Debates of April 13th, 1999

Kosovo

[Daniel Turp, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we are and remain concerned about having the UN involved in this conflict so that this international organization does not become extraneous.

There is another question and that is whether specific security measures will be taken to protect the Kosovar refugee camps on Albanian soil in the light of last night's events.

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, we also are very engaged in having the United Nations play a responsible role. That is the reason just a week ago I was at the United Nations to meet with the secretary general. It is why we had G-8 meetings this week to discuss with the Russians how we might establish some joint initiatives at the United Nations. Those talks are ongoing.

As for the second part of the question, NATO troops are in both Macedonia and Albania for the very clear reason to help secure the position of refugees in those countries.

Building Contracts

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I see that the Prime Minister is exploring other job opportunities. He has taken to writing fiction for the National Post . On Saturday I see that he wrote a public letter to the National Post and he said that he is an ordinary, humble MP who just happens to be helping fortunate business folks who just happen to live in his riding.

If that is the case and the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, will he release all the documents surrounding his involvement with helping these incredibly lucky people who just happen to receive incredibly generous grants and loans from the government?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have the letter I have written. I have given all the facts. I will ask permission to table the letter in both French and English in the House of Commons.

As a good member of parliament I will still work to help my constituents.

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we have already read the letter. That is not the problem. The problem is all the documentation that surrounds the issue of the loans to these incredibly fortunate people. One had business dealings with the Prime Minister, another was a convicted embezzler and another was a three time convict.

Canadians want to know the facts. If the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, and if he did not personally benefit from these business arrangements, then why does he not table all the documentation, cancel the white-out, and just table all the documents here so we can all have a look at them?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I replied to the question. I stated the facts. I note again that the members opposite make statements in the House of Commons and are chickening out. They never repeat the words they use in the House of Commons outside because they know—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Saint-Maurice, QC]

And the people of Windsor told them that they do not like cheap politics.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[The Speaker]

Order. No one's courage is being questioned in the House of Commons so please stay away from words such as chickening out.

Kosovo

[René Laurin, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is no way that the chief of the defence staff has not considered from the beginning the possibility of having to send ground troops to Kosovo. With a call from NATO possible at any time, they had to be prepared.

My question for the Prime Minister is this: Is the Canadian army ready or not to send in troops? And, if so, what role will they play?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated before, yes, the Canadian forces are ready to send troops in support of a peacekeeping implementation plan that has been previously discussed in this House. We are preparing 600 troops at the base in Edmonton for deployment into the area.

Cultural Forums

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval West, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Recently, PQ minister Louise Beaudoin wrote the Minister of Foreign Affairs about the status of the Government of Quebec in cultural and economic forums throughout the world.

What is the Government of Canada's response?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I recently wrote Ms. Beaudoin to remind her of our commitment to defend and promote the interests of all Quebeckers as Canadian citizens.

That being said, we are counting on the Government of Quebec to join our Canadian delegations, without departing from the rule whereby a sovereign country has only one representative.

Building Contracts

[Jay Hill, Reform, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, issues of public ethics are not settled behind closed doors, or by manipulating which facts are released to the public, or for that matter which facts are tabled in this place.

When a money losing hotel venture in the Prime Minister's riding receives numerous grants from the federal government, Canadians have a right to know all of the facts. We ask again, when will the Prime Minister release all of the documents without the gallons of white-out? When will he table them in this place?

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

Mr. Speaker, only the Reform sees problems in these particular cases.

The Prime Minister, as the member for Shawinigan and Saint-Maurice, has done what all MPs do. He was consulted, as Reform MPs are when they do their work for their ridings and when the unemployment table is high.

The provincial member of the national assembly, who happens to be a Péquiste, also supported the project. The matter is crystal clear. It has created 40 real jobs in a region of high unemployment.

[Jay Hill, Reform, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has used my support of a project in my riding to defend his actions. The difference is that when I was asked for my support I had not sold a money losing business to the applicant, nor did I even know the applicant. So there is clearly no conflict of interest in my case.

I have tried to table all of the relevant documents involved in the project in my riding—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. We will hear the question.

[Jay Hill, Reform, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have tried to table all of the relevant documents involved in the project in my riding in this place, but the Liberals have refused me to do so.

When will the Prime Minister clear the air and table all of the relevant documents involving the projects in his riding?

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

Mr. Speaker, the process followed in every case is always the same. It is a very transparent process which has been supported by everyone in the riding, whether at the municipal, provincial or federal level.

The Prime Minister did his job. There was no more intervention than necessary to do the job of a member of parliament where the level of unemployment is high. It has worked and it has created real jobs.

Kosovo

[Svend Robinson, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Canadians are watching with growing horror the unfolding disaster of NATO's bombing campaign in the Balkans, with innocent civilians dying on a passenger train yesterday, cross-border attacks in Albania and a growing flood of desperate refugees.

Will the minister now show leadership and join with Russia in calling for an emergency meeting of the G-8 nations, and will he call for an immediate end to NATO bombing and Milosevic atrocities and a return to UN brokered negotiations?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member had read the communique issued yesterday at the NATO meetings, we in fact had a very specific proposal to reach out to the Russians, to work with them to try to find a solution.

Just today the secretary of state of the United States met with the foreign minister of Russia to determine whether there would be grounds for a G-8 meeting. We are certainly not opposed to that, but there must be Russian acceptance of a basic fact, that there must be an international force in Kosovo to protect the refugees. Without that no agreement is worth having. We must protect those innocent people.

[Svend Robinson, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Mr. Speaker, no one disagrees that we must protect the innocent civilians and the refugees in Kosovo.

The question that the minister does not seem to understand is that NATO troops who have been involved in bombing in Serbia cannot then be involved in a peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

Does the minister not understand and will he not take to the NATO council the reality that a peacekeeping force in Kosovo must be made up of non-combatant troops under UN command? Will he not take that to NATO?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, what I understand, which apparently the hon. member does not, is that right now there are hundreds of members of the armed forces of NATO countries who are involved in doing exactly that, protecting the life and dignity and integrity of people in Kosovo against the repressions of the Milosevic government.

That is the fundamental fact that we are facing. We will not go into any agreement until we can have the assurance that there will be an international force in which countries of that good intention are represented to make sure that protection is there. Otherwise we will simply have a repetition of a—