Debates of Feb. 17th, 2000

Human Resources Development

[Michelle Dockrill, NDP, Bras D'Or, NS]

Mr. Speaker, in September 1998 Scotia Rainbow, a company owned by Serge Lafrenière, an influential Liberal supporter, received a TJF grant of $750,000.

Through access to information we have learned two conflicting versions of the Scotia Rainbow story. One is that it received $1 million from TJF. The other is that it received $2 million from TJF.

Can the minister explain how a $750,000 grant became a $2 million cheque to a big Liberal supporter?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of the investments that the Government of Canada has made in the province of the hon. member. That province has had considerable concerns with providing employment opportunities to its members. As a partner in all these undertakings, we know that the federal government can help make a difference. It has done so in Bras d'Or and in other parts of Cape Breton.

[Michelle Dockrill, NDP, Bras D'Or, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the minister knows the NDP are not against good job creation initiatives, but this is about the integrity of the government and the minister.

Documents clearly show Scotia Rainbow received $2 million for job creation, but the company's financial statement shows that it only spent 7% of that money on salaries.

Is this the minister's definition of job creation or a way to funnel money to Liberal supporters?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, again I worked with the hon. member in terms of helping her provide opportunities for the men and women in her riding.

These programs, whether they be transitional jobs fund or Canada jobs fund, have made a real difference in the province of Nova Scotia and they will continue to do so.

[Jean Dubé, Progressive Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Human Resources Development likes to use the term pockets of unemployment. There is no mention of pockets of unemployment in the criteria for HRDC. I assume she was referring to the ridings of Sarnia and Hamilton Mountain which saw two companies pull out and move to the minister's riding. Her riding received close to $2 million in TJF funds, yet the minister's riding did not qualify for TJF.

Did the minister use her cabinet clout as a minister to have her riding qualify?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, absolutely not.

[Jean Dubé, Progressive Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, according to Statistics Canada the riding of Brant did not qualify for TJF funding. It did not qualify using the economic region criteria. It did not qualify according to data for the city of Brantford. It did not qualify according to the county of Brant statistics that the minister selectively used on Monday.

I am willing to table my statistics. Is the minister willing to table hers?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, I say again that the riding did qualify as a result of Statistics Canada numbers.

I want to make it clear to the House that no jobs were taken from other communities. I have explained the Duchess circumstances. It came as a business opportunity and created extra jobs. With regard to RMH, I am glad to say that that company is expanding and just recently opened a call centre in the city of Sarnia.

Pulp And Paper Industry

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government in partnership with the Pulp and Paper Institute of Canada and its members participated in a research program to achieve a progressive closure system in Canadian pulp and paper mills.

I would like the Secretary of State for Science, Research and Development to tell us just what the implications and benefits of this research program can be for Canada.

[Gilbert Normand, Liberal, Secretary of State (Science]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her interesting question.

On Friday, February 11, I announced a $9 million investment by Technology Partnerships Canada in research into the latest environmental technologies for reducing pollution from Canadian pulp and paper plants.

Research will be done by PAPRICAN, the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada in Pointe-Claire, Quebec—which proves that research is being done in Quebec—and will generate 176 senior level jobs in Pointe-Claire. This project is indicative of the importance to Canada's future of investing in the knowledge economy and in this way we will work to build—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Calgary East.

Human Resources Development

[Deepak Obhrai, Reform, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, not only did Duchess Foods receive transitional jobs funds, it also received $1.5 million from the Business Development Bank of Canada, as well as the targeted wage subsidies. Altogether 90% of the move was financed by the federal government. Is it a legitimate role of the federal government to pay the moving costs of profitable companies?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member gives me the opportunity to say again that on this side of the House we do believe that the Government of Canada has a role to play in communities one by one by one across the country where we find there are problems. On that side of the House they would like issues of unemployment to fester. They would like people to just stand on their own and look after themselves.

This is one of the fundamental, philosophical differences that we find between this side of the House and that party. I think that Canadians want the truth of this. Instead, they stand here and undermine these projects in the House, yet go home and tell their constituents that they support them.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development has decided to ask former deputy minister Mel Cappe and the President of the Treasury Board to appear, to try to shed light on the serious problems at the Department of Human Resources Department.

Does the minister not agree that her predecessor's testimony would be at least as important to better understand what occurred in her department? I am asking the question to the current minister, since the Minister for International Trade does not want to answer for his actions.

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

Mr. Speaker, citation 410 of Beauchesne's is very clear in that regard.

Citation 410(16) reads:

Ministers may be questioned only in relation to current portfolios.

Period. In French, in English and in Latin.

Agriculture

[Dick Proctor, NDP, Palliser, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the agriculture minister is begging other nations to reduce their trade distorting subsidies which he said last week are the root cause of the devastating drop in the incomes of Canadian grain farmers. Whether they are the culprits or not, the minister knows that reducing subsidies are years if not light years away.

By adopting such a paws up supine position, is the minister suggesting that Canada is so impoverished that it cannot afford to invest in our grain farmers to the same extent that other nations are investing in theirs?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have the support of our farmers across Canada in addressing the unfortunate circumstances they are in due to a number of issues, whether it be the weather, international market prices, or an unfair and unlevel playing field as far as subsidies are concerned. Probably our pockets in Canada are not as deep as those in some other countries. We recognize that.

We as the federal government are there. I would encourage the hon. member to return to his home province to be there too with the federal government.

National Defence

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

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

We have heard for the last two weeks about mismanagement in HRDC. Is it mismanagement in defence or the lack of will of the minister that we do not have replacements for those aging Sea Kings that are jeopardizing the lives of the pilots?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we are not jeopardizing the lives of any pilots. We make sure that our equipment is safe to fly before it is put in the air.

I have indicated before that it is the government's highest priority to replace the Sea Kings. We are on a clear path that involves the replacement of the current helicopter by 2005 and we will continue in that direction. Meanwhile we will make sure that any aircraft put up in the air is safe to fly.

Human Resources Development

[Diane Ablonczy, Reform, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister so far has failed to explain why her statistics are not validated by either Statistics Canada or her own department. There is some question about whether Brantford is even in the Hamilton-Niagara Peninsula, which is the economic region that is used by Statistics Canada for some statistical purposes.

Would it not be simple for the minister to table the document or the statistics on which she is relying so that this matter can be cleaned up very quickly?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, that is the hon. member who in a press release talked about my riding as being very close to the city of Toronto. When the people in my riding read about that, they knew that the messages and allegations that were being presented by that party were absolutely unfounded and not worth listening to.

I say again in the context of the transitional jobs fund and the Canada jobs fund, they have made a difference in my riding. No rules were broken. Men and women who otherwise would not be working are working.

Housing

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval West, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister responsible for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation announced the granting of 14 financial contributions through the Affordability and Choice Today program, the ACT.

Could the minister explain to the House how this program can help Canadians find affordable housing?

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the Affordability and Choice Today program is the result of a partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Canadian Home Builders' Association and the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association.

This year, one of the 14 projects that we are sponsoring is a proposal to turn an abandoned plant into a place to live and work for young professionals and self-employed workers. This is a good program to create affordable housing.

Antipersonnel Mines

[René Laurin, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has assumed the lead role internationally in opposing the use of antipersonnel mines. It signed the UN international treaty on this. It passed Bill C-22 banning these mines and with great pomp and circumstance made the announcement in November 1997 that it had destroyed the last one, boasting about this every chance it got.

How can the minister explain that Canadian soldiers are using Claymore mines in East Timor, since these are as deadly as other antipersonnel mines?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, Claymores are not land mines. Claymores are used as any other weapon would be used in a defensive fashion. They create a shotgun approach. If the troops that are on the defensive are outnumbered by those on the offence, they would only be used under those kind of circumstances, and with somebody actually pulling a trigger. They are not like a land mine that is put in the ground and which somebody trips over to set it off. They are not in the same category.

Canada fully complies with the anti-personnel land mines treaty.