Debates of Feb. 8th, 1999

Health Care

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

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are daily experiencing horrible situations in our hospitals and in our health care system. This government keeps saying to wait for the budget.

Just recently a Windsor resident was sent home from hospital still bleeding and vomiting after having his tonsils removed. There were no beds.

How has the Minister of Health allowed our health system to sink this low? Will the government now recognize that the situation is extremely urgent? Will it attempt to cut a cheque immediately for health care?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has made clear that health is the priority of this government. He has made clear that in the budget to be tabled soon that priority will be reflected. It will be clear that we are going to ensure the future for our public health care system, that Canadians now and in the future will have access to high quality health care.

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

Mr. Speaker, time is running out.

As another example, Ontario cancer patients are now regularly being sent to the United States for radiation treatment at roughly double the cost to Canadian taxpayers. Incredibly it is also looking at having U.S. specialists come to Canada to provide the service. Imagine. Private U.S. clinics are ecstatic.

What guarantee can the minister provide that this undermining of medicare will be stopped?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will know that hospitals are run and services are delivered by the provincial governments. I urge her to take up her complaints with the appropriate provincial Minister of Health.

Speaking more broadly, let me observe that there are really two ways to ruin medicare in this country. One way is to follow the Reform path, repeal the Canada Health Act and bring in the American private insurers. That will do it. The other way is to follow the advice of the NDP and bankrupt the country so we cannot afford health services.

We prefer to take a balanced approach and to preserve medicare for now and into the future.

Manpower Training

[André Harvey, Progressive Conservative, Chicoutimi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development.

I would like to ask him why he agreed to sign the manpower training agreement when it is obvious that all the regions in Quebec are concerned about the total lack of programming.

Given that he was aware in his book that most of the people in the regions of Quebec preferred dealing with the federal government, why did he sign an agreement that seems to put us at a disadvantage?

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

Mr. Speaker, there has been disagreement on the subject of manpower for a very long time and, contrary to what the members of the Bloc Quebecois were saying earlier—that the Prime Minister had made promises and we had done nothing—the Prime Minister made a very important promise, which was to establish a manpower agreement with the Government of Quebec, an agreement that should help Quebeckers in time.

We are concerned about modernizing Canadian federalism, and we concluded this agreement. We will evaluate it annually. We will measure the impact of the transfers we are making to the Government of Quebec annually so we can truly assess their success for Quebec workers.

[André Harvey, Progressive Conservative, Chicoutimi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there are jobs in the Montreal area that are subsidized to the tune of $25,000 each.

I want to know whether this approach is part of the framework agreement and whether the funds can be applied to the same sectors or to different sectors to create jobs.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to reassure the hon. member from Chicoutimi that the money the Government of Quebec is investing, for example, in the jobs he mentions is its own money and does not come from the agreement we negotiated on manpower.

I can tell him that we also had the future of the regions in mind and that I regularly hear that people find their relations with the Government of Quebec too centralized, whereas they appreciated the much more decentralized relationship they had with the Government of Canada. But, it is up to the Government of Quebec to resolve its problems of being overcentralized.

Francophones Outside Quebec

[Ben Serré, Liberal, Timiskaming—Cochrane, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Quebecois claims that we are neglecting francophones outside Quebec.

I would like to ask the Secretary of State responsible for Western Economic Diversification what the government is doing to meet the needs of western francophones trying to make a success of it economically.

[Ronald J. Duhamel, Liberal, Secretary of State (Science]

Mr. Speaker, my department has made a modest but important number of investments, resulting in a number of projects, including the hiring of economic development officers who work in French with francophone communities and with the majority. And there are a number of studies showing what we need to do to boost economic development in French.

Partnerships have been formed not only between communities, but with entrepreneurs, men and women with businesses throughout western Canada.

What is now going on is good for western francophones, good for the West and good for Canada.

Publishing Industry

[Charlie Penson, Reform, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-55 will prevent Canadian companies from advertising in American split-run magazines. But here at home Maclean's magazine actually relies on—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order. We have a question here. The hon. member for Peace River may begin again.

[Charlie Penson, Reform, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I will try that again. Bill C-55 will prevent Canadian companies from advertising in American split-run magazines. But here at home Maclean's magazine actually relies on American and other foreign companies for over two-thirds of its advertising budget.

How long will our magazine industry survive if Americans enact mirror legislation? If Canadians cannot advertise in those American magazines, perhaps they will not allow their companies to advertise in ours.

Can the heritage minister please explain how that will help Canadian publishers?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, there is absolutely nothing in the law that prevents any Canadian from advertising in any current American magazine.

Human Resources Development Canada

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to the auditor general, the value of employment insurance fraud could reach $140 million. At its Web site, the department talks of fraud, overpayments and fines of $198 million. The two amounts do not match.

How does the minister explain to the unemployed, who are being harrassed at employment centres, that the figure to be recovered is three times higher than the higher of these two figures?

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

Mr. Speaker, there is no harrassment. The employees are covered by a collective agreement, and, in a department with 20,000 employees, we will find work for them elsewhere.

Personally, I did not like the tone of the memo. I admit it, I did not like it at all. But there is no harrassment, as they are claiming on the other side of the House.

We should also point out the excellent work done by Human Resources Development personnel in helping thousands and thousands of workers integrate into the labour market. An additional 87,000 workers joined the labour market last month, and this figure includes 44,000 young people. This is what the employment insurance reform is about as well. This is our political philosophy. This is how we move people out of poverty—through employment.

Apec Inquiry

[Louise Hardy, NDP, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, the new chair at the APEC hearings has recommended funding legal counsel for both sides at the hearings. He believes that this is a reasonable course to follow as there are two sides to every story. In this story, only one side is armed with a fleet of lawyers while the other, the students, have none.

Will the solicitor general accept the recommendations of Mr. Hughes to fund the students so that there will be a fair hearing?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated previously, I have received a letter from Mr. Hughes. I and my officials are evaluating the letter and I will respond to Mr. Hughes in due course.

Kosovo

[David Price, Progressive Conservative, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to recent news reports, Canada is prepared to provide ground forces for Kosovo.

My question is for the Minister of National Defence. Has Canada been invited to provide troops, and if so, when and by whom?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we have not yet formally been asked to supply troops but there is preliminary work being done at NATO. That is being done in connection with the peace talks that are presently going on in Rambouillet, France. In those discussions part of what they will be considering is whether a peacekeeping mission could be agreed upon by the parties. If it is, then it is quite likely Canada would be asked. In that case, I would expect the government to make a decision after some consultation with members of parliament.

[John Richardson, Liberal, Perth—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of National Defence.

Kosovo has been in the media a great deal for the past few days. Can the minister give the House an update on the situation in Kosovo, particularly regarding how it affects Canadians?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we are into a 21-day period that the contact group has outlined as being necessary to push the peace process forward. It took seven days to get to the table. They were at the table as of this weekend. They will have another seven days to reach an agreement and another seven days beyond that should that be necessary.

We have six CF-18s in Aviano, Italy in case the peace talks break down and if NATO decides to proceed with its air strikes. Also, if as part of the peace agreement, we do get a peacekeeping—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Wild Rose.

Justice

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, for the information of the parliamentary secretary, neither case that I mentioned earlier is going to the supreme court. They are a done deal. This law was brought in under Bill C-41. It is section 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code. The aboriginal people who are the victims in these cases want to hear the answer. Why are aboriginal killers being treated differently than any other Canadian in these laws?