Debates of March 24th, 2000

Export Development Corporation

[Jim Hart, Reform, Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the public accounts report that one category of EDC loans is worth $140 million and indicate that payment was due in November 1997. This is taxpayers' money. The people of Canada are the only shareholders of the crown corporation known as EDC.

I ask the minister responsible to explain to the shareholders of EDC why $140 million of taxpayers' money has not been repaid.

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to read the correction in this morning's Ottawa Citizen which the Reform Party does not seem to have taken into account:

A March 18 story and an editor's note on March 22 about the Export Development Corporation contained errors. While the EDC set aside $2.8 billion in 1999 to cover potential loan losses, insurance claims and guarantees, this sum is based on an accounting formula and does not represent actual loan losses. Nor did EDC write off $1.3 billion—

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member for Kelowna.

[Werner Schmidt, Reform, Kelowna, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. minister has not addressed the question at all. The hon. minister must recognize at least at one point in his lifetime that he has made a mistake.

It is interesting to hear this minister, not only today but on other days, blather on about the fact that Canadian taxpayers are not on the hook for the bad loans of EDC. Let me read for the hon. minister a quote from the EDC which does not see it that way: “It is a fact that the Canadian government has invested in EDC in the form of equity, which makes the Government of Canada EDC's sole—”

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. Minister for International Trade.

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I have said it time and again. It is $1 billion over the last 56 years in the equity account. Let me continue to quote the correction recognized by the Ottawa Citizen this morning:

EDC officials say that they expect most impaired loans to be repaid eventually, and that actual loan write-offs in 1999 were zero.

Will the members opposite apologize for their misinformation in the House all the time, and all their allegations about this crown corporation which helps Canadians with exports?

Health

[Maurice Dumas, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister said in Calgary that more money could, if needed, be available to maintain the integrity of Canada's health care system.

My question is for the Minister of Health. Could he tell us whether the statement by the Prime Minister means that the government intends to make transfer payments to the provinces to enable them to administer their respective systems according to their own priorities?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we have in Canada a countrywide health care system funded in large measure by the Government of Canada. A third of the public money spent on health care is spent by the Government of Canada.

As the Prime Minister said last evening, we intend to increase the level of funding with a long term plan to solve the problems of our health care system.

[Maurice Dumas, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that Canada's health care system needs more money. All we want to know is how much and when?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we need two things for our nationwide health care system.

The first one is innovation, to implement innovative practices to improve the quality and accessibility of health care services.

The second is an appropriate level of funding, and the Government of Canada will do its share.

Human Resources Development

[Philip Mayfield, Reform, Cariboo—Chilcotin, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the human resources minister is responsible for a billion dollar bungle. Her department warned about it last August. She did not do anything about it until January, two days after we put in an access request for that audit.

I can see why she is trying to hold up any more releases, but there is a statutory deadline of 30 days. Dozens of requests have gone unanswered months past their due date.

Why is the minister ignoring her responsibility under the act and when will she see that these access requests are released?

[Bonnie Brown, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, our past record speaks for itself on these access to information requests.

We have released 75,000 pages this fiscal year under the Access to Information Act. In the past 10 weeks alone, the department has received 526 requests. This is compared to the 531 requests we received in the entire 1998-99 fiscal year.

The member opposite should ask himself if his constituents want department officials spending all their time answering detailed questions or serving them.

[Chuck Cadman, Reform, Surrey North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, our constituents would like to have some accountability at HRDC.

Much of what we requested are already completed documents. They are ready to go. The minister pretends she wants transparency. The only transparency is the apparent attempt to muzzle the department.

The Access to Information Act is clear. Departments have 30 days to return requested information. Dozens of requests have not been dealt with yet.

Is the minister's clampdown a result of some embarrassment or fear over the possible damaging content of these documents?

[Bonnie Brown, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, there is absolutely no clampdown.

As a matter of fact it is odd that the members of the Reform Party differ with their researcher on this one. The researcher was recently quoted as saying that HRDC has one of the best access to information offices in Ottawa.

Gasoline Pricing

[Serge Cardin, Bloc, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, every day we hear news that confirm the negative impact of the gasoline price increase on the economy.

The one-point rise in the inflation rate since January is evidence of that impact. However, Ottawa will collect, through the GST, an additional amount of close to $250 million, because of the increase in the price of gasoline.

My question is for the Deputy Prime Minister. Considering the financial means at its disposal, should the government not give a break to taxpayers by immediately reducing the excise tax on oil products?

[Roy Cullen, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, tax reductions were recently announced in Budget 2000.

We know that the price of petroleum is coming down. We know that in terms of the GST it represents one cent of the twenty cent increase over the last few months. The provinces have much more excise tax on gasoline than the federal government. We are hoping that the price of crude will continue to go down. It has not had an amazing effect; it has had a very limited effect on inflation.

The Budget

[Larry McCormick, Liberal, Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox And Addington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the recent federal budget focused on creating better lives for Canadians in a rapidly changing world.

My question is for the Secretary of State for Rural Development. Could he inform the House on how the budget has responded to the specific concerns of rural Canadians?

[Andy Mitchell, Liberal, Secretary of State (Rural Development)(Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario)]

Mr. Speaker, there is a number of very specific initiatives in the budget: $54 million for community futures; $160 million to connect rural Canadians to the Internet; a $2.6 billion infrastructure program, a large portion of which will go to rural Canada; and $30 million to assist our natural resource industries both in forestry and mining.

Most important is that the budget recognized that the circumstances of rural Canadians were different from those of urban Canadians. Unlike the Reform Party there is a recognition that government will work in partnership with rural Canadians, communities and businesses to better the lives of rural Canadians.

Agriculture

[Howard Hilstrom, Reform, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the government has no problem funnelling HRDC cash to companies with friends of the Prime Minister on their boards. At the same time only 26% of AIDA money that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food promised to farmers in December 1998 has made it to them. As a result the agriculture minister is guilty of financial mismanagement.

Why does the government find it so easy to shovel money to its rich friends and cannot get emergency help to farmers who need it?

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, leave it to a party that was to cut $600 million from the agriculture program to find fault with a government that will be providing $3.3 billion over the next three years.

As a matter of fact his province of Manitoba will be held harmless with the new arrangement. It got 60 crisp, brand new 60 million dollar bills just a short time ago. In addition, it will be getting another $40 million so they will be held harmless with this program in the future.

[Gerry Ritz, Reform, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the reality of the public relations exercise we heard yesterday. It is awful short on details. Nobody knows who is going to qualify and how they are going to trigger it. There is no provincial agreement. Saskatchewan and Manitoba come up short again as the hardest hit areas.

Could the government explain how it is that HRDC grant recipients could get money without putting pen to paper and yet farm families that filled out pages and pages of AIDA applications come up with nothing?

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, they call $3.3 billion nothing. The province of Manitoba will not receive any less in safety net moneys than it does today.

That is in addition to the $60 million we recently gave it in the $435 million in the new safety net program. This is there and the details will be figured out between the provinces and the federal government over the next short period.

The Environment

[Dennis Gruending, NDP, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's report from the expert panel on Canada's national parks tells us what thousands of Canadians already know, that services in the parks have deteriorated because of the government's chronic underfunding.

The Narrows campground in Prince Albert National Park is one example. The park has struggled to keep the campground open but last winter people were told that this summer there might be no modern toilets or fresh water.

Will the minister commit to putting more money into Canada's national parks so that our citizens can begin to enjoy them once again?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, one of the things the member will find, if he has an opportunity to read the very comprehensive ecological integrity report, is that one of the points put forth by the panel is that we have to get our ecological house in order before we can go to the Minister of Finance for more money.

One of the reasons we have to do that is that in the past each superintendent looked upon each park simply from the perspective of delivering services in that park. What that meant was an ever arching increase in development.

What we need today is to make sure that we look at everything through an environmental lens, and that is what we intend to do with implementing the recommendations of the panel.

[Dennis Gruending, NDP, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, again on the environment, the study by the Pembina Institute shows that the governments greenhouse gas emissions policy is a complete failure.

The government is relying on a voluntary program to have major polluters reduce emissions, but those emissions have actually increased by 7% since 1990. We have to move quickly to put in place programs to encourage the move toward the use of renewable resources. When will the government do something real about supporting a move toward renewable resource use?