House of Commons Hansard #66 of the 36th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was provinces.
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, I will repeat my response and say that there is no investigation under way. I am looking into why this document was forwarded to the hon. member in such a fashion and we will deal with it.
Chuck Cadman Reform Surrey North, BC
Mr. Speaker, the HRDC documents dated June 5, 1998 referred to the misappropriation of funds with respect to the Iris deal. The minister seems unwilling to provide any details on exactly how much was misappropriated and what was done about it. She chooses to boast that Iris lived up to half of its expectations.
I ask the minister again. How much money was misappropriated and why were the police not called in?
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, what is so interesting about this is that the hon. member makes reference to a June 5 document which was part of an access to information request that they made. It talks about asking the department to confirm that things were all right at Bas Iris. What they fail to say is that in the same ATIP request was the response from the department that on June 25 it looked into it and there was nothing wrong.
Chuck Cadman Reform Surrey North, BC
Mr. Speaker, let us try something else.
I have received complaints from my constituency about irregularities pertaining to the allocation of HRDC funds within the Metis community in British Columbia. The Surrey Leader newspaper has run a series of reports on questionable training programs and nepotism. The complainants, some of whom are Metis, have already requested a forensic audit and have been turned down.
Seeing as how there are already at least 19 ongoing investigations into similar complaints, why will the minister not grant a forensic audit in this case?
Human Resources DevelopmentOral Question Period
Gander—Grand Falls Newfoundland & Labrador
Liberal
George Baker LiberalMinister of Veterans Affairs and Secretary of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency)
Mr. Speaker, perhaps the hon. member is not aware that in cases of grants under HRDC or loans under ACOA, where there is money owed to the federal government, we have signed an understanding with the best collection agency in Canada to collect that money. It chases somebody right to the grave. Granted, the collection agency is headed by a prominent Liberal from Quebec. I might as well admit that. It is called Revenue Canada Taxation.
Stéphan Tremblay Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Mr. Speaker, the minister is boasting of the 10,000 pages of information she has been made public, and refers us to a phone number if we require more information. That is the number that was used in relation to the Placeteco affair.
Can the minister explain to us why her department is refusing to respond to our request for information, because Placeteco is apparently under investigation?
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, I have answered this on several occasions now and the response is still the same. There is no investigation. I am looking into why the communique was given to the Bloc. I will respond to the Bloc when I have that information.
Stéphan Tremblay Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Mr. Speaker, I will ask the minister this: Why is her department telling us that the case is under investigation?
Bill Gilmour Reform Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
Mr. Speaker, for two days the HRD minister has avoided answering questions about the complete disregard of the Financial Administration Act within her department. Yet we know at the root of this blatant disregard of the rules is the Prime Minister's plan to funnel as much money as he possibly can into his own riding. Guess what? The Prime Minister's riding got more money than the entire province of Alberta.
Now that the Prime Minister has been forced to turn off the taps in HRD, is it true that projects like the Shawinigan fountain are also going to dry up?
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, again, shoddy research, mythology, politics; that is what that party is all about in this undertaking.
There are considerable dollars invested in the province of Alberta in the context of grants and contributions. There are limited dollars in the context of the transitional jobs fund and the Canada jobs fund because that is for areas of high unemployment. As the hon. member knows, Alberta does not have an issue with high unemployment.
Bill Gilmour Reform Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
Mr. Speaker, we know it is St. Patrick's Day but there is more than a wee bit of the blarney in that answer.
It is rather ironic that the main beneficiary in terms of jobs in the Prime Minister's riding is the RCMP.
There are currently at least three RCMP criminal investigations within his own riding, more than in any other riding within the country.
When we listen to the Minister of Veterans Affairs we would expect that it is simply a coincidence that these things happen in the Prime Minister's riding. Why is it that the Prime Minister's riding attracts criminal investigations—
Human Resources DevelopmentOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order, please. The question is out of order. If the hon. Deputy Prime Minister wants to answer it I will let him.
Herb Gray LiberalDeputy Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the member is making an assertion for which he has no facts whatsoever. Why does he not put down as a fact that the riding of Nanaimo—Alberni received $33.3 million from all the programs of the HRD department? The Prime Minister's riding received only $20 million over the last three fiscal years. Is his riding under investigation? Give us the facts.
Richard Marceau Bloc Charlesbourg, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Experience Canada program, with its 30% success rate, is a failure.
This program of the Council for Canadian Unity is a source of considerable concern to departmental employees, but that did not stop the Minister for International Trade, when Minister of Human Resources Development, from congratulating the organization on several occasions on its so-called success.
When I write something in a letter, I stand behind it.
My question is for the Minister for International Trade. How could he praise an organization that has failed so miserably at attaining the objectives of the program for which he himself was responsible?
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, as I responded yesterday, our partnership with the Council for Canadian Unity in the area of Experience Canada is working. We are working with our sponsors to ensure that we increase the opportunities for young people to travel around the country and to get to know it.
We know why the members opposite do not like it. It is because 28% of the young people who are in this program come from the province of Quebec. Because of this program, these young people may get experience, enjoy their country and want to remain part of it.
Susan Whelan Liberal Essex, ON
Mr. Speaker, the International Joint Commission has released its final report on protecting the Great Lakes waters. It strongly recommends that governments should not permit the removal of water from the Great Lakes basin unless an extremely restrictive set of conditions can be met.
Can the Minister of the Environment assure the House today that this report will assist Canada in prohibiting the sale of bulk water?
David Anderson LiberalMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to assure the House and the hon. member that the report of the IJC does come down exactly along the lines of the government's approach, which is to prevent the interbasin transfer of water to protect water sources in Canada and to protect them from exotic species or other risks that may come from transfers of water from one area to another.
We believe that if this approach is adopted with the provinces we will have a complete protection of Canada's water supply throughout the country and in every part of Canada, border or otherwise.
Philip Mayfield Reform Cariboo—Chilcotin, BC
Mr. Speaker, this human resources boondoggle has hurt so many people. Downline employees were told in 1996 to ignore the Financial Administration Act. Now these same people are being harassed for breaking the rules and placed on call 24 hours a day to supply information to protect the minister.
As well, taxpayers place their trust in the government when they hand over their hard earned money. The government broke that trust too. Worse, neither the Prime Minister nor the human resources minister has the humility to apologize to anyone. Why does being a Liberal mean never having to say you are sorry?
Human Resources DevelopmentOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order, please. The question is out of order. Go to the second question.
Philip Mayfield Reform Cariboo—Chilcotin, BC
Mr. Speaker, in a recent interview with the Women's Television Network the human resources minister was given three opportunities to apologize to the Canadian taxpayers for mismanaging their money and yet she refused.
By the way, Mr. Speaker, Canadians pay more in taxes than they do for food, shelter and clothing.
How can this minister possibly justify not apologizing, let alone justify this blatant abuse of hard earned taxpayer money?
Human Resources DevelopmentOral Question Period
The Speaker
The question is in order. The hon. Minister of Human Resources Development.
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, in the context of this whole undertaking we know what is really going on here. That party does not believe that the Government of Canada can participate in the lives of Canadians and ensure that everyone has an opportunity to benefit from this great nation.
In the context of grants and contributions from my department, we are ensuring that Canadians with disabilities get a chance to be part of our economy, that young people get a chance to get that very important first job and go on to be successful contributors, that in areas of high unemployment, in northern British Columbia, northern Ontario and Atlantic Canada, that we are there to—
Human Resources DevelopmentOral Question Period
The Speaker
The hon. member for Winnipeg North Centre.
Judy Wasylycia-Leis NDP Winnipeg North Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, it is now four months since Ralph Klein launched his private hospital plan and all we get from the health minister is whimpering from the sidelines.
First he says to wait for the bill, then to wait for the amendments and now to wait for the regulations, by which time of course it will be too late.
I have asked the health minister before and I will ask him again today: Do Canadians have to go to bed one more night without knowing whether their government will take action on Bill 11 and whether or not public health care will be there for them in the future?