Debates of April 26th, 1999

Fisheries And Oceans

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated earlier, it would be inappropriate for me to speak to a case that is before the courts. However, I can tell the member that the minister is looking very closely at the sealing issue. The Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans is looking at the issue. Any decisions that we make on that issue in the future will be based on good scientific advice.

Transport

[Marlene Catterall, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport. As the minister knows, there has been a lot of public concern about air bags and the safety of children in cars equipped with air bags. The House deserves to know and I would ask the minister to tell the House about a national program which he announced this morning to protect our children from that danger.

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, surveys show that up to one-third of children do not use seatbelts. That is something which results in about 10,000 injuries a year.

As far as the federal government is concerned, we want to heighten awareness. What we announced today was an information program, highlighted by a video called “Car Time: 1-2-3-4”, which was demonstrated in the hon. member's constituency.

I am pleased to say that this is one way that younger Canadians can be reminded of the absolute necessity of buckling up to prevent injury.

Canadian Wheat Board

[Jake Hoeppner, Reform, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, there are over 100 farmers being prosecuted for custom's violations for selling their own grain.

Hudye Soil Service, probably the biggest violator of wheat board and customs regulations, is now about to enjoy an out of court settlement. Meanwhile, the 100 poorer farmers are forced into lengthy legal battles.

Why is the government enforcing the letter of the law with poor farmers when it is willing to negotiate and settle out of court with this rich farmer?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, in my capacity as minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board I have to advise the hon. gentleman that I am not aware of any recent development that he may have referred to in his question.

He and I have had the opportunity to discuss the particulars of this matter. He has asked for further information. I have undertaken to try to provide that information to him; however, at this stage I am not in a position to do so.

Air Transport

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Transport was questioned in the House on the Baie-Comeau and Gaspé air tragedies, he said that he was waiting for the end of the Transportation Safety Board investigation before making any statement on safety equipment.

Since the outcome of the investigation will not be known for a year, does the Minister of Transport intend to ask Nav Canada to suspend the closure of flight information stations in the small airports, such as Roberval, until the results of the investigation are known?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member is aware, air traffic operations and the determination of levels of service have been the responsibility of Nav Canada for the past three years now.

We will continue with the changes, but we have to await the Transportation Safety Board report before making changes.

Justice

[Gordon Earle, NDP, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the government has attempted to explain away the question of racism which surfaced during its recent judicial appointments when it overlooked Corrine Sparks, a senior black female judge, by claiming that there were more judges than positions available, but then appointed one person who was not even a judge.

Will the Liberal government now send a positive message of hope to Canadians of colour by committing to a full review of this decision or is the government aiming to condemn black judges to the back seat of the judicial bus?

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

Mr. Speaker, let me say on behalf of myself and the government that I take very strong exception to the remarks made by the hon. member.

The hon. member should know that I take some considerable pride in the fact that I and the government appointed the first black judge in the province of Alberta to a superior court.

Agriculture

[Rick Borotsik, Progressive Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the light bulb has finally come on in the office of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, albeit it is a very dim light bulb.

Last week the minister announced the extension of the AIDA application deadline to July 31. I would like to thank the minister for the extension. However, it does little to resolve the problems plaguing the program.

Does the minister honestly believe that the extension is going to solve the problems that are inherent in the design and delivery of the AIDA program?

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

Mr. Speaker, the challenge that we have in delivering the program is getting the producers to fill out the seven-page forms and getting them to send them back. There have now been over 24,000 forms sent out. A number of the provinces are already delivering cheques.

As I said to the hon. member and to the House last week, in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where most of those 24,000 forms have been sent, because the others are being administered in partnership with the federal government and the provinces, the cheques will be in the mail this Friday.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, for three years now in order to protect salmon stocks in the Fraser River there has been a moratorium on gravel extraction from the river. Gravel operators have been put out of business or forced to search for alternate gravel supplies.

At this moment, however, the Cheam Indian Band has started to remove 100,000 cubic metres of gravel from the river and DFO officials seem powerless to stop it. Gravel operators and biologists would like to know why there is one set of rules for the Indian band and another set of more stringent rules for everyone else. I wonder if someone could explain that for the people of my riding.

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

Mr. Speaker, the government is committed to ensuring that aboriginal people in this country have access through their inherent rights to the strategies and the undertakings that will allow them to be full partners in the economy of this country. That is the strategy of the government and it will build strong, healthy first nations into the future.

Irving Whale

[Yves Rocheleau, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.

The fishers of Îles-de-la-Madeleine are concerned about the federal government's decision to leave the PCBs from the wreck of the Irving Whale on the ocean floor.

Does the Minister of Fisheries realize the potential negative impact on fisheries products exports of the presence of PCB contaminated products, as a result of this negligence?

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, yes, the minister and the department are very aware of the decision. There should be no impact on the export of products. Three options were considered in terms of the decision. When the decision was made we took into consideration full safety factors so that there would be no damage to any fish stocks in the area.

Public Sector Pension Plans

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board was quoted in today's paper as saying that pensioners do not stand a chance in hell of getting their hands on any of the $30 billion surplus. That makes us wonder: If that is true, why does he need to change the legislation? If his position is so rock solid, why is he ramming through a complex bill such as Bill C-78 after only four hours?

Will the government at least guarantee that there will be extended committee hearings right across the country so that the 670,000 Canadians who are directly affected will have some voice where their elected representatives do not?

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

Mr. Speaker, during the history of the pension funds, every time there has been a deficit, every cent of the deficit has been paid by the Canadian government and therefore by the Canadian taxpayers. This is a legislated plan whereby the benefits are promised to the employees. It is legislated by law, whatever the state of the plan.

Once again, the lawyers, the actuaries, the accountants and the auditor general are clear that the surplus belongs to the taxpayers.

Agriculture

[Rick Borotsik, Progressive Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister of agriculture says that 24,000 applications have been sent out, but only 291 applications have been returned. The agriculture minister says that $900 million is sitting there, waiting to go into farmers' pockets, but not one red dollar of federal money has fallen into the pockets of western Canadians and Canadian producers.

Does this minister wish to have the $900 million spent on agriculture or does he wish to return it to the Minister of Finance when the program does not work?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member does not have his facts straight. Federal dollars are flowing to farmers in a number of provinces.

I read comments which were made by the hon. member and his leader last week. They suggested that we mail out the money and ask questions later. Obviously that is what that government did when it was in power and that is why we had a $42 billion deficit. That is not the way to do it.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery today of His Excellency Vladimir Vetchy, Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[The Speaker]

I also draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery today of His Excellency Jozef Torgyan, Minister of Agriculture of Hungary.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

Privilege

[Mike Scott, Reform, Skeena, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a question of privilege with regard to the member for Provencher who on Thursday, April 22, 1999, deliberately divulged information from an in camera meeting of the Standing Committee on Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

The evidence is prima facie and is now a part of the record of the House, recorded at page 14225 of Hansard . The member made a reference to something I said at that standing committee meeting, and I quote:

—when in the standing committee he was arguing to have the budget tripled and to move quickly on the Nisga'a treaty.

He went on to say:

I reiterate that the member for Skeena asked for a tripling or a doubling of the budget of the standing committee on Indian affairs to bring in people and to hear witnesses on this particular issue.

The meeting he was quoting from was an in camera meeting of the Standing Committee of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, which was held on April 13, 1999. Beauchesne's sixth edition, citation 851, reads:

When a committee chooses to meet in camera , all matters are confidential. Any departure from strict confidentiality should be by explicit committee decision which should deal with what matters should be published, in which form and by whom.

Without divulging the discussion of the in camera meeting, I will only say the committee did not make a decision to make the minutes public.

What is further disturbing, and I would add a further contempt, is the fact that the member has misrepresented the confidential information by also misquoting me.

Since I cannot divulge the confidential minutes of the committee, I can correct the record of Hansard which is public. The member should have accurately quoted me as saying that I urged the committee to increase the base funding being proposed by the Indian affairs committee at that time because the Nisga'a legislation was coming down and I wanted to ensure that we had adequate funds available for the committee to travel to British Columbia. I in no way asked that the committee move quickly on the Nisga'a treaty, as the parliamentary inaccurately stated.

On April 20, 1999 the matter of the government leaking a government response to a report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs was raised in the House. The next day the government House leader apologized for the leak and assured the House it would not happen again.

The very next day after he issued that apology, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development stood in the House and quoted from an in camera meeting. The apology from the government House leader has just been negated by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

The House must take action and protect its authority and the authority of its committees. If you rule this to be a prima facie question of privilege, Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to move the following motion:

That the hon. member for Provencher, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, be charged with contempt and ordered to appear before the bar of the House to be admonished by the Chair for breaching the confidentiality of the in camera meeting of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development held on April 13, 1999.

[The Speaker]

The hon. member mentions a specific member, the hon. member for Provencher. That hon. member is not in the House at this time but I would like to hear what he has to say on this particular matter before I make any decision.