Debates of April 15th, 1999

Shipbuilding Industry

[Elsie Wayne, Progressive Conservative, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I have asked the Minister of Industry numerous times to meet and work with officials from the Canadian shipbuilding industry and repeatedly he has refused, citing that we now have a national shipbuilding policy that is competitive.

If this is correct, why have we lost over 6,500 jobs already and are about to lose 2,000 more before the end of this fall.

Will the minister agree that the shipbuilding industry is in crisis in Canada? Will he please sit down with the shipbuilding industry and talk about a new shipbuilding policy?

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I did so about a month ago.

[Elsie Wayne, Progressive Conservative, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday and the day before the union was in town from Saint John, New Brunswick.

We had 4,000 men working at our shipyard. We are now down to 200. He refused to meet with them. The Liberal premier of the province of New Brunswick came out today condemning the minister because he would not meet with those people.

I ask the Deputy Prime Minister to ask the Prime Minister to please instruct his minister to sit down and draft a new shipbuilding policy.

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I am always happy to sit down when I have the opportunity.

I say to the hon. member that although she continues to deny it, we have enhanced the shipbuilding policy that had been put forward by her party when it was in power by increasing the amount of support given by the Export Development Corporation.

I am prepared to work with the industry. The fact is when their party was in government it was incapable of coming up with a better policy.

Endangered Species

[Yvon Charbonneau, Liberal, Anjou—Rivière-Des-Prairies, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of the Environment.

What are the government's intentions with respect to endangered species? In particular, can she tell us when she intends to act in order to protect endangered species throughout Canada?

[Christine Stewart, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his very reasonable question. The government is very concerned about protecting species at risk. We have laws today like the Canadian Wildlife Act, the Migratory Birds Act and the Fisheries Act which do protect species, but much more needs to be done.

I have been consulting with all stakeholders and provinces across the country for a year and a half. I will be bringing in a strategy to protect, together with the stakeholders, all species at risk, animals and plants. It will be law. It will be policy and program in partnership, which is very important to protect species at risk.

Year 2000

[John Williams, Reform, St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health said yesterday that any Y2K failures in hospitals were not his problem. The Toronto East General Hospital needs $5.2 million to become Y2K compliant and keep patient care running on January 1, 2000. That is his responsibility.

How can the minister say “it is not my problem” when 35% of health care facilities are not Y2K ready? How can he deny his responsibility?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should bear in mind that hospitals are responsible for their own administration and provinces are responsible for the hospitals.

A few months ago we increased transfers to the provinces for health by $11.5 billion. The provinces undertook to use all that money for health. I suggest it is now up to the provinces to ensure that the hospitals see to their responsibility to become Y2K compliant. It must be done.

Kosovo

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in response to a question from us yesterday, the Minister of National Defence confirmed that 600 soldiers would be dispatched to Macedonia to take part in a peacekeeping mission, but the timing of that deployment was not specified.

This morning, we learned that 20,000 more Kosovar refugees are expected in Macedonia this very day.

Would this new influx of refugees be the signal the Minister of Defence appeared to be waiting for before sending this contingent of 600 soldiers to Macedonia?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, there are some 20,000 NATO troops between Albania and Macedonia that are there as a vanguard group for a peace implementation force. It is a very substantial number of troops. It is also a substantial number of troops to help look after the refugees, and that is what they are doing.

Agriculture

[Dick Proctor, NDP, Palliser, SK]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Today one Liberal senator described the AIDA program as a disaster and the application forms as a mad dog's breakfast. Another Liberal senator, former Minister of Agriculture Whelan, said the farm income situation on the prairies was worse than anything he had ever heard.

Spring seeding is approaching and farmers are in dire straits. The AIDA program is indeed a disaster.

What are the minister and his officials doing to correct this bureaucratic nightmare and to actually put some money into the pockets of prairie farmers fast?

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the member, I think the farmers of Saskatchewan know the difference between an application form and a booklet.

The application form is five to twelve pages long. It can be filled out from the income tax forms or from the NISA forms. It is a very simple operation. As soon as they fill them out and send them in we will process the applications and return the money to them.

Fisheries

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

Mr. Speaker, the exploding seal population is a nightmare for many rural communities in Newfoundland. The seal population is some six million and growing rapidly. It poses a direct threat to the re-establishment of a viable cod fishery. It makes no sense to tie up boats to allow the fragile cod stocks to rebuild if we do not protect cod from all the other hazards including seals.

Does the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans not agree that the cod stocks need to be protected from a growing seal menace which is rapidly wiping out a way of life in rural Newfoundland?

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

Mr. Speaker, the cod crisis came about because the member's party was in power for 10 years and succeeded year after year in ignoring scientific advice and setting the total allowable catch well above what was recommended.

Now they want to ruin another industry in Newfoundland, sealing, and they are going about it the right way. May I suggest to the hon. member that he read what the president of the sealers association said before the parliamentary committee this very day.

Health

[Sophia Leung, Liberal, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health. Last week he announced that he accepted all 53 recommendations of the Standing Committee on Health in its report on natural health products.

Many Canadians rely on alternative medicine. Could the minister please inform the House of his plan to ensure safety, access and choice for consumers?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to natural health products, homeopathic remedies and traditional Chinese medicines, what Canadians want is access and freedom of choice. At the same time they want to know that those products are safe, are of high quality, and are advertised and labelled with truthfulness.

That is why I am so grateful to the committee on health and its 53 recommendations. The government has accepted all of them because we believe that they provide the path to achieve those very goals.

We will appoint an executive director of natural health products. That person will understand natural health products and homeopathic—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Skeena.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Mike Scott, Reform, Skeena, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the government and the minister know that they are in the process of abandoning grassroots Nisga'a people by destroying their right to belong to a trade union, a right which all other Canadians enjoy.

The parliamentary secretary should know that once the Nisga'a treaty is ratified this denial of basic rights can never be corrected because the treaty expressly states that Nisga'a laws will prevail over federal and provincial laws in the case of a conflict.

How could the government possibly defend this kind of agreement or this kind of treaty that denies people their basic rights?

[David Iftody, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I thought I had answered the question previously. I will say it once again to the member and I will say it slowly.

If the member would read the treaty he would find a specific provision that says that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to all Canadians and all the Nisga'a people.

Kosovo

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC]

Mr. Speaker, refugees continue to flee Kosovo and pour into the neighbouring countries by the tens of thousands.

The spokesperson for the High Commissioner for Refugees has estimated that 20,000 people from the Urosevac region could cross the Macedonian border in the next few hours.

Is Canada continuing preparations to take in Kosovar refugees, should it ever be asked to do so, so we may be ready for any eventuality?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, yes, we are still on alert and we are ready to respond immediately to a request from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Presence In The Gallery

[The Speaker]

I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of two distinguished Canadians. I will call their names and I would like them both to remain standing as we receive them here in the House of Commons.

The first is Mr. Gordon Pinsent who was promoted to the rank of Companion within the Order of Canada, and the second is Dr. Mimi Belmonte who was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada. Welcome to your House of Commons.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

Business Of The House

[Gurmant Grewal, Reform, Surrey Central, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the official opposition I ask the government House leader what the business of the House is for the remainder of this week and for next week.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, today we will continue with Bill C-68, the youth justice legislation. Tomorrow we shall consider third reading of Bill C-27, the fisheries bill. I do not propose to call any other bill tomorrow.

Monday shall be an allotted day. On Tuesday we shall consider the bill introduced earlier today, namely, Bill C-79 respecting victims of crime. When that is completed we shall return to Bill C-68 and, time permitting, we will begin debate on Bill C-69 respecting criminal records. In any case, we would continue on Wednesday with the items I have just mentioned if some of them have not been completed.

In order to help members make plans, perhaps I could indicate our intentions for the latter part of next week as well, hoping that the House will recognize that it is still preliminary, given that I am giving notice a bit more in advance than usual.

We would propose next Thursday to begin debate on the public service superannuation bill introduced earlier this day, Bill C-78. On Friday of next week we plan to deal with Bill C-64 respecting expositions and/or Bill C-48 respecting marine conservation areas.