Debates of Nov. 16th, 1999

Diabetes

[Lynn Myers, Liberal, Waterloo—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, November is diabetes month in Canada. Diabetes is a chronic disease that has no cure and is a leading cause of death by disease in Canada.

People develop diabetes when their body no longer makes any or enough insulin or is unable to properly use the insulin it produces. There is also a possibility for women to get diabetes temporarily during pregnancy which greatly increases the chances that they will develop it permanently.

Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas which breaks up the sugar we eat so it can get into our cells and provide our body with energy. For those with diabetes this process does not occur naturally and they are forced to get insulin injections to maintain the proper balance of sugar in their blood and in their cells.

As we all know, diabetes is a horrible disease and there is much research and work to be done in this area. National diabetes month gives all Canadians the opportunity to learn more about this disease. We must continue to put money toward research to find a cure for diabetes and at least until we find that cure, to find methods to improve the life of those battling this disease.

Visit To Africa

[Jean Augustine, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, let me tell this House about my emotional tour through a period of history where African children, women and men were captured, shackled and transported as part of the 18th century slave trade.

This slave colony I visited on Gorée Island is located three miles from Dakar, the capital city of Senegal. The historical site is a reminder of the atrocities, the suffering and the humiliation endured by millions of Black people who were captured against their will, forcibly held, then shoved on to ships to be sold as slaves in the new world.

Iron shackles, leg braces, weight balls, neck and arm locks left behind the reminders of the oppression and the rape of human dignity during this shameful period.

Let us never forget this horrendous human episode. Let Gorée Island stand as a place to remind us, lest we forget that we are all created equal.

Louis Riel

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today is Louis Riel day.

On November 16, 1885 at 8 a.m. Louis Riel climbed the stairs to the scaffold, the trap door snapped open and Riel was dead.

I had the privilege this morning of attending in the presence of the Governor General of Canada and other dignitaries, a solemn and thoughtful celebration of the life of Louis Riel.

Louis Riel was branded a traitor to Canada but in fact he was no traitor. He was a hero who stood up for his people and his beliefs. He was a victim of the prevailing prejudices of his time.

This was the life and death of the man we recognize as the founder of Manitoba, the man we recognize today as the defender of the rights of the Metis and the French Canadians.

Niobec Mine

[Jocelyne Girard-Bujold, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to pay tribute to the success of the Niobec mine in Saint-Honoré. It has won a major price in the Quebec Énergia competition, awarded by the Association québécoise de maîtrise de l'énergie.

I would like to congratulate the entire team of electricians, who made possible the installation of a new system to heat the underground galleries of the mine, thereby reducing energy consumption and protecting the environment.

By using modern technology, the mining industry is now up to speed with the third millennium. This award is recognition of the fact.

Congratulations once again to the Niobec mine and its employees for their continued efforts to protect our environment. This is proof that the environment and the economy go hand in hand.

Endangered Species

[Rick Borotsik, Progressive Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have some words of advice for the Minister of the Environment on his proposals for endangered species legislation: proceed with caution. Taking the heavy-handed approach to landowners will solve nothing in addressing the root problems with protecting endangered species.

The federal government must apply a balanced approach to any future legislation that has the potential to have a detrimental impact on the agricultural industry. All stakeholders must be involved, especially agriculture, in the legislation process in order for this balanced approach to succeed.

Criminal sanctions and non-compensation for farmers would do little to advance the environmental cause. It would only create more division between sectors.

If the Minister of the Environment really wants to make an impact in his portfolio, might I suggest that he actually take the advice of the stewards of the land and develop a balanced approach to endangered species.

1998 Ice Storm

[Claude Drouin, Liberal, Beauce, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on November 5, Quebecers saw once again that the Liberal government honours its commitments.

On that date, the government handed Quebec a cheque for $100 million to cover the cost of damages that occurred during the January 1998 ice storm. This brings to $350 million the assistance that Quebec has received under this program.

The money is going directly to the Government of Quebec, to pay for many so-called extraordinary expenditures. It will be up to the Government of Quebec to reimburse the municipalities, who are anxious to get what is coming to them.

This is another good example of the effectiveness of the Canadian government's presence, which was much appreciated by the people of Quebec in their hour of need.

Byelections

[Rick Limoges, Liberal, Windsor—St. Clair, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I know that members on this side of the House will be pleased to join me in congratulating the new members of parliament who won the byelections in York West, Mount Royal and Hull—Aylmer last night.

I know from personal experience the many challenges and interesting developments that face candidates for the government party in a byelection. I am pleased to see that my three new colleagues won their respective byelections with far more comfortable margins and enjoyed their victories much earlier in the evening than I did.

For those who may have lost track, these three byelection victories give the government 14 wins in 17 byelections since winning its first mandate in 1993.

The recent victories are an indication of the high level of Canadians' trust in and satisfaction with this government and our Prime Minister. I know that the members on this side look forward to working with the new members so as to continue to provide good government and improve the quality of life of all Canadians.

1979 Mississauga Train Derailment

[Steve Mahoney, Liberal, Mississauga West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, 20 years ago last Wednesday, during the evening of November 10, 1979, an event took place that is now known as the Miracle of Mississauga.

A 106-car freight train carrying explosives and poisonous chemicals was derailed at the Mavis Road rail crossing. Over the next few days 218,000 people were evacuated from private homes, nursing homes and hospitals. Our city became a virtual ghost town.

Amazingly after seven days, through the diligent hard work and untiring efforts of Mississauga's emergency service crews, combined with the assistance of several outside personnel, no lives were lost and our citizens returned.

Though today there are no visual reminders of this potential disaster, Mississaugans will never forget the Miracle of Mississauga.

Confidential Documents

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, CSIS is busy burning secret documents, losing them in phone booths, leaving them in the back seat of cars while the secret agent attends a hockey game. Canada's secret service is secret in name only.

Yet we must not be too quick to cast a stone at these James Bonds and Mata Haris. After all, they have been set an example from higher up.

The federal government itself seems to be a past master at leaking confidential information, committee reports in particular. However, when it comes to compliance with the Access to Information Act, this same government gets obsessed with secrecy. Secret material falls into the hands of the public, while material that is public becomes secret.

It is understandable that Canada's secret agents do not know which way is up. After all, if everything that ought to be public were to become secret, most public servants would have to be replaced by secret agents. And then the Liberal government, mightily relieved at last, would no longer have to answer any embarrassing questions.

Agriculture

[Gerry Ritz, Reform, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government does not care. So said Janice Archdekin of Landis at a kickoff meeting in Biggar, Saskatchewan to gather a wide spectrum of opinions and solutions across the prairies.

The Reform Party will be sponsoring a series of meetings to gather rural people together to get their input and urge the Prime Minister to tour the west and hear from those Canadians who have been hardest hit in recent years from rising input costs and falling prices in the agriculture sector.

We would like to see the Prime Minister come to the small towns and local halls to hear about the issue firsthand. Of course, he can send his entourage ahead if he likes. They should probably avoid the four star hotels and the PGA golf courses. That is not likely where the farmers or the answers will be found.

We intend to gather a wide range of opinions from producers and suppliers as well as their families on how to put agriculture primary producers on a permanent track of prosperity and sustainability. We know we will hear about foreign subsidies, taxes and user fees. What we do not know is if we will ever hear from the government that it recognizes the problem, let alone that it cares.

Louis Riel

[Rick Laliberte, NDP, Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it is truly an honour to commemorate one of our colleagues who has fallen. He served in the second and third parliament and his name was Louis Riel. He was a duly elected member of parliament.

I challenge the government of the day to look into the future, to share what this person would have contributed to this parliament if he had been able to deliver a speech in this House of Commons, which he was denied. I challenge this government to open its doors, to open its mind, to open its heart and its spirit to unite this country among the aboriginal people who held this land in trust for the generations to come.

I welcome the possibility that Louis Riel can be honoured in the Library of Parliament. Maybe the circle building of the Library of Parliament could be a symbol of unity of this country in the future.

Budget Surpluses

[André Harvey, Progressive Conservative, Chicoutimi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians want to see the fruit of their labours show up on their paycheque. They are fed up working for governments.

This government promised to scrap the GST in 1993. Instead, once again this year the GST is bringing $24 billion into its coffers, on top of the benefits of free trade, on top of the accumulated surplus in the employment insurance fund, on top of the 40 income tax hikes.

The government must stop playing with numbers in order to hide major surpluses at the expense of the workers. The government is not a bank. I realize it would be asking too much for it to keep its promises about doing away with the GST.

It must, however, give Canadians back the desire to work, by leaving them with some money in their pockets as a result of lower income and other taxes. The purpose of the GST was then and is now to reduce taxes.

University Of Guelph

[Brenda Chamberlain, Liberal, Guelph—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the University of Guelph on being ranked as Canada's best comprehensive university by Maclean's magazine.

The U of G definitely deserves top honours. Its faculty and staff are very dedicated and extremely talented. Its students are among the best and the brightest.

The impact of research conducted at the U of G in the fields of agricultural science, veterinary science, minerals, biotechnology and others stretches across Canada and all around the world.

I say to everyone at the University of Guelph that once again they have made all of Guelph—Wellington very proud. We are lucky to have such a world class institution in our community.

Health Care

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, with the health care system disintegrating around them, Canadians anxiously await federal Liberal action and leadership. Instead they get more of the same empty promises and vague commitments.

There is no sign that the Liberals' two-pronged attack on medicare and health protection will ease up. The government simply replays its last budget mantra about investing in health care, but Canadians know that with the Liberals in charge, it will take five years to get back to where we were in 1995.

The Liberals replay their election promise on home care and pharmacare but there is still no legislation. They promised to fix food safety, yet they dump food inspection into the hands of a marketing agency.

We are clearly in a rut under the government, headed for two tier health care and a loss of our health protection system. Meanwhile children are dying from E. coli bacteria, infected carcasses can still enter our food system, and the government still will not give a choice to Canadians about genetically engineered foods.

Today Canadians say loudly and clearly that they do not want more hollow promises, they want action.

Taxation

[Monte Solberg, Reform, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, recently in London, Ontario at the fiscal and economic update, the Leader of the Official Opposition told the story of how he had received a pay stub from a millwright in Saskatoon. That pay stub revealed what the government refuses to acknowledge, which is that taxes are eating up the majority of Canadians' pay.

We are asking that Canadians help us make the point to the finance minister that this cannot continue. We are asking Canadians to send us copies of these pay stubs that show all their pay going toward taxes. They can do that by faxing 613-947-8885 and helping us make the point to the finance minister that taxes in Canada have to come down.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Nisga'a treaty entrenches inequality under the law. It establishes two tier citizenship. It fails to protect the rights of aboriginal women and it denies aboriginal private enterprisers the tools for economic development.

These are all very serious flaws, yet the government is cutting off debate on this treaty in parliament. It is limiting the public hearing process in British Columbia and it is even skewing the list of witnesses in its own favour.

Why is the government so afraid of parliamentary scrutiny and so afraid of public input that it will not allow Canadians to have their full say on the Nisga'a treaty?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the democratic process is being followed through the debates in the House and in committee. We have had second reading. Committee hearings are taking place. We will have report stage and third reading. Then the other place will consider the matter. The democratic process is proceeding.

If I am not mistaken, the committee itself agreed to the list of witnesses. If I am mistaken on that I will correct it, but I understand that what is happening with respect to the committee is based on an agreement among the members.

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister's answer is completely unacceptable to the people of British Columbia including provincial Liberal leader Gordon Campbell.

In correspondence with the Prime Minister, Mr. Campbell said he found the limited hearing process in B.C. and the skewing of witnesses unacceptable. He described the limiting of parliamentary debate on the Nisga'a treaty as an unacceptable slight to British Columbians and to all Canadians.

Why will the government not accept the advice of the provincial Liberal Party in British Columbia that its entire handling of the Nisga'a treaty is flawed and unacceptable?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, now we have seen everything. First there is their effort for the United Alternative. Now the leader of the Reform Party is supporting the B.C. provincial Liberals. It is amazing.

[Preston Manning, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, more to the point, why is the deputy minister not supporting the provincial Liberals in British Columbia?

The Nisga'a treaty is of such wide-ranging importance to aboriginals and non-aboriginals that it should be submitted to a province wide referendum in that province.

The treaty establishes a new level of government. It establishes two tier citizenship. It abandons the principle of equality before the law. It creates taxation without representation and fails to protect the rights of aboriginal women and entrepreneurs. If these are not sufficient reasons to hold a referendum in B.C. on the Nisga'a treaty, what would be?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is very interesting that the Reform Party, for example, continues to say that women somehow are not represented or are not protected in the treaty.

If the leader of the Reform Party ever read the treaty itself, he would know that provincial legislation applies to the Nisga'a women as it does to all women in British Columbia. That leader would know, if he read the treaty, that the charter applies equally to the Nisga'a people as it does to all Canadians.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister knows because of the treaty that people cannot own private property. I think that would affect women as well.

The government assures us that it is no problem absolutely that women's rights will not be protected in the treaty. It says we should not worry about the fact that non-Nisga'a people living on this new land will be taxed by a government they cannot even vote for. It says that the fact the constitution will be changed probably should not bother anyone either.

Rubbish. If the government is so comfortable with Nisga'a treaty deal, why will it not give a B.C. wide referendum on this issue?

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

Mr. Speaker, I find it quite interesting the hon. member would suggest that somehow the Nisga'a people will be able to tax non-Nisga'a people. In fact it is very specific in the agreement that will not happen.

Another reason this party is different from that party is that we do not need referendums. What we need is leadership. The government is ready to lead and we will lead by example not to have a referendum.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, here is the picture of leadership by example. What a sight for sore eyes.

The government is entrenching things that have never been entrenched before and knows that it is undemocratic. It could hardly be used as a shining example of democracy and leadership by example. It is ramming this through with no debate in the House. It has organized a series of committee meetings that the B.C. Liberal leader himself called a sham. Then it is to amend the constitution just to call it kosher.

Why is the government so afraid of the words and practice of democracy that it will not put this to a B.C. wide referendum? Why not?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has answered the question as to why there should not be a referendum. It is that the premises on which she bases her call for a referendum are totally wrong.

She says the Nisga'a treaty amends the constitution. It does not amend the constitution. She says it harms women's rights. It does not harm women's rights. The hon. member on this, as in so many other matters, is wrong, wrong, wrong.