House of Commons Hansard #226 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was fund.
John Cannis Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, earlier today a representative of the Jubilee 2000 campaign presented the Minister for International Cooperation with a petition signed by 600,000 Canadians calling for debt relief for the world's poorest people.
Can the minister today tell the House what Canada is doing to promote the debt relief agenda on the international stage?
Diane Marleau LiberalMinister for International Cooperation and Minister responsible for Francophonie
Mr. Speaker, all members should salute the organizers of the Jubilee 2000 campaign. They have done a remarkable job. Their petitions, along with those of other countries, will be presented in Cologne to the G-7 in June.
Canada has already written off most of its ODA debt to the poorest countries. We are prepared to do more for these same poor countries and we ask the international community as well as international financial institutions to offer more generous, more timely and more flexible debt relief to the world's poorest countries, those that meet the requirements of the HIPC initiative.
Gerry Ritz Reform Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Mr. Speaker, the government's balanced approach has raised taxes 60 times in the last 6 years. Revenues have grown by over $40 billion a year. The surplus has never been bigger.
For all our hard work, Canadian taxpayers get a health care system in jeopardy, increased student debt, high unemployment and reduced coverages, Canadian agriculture in crisis, east and west coast fisheries that are dying and no national highways program.
Where has all the money gone?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, this is very difficult to understand. The hon. member's party opposed the agricultural assistance and now he stands to talk about it. It opposed health care funding and now he stands in the House to talk about it. It opposed the child tax benefit and now he stands in the House to talk about it.
The fact is one is entitled to ask the Reform Party to keep its lines consistent if not from week to week at least from day to day.
Gerry Ritz Reform Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Mr. Speaker, the finance minister has record surpluses because 2.5 million taxpayers have been pushed into higher tax brackets and 840,000 low income families have been dragged onto the tax roles with bracket creep.
Is this the finance minister's answer to brain drain; tax until they cannot afford to leave?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, the government's revenues are up because there are 1.5 million more Canadians working; 450,000 last year alone. Our revenue is up because business confidence is up and consumer confidence is up. We have had very high housing starts over the course of the last year. Our revenues are up because Canada is functioning very well.
North America is part of one of the strongest economies in the world. That is why we are doing well and why we are going to keep on doing well.
Rick Laliberte NDP Churchill River, SK
Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, Bill C-32, received the lengthiest clause by clause review in recent parliamentary history. The committee responded when health and environment groups said the bill was weak. The standing committee strengthened Bill C-32.
What happens then? The unite the right to pollute reaches a new low. We witnessed the Liberal, Reform and PC Parties fighting to impress their chemical lobby friends.
Can the environment minister explain why the industry wish list for Bill C-32 comes first and children's health comes last?
Canadian Environmental Protection ActOral Question Period
Northumberland Ontario
Liberal
Christine Stewart LiberalMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, Bill C-32 is a bill about protecting Canadians' environment and health. I want to congratulate and thank my caucus colleagues on this side for their extensive work in committee to improve the bill.
If the package that was presented to the House today at report stage is carried through, it will create the best piece of environmental protection legislation in the world. Its principles of pollution prevention and precautionary approach to pollutants and the virtual elimination clauses are very important principles that this act engages and will be there to protect not only the health of adults but the health of children as well.
Rick Laliberte NDP Churchill River, SK
Mr. Speaker, we hear this bill is really going to get carried through. Our environment is being poisoned. Our children are victims of pollution. Every Canadian family knows of a friend or relative affected by cancer. The links between chemicals and disease are proven. Bill C-32 is our chance for cleaner air and waters. Canadians demand improved environmental protection, but the unite the right to pollute says no.
Will the government commit to a full and open debate on Bill C-32 or will it force closure to hide from public scrutiny?
Canadian Environmental Protection ActOral Question Period
Glengarry—Prescott—Russell Ontario
Liberal
Don Boudria LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member and his colleagues want to discuss the amount of time apportioned to any particular bill, may I suggest to him that he discuss it with his House leader. If he is not on speaking terms with his House leader, I can arrange an appointment for him.
Diane St-Jacques Progressive Conservative Shefford, QC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Justice released the government response to the report by the Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access. The reform strategy put forward by the government endorses the committee's recommendation that children be made the number one priority when parents separate.
Every day that goes by is a vital importance to children who are being exposed to the conflicts generated by the separation of their parents.
How then can the minister justify the additional three-year delay she plans to make these children endure before implementing the federal reform strategy?
Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, let me first take the opportunity to thank the special parliamentary joint committee of the Senate and House of Commons for the very fine work that it did in relation to the difficult issues surrounding custody and access when husbands and wives dissolve their relationships.
We as a government have endorsed and developed a strategy that speaks to the recommendations made by that committee. The committee recommended that the best interests of the child be the focus of our amendments to the Divorce Act. We endorsed that approach wholeheartedly.
However, it is very important for us to get it right. Getting it right involves working with the provinces and the territories.
Diane St-Jacques Progressive Conservative Shefford, QC
Mr. Speaker, the joint committee travelled the length and breadth of the country for months, hearing more than 520 witnesses, including representatives of the provincial governments. We know the government is very fond of consultation, but it also needs to know how to move on to action, particularly when the ones paying for the delays caused by government inaction are children.
Could the minister not invite her provincial colleagues to speed up implementation of the federal strategy for reform?
Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, because issues surrounding custody and access are of shared jurisdiction between the federal government, the provinces and the territories, we have a federal-provincial-territorial working group in place. I will be referring both the special committee's report and the government's response to that working group. I will be encouraging them to do their work as quickly as possible.
Sheila Finestone Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Mr. Speaker, while the world is extremely concerned about the ongoing human security issues in Kosovo, we are also very upset about what is going on and the atrocities taking place in Sierra Leone.
I wonder if the Minister of Foreign Affairs could bring us up to date and tell us what is being done in order to alleviate, particularly the lives of women and children, and to regulate this situation.
Lloyd Axworthy LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, I want to indicate to the House that I was very pleased today to receive a report from the special envoy to Sierra Leone, the hon. member for Nepean—Carleton. He outlined a number of recommendations which I will share with my colleagues. I know he will also be taking the report to the foreign affairs committee this afternoon.
I would like to personally thank the member for Nepean—Carleton for a really dedicated task and for bringing to the attention of Canadians an area of great concern and urgency for children in Sierra Leone.
Chuck Cadman Reform Surrey North, BC
Mr. Speaker, one bad law plus another bad law equals an injustice.
A teenager drinks six beers before driving to school and then kills two girls when he loses control of his vehicle. The breathalyzer evidence is excluded on a technicality. The judge apparently does not think that six beers in two hours is enough evidence for impairment. The young offender gets one year in open custody.
Yes, the impaired driving laws are under review, and yes, the new youth justice act is before the House. However, will the minister assure Canadians that any new legislation will prevent a similar travesty of justice from ever occurring again?
Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member is fully aware, the whole question of impaired driving is under review by the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. It has had the matter before it for some time. I look forward to seeing the report and reviewing the recommendations. I will then report back to the House as soon as I can. I am the first to acknowledge what an important issue dealing with the scourge of impaired driving is in our society.
In addition, let me remind the hon. members that I would like nothing more than to to pass our new youth justice legislation as quickly as possible. However, who in the House is stonewalling? The Official Opposition.
Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Ontario court has awarded a constitutional exemption to an individual with AIDS to enable him to use and grow marijuana for medical purposes, because the federal government is so slow in providing marijuana to the terminally ill.
In the light of this new situation, what does the Minister of Health intend to do? Will he appeal this decision by Mr. Justice LaForme, or will he apply section 56 of the Health Act to give Mr. Wakeford a special exemption?
Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, I have no intention of appealing this decision.
As I have already said in the House, we intend to start clinical trials later this year. The government intends to pursue research on the medical use of marijuana for people who are gravely ill.
Lorne Nystrom NDP Qu'Appelle, SK
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.
In March we became the first parliament in the world to endorse the idea of a Tobin tax, a tax on international currency speculation. Yesterday the Bank for International Settlements said that the currency transactions are now up from $1.3 trillion a day to $1.5 trillion a day, an increase of over 20%.
In light of that, I wonder if the Minister of Finance will be raising the issue of the Tobin tax at the G-8 meeting in Germany in June. At that time, would he be willing to express the will of parliament and raise the issue of the Tobin tax, the question of speculation on international currency?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, Canada first raised this issue a number of years ago at G-7 meetings and at the annual meeting of the IMF.
Since the vote in the House, there has been a G-7 meeting and I raised this issue. I also raised it at the IMF meetings that took place some three weeks ago.
Bill Casey Progressive Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport.
One of the most controversial issues that has come up in the New Brunswick election already is the toll highway between Moncton and Petitcodiac, and rightly so. In 1995 the New Brunswick minister of transportation signed an agreement to pay for 50% of the total eligible costs of the highway and then he broke the agreement.
When the federal minister meets the provincial minister on Friday, will he help the people in Atlantic Canada and demand that the New Brunswick government finally honour the agreement signed by the minister himself, an agreement to pay for 50% of the highway?
David Collenette LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, up until now I thought the hon. member was motivated by a genuine desire to deal with this difficult issue, but to raise this in the course of the New Brunswick provincial election tells me that he really is using this as a partisan issue.
On the substance of the matter, I have answered these questions many times in the House. I will be meeting with my provincial counterparts on Friday and I am sure the issue of tolls will be a subject of discussion.
Rose-Marie Ur Liberal Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women.
As we all know, our youth are our future. In the wake of the recent tragic happenings with high school students, there appears to be a tendency to label young people as problems in our society.
Can the secretary of state tell the House what action we are taking to reach out to our young people and to involve them in a positive problem solving process?