Debates of April 4th, 2000

Aboriginal Affairs

[Bob Nault, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, band councils are elected representatives of their communities.

If the member has the gall to do it, he should take these questions up with the band council in Samson. If he does that he will find that the first nation people there who elected those officials have a lot of respect and trust in their abilities to manage their affairs.

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I expect we would find no such thing.

According to statistics, one-third of aboriginals on reserve live in overcrowded conditions, 50% of aboriginal children live in poverty and the infant mortality rate is twice as high for aboriginal children as for other children.

When Health Canada recently conducted an audit of eight British Columbia bands, it found that every single one of the chiefs and councils had misspent health care funds, often using money, which should have been used to help children or spent on health care, to go on junkets to Hawaii.

Why has the minister failed to protect the interests of disadvantaged grassroots aboriginals by ensuring that money earmarked for health care actually gets to those who deserve it?

[Bob Nault, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I find it very interesting to hear this from a party that has opposed every single piece of legislation brought to the House that would improve the abilities of first nation people to govern themselves.

Let me use one example. The Nisga'a agreement is a modern treaty, a modern self-government agreement that will give the first nation people the opportunity to be successful, and this party now tells me that it has concerns about first nation people. I think that is hypocritical.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. I would ask all hon. members to please stay away from the words hypocrite or hypocritical.

Health

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when the Liberals were elected in 1993, the federal government paid 29% of the costs of Quebec's health care system. Seven years later, it pays only 13.5%.

How can the Minister of Health say that the problem facing the provinces is not one of health care funding, when his government has dropped its contribution from 29% to 13.5% in seven years?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the member must know that our transfer payments are now more than 33 cents on every dollar, or $31 billion over the next year, which is a new high. Equalization payments will hit a new high next year as well. As for the specific question, what I can do is cite Quebec's Minister of Finance, Bernard Landry.

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when a minister cites Bernard Landry in the House, would he have the courage to say that Quebec's Minister of Finance clearly said that the main reason for the difficulties the provinces are facing in their health care systems is the federal government's cuts to transfer payments?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I will say it again: $31 billion, a new high.

This year, as last year, we also transferred money. It is in a bank in Toronto, and Quebec's finance minister can go and get it.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Grant Hill, Reform, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on this issue of native accountability, the minister is standing up for the chiefs and we are standing up for the grassroots natives.

Let us go to the Stoney Band in Alberta. Here the band councillors receive $1.4 million in salaries. They have a $5.6 million deficit and just 90% unemployment.

Why does the minister give so much to the chiefs and so little to the grassroots natives?

[Bob Nault, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, we are negotiating some 80 self-government agreements right now. When I bring them to the House, I look forward to this party supporting the self-government agreements of first nation people.

[Grant Hill, Reform, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the one thing we will need in those agreements is accountability. The minister is standing up for no accountability for the grassroots. It is pretty straightforward. The minister believes that the chiefs should get a lot and the grassroots should get little. My question is: Why?

[Bob Nault, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I do not support the Leader of the Opposition nor the previous leader of the opposition. He was elected to represent his people, and I respect that, as I respect the chiefs who were elected by their people.

Fisheries

[Yvan Bernier, Bloc, Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-De-La-Madeleine—Pabok, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in his speech of March 24, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans seemed confident that agreements would be reached with both the first nations people and the traditional fishers. The industry has concerns, however, and wants to see more concrete agreements.

Can the minister confirm that one of the hypotheses envisaged by the federal government at the negotiating table is the transfer of part of the Quebec crab quota to the first nations fishers of the Maritimes?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to report to the House that as of today we have six signed agreements with first nations bands. I hope in the coming days that I will be able to announce more agreements. We have learned that one of the ways to resolve this issue is by bringing the communities together to talk and to have dialogue.

Even though we hear the members opposite talk about helping the members of the first nation band, the way to do it is to sign agreements on fishing so first nations can truly earn an income and be able to take advantage of the economic opportunities available.

[Yvan Bernier, Bloc, Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-De-La-Madeleine—Pabok, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I get the impression that the minister is a little mixed up. I will therefore ask my question again.

In fisheries, there is a very delicate balance. Can the minister confirm that one of the hypotheses envisaged by the federal government at the negotiating table is the transfer of part of the Quebec crab quota to the first nations fishers of the Maritimes?

[An hon. member]

That is the question.

[Yvan Bernier, Bloc, Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-De-La-Madeleine—Pabok, QC]

That is unfair. An attempt is being made to imbalance the quotas of the various provinces. This is what prompts the AQIP, the Association québécoise de l'industrie de la Pêche, to believe there are going to be interprovincial transfers. What is his answer to that?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should stand up and congratulate the government. We have committed $160 million to a voluntary retirement program. The hon. member should know that we are spending the money to buy existing licences on a voluntary program to provide access to the aboriginal community. We have brought the commercial fisherman and the aboriginal community together to find community solutions to build communities across the country. We are doing it in Atlantic Canada. This is good news for Canada and it is good news—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Calgary East.

Export Development Corporation

[Deepak Obhrai, Reform, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the EDC continues to shovel billions of taxpayer money out the door to fund ecologically disastrous projects like the Three Gorges dam in China and the Urra hydro project in Columbia.

I ask the minister in what way does financing ecologically disastrous projects overseas benefit the Canadian taxpayer?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite interesting to see that the now deceased reform party is taking an interest in the environment. It has voted against every single piece of legislation the government has tabled to protect the environment.

This being said, the EDC has its own environmental framework which comes from its own policies to ensure that environmental factors are taken into account before any financial support is approved for all projects.

[Deepak Obhrai, Reform, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, since the financing of the EDC is not available to the public we cannot clarify that fact, but the beneficiaries of many of these EDC loans are donors to the Liberal Party.

Canadians are horrified to learn that EDC is financing some of the most damaging environmental projects in the world.

I ask the minister again: Why are Canadian taxpayers forced to fund the world's worst ecological nightmares?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, the whole matter of the environment is a very important file.

As I said earlier, we have had the Gowling report and a report from the standing committee of the House of Commons. Both reports have dealt with the environmental aspect. The government is now studying how it will respond to those reports. We will provide our response before May 15 acknowledging the legislative review of which EDC will soon be the object.

Parental Leave

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on the matter of parental leave, senior officials of the Department of Human Resources Development confirmed yesterday that negotiations with Quebec would not resume until Quebec sends Ottawa the terms of the program it has in mind.

How can the minister claim to refuse to discuss with Quebec until it submits its plan, when this is a matter under Quebec's jurisdiction and, in any case, she has her hands full with the scandals and investigations in her own department?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's question gives me a chance to remind the House that it was in the Speech from the Throne that this government indicated it would double parental benefits. Only four months later in the budget, we have made that a reality. Between now and the end of the year parental benefits for Canadians will double. The opportunities to make them more accessible and flexible will be there.

The job that I have is to ensure that this undertaking is done well for all Canadians, including those in Quebec.