Debates of May 1st, 2000

Economic Regions

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

Mr. Speaker, on April 27, in the Gaspe Peninsula, the Minister of Human Resources Development said that her department was considering granting the status of distinct economic region to the region of Gaspésie—Les Îles, to better reflect employment insurance needs in the area.

My question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development. Is her department considering making changes to its economic regions in all the regions of the country affected by seasonal work, such as the Acadian Peninsula?

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

Mr. Speaker, every five years the economic regions have to be reviewed right across Canada. We are in the middle of that process as we speak. The economists who are associated with the Employment Insurance Commission will be looking at the statistics and making recommendations for change as appropriate.

Transportation

[Norman E. Doyle, Progressive Conservative, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport. Marine Atlantic recently announced an increase in ferry rates between Newfoundland and the mainland of Canada. However the Minister of Veterans Affairs announced a couple of days ago that the ferry rates would be placed on hold, I guess until the St. John's West byelection is over.

Can the Minister of Transport indicate how long these ferry rates will be placed on hold?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, there has been no announcement and no approval of ferry rate increases for Marine Atlantic. There have been consultations between the management of Marine Atlantic and the trucking industry in Newfoundland about the costing regime, given the fact that there has not been an increase for about four or five years. There has been no approval granted. Therefore my colleague the Minister of Veterans Affairs was entirely correct.

[Norman E. Doyle, Progressive Conservative, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, we know no approval has been given. This summer we expect a big tourism season because of the Viking millennium celebrations. Stable ferry rates can only help make this summer a great success. Given the importance of that very link to the survival and the continued growth of our tourism industry, will the minister agree to freeze the rates indefinitely?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe the hon. member stands in the House with a straight face asking for a freeze indefinitely. There is no freeze on any rate increases or any taxes or any guarantee that could be made by any government. What I have said is that there have been no increases that have been approved.

For the very reasons the member has outlined, we want to make sure that we have extra capacity on the gulf run this summer to deal with the burgeoning tourism industry. We will make that commitment. It will be a good service and will provide all the capacity for everyone in Newfoundland.

Agriculture

[Rose-Marie Ur, Liberal, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has just returned from a trade mission to China and the Philippines. Could the minister inform the House as to the trade benefits for Canadian farmers resulting from this mission?

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

Mr. Speaker, the delegation was very successful on two accounts.

I had the opportunity to meet with Vice Premier Weng Giabao in China and the president of the Philippines and their respective ministers of agriculture to stress the importance of all of us working together to eliminate domestic and export subsidies around the world.

In China I was able to sign a protocol that will allow the Canadian pork industry to now ship pork into China, and also another protocol that will allow Canada to be the first and only country at this time to sell seed potatoes into that market.

Organized Crime

[John Reynolds, Reform, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the solicitor general and is with regard to operation sidewinder.

We are talking about a massive international criminal organization that is looking to win influence with U.S. and Canadian politicians. It is looking to steal high tech secrets, launder money and to use legitimate Canadian companies as shells for its criminal activities.

Can the solicitor general explain to the House why and what was behind the decision to abolish operation sidewinder?

[Jacques Saada, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, based on what the hon. member said, I think he will support our bill on money laundering.

I understand the member supports our allocating moneys to fight organized crime, particularly the $115 million for the CPIC, the $78 million for the anti-smuggling initiative, the additional $810 million, over a three year period, for the solicitor general, the elimination of the $1,000 bill, and the establishment of 13 joint units to prevent crime.

I could go on for three hours. This is what the member does not want to recognize.

Bill C-3

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice is still refusing to let Quebec continue to enforce the Young Offenders Act, even though all of Quebec's stakeholders still say that the approach in her Bill C-3 is at odds with Quebec's approach.

Does the minister not understand that a law cannot be enforced on a regional basis and that, as a result, since her new law would not exclude Quebec from its application, it must be concluded that the Quebec model will disappear in favour of the rest of Canada's punitive and repressive approach?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, far from having the Quebec model disappear, the proposed new youth justice act will enhance and encourage many of the strategies that the province of Quebec and agencies and programs supported by it have in place.

I continue to ask the hon. member for identification of any programs or initiatives presently undertaken in the province that would not be continued under the proposed law. He has not gotten back to me yet.

Grain Transportation

[Dick Proctor, NDP, Palliser, SK]

Mr. Speaker, western Canadians are completely shocked with the 4.5% hike in freight rates announced for grain last week.

Short weeks after the wheat board minister promised more than 1,000 SARM delegates that they could expect $150 million in reductions this year in freight rates, the rates are actually going up by $44 million. It is unfair, unwarranted, unbelievable and the reaction across the prairies and in Saskatchewan particularly is unprintable.

Will the transport minister tell the House why he has not already ordered a suspension of this outrageous increase?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know that it is the statutory responsibility of the Canadian Transportation Agency to take into account all the costs that railways are bearing in their operations. Therefore it was fully entitled to make the judgment it made some weeks ago.

I realize it has caused some concern with respect to people on the prairies, but as the hon. member knows we are working hard on a package to improve the competitive position of the grain farmers in the prairies. I hope that some of those savings my colleague talked about in the media some weeks ago can indeed be passed on to producers.

National Defence

[David Price, Progressive Conservative, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence has been quite open to Canada's involvement in a North American continental defence system. Our wannabe minister of the Nobel peace prize would rather have us as sitting ducks. Since the Minister of Foreign Affairs is inactive, is the Minister of National Defence looking at an amendment to bring the Russians on line or are we looking at the death of NORAD?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has raised some valid questions with respect to the proposal that is now before the United States administration.

We are all concerned about these matters both from a defence perspective and also from a perspective of international peace and security. The right questions are being asked.

The United States has not made any decision with respect to the matter. It has not asked Canada to participate. Canada will in due course look at the matter very seriously and the Government of Canada will make a decision on it.

Organized Crime

[John Reynolds, Reform, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in regard to the solicitor general's answer last time, this side of the House supports the bill on money laundering. It was this side of the House that brought the bill in on organized crime. It was this side of the House, not that side of the House.

If his government was not behind the destruction of the sidewinder file, why will he not tell the House why the sidewinder file was destroyed?

[Jacques Saada, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I answered this question in French a few times already and apparently there is a problem. Let me say it again in English this time.

Number one, sidewinder was not shut down. Number two, the report which came out of the sidewinder operation was jointly produced by the RCMP and CSIS. Number three, SIRC, the Security Intelligence Review Committee, is looking at this report and is going to produce its own findings.

Instead of basing my assessment on speculation as those members would like us to do, I would rather base it on facts.

Genetically Modified Organisms

[Hélène Alarie, Bloc, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, despite the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food's claim last April that there was no problem exporting GMOs, his secretary of state took the opposite view in the fall of 1997, citing the example of the ban on exporting transgenic canola to Europe.

How can the minister continue to deny the export problems, when our producers are suffering the consequences of his failure to take action?

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

Mr. Speaker, I will report again that this government is involved very much with the Canadian standards board, with the industry, with the Consumers' Association of Canada, with several ministries of this government and the provinces in working toward a set of criteria that could be used in order to label products. There must be criteria. This is where other countries have found a problem. They cannot get a set of criteria that is meaningful, enforceable and credible.

Newspaper Industry

[Wendy Lill, NDP, Dartmouth, NS]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.

On February 15 of this year the Prime Minister said the government would study the concentration of newspaper ownership in response to Thomson's announcement that it would sell off most of its newspapers. Given that Hollinger announced last week that over 300 community papers and over 50 daily papers could now be up for sale, can the Prime Minister inform the House of the progress of his study? Will he use this unique opportunity to bring in a newspaper act as the royal commission on newspapers recommended?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I think what the hon. member is talking about is not concentration. It is the people who had concentration who want to sell their newspapers. That is a different problem from the question that was asked before.

If Mr. Black is selling his newspapers, someone else will buy them and there will be less concentration rather than more concentration. It is better to wait and see what he will do with his newspapers.

Foreign Affairs

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, given the earlier answer about the assassination of a Canadian citizen in Vietnam and the Prime Minister's non response, I want to ask him again, did he take the time during a four hour golf game with the President of the United States to even raise the issue? The President of the United States took the time to personally intervene to try to save this Canadian's life. Why did the Prime Minister not do the same thing, pick up the phone and extend a life line to a Canadian citizen?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I explained clearly the position of the Canadian government on that. I do not have to ask the President of the United States to state the position for Canada. Canada can state its position on its own.

On the other hand I used the occasion of my talk with the president. Last week I talked with him on the telephone and I talked with him privately about the situation in the Middle East. Not only that, Mr. Berger, the person looking after security, came on Saturday morning to discuss for an hour and a half with me the report of the Canadian mission in the Middle East. He was very happy with the trip and what the Canadian government has done.

Organized Crime

[John Reynolds, Reform, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Parliamentary Secretary to the Solicitor General for his answer in both languages. I understood it in both languages. He did not answer the question.

Let me ask him a simple question. Why did the government shut down the sidewinder investigation when the RCMP wanted it expanded?