Debates of April 14th, 1999

Kosovo

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

Mr. Speaker, because of the deepening crisis in Kosovo, Canada has an opportunity to use its position on the security council to show leadership and bring about a diplomatic solution of this crisis.

Will the minister representing Canada take before the security council a resolution under the uniting for peace precedent, a resolution which does not require a consensus of the security council but a simple majority?

Will Canada take that resolution before the security council and urge an emergency special session of the general assembly to try to arrive at a peaceful diplomatic solution to the problem?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as I said to the leader of the New Democratic Party, certainly we have been examining a variety of propositions including the uniting for peace resolution. I discussed that at the United Nations last week.

At the present time there is in active discussion the proposal that was developed last weekend during a meeting of G-8 officials. It was communicated among G-8 ministers and would have agreement. It would go to security council and would establish the conditions for peace in Kosovo, including the establishment of an international force to monitor the peacekeeping and to verify the peacekeeping.

In this case the proposal by the hon. member would cross currents with that particular proposal, and I think we should let this particular diplomatic initiative play out first.

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

Mr. Speaker, all of us fervently and deeply hope that particular proposal will bear fruit. There is no question about that.

How long is the minister prepared to wait? How many more people must die? How many more villages must be burned and refugees driven out of their homes before Canada finally takes urgent action, brings this matter before the security council and ultimately uses our leadership in the way that Lester Pearson did in 1956 to take it before the general assembly?

How much longer is he prepared to wait before he shows that leadership and brings it before the security council?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, there is a very curious undertone to the member's question that somehow Canada was responsible for the violence, the persecution and the repression. It is Mr. Milosevic who is doing that. It is not Canada that is doing that. We are using all our resources not only to try to stop that repression from continuing but also to try to find a diplomatic solution.

We will continue to do them at the same time in a parallel fashion. What I am saying right now is that the most likely prospect we have at the moment is the one we have been discussing over the last three or four days. We hope it can bear fruition.

In the world of diplomacy we are never sure but we will continue to activate that. If it does not work we will look at other options at the United Nations, including the uniting for peace resolution.

Fisheries

[Charlie Power, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, we are now in the seventh year of the cod moratorium in Atlantic Canada. However all scientific data show that cod stocks are at a lower level now than they were in 1992. A particular cause for alarm is that there are very few juvenile fish to be found.

Could the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans provide us with an explanation as to why, in the absence of a commercial cod fishery for seven years, cod fish numbers are so low? Is it possible that seven million harp seals might be a factor?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, there are a number of reasons for the decline in cod stocks and for the failure of the cod stocks to recover since the moratorium in 1992. The fundamental reason for the difficulty we face with cod was the extreme overharvesting in the period prior to 1992 when the hon. member's party was in power making decisions as to the total allowable catch.

We have been attempting, through a number of measures which are extremely difficult for the fishermen in Newfoundland, Labrador and the rest of Atlantic Canada, to try to improve cod stocks. There are a variety of reasons, including changes in water temperature particularly in the gulf, possible predation and difficulties—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for St. John's West.

[Charlie Power, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons for the demise of the cod stocks is the absence of a seal management plan. There is adequate scientific evidence which proves that harp seal populations have doubled, if not tripled, over the past seven years.

The minister acknowledged on Monday to all provincial fisheries ministers that for reasons of international trade there would be no increase in seal quotas. In particular, he mentioned sanctions against canned salmon from his home province of British Columbia.

Will the minister accept his responsibility and implement, based on scientific data and not politics, a seal management plan for Atlantic Canada?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, once again the hon. member's knowledge of history and his own party's history is defective. It was a Tory minister of fisheries who happened to come from Newfoundland that responded to the threats of overseas boycotts by cutting out the sealing in Atlantic Canada.

That started the increase in the population to which the hon. member has referred. If he is concerned about people being worried about overseas boycotts, he should speak to Atlantic Canadians, 80% of whose product is exported, who know that $2.2 billion would not be coming into their region were there such a boycott.

Labour

[Larry McCormick, Liberal, Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox And Addington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, a recent article in the Globe and Mail stated that Canada holds the record for the most strike activity in the G-7 industrial countries.

Will the Minister of Labour acknowledge if this information is true or not?

[Claudette Bradshaw, Liberal, Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question. We are now at our lowest point in strike activities in the past 20 years.

Ten per cent of the federal labour market is under the Canada Labour Code. Last year 95% of the disputes were settled without a strike or a lockout. Every Canadian should congratulate employees, employers and unions.

Agriculture

[Howard Hilstrom, Reform, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister of agriculture has repeatedly stated that his farm aid program was bankable and would be available for farmers in the spring. Spring has arrived and farmers are beginning to put in this year's crop.

Could the minister tell the House how many applications have been approved and how much money has been paid out?

[Lyle Vanclief, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, the amounts of money being paid out are changing every day, but I can give the member an example.

In the province of Saskatchewan over 11,000 applications have been mailed to producers. As soon as they get them filled out and send them back we can deal with them. We cannot do it until they fill them out and send them back.

Kosovo

[Caroline St-Hilaire, Bloc, Longueuil, QC]

Mr. Speaker, increasingly we are hearing troubling accounts of the Serbian forces ill-treating civilians, and even systematically raping and murdering innocent Kosovar women fleeing their region.

Will the Prime Minister share any information he has about this with the House and will he undertake, on behalf of Canada, to ensure that those responsible for these atrocities are brought before the international criminal tribunal?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, indeed there has been a number of reports of very serious crimes against humanity and violations against women by the Serb forces.

What is happening is that the investigators of the international tribunal headed by Justice Arbour are now investigating them. At the NATO meetings on Monday we agreed that we would give all possible information.

In fact there are Canadians, specifically from the RCMP, involved right now in taking evidence as part of that transfer of information so that the prosecution of any war criminals can take place.

Health Care

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

Mr. Speaker, it has now been over 100 hours since the chiefs of two first nations in northern Ontario have been fasting at the Sioux Lookout Zone Hospital in a desperate attempt to get the federal government and the minister to address a very critical health care situation. About 16,000 residents of northern Ontario depend on this hospital that now has no emergency or obstetrics services.

Will the Minister of Health now accept responsibility for this crisis? Will he begin immediately to restore physician and nursing services that operate out of the Sioux Lookout Zone Hospital? Will he at least agree to meet today with those who are fasting in a desperate move to get attention and resolution to this critical health care problem?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the problems of physician and nurse supply in northwestern Ontario have had my full attention for the last 18 months. In the course of that period we have negotiated a new contract with McMaster University medical school for the supply of physicians. Recruitment activities are well under way.

As I said in a letter I sent yesterday to those who are fasting in Sioux Lookout, I want them to join the task force that I have already put together to work toward solutions to these problems on the ground.

I have been working with the hon. member who represents the riding, the hon. member for Kenora—Rainy River. He has made a very constructive contribution to these issues. I am going there next week to visit for myself the areas most affected—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for St. John's East.

Fisheries

[Norman E. Doyle, Progressive Conservative, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is no doubt aware that seals are showing up in community harbours where their presence was rare before. They have been found 11 miles up the Eagle River in Labrador feeding on Atlantic salmon. The seals are literally eating themselves out of house and home because they are starving.

The seal population is now over seven million. Would the minister not agree that a larger seal quota is needed, not only to save cod but to save the seal herds themselves?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, I announced the seal quota for this year in January. At the time it received general acceptance. The head of the Canadian Sealers Association, Tina Fagan, said:

The discussions the sealers association has had so far this year with processors indicate they are satisfied with this year's TAC.

They said they could handle 275,000 harp seals—

The minister of fisheries of the province of Newfoundland said that he was delighted with the decision of the federal minister. He said that he was excited about it.

The St. John's newspaper supported the decision that was put forward. That was the reaction in Newfoundland of support for the TAC, the total allowable catch of 275,000—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Winnipeg North—St. Paul.

Social Policy

[Rey D. Pagtakhan, Liberal, Winnipeg North—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development who met two days ago with the federal-provincial-territorial council on social policy renewal.

Could the minister update the House on what the government is doing to ensure that Canada's children indeed have the opportunities needed for a better start in life?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question.

As we know, children are our future. They represent our future as a society and as a country. On Monday the Minister of Health and I did meet with the federal-provincial-territorial council on social policy renewal and at that time our discussions focused on the national children's agenda.

We are looking at how we can best work together to have a co-ordinated approach on programs for children to make sure that they succeed in the future. We want to ensure that the money we invest in children helps them—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Langley—Abbotsford.

Corrections Canada

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the solicitor general. Retaliation after labour strife in the country is really unacceptable.

I would like to tell the solicitor general that Corrections Canada this day has fired Miss Caralynn Morris who has had excellent performance evaluations after four and a half years of work. Her husband is out of work and now she has been fired after working 16 hours in one shift. I would like to ask the solicitor general, because there are more people involved in this, why is it that Corrections Canada is retaliating and making a purge of its employees after this labour strike?