Debates of April 19th, 1999

Kosovo

[Bob Mills, Reform, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday NATO Secretary General Javier Solana admitted that NATO was no longer ruling out the possibility of ground troops in a NATO offensive in Kosovo.

He said that if the moment came when it was necessary to invade Yugoslavia “I m sure the countries that belong to NATO will be ready to do it”.

NATO says we should be ready for the ground offensive. Will the Prime Minister finally get approval from the House and consent to a vote to clarify Canada's involvement in any such offensive?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, there is no request by NATO to send ground troops to Kosovo at this time. I said that if we were requested to make a move like that, there would be a debate on it in the House of Commons.

It is a hypothetical question at this time because we are not faced with such a request.

[Bob Mills, Reform, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, with the secretary general asking for our involvement, will the Prime Minister agree to a vote? That is what we are here for.

We stand against the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. We stand with our forces that are already involved in the NATO campaign. Why will the Prime Minister not let us stand in the House and vote to establish the conditions for our future involvement? Does he really believe he has the right to ready this country for war without letting Canadians have their say?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, never has a government involved parliament in debate on foreign affairs and presence abroad as this government has done over the past four or five years. There have been more than two debates a year. The opposition agreed on a formula that it was to have more debates on a take note basis.

I said that if we were to be called upon or requested to send some ground troops there, there would be a debate. At that time, depending on the nature of the request, I will advise if we should or should not have a vote. We have—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Red Deer.

[Bob Mills, Reform, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about a vote and the Prime Minister should know that.

Over the weekend Canada added six more CF-18s to our NATO campaign, bringing our total commitment to 18 fighter bombers. The planes we have committed have taken over half of our combat ready pilots.

How big does the involvement have to become before the Prime Minister will think it is necessary that we have a vote on whether we should be involved further in Kosovo?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I was in Aviano on Saturday. I was also in Brussels the day before and met with a number of NATO officials.

I must inform the House that General Short, the NATO air campaign commander, was praising our Canadian involvement. He said that they were top professional people who were doing an outstanding job and that they believed in the just cause NATO was involved in.

Taxation

[Monte Solberg, Reform, Medicine Hat, AB]

It sure would be nice if they would answer the questions, would it not, Mr. Speaker?

Nortel is one of the biggest companies in Canada and one of the best companies in Canada, in fact in the world. It employs 21,000 people in this country alone in some of the best jobs. Now it is hinting strongly that it might have to leave because of the high tax policies of the government.

I have a question for the Prime Minister. How many businesses, how many reports and how many of the Prime Minister's own family members will it take before the Prime Minister gets the simple message that he must cut taxes now?

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I took the time this morning to talk to the president of Nortel who in fact informed me, as it should be evident to the hon. member, that it is because of Nortel's allegiance to Canada, not a lack of allegiance as the newspaper reports seem to indicate, that Nortel has the very strong presence it has in Canada.

The hon. member rightly cites the number of employees from Nortel that are here in face of the fact that about 7% of its sales are in Canada, together with a very important new investment that Nortel is making in the Kanata region for increased research and development. It is a demonstration of the continuing allegiance that Nortel shows to the country.

[Monte Solberg, Reform, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that is a ridiculous answer. Nortel just finished saying that it does not owe allegiance to Canada and that it is considering leaving the country. Nortel has 56,000 people who work outside Canada.

My question is for the minister who seems to think that high taxes are good for business in Canada. Why is he not getting the message? Why is he continuing to make lame excuses for his government? Why are they not getting down to business and cutting taxes to attract investment to Canada?

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, unlike what Johnny one note seems to sing, the fact is—

[The Speaker]

Order, please. I prefer that we refer to one another as hon. members.

[John Manley, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member seems to always sing the same note no matter what the score seems to indicate. He is intent on constantly portraying the country in the worse possible light.

My point is simple. Northern Telecom, one of our foremost companies, continues to invest strongly in the country, demonstrating its confidence that Canada is on the right track.

Kosovo

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a few days ago, the Pentagon called for the mobilization of 33,000 reservists. In recent days, NATO's secretary general has also taken a tougher stand on the crisis in Kosovo, as have the U.S. secretary of state and President Clinton in their statements.

Not long ago, the Prime Minister told us that it was impossible to predict how long this conflict would last. Does he not think today that these developments point to a conflict that could go on a long time, and perhaps a very long time?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, obviously, the conflict could go on for a very long time. But there are people trying to come up with a solution.>

This morning, I spoke at very great length with Victor Chernomyrdin, the special envoy to the Russian president, about this issue. I was very pleased to note that the Russians are looking for a way to end the conflict so that the Kosovars can return to Kosovo, and so that we can stop the bombing.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in recent days, the Serbian population in Bosnia has questioned the Dayton accords, and there have been demonstrations by Serbians in Macedonia, raising concerns about the stability of that country. At the very beginning of the conflict, the Bloc Quebecois pointed out the risk of escalation.

Does the Prime Minister not think today that escalation of this conflict is imminent and likely and that preparations must be made accordingly?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, clearly, there is always a danger that a conflict such as this could escalate. It would be unfortunate.

What is clear to the government and to the House of Commons is that, like the party in power, all opposition parties support Canada's participation in the current NATO bombing in Serbia because something must be done to help the Kosovars return to their homeland and to put an stop to the murders and other similar crimes now taking place.

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday NATO's secretary general, Javier Solana, and the U.S. secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, both stated that they were no longer ruling out sending ground troops to Kosovo.

According to some reports, these troops could be deployed in six to eight weeks and have a strength of 280,000.

Does the Prime Minister support the comments made by the NATO secretary general and by Mrs. Albright, and can he confirm the reports on the time necessary to send ground troops to Kosovo and on their possible strength?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, at this point no decision has been made by NATO on issues relating to armed forces. However, on Friday the heads of government of all NATO countries will have an opportunity to discuss these serious issues. At this point in time, no decision has been made.

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

Mr. Speaker, this shows once again that the government is providing information bit by bit.

Friday, something will happen and we will get information. This is something about which we were never told until now.

If NATO asks Canada to contribute to the sending of ground troops to Kosovo, will the Prime Minister pledge at last to seek the approval of parliament before sending such troops to the Balkans?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is surprised. Everyone, except the member, knows that a meeting of NATO heads of government will take place on Friday, in Washington. The hon. member should know that we are going to attend that meeting. He should also know that we are going to discuss the situation in Kosovo. We are not going there to talk about the weather.

He should not be surprised that we will discuss these issues on Friday. The hon. member should do his homework before rising in the House.

Nuclear Waste

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.

The Americans and the Russians have a nuclear waste problem. Against every environmental principle, against the unanimous recommendation of a parliamentary committee, Canada now proposes to make the problem worse by transporting highly dangerous plutonium thousands and thousands of kilometres through Canadian communities.

Why are we risking Canada's environment? Why is Canada not telling the Americans and the Russians to clean up their own mess?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, in all my years in parliament, I think that is just about the most foolish question I have ever heard, frankly. Trying to terrify Canadians based upon supposition and hypothesis is a very dangerous tactic.

My colleague the Minister of National Defence and I will be tabling this afternoon a response to the committee's recommendation. We have said so far there is no decision to make any transportation. Any decision will be made on the basis of all environmental safety standards.

Frankly, for a party that has committed itself over the years to nuclear disarmament, that was a shameful question.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I suppose we will now hear the same kind of unlikely excuses about PCBs. Canada is preparing to import PCBs from U.S. military bases in Japan, PCBs that the Americans have rejected as too dangerous.

How does this work? Clinton pulls the chain and buddy responds. Why is Canada becoming the dumping ground of choice for the world's waste?

[Christine Stewart, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I believe I can respond to the question about PCBs.

My department has had no request to authorize such a shipment into this country. If we were to get such a request we would review it and any action we would take would be absolutely according to the policy of the government.