Debates of Feb. 18th, 2000

Human Resources Development

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

Mr. Speaker, let me clarify again that the statistics that we have used, both for the identification of inclusion in the riding of Brant for transitional jobs fund, are acceptable.

In the context of the 56 economic regions that exist across this country, Statistics Canada accepts that we have used its data properly. We use this data consistently across the country for the 56 economic regions and for the pockets of unemployment that were identified for application of the transitional jobs fund.

Airline Industry

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

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

I received numerous requests from across Canada for comments on the potential price increases in airline travel for individuals and of course business travellers in view of the potential monopoly by Air Canada.

Will the Minister of Transport explain how he will prevent this?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, it will be the House and the Senate, the Parliament of Canada that will prevent price gouging, which was a cornerstone of our policy supported by the standing committees of both Houses of parliament.

I introduced Bill C-26 yesterday to restructure the airline industry. We will give new powers to the Canadian Transportation Agency to monitor monopoly pricing, not just on business class fares or on economy fares but on all classes of fares used by Canadians, recognizing that 85% or 90% of all fares that are used by Canadians are excursion fares.

We believe that this will protect Canadian consumers.

Human Resources Development

[John Williams, Reform, St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Human Resources Development Corporation has gone through contortions to justify the grants in her riding, saying that she qualified the grants by virtue of high unemployment.

Three grants were awarded to the riding of the Minister of Justice in Edmonton but there was no riding in Alberta that qualified by virtue of high unemployment.

Why were these three grants approved just before the election in Alberta?

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

Mr. Speaker, the grants that the hon. member is referring to apply because there were communities in that province that needed assistance. One in particular included the Canadian Paraplegic Association.

There is absolutely no question that these funds have made a difference in the opportunities that are available to paraplegics in the province of the hon. member. Reform Party members, time and time again in the public domain, have indicated their support for these programs.

Acid Rain

[Jocelyne Girard-Bujold, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a study shows that Quebec's forests have been hard hit by acid rain and that the growth of deciduous trees has declined on average by 30% and that of coniferous trees by 50%.

According to this study, the soil fertilizers will be exhausted in 40 to 50 years because acid rain is destroying more than their capacity to regenerate.

Does the Minister of the Environment intend to take advantage of the negotiations on transborder pollution that began this week in order to put the heat on Ontario and the United States, which are the source of over 50% of the acid rain affecting Quebec, to reduce their emissions as quickly as possible?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question. We must never forget that the acid rain problem is still with us. It was not dealt with in the 1980s.

We are holding unofficial talks with the Americans at this time. We want to hold official talks, but things are not at that stage yet. The beginning of our discussions with the Americans about other air pollution issues will help matters along.

I was very happy that Minister Bégin promised Quebec's full co-operation and I quote—

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member for Acadie—Bathurst.

Human Resources Development

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, when my predecessor Doug Young was Minister of Human Resources Development, he dropped workers into a black hole from January to May, with no money coming in, because of the changes to employment insurance.

Is the Minister of Human Resources Development going to show some compassion and work along with the provincial government to solve this problem of the black hole, because whole families are waiting for a solution?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have had the pleasure of travelling to the riding of the hon. member and meeting with the men and women working in the fish plants who themselves identify that they need to diversify their economy. I have been there and have talked to them about the role the Canada jobs fund can play in opening up opportunities in the Acadian peninsula, in helping to bring together community members so that a strategic plan can be undertaken to provide options for them. I would ask the hon. member why, as their representative, he has not done any of this to date.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have an interesting scenario before us. The minister tells Canadians that her officials are in the dark ages but then appoints them to fix the problem a day after Canadians witnessed the minister's lack of accountability and inept performance.

When will the Prime Minister abandon his legacy building efforts, act in the best interest of Canadians and remove this minister?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is acting in the best interest of Canadians by asking this very capable minister to identify problems and to solve the problems. The Prime Minister is acting, as always, in the best interest of Canadians. This is demonstrated by the way, under his leadership, we eliminated the burden of the $42 billion deficit left to us by the Tories. We cut by over 4% the over 11% burden of unemployment left to us by the Tories.

We are serving Canadians by cleaning up the mess left to us by the Tories and part of this is supporting the minister for HRDC in her work for all Canadians.

Homelessness

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Labour has been appointed as the minister responsible for homelessness and delivered a very important report just before Christmas. The Minister for Public Works and Government Services Canada is also responsible for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

So I ask the parliamentary secretary to the minister, what is he doing in his responsibilities to help with the problem of homelessness in Canada?

[Carolyn Parrish, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the CMHC provides mortgage loan insurance to Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Last year over half a million units were insured. The Government of Canada spends about $1.9 billion annually in support of housing assistance for 644,000 low income households.

Since 1994 the government has fostered public-private partnerships to create approximately 13,000 units of affordable housing. Right here in the capital region an anonymous donation of $1 million was matched and bettered through federal funds of $1.5 million for five innovative programs.

Human Resources Development

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

Mr. Speaker, the human resources minister plays fast and loose with the words “openness” and “transparency”—

[The Deputy Speaker]

I do not think the hon. member for Calgary—Nose Hill would want to indulge in this kind of personal attack. I would suggest that we try to stick with questions and not with preambles that are designed to provoke.

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

Mr. Speaker, rather than having the documents, which are very important to understanding the issue of the billion dollar bungle, pulled from the minister piece by piece, will she stand today and commit to tabling all the files and all the lists of files that were covered by the random sample audit and which were the subject of so much controversy and scandal? There are 40,000 files.

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

Mr. Speaker, I do not know where the hon. member has been, but on a number of occasions I have stated to the House that in response to a request and interest shown at the standing committee I am working with my department to pull together this information, this varying information, so that members of parliament can have access to it and make use of it. It is not necessarily kept by riding. We keep it by program.

I have committed to do that. When the information is available I will be glad to present it.

Bill C-20

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

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Quebecois is becoming more and more convinced that Bill C-20 is undemocratic, but it is also becoming more and more obvious that the process by which the government wants to get it passed is still more undemocratic. It does not want to allow all of the party witnesses to speak.

Is the government prepared to hear all of the witnesses on the lists provided by the parties, as well as all of the increasing number of others who are asking to be heard by the committee?

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

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member across the floor is well aware, along with the entire House, the government has indicated that it would be most reasonable, as always, in this matter.

We have said that we agreed to use a rather broad definition of what constituted a technical witness. I believe the committee has said it would hear 45, a very high number, higher than for most bills—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Once again, the government has been reasonable, but we do not want to cause an unreasonable delay.

Points Of Order

[Jay Hill, Reform, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, during question period the hon. Minister for Human Resources Development read directly from a letter which she says she wrote to her deputy minister, in which she abdicated her approval responsibility for the grants and contributions in question. Since she read directly from the letter, I would ask that she table that correspondence today, rather than waiting to have it translated.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to do that.

[The Deputy Speaker]

The document is not in both official languages. I believe the consent of the House will be required to table the document. Perhaps I could hear from the House leader on this point.