House of Commons Hansard #40 of the 36th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was consent.

Topics

Bill C-20Oral Question Period

2:25 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh.

Bill C-20Oral Question Period

2:25 p.m.

The Speaker

Order, please. I ask the hon. member to please put his question.

Bill C-20Oral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

Bloc

Daniel Turp Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC

Mr. Speaker, if this were the comic strip Astérix, we would say “These Romans are crazy”.

Will the minister be reasonable for once and admit that his only goal is to keep Quebec in Canada at any cost, even by restricting the freedom of Quebecers?

Bill C-20Oral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

Saint-Laurent—Cartierville Québec

Liberal

Stéphane Dion LiberalPresident of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs

Mr. Speaker, first I thank the hon. member for making me smile again. Second, this clarity bill should not be threatening to anyone. Who is afraid of clarity?

We believe that if things are clear, Quebecers will always choose to remain Canadians. Should we be wrong, then this legislation will be there to help us overcome the tremendous difficulties that would result from negotiating secession.

It is in everyone's interest, including separatists, to realize that secession can only be negotiated in clarity.

Health CareOral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Alexa McDonough NDP Halifax, NS

Mr. Speaker, here is what people are reading about health care in today's newspapers: crowded emergency rooms, stretcher-bound waits for beds and ambulances roaming city streets searching for hospitals to take their patients. That is the rule not the exception in Canadian health care these days.

Does the federal Minister of Health accept his share of responsibility for the harm done to health care or is he just going to continue to blame the provinces?

Health CareOral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

Etobicoke Centre Ontario

Liberal

Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, I am working very hard with those provinces. I am working with every minister of health in the country to find solutions for the long term, to address the very issues that the member mentioned in her question, to deal with the crowded emergency rooms, the waiting lists and the shortages.

As recently as last September, all the ministers of health agreed on priorities that we are working toward together to get that job done. It includes increased money from the federal government, money that we substantially increased last February in the budget. We will continue in that vein.

Health CareOral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Alexa McDonough NDP Halifax, NS

Mr. Speaker, that is great rhetoric from the health minister, but he knows perfectly well that for every dollar cut this government will return 50 cents, if that, and home care has been completely forgotten. What that means is that hospitals are backed right up to the emergency rooms.

A Toronto emergency room nurse put it bluntly, “Christmas is going to be a disaster for people needing health care”.

Is the minister content to preside over more hallway medicine or will he deliver on home care as promised?

Health CareOral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

Etobicoke Centre Ontario

Liberal

Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, we are delivering. As we speak, governments are working together to map out home care for the future and make it part of medicare in this country.

Tomorrow I am meeting with the minister of health from Manitoba to discuss that very project. Last week, all the deputy ministers of health in the country met to discuss that very project.

The leader of the New Democratic Party should learn what is going on in the country in relation to health care. There are changes afoot. The federal government is showing leadership and governments are working together to make those problems better.

Drug ApprovalOral Question Period

December 15th, 1999 / 2:35 p.m.

Progressive Conservative

Greg Thompson Progressive Conservative Charlotte, NB

Mr. Speaker, the drug approval regulatory process is in total disarray. On one side of the issue, we have a minister who, on his own signature, can override the best scientific analysis his department can provide to approve a drug knowing full well he always has to err on the side of caution.

On the other side of the issue, we have cancer fighting drugs, life saving drugs that have been bogged down in the regulatory process going on two years. Some of these drugs were approved two years ago in other jurisdictions and in other countries.

How can the minister continue to operate under this conflicting set of guidelines within his own department?

Drug ApprovalOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Etobicoke Centre Ontario

Liberal

Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party cannot have it both ways: on the one hand, criticizing Health Canada because drug approvals take too long, and on the other, criticizing Health Canada because we innovate to get drug approvals through more quickly.

I can tell the hon. member that the bottom line for us is public safety and getting drugs to the patient as quickly as we can, consistent with public safety.

Drug ApprovalOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Progressive Conservative

Greg Thompson Progressive Conservative Charlotte, NB

Mr. Speaker, what we are looking for is leadership on the issue. I have mentioned the need to be compassionate in that process, but we are looking at 40 countries in the world where this particular drug, Rituxan, that I am mentioning by name, has been approved. We are bogged down in a regulatory process that is denying patients that drug.

We are looking for international leadership to allow us to exchange information with other jurisdictions. Does the minister have a plan to share international information to avoid the cost of duplication in bringing these drugs to market?

Drug ApprovalOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Etobicoke Centre Ontario

Liberal

Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Health

Yes, Mr. Speaker, and we are working with other governments for that purpose.

Let me tell the hon. member that we will approve these new pharmaceutical products as quickly as we can in keeping with the criteria of safety and efficacy. We will do that in every case.

In relation to the very drug that the member mentioned, he knows that we are working on that now. We are doing everything we can to bring that to market as soon as possible, consistent with public safety.

Foreign InvestmentOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Reform

Monte Solberg Reform Medicine Hat, AB

Mr. Speaker, Canadians who have access to high priced lawyers and accountants are able to exceed the 20% foreign property limit in their RRSPs and pensions. For example, according to an access to information request, a company I have never heard of called Canada Steamship Lines has 40% of its assets currently invested in foreign companies through their $300 million pension fund.

Can the Prime Minister explain why some people are able to circumvent these foreign ownership rules while the rest of the country has to abide by that 20% limit?

Foreign InvestmentOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Willowdale Ontario

Liberal

Jim Peterson LiberalSecretary of State (International Financial Institutions)

Mr. Speaker, all of us in the House know that the 20% foreign property limit is something that has been under review. We were looking forward to receiving the reports from the various committees and have received them. We have also received some other reports. The whole issue of the foreign limit is a matter which is under review by the government at this time.

Foreign InvestmentOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Reform

Monte Solberg Reform Medicine Hat, AB

Mr. Speaker, I think the minister misunderstood because some companies, like the company called Canada Steamship Lines, already has 40% of its pension fund invested in foreign properties. This is a two tier pension system. While those with means can invest where they want to, the rest of us have to abide by that 20% rule.

Is this not just another Liberal example of “do as I say and not as I do?”

Foreign InvestmentOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Willowdale Ontario

Liberal

Jim Peterson LiberalSecretary of State (International Financial Institutions)

Mr. Speaker, we all understand the situation very well. We have been listening to committees as to exactly what they have been doing. We understand that there are certain ways that cloned funds and derivatives have been used in various ways. This is a reality of the marketplace. There is nothing new here at all. This is a matter which the government has under active review.

Bill C-20Oral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Bloc

Réal Ménard Bloc Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC

Mr. Speaker, although claiming to provide clarification, this bill has nothing to say about the percentage required, and what is more it is dictating the question to the national assembly.

Will the minister agree that the only thing that comes across in his bill is that he is seeking, unequivocally, to prevent the Quebec people from deciding its own future, which is unacceptable?

Bill C-20Oral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Saint-Laurent—Cartierville Québec

Liberal

Stéphane Dion LiberalPresident of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs

Mr. Speaker, far more progress will be made when the Bloc Quebecois stops imputing motives, particularly since it seems that we are more and more in agreement on the substance.

According to a statement made by the member for Beauharnois—Salaberry, the intergovernmental affairs critic, clarity on the majority and on the question would be a part of discussions after the referendum vote. He says the borders would be negotiable. If that is the case, our positions are moving closer together, rising above the vehemence of the Bloc Quebecois.

Bill C-20Oral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Bloc

Réal Ménard Bloc Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Quebec referendum legislation does not set out any percentage because all parties in the national assembly support the rule of 50% plus one.

The federal government is challenging this percentage. Does the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, that staunch defender of clarity, feel that clarity is having people vote without letting them know in advance what he considers an acceptable level to engage in negotiations?

Bill C-20Oral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Saint-Laurent—Cartierville Québec

Liberal

Stéphane Dion LiberalPresident of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that negotiating the breakup of a country, with its population cut in two, is totally irresponsible, but the hon. member does not need to take my word for it. Here is a quote “If, say, a referendum were won by 52%, would there be sufficient political cohesion in Quebec? That is the big question for me”.

This was asked on June 15, 1994, by Lucien Bouchard.

Foreign InvestmentOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Reform

Eric C. Lowther Reform Calgary Centre, AB

Mr. Speaker, Canadian families not only have to worry about this government's onerous tax burden and feeding and clothing their families, they also have to try to scrape together RRSP contributions for their retirement.

However, the finance minister's rules limit the amount that families can invest in foreign owned companies to 20%. On the other hand, interestingly the finance minister's own company skirted the spirit of those rules by investing 40% of its pension fund in foreign owned companies.

My question is for the Prime Minister. Why do the rules that are imposed on every Canadian family not apply to the finance minister's own company?

Foreign InvestmentOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Saint-Maurice Québec

Liberal

Jean Chrétien LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, as everybody knows, all the assets of the Minister of Finance were put in trust the day he became the Minister of Finance. He is doing his job. Trying to throw mud at the Minister of Finance, who has always acted in a very proper fashion, is absolutely unacceptable.

Foreign InvestmentOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Reform

Eric C. Lowther Reform Calgary Centre, AB

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about the finance minister's company here. What is very clear is that when it came to his company's pension plan, the finance minister's company ignored the spirit of his own regulations. He did not want to be limited to the normal—

Foreign InvestmentOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh.

Foreign InvestmentOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

The Speaker

Order, please. The hon. member for Calgary Centre.