proud of. That is, of course, our crime prevention strategy.

We on this side of the House believe that one only delivers real public safety and security through an integrated approach to the issue of crime, unlike the hon. members in the Reform Party who seem to believe in simply putting more people in jail for longer.

On this side of the House we believe in working in communities, with communities in partnership to address the root cause of crime.

Taxation

[Philip Mayfield, Reform, Cariboo—Chilcotin, BC]

Mr. Speaker, further on high taxes, in a letter to the Minister of Finance, Clinton from Dartmouth wrote, “I'm part of the working poor. Instead of creating useless programs, do me a real favour and give me some real tax relief. P.S. I want more than just a couple of hundred bucks. And get rid of bracket creep while you are at it”.

Does the Minister of Finance hear Canadians? Will he tell us and Clinton how the total final tax bill will be reduced this year?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Yes, Mr. Speaker, approximately $4 billion this year, $16.5 billion over the next three years, the most significant tax cuts the country has seen in over a decade. That is the answer.

Audiovisual Productions

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is again for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

Can the minister confirm whether or not members of her political staff in her office have contacted the police forces involved in the investigations on a production company from Montreal?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, no one from my office gets involved in a police investigation.

Auto Pact

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister who is one of the few members of parliament who was here when the auto pact came into being. He was probably here as well when parliament and Canadians were assured that the auto pact would not be endangered by the WTO.

Given the number of jobs that are threatened by the WTO decision, many in his home city of Windsor, what does the government plan to do to safeguard the auto pact and the tens of thousands of jobs that are associated with that managed trade?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased the hon. member has recognized what Liberal governments have done over the years to build the auto industry. This endorsement by the NDP will be listened to carefully by people in Windsor and other automotive cities.

I assure the hon. member that we are looking very carefully at the interim ruling which has been received in confidence. We will be making our representations to the WTO with respect to what should be in any final ruling and we will act in our responsibilities as we always have to protect the interests of Canadian workers—

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member for Richmond—Arthabaska.

Intergovernmental Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, with things as they are in Quebec at this time, the scenario of a third referendum seems rather vague, despite the continuity of the Liberal government' s hard line.

Now a number of people are contemplating a new type of scenario, which could comprise a referendum on the new offers Quebec might make to Canada.

My question is for the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. Is the minister going to prepare a plan A and/or plan B for this new scenario, and is he open to such an exercise originating with Quebec?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to thank the Progressive Conservative intergovernmental relations critic for his question.

I believe that when such issues are at stake, it is very important for us to limit to a minimum any disagreement between the parties that believe in Canada.

The hon. member has certainly realized that a referendum is not necessary in order to improve Canada, to improve our highly decentralized federation. He has certainly realized that Quebecers, like all Canadians, do not want to be thrown into the upheaval of a referendum and he knows that, if ever there was a government that would have no credibility for this type of initiative, it is the present separatist government.

Global Population

[John Finlay, Liberal, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this past week the world welcomed its sixth billionth citizen. By year 2050 the world's population will be 8.9 billion. Our global ecosystems and economies cannot continue to support this growing population forever.

My question is for the Minister of International Cooperation. What is the government doing to help alleviate problems associated with global population?

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Minister for International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, as members know, almost all of the population growth is taking place in developing countries, aggravating the issues of poverty and social tensions in those areas.

However, much of CIDA's programming is devoted to supporting women in developing countries, including their quality of life, as well as targeting funding for reproductive health programming.

I would also like to point out that we do a great deal of work with girl child education. In fact, if 1,000 girls were given the opportunity to go to school for one extra year only, it would save 60 children.

Immigration

[Grant McNally, Reform, Dewdney—Alouette, BC]

Mr. Speaker, so much for another Liberal infomercial.

The Liberal government has clearly failed to fix the broken immigration system. This week we learned that some of the ringleaders of the west coast people smuggling ships will not be prosecuted. The minister assured Canadians that people smugglers would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

This is an important question and hopefully a junior secretary will not get up to answer it. Why has the government gone back on its word to prosecute these people smuggling criminals?

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, let me thank the assistant critic for the Reform Party on immigration for the question.

Let me further say to to the member that our values as a government in dealing with the very serious problem of people smuggling are not the same as the Reform Party's values. We believe in the charter of rights and freedoms. It does not.

Airline Industry

[Bev Desjarlais, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transport has admitted that he is letting corporate shareholders decide the future of the Canadian airline industry. Instead of showing leadership, he is sitting in his office waiting for Gerry Schwartz to give him a call to tell him what to do. This is a shameful abdication of his duty in a vital part of Canada's infrastructure.

Will the minister do his duty and table specific conditions for an airline merger before the Air Canada shareholders' meeting, or is he going to wait until after the meeting when Gerry gives him a call and tells him what to do?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, it is true that we are waiting for the shareholders of Air Canada to pronounce upon various proposals that either come along or will come along.

The market will decide on the corporate structuring, but the market alone will not decide on air policy for Canadians.

The members of the House, the Senate and the government will decide what is in the public interest and what conditions have to be put on any agreement that comes forward. That is a way that airline policy will be guaranteed for all Canadians.

Trucking Industry

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, problems in the trucking industry have been in the news a lot lately.

We know that nearly 80% of trucking movement is interprovincial, meaning that it comes under federal jurisdiction. We also know that the National Transportation Act will be deregulated in January 2000.

My question is for the Minister of Transport. Will he tell us what his plans are for eliminating the chaos in the trucking industry?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, how interesting that the Bloc Quebecois wants the federal government to interfere.

What I can say is that appeals from truckers are already before the CLRB. We must wait for the board's decisions.