Debates of April 21st, 1999

Marijuana

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, the Minister of Justice said she was open to the idea of decriminalizing the simple possession of drugs. However we know that those who use marijuana for therapeutic purposes are in a particularly difficult situation.

Would the minister agree to move quickly for those already using marijuana for therapeutic purposes so that they no longer have to face the threat of being charged?

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

Mr. Speaker, I believe the hon. member is referring to a resolution passed by the Canadian chiefs of police yesterday in relation to the possession of a number of narcotic drugs. As I indicated this morning to the press, I am certainly going to review the resolution passed by the Canadian chiefs and I look forward to discussing it with them at their annual meeting this August.

Bloc Quebecois

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, first the Bloc established its identity insisting on the recognition of two founding peoples. Now it is going off in another direction, doing a total about face, dropping this and not replacing it.

Could the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs tell us what he thinks of this new trick of the party without a future, which is now denying our history?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has inherited from its past the opportunity, the obligation and the privilege of promoting the cause of the French language and the French cultures in Quebec, throughout Canada and around the world and to make this rich heritage available to Canadians of all origins.

It is part of our heritage, of today's reality and of tomorrow's future as a united Canada.

Agriculture

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

Mr. Speaker, the agriculture minister continues to blame farmers for his poorly designed program and his mistakes in implementing it. To date there has not been a penny go out to the farmers in western Canada or in eastern Canada. Preliminary analysis of this program by bankers and farmers shows that they are not going to get the support they desperately need. What contingency plan does this minister have to get money to hard-pressed farm families in Canada that need that money now for seeding?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct the hon. member. There has been money flow, including provincial money and federal money, in a number of the provinces, and it will continue to flow. As soon as the forms come in, we will deal with them. I can assure the hon. member there will be further cheques in western Canada before the end of next week.

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

Mr. Speaker, the forms should have been there last February, not now in April when it is too late to get the money for seeding.

The agriculture minister also indicates that this is a simple thing to fill out. Does the agriculture minister not know that you have to convert from cash basis accounting to accrual basis accounting? Does the minister intend to pay the farmers who are unable to fill out their tax returns and this form themselves?

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

Mr. Speaker, they can file either on a cash basis or on an accrual basis. We and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture advise that if they are filing their taxes on a cash basis and they desire to change over in this application to an accrual basis, they will likely benefit from doing so.

Kosovo

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

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

Yesterday the Prime Minister confirmed that Canada has no independent policy in NATO on the Kosovo crisis, that we are simply a lapdog for the United States. The United States has said that while an independent peacekeeping force in Kosovo should include Russian troops, it must be a NATO led force and not a UN led force.

As Russia will never accept this position, why will Canada not show independent leadership, break the unholy NATO consensus and insist on a UN led, not a NATO led, peacekeeping force?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I said last week and I repeated it again today, that we hope and we think it will work much better if the Russians are involved. I said that in the House last week. If the member does not want to listen to what I say, that is a different thing.

When he says that all the policies are not decided by Canada, of course they are not. There are 19 countries, the United States, France, Great Britain, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain and many others. Nobody dictates to anyone what to do.

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

Mr. Speaker, so much for Canada's leadership.

My question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The minister knows that hundreds of thousands of desperate refugees inside Kosovo lack basic food, water and shelter. NATO's only bankrupt strategy is to keep bombing, possibly for months.

What concrete strategy is Canada pushing in NATO to meet the desperate humanitarian needs of these refugees, or does Canada simply support Tony Blair's statement that they will just have to wait until the bombing is stopped? How much more suffering, how much more starvation before Canada shows some leadership?

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I reported this to the House last week. This was a subject that was discussed at the ministerial meetings of NATO last week. I am sure the secretary general will have a report that he will be able to share with the leaders during the Washington summit.

I remind the hon. member that the position we have taken all along is that the most effective way to stop the suffering in Kosovo is to have the withdrawal of the Serbian troops and to stop the violence and atrocities so people can go back to their homes and once again live in dignity.

Taxation

[André Harvey, Progressive Conservative, Chicoutimi, QC]

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

Further to the Chartrand-Laferrière report, which proves beyond a doubt, with multiple models, the absurdities of the Quebec and Canadian tax systems, does the Minister of Finance agree that families earning between $26,000 and $70,000 a year find themselves poorer after a salary increase than before it?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, it is not my practice to comment on provincial policies.

However, I have to say 25 of the 39 measures identified by Mr. Chartrand and Mr. Laferrière were introduced by the Parti Quebecois. The number of measures introduced by that government and the lack of co-ordination among them contributes significantly to making Quebec the province with the highest marginal rates in Canada.

[André Harvey, Progressive Conservative, Chicoutimi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we must not forget that 14 of the measures in the Chartrand-Laferrière report concern the federal government.

As he knows full well that free trade and the GST were approved at the time in order, obviously, to fight the deficit and to lower taxes, does the minister intend to correct these injustices in the coming days?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows very well, in our latest budget, we lowered taxes by $16.5 billion over 36 months, we will eliminate the 3% tax introduced by the Conservative government and we have provided for many exemptions.

That said, the member's question is very relevant. This is why we must lower taxes, and I hope all the provinces will follow the federal government's lead, our lead.

Kosovo

[Judi Longfield, Liberal, Whitby—Ajax, ON]

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

Can the minister tell the House what the cost of the armed forces participation in Kosovo is to date? Will this put in jeopardy our recent commitments to address quality of life issues in the armed forces?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, in view of the comment by the President of the United States about its $6 billion cost, I think it is fair to note what our costs are. Of course they are far more modest. Since June of last year when we first put our CF-18s into Aviano, Italy, the total cost to this date is $32.4 million. Since the air campaign began some 28 days ago, it is approximately $11.9 million.

The Government of Canada will of course meet those commitments. At the same time, it will also complete its obligation to improve the pay and benefits and quality of life for our fine Canadian forces.

Indian Affairs And Northern Development

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the auditor general issued another scathing report on the minister of Indian affairs and it is virtually a carbon copy of the one issued in 1996. The auditor general says that her department is woefully inadequate when it comes to accountability. Allegations of wrongdoing and misuse of band funds are not followed up on and resolved. In fact, the auditor general confirms that matters have gotten worse.

How can the minister deny that she and her incompetent department continue to fail grassroots people across this country?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I read the auditor general's report with interest.

The hon. member gives me the opportunity to reconfirm to this House my commitment to have an effective allegations management system in my department. In fact, that is why about a year ago I issued national guidelines on allegations management. In every region across this country we have allegations co-ordinators who are trained to deal with the variety of allegations that we would receive from first nations—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert.

Bilingualism

[Pierrette Venne, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Natural Sciences Research Council has just opened up a temporary personnel supervisor position. It is offered to anglophones, bilingualism is not required, and unilingual francophones are not accepted.

How can the President of Treasury Board justify such a thing in the national capital region? Will francophones be excluded from the temporary positions, or will they have to communicate with their supervisor through an interpreter?

[Marcel Massé, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, the National Research Centre informs us, since they are the ones doing this, that what they need in these positions, in this unit, is four people.

Of the four, three are designated bilingual because the requirements of the position demand bilingualism, while one position is designated anglophone because the requirements of the position demand that the person speak English.

Trade

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister for International Trade and has to do with the NAFTA meetings taking place later this week.

I would like to ask the Minister for International Trade why Canada is not seeking either to entirely get rid of the investor state dispute settlement mechanism or to significantly modify it by actually amending the agreement. Why do we read that the minister is willing to settle for an interpretative note? This is certainly a backtracking from what I understand him to have said before and it is certainly inadequate.

Is he willing to change his mind on this and actually seek an amendment to that particular provision, chapter 11 of NAFTA or to eliminate it altogether? That is what is at the heart of what is wrong with NAFTA, and with the MAI when it was still alive.

[Sergio Marchi, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, the truth is that after five years NAFTA has been a tremendous success for all three countries. Trade is up, investment is up, and employment is up. We have built a North American economy that is working well for all three countries.

At the same time, in addition to discussing the achievements, we also want to address the challenges that still confront NAFTA. We have said that we will put chapter 11 and the investor state on the agenda to discuss it from a perspective of transparency, narrowing the word and meaning of expropriation without reopening NAFTA and losing the entire chapter.