Debates of Feb. 4th, 1999

Human Resources Development Canada

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, our employees work hard. They are covered by a collective agreement. None of them is threatened with the loss of their job should it no longer be necessary to recover funds in certain regions because there were no more overpayments or abuses there.

We must respect the integrity of the system. I can assure you that managers are not threatened. We are not encouraging harrassment. Should there be less work in recovery, we would have them work elsewhere in my department.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, would the minister get serious for a minute and acknowledge that a memo signed by a director general of investigations at Human Resources Development Canada, not Human Resources Development Japan, but Human Resources Development Canada, clearly indicates a cut of an estimated 150 jobs in Prince Edward Island alone? We saw no directives for elsewhere, but it is a lot more.

Will he acknowledge that managers get bonuses and that they are pressured—I myself have seen documents—to meet the minister's quotas?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear. As Minister of Human Resources Development, I say that workers in my department are not encouraged to harass. I say it before all of Canada: they are not being asked to harass. I do not ask them to harass. I ask them to respect the integrity of the employment insurance system so it may long serve Canadians.

That is the directive I give all of them across the country from this House.

Foreign Affairs

[Dave Chatters, Reform, Athabasca, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House the Minister of Foreign Affairs told Canadians not to worry, that there was no agreement for Canada to accept U.S. plutonium exports.

Both sides in this issue agree that plutonium could start arriving in Canada as early as next month. Under U.S. law it is illegal for plutonium to be exported to Canada without an agreement in place.

Has this government signed an agreement to accept U.S. plutonium?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman may be confusing two things. One is a procedure with respect to very limited testing of the feasibility of certain fuels. The other is the more broad question of whether any large scale project would be undertaken.

The rules are very clear. Activity can be undertaken in Canada for that which is duly licensed in advance, following upon all of the necessary environmental, health and safety requirements of the Atomic Energy Control Board.

[Dave Chatters, Reform, Athabasca, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians do not need a lot of legal doublespeak. Canadians want to know the truth.

Under U.S. law it is illegal to export plutonium to Canada without an agreement in place. Is there such an agreement in place today?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, any activity that would be undertaken in a Canadian facility, such as the testing labs of AECL at Chalk River, has to be licensed in advance by the Atomic Energy Control Board.

In terms of the requirement with U.S. law, that is a matter of international obligation that it is the responsibility of the United States to comply with it.

Bill C-55

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski—Mitis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-55 to restrict the sale of advertising directed at the Canadian market to Canadian publications ran into strong opposition, especially in the United States. According to news reports, the mandate given by the Prime Minister is to negotiate the basis of an agreement.

Could the Minister of Canadian Heritage report on the state of the ongoing negotiations?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member for Rimouski—Mitis knows full well, the House will be proceeding to report stage and third reading on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. We are carrying on with the bill as it stands. We have asked the Americans if they had any alternate solutions to put forward; we have always been open to suggestions. So far, however, none have been forthcoming.

Social Union

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we are all aware of the very important meeting that took place today between the Prime Minister of Canada and his provincial counterparts.

I am told that the first ministers meeting has now concluded.

I would like to ask the Prime Minister what exactly came out of this first ministers' meeting today?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I think today is a very important day for Canada and all Canadians.

On behalf of the government, I have signed an agreement on health with all the provinces and an agreement on social union with all the provinces, except Quebec, and both territories. Through this agreement, we are substantially modernizing the federation and establishing consultation mechanisms to develop together social policies that will make Canada even better.

Transitional Jobs Fund

[Diane Ablonczy, Reform, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, considering that no one on that side knows what has been signed, the applause seems to be a little premature.

My question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development. The Duhaime debacle raises troubling questions about the minister's transitional jobs fund. The minister gave thousands of dollars under that program to the man who, purely by coincidence we are asked to believe, took a money-losing hotel off the Prime Minister's hands.

I ask the minister to tell the House how he made the decision to gift Yvon Duhaime with $164,000 and report on how this money was spent.

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, I want things to be very, very clear.

Officials from my department reviewed these project applications as they do with much diligence. They review all projects in the same way. They recommended them for approval after they met all the standard eligibility criteria.

My department has a standard monitoring system to ensure that all projects meet their obligations required under their respective contracts and that was the case in this case as well.

[Diane Ablonczy, Reform, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the minister could be a little more specific.

On what basis was this particular award of $164,000 given and how was the money spent? What does the audit reveal about the way the money was spent and the gain that we as Canadians got for that money?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform the House that the money was spent by the Canada jobs fund was to build, to help, to contribute, to create jobs in a very successful hotel in a region where unemployment is too high. The Canada jobs fund all across Canada has created 30,000 jobs in the last three years.

Human Resources Development Canada

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, when I was touring the country, an unemployed woman in Gaspé, Mireille Arsenault, told me: “It is hellish having to deal with the people at Unemployment. I am outraged by their lack of compassion”.

If they are putting aside their compassion, it is because the government is threatening them with job losses if there are not enough unemployed people taken off benefits. The workers are not abusing the system; the government is abusing the workers.

My question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development: When will the government put the “humanity” back into “human resources”, and help this country's unemployed?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, the workers in my department are already humane. They assist millions of Canadian citizens throughout the country in having a better life. That is what the Department of Human Resources Development does.

There are no threats of job losses, despite what the opposition is trying to claim. The employees are protected by a collective agreement, and the 150 who are assigned to auditing records in order to ensure equity with other Canadians would be reassigned to other divisions if there were less work in their sector.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, quotas, targets, the Minister of Human Resources Development can play with words but the facts remain. Employees are threatened with layoffs if they do not cut enough workers off UI. This is not human management. This is the government depending on the UI fund.

Will the human resources minister stop the threats and give instructions so that civil servants can work in the best interests of the unemployed Canadians?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, we have received their instructions. This is why HRD Canada has a youth employment strategy to help the young get some work experience to help get them into the labour market. This is why we have a Canada jobs fund to help create employment.

No official of my department is threatened to lose his or her job because of quotas the member refers to. They do not exist. We are having some estimates of good management practices. I can say that these employees would have plenty of work to do in other divisions of my department.

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence yesterday stated “They are fully tested. It is our medical people, the doctors, who determine that it is safe to give”—these vaccines—“when they are given”. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspection said there were 23 violations with the company that produced the anthrax vaccine.

Would the minister please table in this House any documentation he might have from Canadian doctors and U.S. doctors showing that this vaccine was safe?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to provide whatever I can to convince the hon. member that in fact it was safe. I noticed the last time we had this discussion the member could not wait for us to give the anthrax serum to our troops. She wanted to make sure they got it to protect them. That is exactly what we did. We gave it to them to protect them. It was safe and it was effective. In fact any serum that was found by the FDA to not be fully safe or effective was removed.

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

Mr. Speaker, yes I pushed like blazes to try to protect our men that were going over. On April 7, 1998 the Food and Drug Administration in the United States said that a lot of work remains to correct the deficiencies related to manufacturing the anthrax vaccine. We gave it to our men in March and April 1998.

Will the minister please come clean with all of us and tell us who gave the order to inject this potential health hazard into 400 of our troops?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, in fact the FDA did not shut down the plant at all. It said yes, there needed to be improvements. The plant partly closed to make those necessary improvements. But every ounce of that serum was tested and overseen by an independent company to ensure that it was safe and effective to both the United States forces and Canadian forces.

International Co-Operation

[Sheila Finestone, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as this is international co-operation development week a key factor in the development and growth required in third world countries for their children and youth is a good health care system.

Could the Minister for International Co-operation advise us as to what Canada has done to ensure that there is sustained growth and development for the children of these countries?

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Minister for International Cooperation and Minister responsible for Francophonie]

Mr. Speaker, Canada supports a vast array of health programs in the developing world. We are improving the lives of children through immunization, vitamin A supplements and by iodizing salt. We are saving the lives of women with maternal health programs. We are protecting the health of poor communities by providing access to clean water and sanitation. We are addressing the scourge of AIDS with as many prevention programs as possible in both Africa and Asia.

I trust that the member would prefer that we prevent—