Debates of Oct. 22nd, 1999

Genetically Altered Foods

[Stéphan Tremblay, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

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

Section 5 of the Department of Industry Act provides that the minister shall exercise his powers and perform his duties “in a manner that will promote the interests and protection of Canadian consumers”.

In order to guarantee consumers proper information on the food they consume, would do the minister promise in this House to make it mandatory to label genetically altered foods, yes or no?

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

Mr. Speaker, just a few days ago the grocery distributors council announced an initiative with the Canadian standards council, the industry, the provinces, the federal government and the Consumers' Association of Canada to conduct meetings and put together a criteria for voluntary labelling.

Before we do any labelling, we have to have a criteria in place so that it will be credible and enforceable labelling. We recognize the consumer's right and desire to know and we are working in that direction.

Health

[Ovid Jackson, Liberal, Bruce—Grey, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last June the Minister of Health tabled an announcement regarding the medical use of marijuana in a Health Canada document on the medical use of marijuana. The minister, under section 56 of the act, exempted two persons.

Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health explain to the House what other actions have been taken over the summer?

[Yvon Charbonneau, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the actions of this government have shown it to be taking a humanitarian approach to people who are suffering and believe the use of marijuana would help them.

On October 6, the minister granted 14 exemptions under section 56 bringing the total to 16. As it there has been some criticism of the procedure, the minister is undertaking consultations in order to improve it.

He has also announced an action plan for clinical trials and an action plan to ensure a domestic source of supply within one year.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Reed Elley, Reform, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like read a quote by one of Canada's most infamous 80 year olds:

There is a long term intention on the part of the government—to arrive eventually at a situation where Indians will be treated like other Canadian citizens of the particular province in which they happen to be.

Pierre Trudeau made that comment in the House at the tender age of 49. What exactly happened to the Liberals' long term intentions when they signed the Nisga'a treaty?

[Bob Nault, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, the intention of signing the Nisga'a agreement is to bring certainty, not only to our responsibility under the constitution to first nations rights but also economic certainty to the province of British Columbia, a province that needs certainty in the forestry area.

That is where we are at. That is where we were going. We are doing the responsible thing, and I hope the Reform Party will come to its senses and support the Nisga'a agreement like everybody else in the House.

[Gurmant Grewal, Reform, Surrey Central, BC]

Mr. Speaker, assigning democratic rights according to race is offensive. The government is attacking the very foundation of our country. Equality of opportunity is at the core of what it is to be Canadian.

The government has quashed the principle of equality with the Nisga'a treaty. No longer will hard work be the determining factor of whether or not one can make a living in forestry, fishing or mining. Now success will be based on race.

Why is the government promoting a treaty that abolishes equality of opportunity?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, this was the exact argument used by members of the Reform Party to keep the Sikhs out of the RCMP. They said that they did not want the regulations to change and that they did not want turbanned Sikhs in the RCMP. Members of that party stood for that and they are using the same argument as they did before. They should be ashamed of themselves.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Order, please. Perhaps hon. members should calm down for a moment.

Water Exports

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we all remember the fiasco of having to pay the Ethyl corporation $19 million. We learned today from Santa Barbara, California, that Sun Belt Water is suing the Canadian government for up to $15 billion under chapter 11 of NAFTA.

My question is for the Minister of the Environment. Would he now admit that Canada's water export policy will not be decided by the Parliament of Canada, Canadian laws or the courts of Canada, but that it will essentially be decided by three faceless trade lawyers operating in secret on the basis of NAFTA trade rules?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I am astonished that the NDP policy would be put forward by the hon. member in this way.

We do not believe that bulk water is an item of trade. We do not think it should go to NAFTA panels. We think that is covered entirely within Canada by the decision of Canadians.

The NDP may think differently. It may think it is a matter of trade. It may think it should be sent off to those lawyers elsewhere, but we say we make the decision and not other people.

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of the Environment can stand and yell in the House all he wants that this is not a trade deal. The issue of Canada's future water exports is going to a NAFTA trade panel. The suit for $15 billion is being launched now as we sit here in the House of Commons.

One reason this is happening is that the government and the minister have been dithering on water policy. Back in 1993 the Prime Minister said that there would be no water exports. We have been calling for legislation. Will he now introduce legislation and initiate talks to remove ourselves from chapter 11 under NAFTA?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member and his party keep insisting that somehow water is an item of trade which can be handled by NAFTA. We say no. We say this is a decision for Canadians, not for people elsewhere. We are saying no to water diversions from any of the major watersheds in Canada.

Housing

[Gilles Bernier, Progressive Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the owners of leaky condos in British Columbia are faced with tens of thousands of dollars in repair costs through no fault of their own.

Given that Ottawa has no consumer protection legislation in place for condo owners and that CMHC required all those homeowners to get inspections, will the minister of public works, allow those homeowners at least to use some of the money from their RRSPs without penalty? This measure would not cost the government one penny. What can the minister do to help those people in B.C.?

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, CMHC has been at the forefront of this situation. It has been inviting the owners of those condos to come forward if they need financial assistance.

We have been opening the mortgages and giving more time for payments. We have also consolidated mortgages and we offer all the research. We continue to work in helping those people in a similar situation. We understand it is a terrible situation but we are taking our responsibility and we are acting.

[Gilles Bernier, Progressive Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the provincial government of B.C. agrees with the Barrett commission that condo owners should be allowed a sales tax exemption for the repairs.

The federal government assisted people during the floodings in Manitoba and the Saguenay and during the ice storm in central Canada. We are asking the government to have a little compassion and to help those people in B.C. We are all Canadians; people from B.C are also Canadians.

Will the minister use a little compassion and help those people through GST exemption on the repair bills for those condos.

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, we are trying with all the means we have to help condo owners, to give them relief so they can make repairs. I assure the member that our financial assistance through the CMHC loan insurance program is working.

The hon. member has made a representation that we should use retirement savings plans for those things. I can take that representation to the Minister of Finance, but I remind him that we did not use such things for the ice storm or the Saguenay tragedy and so on. We also have to keep the integrity of our retirement pension system.

Health

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Toronto Centre—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today the Minister of Health made an announcement in Toronto of major funding for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Can the parliamentary secretary tell us how health research will be enhanced by this new funding, and how our researchers will be able to contribute to the quality of health in Canada as a result of these new resources?

[Yvon Charbonneau, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I have the great pleasure to confirm the announcement made this morning in Toronto by the Minister of Health.

A total of $65 million will be injected into health research through the creation of institutes. Their purpose will be to improve the co-ordination of health research throughout the country through involvement of both the private sector and other levels of the public sector.

This is a result of an announcement made in the 1999 budget. Also, a commitment was made in the Speech from the Throne to introduce appropriate legislation in the very near future.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Ted White, Reform, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Speaker, barely 60% of the Nisga'a themselves voted in favour of the Nisga'a treaty. The fisheries minister should abandon his name calling for a while and ask the Nisga'a why they voted against it.

The fact is that the absence of land ownership rights is a major flaw in the Indian Act and the Nisga'a deal. Hundreds of band members from the Squamish reserve in my riding have come to tell me that the lack of land ownership is the single biggest impediment to self-sufficiency for aboriginal people in Canada.

How can the government support a treaty that works against individual property rights and that has been completely rejected for that reason by some of the Nisga'a and the Liberal Party of B.C.?

[Bob Nault, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I will try one again more time. It is very important for the member opposite to read the agreement.

If the member wants to listen he will know that in the agreement it is not the case that there are no land rights for individual Nisga'a people. They can in the agreement set up a land code which will allow through fee simple for the individual Nisga'a owners to have a deed to that property based on their own regulations as a government.

Bill C-6

[Pierre Brien, Bloc, Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of National Revenue stated that his colleague, the Minister of Industry, had already responded to numerous requests from the Government of Quebec to avoid any form of duplication following passage of Bill C-6 on electronic commerce. However, contrary to that statement, the Minister of Industry did not propose any amendment of satisfaction to Quebec.

Why is the government refusing to meet Quebec ministers concerning an issue as important as the protection of personal information before ramming through the House a bill that could easily have been put on hold until after such a meeting?

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the hon. member that the protection of personal information is a very important issue for all Canadians, including Quebecers.

It is not possible for a provincial government to fully protect privacy. Federal legislation is also required to achieve that goal.

The Government of Canada also needs such legislation to fulfil its international obligations. We already discussed on two occasions the idea of such a bill with the ministers responsible for the information highway. Personally, I do not understand—

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member for Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre.