Debates of March 24th, 1999

Building Contracts

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

Mr. Speaker, that is a political answer but it does not answer the tough questions. I also have documents showing that the registered head office of the Prime Minister's numbered company is Mr. Duhaime's hotel. Does the Prime Minister not see the conflict here? We will never get to the bottom of this affair and the hundreds of questions it raises short of a full inquiry. Why is the Prime Minister delaying getting this thing cleared up?

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

Mr. Speaker, only the opposition from the Reform Party sees problems where there are none. This is a project that has been widely supported in the region before the member for Saint-Maurice looked after it. They like to speak about the government giving money to friends of the Prime Minister. That is not the case. This is money invested by the Government of Canada in business partners to create jobs in regions where the unemployment levels are too high.

Kosovo

[René Laurin, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

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

The situation in Kosovo is extremely tense, and a major conflict between NATO and Yugoslavia is imminent.

Could the minister give us a progress report on the current situation and indicate to us what the nature and scope of any potential Canadian participation in this conflict would be?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister indicated earlier, the air campaign in Kosovo in the Yugoslav republic is under way. It is hopeful that this air campaign will bring about the Milosevic government's coming to the table and agreeing to a peace agreement. That campaign is now under way and it does involve Canadian air force squadrons. Four of the six CF-18s are currently in the air and currently engaged in that air attack.

[René Laurin, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in light of the civilian suffering, does Canada plan a humanitarian aid program for the needy?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, this is all about humanitarian needs. This is to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. Canada can be proud along with its NATO allies to be there to try to bring about security and safety for the people in Kosovo. Our people are well trained and equipped. They are professional people. They are proud to be there in this humanitarian cause and are dedicated to serving Canada.

Apec Summit

[Jim Abbott, Reform, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Prime Minister will confirm that he called President Suharto 28 times in a few months prior to the APEC situation in Vancouver?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I did not talk in one year 28 times with President Clinton, President Chirac or Chancellor Kohl, and I never called President Suharto.

How ridiculous to think that the Prime Minister of Canada would talk 28 times with President Suharto. I do not talk 28 times even with the president of the United States or the leader of the Democratic Party.

[Jim Abbott, Reform, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I quote from RCMP documents: “The PMO has made it very clear to do anything to ensure the president of Indonesia attends APEC”.

Why was the Prime Minister putting so much pressure on the RCMP that it suppressed the rights of Canadians at the APEC situation in Vancouver?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, this is the information that should be before the public complaints commission.

As I said many times in the House, let the public complaints commission do what it is suppose to do.

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, Liberal members themselves are beginning to realize that the EI system is not the eighth wonder of the world. They are calling for the withdrawal of the intensity rule, which unduly penalizes seasonal workers.

What does the Minister of Human Resources Development have to say to his Liberal colleagues, who are asking him for the same flexibility as the Bloc Quebecois members are? Will he tell them they are behind the times, that they do not want what is best for unemployed workers, the same tape he has been playing for us for three years?

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

Mr. Speaker, what I have been trying to explain to the Bloc Quebecois for three years is that the best way of looking after unemployed workers is to give them training and development tools and the means to get into the labour market.

For three years, Bloc Quebecois members have done nothing but ask us to go back in time and hand out EI. They are never interested in creating jobs. They never ask us to take action to give the economy—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouta—Les Basques.

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

Mr. Speaker, the minister is always right, even when we can prove he is wrong. It is like maternity benefits: the minister said on Monday that these benefits remain unchanged, despite a 4.6% reduction in the birth rate.

How does he explain that, according to Statistics Canada, the number of women receiving maternity benefits dropped by 7.4% while the number of births dropped by only 4.6%? Where are these thousands of mothers who are no longer entitled to benefits?

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

Mr. Speaker, Canada's birth rate has gone down by 4.6% and maternity benefits have gone up by 1%. There are certainly not enormous problems in this regard.

In addition, a very large number of women have benefited from the growth in the job market. In 1998, two out of three jobs went to women, that is 300,000 new jobs. What members on this side of the House want is to help women get into the job market and enjoy the benefits to which they are—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Medicine Hat.

The Economy

[Monte Solberg, Reform, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the government is so determined to hide the truth about Canada's declining standard of living that yesterday it blocked two separate damning reports produced by StatsCan and Industry Canada, one of which was called “The Relative Performance of Canada and the U.S.: A Gradual Slide Toward the Bottom”.

Why is the government hiding the truth about Canada's declining standard of living?

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the hon. member is aware of the fact that the numbers released by Statistics Canada in the last few days have indicated that Canadian productivity has done better than had been previously estimated by Statistics Canada.

Consequently, whether Statistics Canada, an arm's length agency, or Industry Canada, a government department, when we are discussing these numbers it would be useful if we could agree on exactly what they are. It was for that reason it was suggested the paper should be written again in light of the current numbers from Statistics Canada.

[Monte Solberg, Reform, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe what I am hearing from this minister. He is admitting they have interfered in the business of Statistics Canada.

This is the government's approach to information. First it attacks Terry Milewski. It fires the chief actuary of the Canada pension plan. Now it goes around telling people who are supposed to be independent what should be in their studies.

Is this the government's new approach to information management, censorship?

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

There is a thought loose over there somewhere, Mr. Speaker.

Industry Canada is not independent. Stats Canada is independent and the numbers it released in the last couple of days indicate some information which should be encouraging for Canadians that our productivity performance has been better than was previously estimated.

I do not think anyone should lose sight of the fact that if we are to continue to increase our prosperity, if we are to build our standards of living, then we need to continue to focus on the things that will contribute to productivity.

That includes investment in research and development, learning—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Berthier—Montcalm.

Augusto Pinochet

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Justice said she was waiting for the decision by the House of Lords in England before deciding whether to call for the extradition of General Augusto Pinochet.

Since the House of Lords today refused to give immunity to General Pinochet, does the Minister of Justice now, finally, plan to officially request his extradition on the basis of a complaint by a Montreal nun who was a victim of the Pinochet regime?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is correct that the House of Lords this morning confirmed their original decision to the effect that General Pinochet cannot call to his aid the state immunity doctrine to prevent his extradition from Great Britain. We are at this very moment reviewing that decision. We will be discussing this matter with the Department of Foreign Affairs. I will be discussing the matter with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. We will decide at that time whether further investigation should be undertaken by the RCMP.

Health

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in 1981 Health Canada adopted the World Health Organization's code for the marketing of breast milk substitutes. The code prescribes no samples to mothers or health care workers, no pictures of infants on packages, no free supplies to hospitals, and no advertising of breast milk substitutes.

Does Health Canada still support the WHO code? If so, what steps does the Minister of Health propose to take to assure compliance with the code in Canada?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, Canada still very much supports the code. As the hon. member may know, it was in 1981 that the World Health Assembly met and discussed this matter. Member states were instructed to adapt the principles of that code to their own domestic situations.

Here in Canada we had unanimous agreement between the Government of Canada and the provincial governments that that should be done through promotion, education and collaboration. That is what we have done. Over the years Health Canada for its part has done everything it can to promote breast feeding as the most natural and appropriate way of infant nutrition.