Debates of Feb. 8th, 1999

Human Resources Development Canada

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the department's website estimates that there will be $198 million, a little under $200 million, in penalties and overpayments. The minister should read the information his department is putting out.

How can the minister stand there and deny the existence of recovery quotas in the Department of Human Resources Development when the vice-president of the department's employee union for the Eastern Townships said last week, and I quote: “Managers of—”

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Human Resources Development.

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

Mr. Speaker, we will give the member for Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques an opportunity to refresh his memory, given his apparent confusion over the figures, which are admittedly somewhat confusing.

Here are last Friday's figures again. These were probably the ones he saw. In the month of January alone, 87,000 jobs were created in Canada, thanks to the efforts of the Department of Human Resources Development, among others. Because of employment insurance reform and the youth employment strategy, 44,000 young people found full-time jobs.

Taxation

[Dick Harris, Reform, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in case the finance minister does not remember, it is he who has taken $20 billion out of social programs in the last three years. The questions today are about his proposed budget. If he wants to know more about ours I suspect he might want to read it very carefully.

The fact is that he is to give Canadian workers a $143 tax break a year while his friend from the tax department sneaks in the back door and takes $171 out of their wallets. That is a net decrease of $28, for his information.

What does it take for the minister to realize Canadian taxpayers are at the end of their rope and do not need a decrease—

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Finance.

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, one must discuss documents one has in front of the House, but the fact is that in last year's budget we cut taxes by $7 billion over three years. Next week the government can present its budget and we can discuss that budget at that time. The other document we have in front of us is the Reform Party proposal.

The issue is: Why is the Reform Party afraid to tell Canadians what its real agenda is? Why will it not tell us where that $7 billion to $16 billion worth of cuts in social fabric will come from?

[Dick Harris, Reform, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have heard straighter talk from a fly-by-night used car salesman.

Here is the record, here is the agenda of the finance minister. There have been $38 billion in tax increases since 1993. The disposable income of Canadian families have shrunk by over $4,000 since 1993. He is ripping $7 billion off the EI fund and he is the author of the famous pay more get less Canada pension plan.

Are there ever enough taxes to satisfy his insatiable demands?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Again I go back, Mr. Speaker. In terms of intelligent debate in the country and in terms of political morality, why is the Reform Party afraid to put the facts behind its tax proposals? What is it afraid of?

It is afraid people will truly understand what in fact it stands for. As far as the Canada pension plan is concerned, we and the provinces saved the Canada pension plan and we are proud of it.

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the leaks cleverly orchestrated by the Minister of Finance, we now know that the next budget will include tax decreases for the well-off.

Is the Minister of Finance not a bit uncomfortable about preparing to lower taxes for the richest people by using the money that has been collected at the expense of the unemployed, thanks to quotas, harassment and performance bonuses for those administering the unemployment offices?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, once again the hon. member is trying to jump the gun on next week's budget, but we can look at last year's budget which exempted 400,000 Canadians from paying taxes.

At the same time, my hon. colleague introduced the national child benefit, which put $1.8 billion into the hands of the least well-off families in our country.

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, instead of lowering the taxes of the rich with the surplus in the employment insurance fund, and with recovery targets set three times higher than the actual amount of fraud, would it not be fairer and more humane for the Minister of Finance to improve the present employment insurance plan, which barely covers two out of five unemployed workers?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct an error if I may. There is an ongoing attempt to confuse Canadians.

The employment insurance program is in place for Canadians, and will be for a long time. The employment insurance program covers 78% of Canadians who lose or leave their jobs for cause.

For those not covered by our program, we have other programs to help them into the labour force, the ones for young people for instance, and the Canada jobs fund.

National Defence

[Art Hanger, Reform, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, access to information documents reveal that the air force is no longer able to adequately patrol Canada's coastline. These documents state “There are currently insufficient resources to meet the total patrol requirement”.

I have a question for the defence minister. Who is guarding Canada's coastline?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we have an air force that does this. We also have a navy with its patrol vessels, frigates and MCDVs.

We have the longest coastline of any country in the world and a function of our Canadian forces is to make sure that we do surveillance.

[Art Hanger, Reform, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious the defence minister has not even read his own military department documents.

These defence documents show that budget cuts are forcing the military to drastically cut back on the number of aircraft in its fleet. I will quote again from those documents. “Even the must-do roles and tasks” like coastal defence “would be degraded from current standards”.

Who is guarding Canada's coastline?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry, but I do not trust the hon. member's reading of any document. From what I have heard from him before, he does not get his research right.

We certainly have a navy. We have an air force. We have an army. They are all doing their utmost to protect Canada's sovereignty. That is one of their prime functions as is identified in our policy framework in the 1994 white paper, and they are doing a good job at doing it. Yes, we have fewer resources. Things have been very tight but they are doing a great job with the resources they have.

Canada Information Office

[Ghislain Lebel, Bloc, Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Information Office, or CIO, is definitely a rather special body.

In addition to flouting all the public service's hiring practices, the CIO is permitted to award contracts of up to $150,000, six times the usual amount, without going to tender.

My question is for the Minister of Public Works, or the chief political organizer for Quebec, for they are one and the same. How does he explain the fact that 80% of CIO's contracts over a 16-month period were awarded without tender?

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

Mr. Speaker, first off, I would like to assure the House that, right from the beginning of this period, the Canada Information Office has always respected Treasury Board guidelines.

Naturally, as is the case with any new body just starting out, it has had to use the services of various professionals in order to fulfil its mandate.

But I can assure my hon. colleague and the House that, since August 1, 67% of the contracts awarded by the Canada Information Office went to public tender.

Youth Employment

[John O'Reilly, Liberal, Victoria—Haliburton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question concerns the student summer job action program.

Can the Minister of Human Resources Development inform the House if this program will continue for 1999 and if so, can the minister tell our Canadian youth when they can apply for help in the summer job search?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to launch the 1999 summer student job action program, to help young Canadians get summer jobs.

This year we will invest $120 million to help 60,000 young Canadians get summer jobs. This is building on our youth employment strategy which has contributed to the creation of 143,000 student jobs for the young in 1998, the best performance in 20 years, and 44,000 jobs in January 1999.

Justice

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot wait for minister's statement period.

Last month Mark Poucette, a member of the Stoney nation, was convicted of taking the life of Larry Labelle. His punishment for this crime was a one year sentence. The Criminal Code allows a judge to take into consideration during sentencing whether the person is aboriginal or not. Why should a judge be required to take that into account? What does it matter?

[Eleni Bakopanos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know the particulars of this case. Nowhere is it stated that a judge has to take that into consideration. He has to read the law and he has to interpret the law. I think that is what the judge did in this particular case.

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in the Criminal Code, section 718.2(e) says that the judges must take into account whether the convict is an aboriginal or not.

On January 20 Deana Emard of Vancouver argued that she should not go to jail for killing her husband, in part because of her aboriginal background. She was subsequently sentenced to community service.

The families of the victims in both of these cases, who are aboriginal, are asking why they are being discriminated against. Why such pathetic sentences for these horrendous crimes?

Could the minister explain to the families of these victims why they are treated differently under Canadian law—

[The Speaker]

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Eleni Bakopanos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, since the cases are before the Supreme Court of Canada, we will not comment on them.