Debates of May 31st, 2000

Human Resources Development

[The Speaker]

Order, please choose your words very judiciously.

[Monte Solberg, Reform, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I asked a very specific question. All kinds of grants have gone to the minister's riding. When we asked questions about them she said the information was private. Now we find that there is a website that reveals intimate details of the lives of people who appeal for EI. Why the double standard?

Why is it that the information is not revealed about people who ask for and get million dollar grants but on the other hand, regular folks are having their names and details of their personal lives spread all over the worldwide web?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member talks about double standards. He rises in the House and challenges us on issues of privacy. Again, I point out the privacy commissioner supports what we were doing.

I wonder if he would agree with the reform-a-tories in the province of Ontario that giving over 600 private companies access to the database in the Ministry of Transport and selling that private information is the right thing to do.

Canada Information Bureau

[Ghislain Lebel, Bloc, Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, defeated Liberal candidate Serge Paquette, and former assistant to a Liberal MP Richard Bélisle, are the directors of Stratégie et Communication, the recipient of half a million dollars to organize seven months of tours by federal ministers around Quebec.

Can the Minister of Public Works tell us whether we are to understand from this that the Liberal government finds the ministers' own communications services so imcompetent that they have to award a half-million dollar contract to friends instead?

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, first of all I will say again, the contracts are competitive.

Second, as far as the Quebec ministerial tour is concerned, several ministers are involved. A number of different matters are involved as well, because the purpose in going there is to inform Canadians. We meet with municipal representatives, Chamber of Commerce people, and community groups. We want to ensure that there is proper follow-up.

Therefore, the services of these people are retained through a competitive contract in order to ensure that co-ordination is properly carried out.

[Ghislain Lebel, Bloc, Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, during that same period, the firm of Tremblay-Guittet, with a connection to the Minister of Public Works, received one-quarter of a million dollars for ministerial speech writing.

Are the Liberal ministers so hopeless that it takes half a million to tell them how to tour, and another quarter million to tell them what to say when they do?

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I can see that the ministerial tour is starting to have a good effect on the Bloc Quebecois member. As I have explained, on various dates, several ministers—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker]

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Public Works.

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the main purpose of the ministerial tour of Quebec is to inform Quebecers about Government of Canada programs and about what the Government of Canada is doing.

At the same time, we are a government with an attentive ear. We are there to listen and to ensure that the programs of the Government of Canada meet the needs of the population.

Therefore, we do so in a co-ordinated manner, and will continue to do so.

Human Resources Development

[Charlie Penson, Reform, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, why does the Minister of Human Resources Development why does she think the world should know that Neil G. has “certain religious commitments that interfere with certain shifts after 6 p.m.?”

[The Speaker]

I guess the question is in order. I am not sure what the question was, but I see the minister on her feet. The hon. Minister of Justice.

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

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. minister of HRDC has already pointed out, since the 1940s umpires who are judges of the federal court trial division have been called upon to settle UI and EI litigation matters dealing with claimants who may be eligible for benefits. Umpire hearings are generally held in courts and they are open to the public. In fact, the decisions of these umpires are available. Because of the use of technology, they are now not only available in hard copy but they are also available on the net.

[Charlie Penson, Reform, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yes indeed, and what a web they have woven.

Canadians might be forgiven for asking the question why the Human Resources Development Canada website points out that Mark M. “developed a substance abuse problem”. Did anyone at HRDC ask Mark if he wanted that information published?

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

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Justice has pointed out, these are the decisions of justices.

Again let us look at the record of that party over there. I am just reminded of the 1997 dissenting report to the report on privacy issues wherein that party said that the government side was being narrow and heavy-handed by suggesting expanding the role and responsibilities of the privacy commissioner. Which way do they want it?

Canada Information Office

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is too much.

Not only is half a million dollars being spent to tell ministers how to conduct a tour, and a quarter of a million to tell them what to say, but another $1,208,000 is being spent to have a specialized firm read the newspapers in order to see whether the ministers have done their job well.

Does the Minister of Public Works and Government Services, who is the chief organizer of the Liberal Party of Quebec, not find it scandalous that almost $2 million in taxpayers' money has been wasted for the sole purpose of parading federal ministers around Quebec?

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, if I understand the Bloc Quebecois questions correctly this afternoon, when the Government of Quebec communicates, it is information, but when the Government of Canada communicates, it is propaganda.

I think that enough is enough. I think that they should ask their head office how much it is spending to promote sovereignty. I think that from where we stand the Government of Canada is entitled to promote the Canadian federation.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères, QC]

Promotion of the government's activities, Mr. Speaker.

The minister can say and do what he likes, but can he deny that the CIO, for which he is responsible, is nothing more than a propaganda tool that makes it possible for Liberals to use public money not just for partisan politics in Quebec, but also to reward friends of the party?

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I repeat, when Quebec communicates, it is information, but when Ottawa communicates, it is propaganda.

They are free to tell Quebecers that the Government of Canada is not working, in order to advance their cause. And we should sit still and not tell Quebecers what the Canadian government is doing for people living in Quebec?

We will continue to do so in a very organized manner, so that we can provide accurate information, not Bloc Quebecois propaganda.

Cultural Heritage

[Ted White, Reform, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Finance said that although he had Irish blood running in his veins that did not mean he was a member of the IRA, but if the finance minister started attending IRA cultural events, you can bet we would have some pretty tough questions for him.

The fact is CSIS, the U.S. state department and security analysts in Australia and Scotland all say that the FACT is a fundraising front for the Tamil Tigers.

How can the minister continue to defend his attendance at a FACT event in the light of that evidence?

[The Speaker]

I do not know how that fits in with the administrative responsibility of the government or the minister. I ruled this type of question out of order yesterday. The minister stood to answer it. I see another minister is standing to answer. This question is out of order but if she would like to respond, the hon. minister.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Minister for International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, yes, I do want to answer because neither I nor the Minister of Finance attended a Tamil Tiger event. We attended a cultural event of the Tamil community of Toronto.

I lived for decades under the accusation that the Italian Canadian community was Mafiosi and part of the Mafia. I will not tar the whole of the Tamil community in the same manner.

[Ted White, Reform, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Speaker, during the 35th parliament, this government was told repeatedly by CSIS and by the Reform Party that the Babar Khalsa Sikh charity in B.C. was raising money—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. We will hear the question from the hon. member.