Debates of May 16th, 2000

Justice

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

Mr. Speaker, we know the minister is in favour of timeliness. I have a question for the solicitor general.

Kim Hancox, the widow of murdered Toronto police officer Bill Hancox, was outraged to find that CSC was allowing the female same sex lovers convicted of killing her husband to serve their life sentences together. That has since been corrected, but this is the second time in six months that the solicitor general has had to override the atrocious decisions of the CSC commissioner.

Will the solicitor general please show some semblance of leadership, restore some confidence in our justice system and our correctional system and remove the CSC commissioner?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, my responsibility and the government's responsibility is to create policy, and that is exactly what this government is doing.

Human Resources Development

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

Mr. Speaker, there is an understandable unease about the current move to redraw employment insurance zones. In the past it seems that political considerations influenced this exercise to allow some MPs to deliver more benefits to their area—

[The Speaker]

Order, please. If members want to have conversations I would ask them please to take them outside the House. We cannot hear the questions.

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

Mr. Speaker, there is an understandable unease about the current move to redraw employment insurance zones. In the past it seems that political considerations influenced the exercise to allow some MPs to deliver more benefits to their area in defiance of labour force realities.

How can Canadians be sure that any new boundaries will be based on need and not just pre-election political gerrymandering?

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

Here we go again, Mr. Speaker, with the member ranting innuendo.

This process is an administrative process. It is done by statute every five years. It is gazetted. It was gazetted on Saturday. Members of parliament have the opportunity, along with other citizens of Canada, to make comment on the proposals. I hope the hon. member will do that.

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

Mr. Speaker, this minister has a pretty uninspiring track record when it comes to putting political considerations over clear rules, fairly applied. The fact that MP turf wars over new EI boundaries have already heated up is a sign that this is a political exercise more than anything.

Given past history, why should Canadians trust that the coming changes will all be above board?

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

Mr. Speaker, the coming changes will be above board.

Talk about political tactics. Let us look at the speech that is being given by the leader of the party opposite in the House today.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[The Speaker]

Order, please.

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is nothing more than a tactic to distract Canadians from the fact that yesterday in St. John's West the party of the extreme right in this House barely beat the extreme wrestling party.

The people of Canada understand the importance of grants and contributions. The people of Atlantic Canada proved that yesterday.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the audit report on the Modes Conili affair led to the payment of a $700,000 grant. Yet this report contradicts an opinion by departmental employees that indeed employees were merely transferred, proven by cross-checking SIN numbers.

The minister claims to have nothing to hide, so will she agree to table the report in question this very day so that it may be examined in order to find out who asked for a report of convenience in order to pay Modes Conili $700,000?

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

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, last Tuesday the department received new information on this file. On Wednesday the information was reviewed. On Thursday it was passed on to the RCMP for its review and consideration. That is where it lies.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister knows that this report is important and she also knows that, going the access to information route, we are likely to wait a very long time, as we have for all Human Resources Development Canada files, even until the next election.

Is the minister aware that it is her responsibility to provide us with the needed information now, not after the election?

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

Mr. Speaker, again on this file I would point out that the information rests with the RCMP. It is up to the RCMP to make determinations on the next steps.

Canadian Heritage

[Eric C. Lowther, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the scandal flowing from the Shawinigan fountain continues. Not only did taxpayers get hit with a $200,000 bill for the construction of the fountain, but new access to information documents show that the Prime Minister's office also lobbied for thousands of taxpayer dollars for a feasibility study for it and the Minister of Canadian Heritage personally signed off. Why?

Why does the Prime Minister's seatmate approve thousands of dollars flowing in Shawinigan for the Prime Minister?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that, although I have never been personally lobbied by the Prime Minister on this particular subject, I have in fact been lobbied—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please.

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Hamilton East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as early as yesterday I was lobbied by a member of the opposition, who has a meeting in my office at 4.15 p.m. to lobby for a project in his riding.

[Eric C. Lowther, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the member will not have the same result because here we see a pattern continuing. The Prime Minister's office asked the heritage minister for money that went to a company in the Prime Minister's riding for a feasibility study for a $200,000 fountain. What happened? The company got the money to do the feasibility study and the Prime Minister's campaign got a donation. That is very interesting.

This appears to be an oft-repeated theme. Is it that the Prime Minister actually cannot see that this is a violation of the public trust, or is it that he just does not care?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I think the hypocrisy of the party that ran—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. I would ask that we please stay away from the word hypocrisy.

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Hamilton East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the charade of hon. members opposite will become obvious when I look, for example, at dozens of projects where members of the reform/alliance party wrote to me seeking support because they saw that projects in their ridings were very good projects. I will look at the numbers for TJF projects: Kootenay—Columbia, $3.5 million for six projects; Nanaimo-Alberni, $2.3 million; Nanaimo—Cowichan, $1.3 million; Okanagan—Coquihalla, $478,000; Kootenay—Boundary—Okanagan, $2.5 million—