Debates of Dec. 1st, 1999

Environment

[Paddy Torsney, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, if only the hon. member would talk to his provincial colleagues in British Columbia.

This government believes that the issue of water exports is an environmental issue not a trade issue. Eight provincial governments and territorial governments agreed with the federal government in a national water accord.

We fully expect four other provinces to come onside once they have consulted with their own cabinets. I would encourage the Government of British Columbia to get onboard because we are doing the right thing.

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister, who will remember back in February of this year when the House of Commons, with the government's support, supported a motion calling for federal legislation banning bulk water exports. That was a motion of the House that was virtually supported by all political parties. The Prime Minister will certainly be aware that Canada has the constitutional authority to regulate international trade and to ban bulk water exports.

Why does the Prime Minister not do what all Canadians actually want him to do, show leadership on this issue and introduce the appropriate legislation that the House called for?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, for the information of the hon. member, the Prime Minister has shown leadership. In fact, there is a bill already in the House that will be coming up for second reading as soon as it can be arranged among House leaders.

Transitional Jobs Fund

[Elsie Wayne, Progressive Conservative, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, things must not only be right but they must appear to be right. In March 1997 a company called Bas Iris received over $8 million from the transitional jobs fund. That company is based in the riding of Anjou—Rivière-des-Prairies. It gave over $5,000 to the government candidate in the election and over $1,000 to the governing party.

Will the Minister of Human Resources Development not agree that it is inappropriate for companies receiving funds from a government program to turn around and give money back to a political party that gave it the money?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, what I will agree with is that the transitional jobs fund has done an extraordinary job at making sure Canadians get back to work. What I will agree with is that for $300 million we have been able to leverage over $2 billion to ensure there is work for Canadians who have not had it in ridings right across the country.

[Elsie Wayne, Progressive Conservative, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, there are many in the House who are in the Christmas spirit, but the Minister of Human Resources Development seems to forget that it is better to give than to receive.

The minister continues to deny even the possibility that the TJF money was handed over inappropriately.

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, will the minister guarantee that her New Year's resolution will be to ensure that the Canada jobs fund money will only go to those ridings with serious and legitimate unemployment problems?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly where they have gone.

Research

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in this knowledge-based revolution, the future will belong to those countries with the best and most innovative human resources.

This means that there is nothing more important than the research done in our universities.

My question is for the Secretary of State for Science, Research and Development. What does the Government of Canada intend to do to intensify research in Canada?

[Gilbert Normand, Liberal, Secretary of State (Science]

Mr. Speaker, following the throne speech, the Prime Minister announced an investment of $180 million over three years to establish 2,000 university research chairs in order to support our universities.

Following the budget, the Minister of Finance increased the budget of the Canadian foundation for innovation to $1 billion. Last week, the Minister of Health announced the creation of the Canadian institutes of health research.

I myself announced last week a $1 million prize, the Gerhard Herzberg prize for research, a prize that may be awarded in amounts of $200,000 a year for five years to continue research.

Rcmp

[John Reynolds, Reform, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the solicitor general, following on the question of my colleague.

The solicitor general says that Corporal Read should go to the Public Complaints Commission with his concerns. Corporal Read went to the Public Complaints Commission in 1998. He was told that was the inappropriate body to investigate this. We have the RCMP officials investigating one of their own members who is laying criminal complaints against them.

Is it not time that the solicitor general looked at this very seriously and appointed an independent prosecutor to get to the bottom of this issue?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP are currently conducting a criminal investigation. The commissioner has also assured me that he has assigned a senior officer to this investigation.

Pollution

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

Mr. Speaker, in the throne speech, the government promised to address pollution-related problems and to support innovative clean-up technologies.

But a recently published study revealed that the city of Jonquière holds the somewhat dubious title of the city with the highest concentrations of toxic products, such as PAHs, dioxins and furans.

Will the Prime Minister undertake to keep his promises and move quickly to free up funds so that the industries and communities in the Jonquière region can improve the quality of the air we breathe?

[Paddy Torsney, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we have been working with the province of Quebec trying to ameliorate the situation in Jonquière. The province has assumed some responsibility and we hope it will live up to that responsibility.

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, on this World AIDS Day it is important to note that HIV infections are going up and that half of the new cases are related to drug injection use. What do we get from the minister? We get more studies but no action.

He refers to the Canadian HIV-AIDS legal network, which has made a very specific recommendation of getting the government to move on to a public health strategy and start to deal with this as a public health crisis, and the minister says that he needs to study it.

Will the minister finally make a commitment to change to a harm reduction health strategy and act promptly on the recommendations of this latest report?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we have a strategy and it is a good one. It involves $42 million a year to fight HIV-AIDS. It will prevent HIV infections. It will help researchers to find treatments and, one day, a cure. It will support community groups that provide assistance to people in communities across the country who are HIV positive or suffering from AIDS.

Part of the strategy is the creation of an AIDS ministerial council made up of 20 people from across the country who advise the government on whether we are doing it right. That report was a good one and we are studying its recommendations. We have a strategy that is working.

Referendums

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

Mr. Speaker, for over a week now the referendum debate has raged more fiercely than ever. All this talk has created expectations, positive or negative, concerns, anger, even disappointment.

Many people are asking themselves the following question: Unless this is nothing more than an empty and divisive debate, could the Prime Minister tell us where is the beef?

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

Mr. Speaker, how long will it take the Progressive Conservatives to understand that—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the reason there is a referendum debate is because of the first article in the Parti Quebecois' program, because the PQ keeps saying that it wants to hold a referendum at a time of its choosing, using the confused and illegal procedure of 1995, and because the right of Quebecers to be full-fledged Canadians is jeopardized until they have taken a clear decision to the contrary.

It is time the Progressive Conservative Party behaved like a party with pan-Canadian responsibilities.

Anglophone Community In Quebec

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

Mr. Speaker, today's newspapers report that the PQ government does not intend to renew its framework agreement with the Canadian government relating to social services and health care for the anglophone community of Quebec.

If that is true, it is truly a disgrace. I would like to know what the Minister of Canadian Heritage intends to do to protect the rights of Quebec anglophones.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know whether or not the report is correct, but I do know that the anglophone community in Quebec can rest assured that the Government of Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage intends to continue to offer assistance to ensure that services are available to this community as we do for the francophone community.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we are prepared to continue this agreement, just as we are prepared to help the Government of Ontario with respect to its francophone community, and to help the governments of the other provinces in Canada to do the same.

The irony of this, however, if it is true, is that the person who would be terminating these agreements would be the same one who created them, as can be seen from the letter Lucien Bouchard sent to Gil Rémillard in 1988.