House of Commons Hansard #197 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was crime.
Alexa McDonough NDP Halifax, NS
Mr. Speaker, the heritage minister thinks she now has some wiggle room to negotiate away Canada's cultural sovereignty. Maybe not so much wiggle as shake, as in shakedown.
Bill C-55Oral Question Period
The Speaker
Order. The hon. leader of the New Democratic Party may continue.
Alexa McDonough NDP Halifax, NS
Mr. Speaker, it is less than 24 hours since the House passed Bill C-55. Will the heritage minister now tell us which Canadian cultural protections are being bargained away as we speak?
Sheila Copps LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, with the support of 197 members of the House we have every intention of proceeding with Bill C-55.
The hon. member can rest assured that I have no intention of wiggling or shaking.
Alexa McDonough NDP Halifax, NS
Mr. Speaker, Bill C-55 was supposed to be about Canadian cultural values, but it is looking more and more like a bargaining chip in a dispute with the Americans.
One thing that we have learned about disputes with the Americans is that appeasement will not work.
Will the heritage minister commit to the House today that there will be no appeasement, no backsliding and no cave-in to American pressures on our magazine bill?
Jim Jones Progressive Conservative Markham, ON
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Industry challenged members to produce a negative report on Canada's productivity. I would like to quote findings of such a report.
Over the past 25 years Canada has had the lowest rate of productivity growth in the G-7.
Canada's overall tax burden is 20% higher than our major competitor, the U.S.
Canada is losing foreign investment, causing low productivity that costs jobs and a strong economy.
The report was given February 18 by the Minister of Industry to the Empire Club in Toronto.
Does the minister stand by his comments about Canada's low productivity?
John Manley LiberalMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the hon. member from the Reform Party claimed that Canada's productivity had declined, which was patently wrong.
It is true that we have a productivity challenge and the answer comes, in part, from the investment in research and development, and the investment in science and engineering that we have been making, which those parties tend to vote against.
The biggest burden that lies on the back of Canada's productivity is the burden of debt that was built up by over nine years of Progressive Conservative government.
Jim Jones Progressive Conservative Markham, ON
Mr. Speaker, the minister's credibility is about as strong as the Canadian dollar. In December he said higher taxes were good for productivity. Then he said he was misquoted. Last month he said Canada's productivity was the worst in the G-7. Now he says Canada has the best. Yesterday the minister avoided questions on the impact of government user fees on the private sector.
I ask the minister a simple question. Why should anyone have confidence in him when he does not know whether he is sucking or blowing? Does he think strong productivity can be brought with a report?
The EconomyOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order. We are getting a little bit close on the language, so please quiet it down. The hon. Minister of Industry.
John Manley LiberalMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I really must apologize to the hon. member for attempting to raise the debate on productivity to an intellectual level. It seems to have been above him.
What we do have from the KPMG study that was released a couple of days ago is an indication that in factor after factor Canada leads in the G-7. Whether we are talking about the cost of road, sea or air freight, electricity, leases, telecommunications, interest costs, depreciation, property taxes, advantage after advantage is on the side of Canada.
I do not know why the opposition parties feel that they have to run down this country in order to score some political points.
Deborah Grey Reform Edmonton North, AB
Mr. Speaker, today convicted Senator Eric Berntson was sentenced to a year in jail for fraud. That is on top of Senator Michel Cogger convicted and sentenced for influence peddling. The Senate is so outdated that the Prime Minister cannot even fire these two.
I would like to ask the Prime Minister, what more evidence does he need for Senate reform and to make that place elected?
Jean Chrétien LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, it would have been very useful to have the Reform Party on side when we decided in the Charlottetown agreement to have an elected Senate. But again, Reformers put their political interests ahead of the interests of the nation and they tried to score political points, so they cannot complain. We wanted to have an elected Senate and they opposed it.
Deborah Grey Reform Edmonton North, AB
Mr. Speaker, that was seven years ago this year. Number one the Charlottetown accord did not allow for direct Senate elections and he knows it. Number two, 60% of Canadians—
Deborah Grey Reform Edmonton North, AB
He is calling names right now because they voted against it.
I would like to ask the Prime Minister, when he hears a senator say, “I am doing my time”, does he really believe that that senator is busy in the chamber next door?
The SenateOral Question Period
The Speaker
I am going to permit the question. The right hon. Prime Minister.
Jean Chrétien LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, there is a tradition that we do not comment on the work of the other place here in this House, and especially when a senator is a Conservative senator.
Michel Gauthier Bloc Roberval, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage earlier acknowledged something we have not heard for a very long time in federal parliament—the notion of two founding peoples.
Does the fact of recognizing Quebec francophones as one of the two founding peoples of this country end there, or does it not warrant special status in Canadian delegations?
Jean Chrétien LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, francophones in Canada are not just from Quebec. There are one million francophones who are part of that people but are not living in Quebec. They count on the federal government to represent them.
Michel Gauthier Bloc Roberval, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister will have the opportunity to rise again.
I want to ask him if he will not acknowledge that Quebeckers and the Government of Quebec have always played a leadership role in defending the French fact in North America and that, in doing so, they are fully entitled to be heard in international forums like the one in Belgium with the Walloons and the Flemings.
We exist and we want to have the right to say so.