Debates of May 31st, 2000

[The Speaker]

As is our practice on Wednesday we will now sing O Canada, and we will be led by the hon. member for Saint John.

The Late Davie Fulton

[Ted McWhinney, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Davie Fulton, who died on May 22, was elected to parliament as a member for Kamloops in 1945, while still an officer in the Italian campaign in World War II. He served in the Diefenbaker government as an imaginative and reform-minded minister of justice. He was joint author, with U.S. Attorney General Rogers, of the Fulton-Rogers Agreement, restricting the extraterritorial application of U.S. anti-trust law against Canadian companies without prior consultation with the Canadian government. He also developed a plan for an all-Canadian amending machinery for the Canadian constitution, which later provided a scientific-legal base for the Trudeau Constitution Act of 1982, chapter V.

Mr. Fulton's post-parliamentary career involved further public service as a justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia and as a respected jurisconsult on major Canadian constitutional issues.

Terrorism

[Jay Hill, Reform, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is a country of immigrants, enriched by diversity, a peace-loving nation willing to help out our neighbours and celebrate our freedoms. Canadians oppose any form of terrorism anywhere. They are particularly opposed to terrorists using Canada to finance their killings.

The Tamil tigers raised $22 million in Canada last year alone. The Minister of Finance and the Minister for International Cooperation made a mistake. They attended an event sponsored by an internationally known front for the tigers.

The Tamil New Year should be celebrated as much as any other cultural holiday around the globe. However, celebrating it with an organization that finances terrorism is wrong.

Instead of apologizing, the ministers attack, calling us racist and anti-Canadian.

It is not anti-Canadian to condemn terrorism, nor is it racist to identify terrorist organizations from a particular country. What is anti-Canadian is ministers of the crown who refuse to admit their mistakes and attack those who defend and demand accountability. Canada is still, after all, a democracy.

National Cancer Survivor's Day

[Gary Pillitteri, Liberal, Niagara Falls, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Sunday, June 4, 2000 marks the 13th anniversary of National Cancer Survivor's Day. This event honours survivors who are living with and beyond cancer. It also recognizes the important role played by family, friends and community in the lives of cancer survivors, as well as that of the many health care professionals and researchers who devote their lives to making life more comfortable for those faced with the disease.

Approximately one in three Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer during his or her lifetime. However, thanks to the improved detection, more available information and enhanced methods of treatment, over half of all people diagnosed with cancer today go on to achieve a full recovery.

Recently one of my staffers was diagnosed with cancer. I admire her courage and her determination and would like take this opportunity to tell her that we are all rooting for her.

Today, with the Canadian Cancer Society, I salute and celebrate the survivors.

World No-Tobacco Day

[Jean Augustine, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today is World No-Tobacco Day.

World No-Tobacco Day is a global event created by the World Health Organization to raise the awareness about the use of tobacco and its devastating effects on human lives. Tobacco use leads to breast and lung cancer, heart disease, disability, death and high health care costs. This year over 4 million people, more than 45,000 of whom will be Canadians, will die as a result of tobacco use. By the year 2030, they tell us, the annual global death toll from tobacco use is expected to reach 10 million.

Educating the public about the dangers of tobacco use is a responsibility governments must share. I am pleased that the federal government is taking steps in this direction by proposing tobacco products information regulations.

On this World No-Tobacco Day, I join with the Canadian Society for International Health and health—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Bramalea—Gore—Malton—Springdale.

Canada At The Millennium

[Gurbax Malhi, Liberal, Bramalea—Gore—Malton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on Thursday, May 25, I had the honour to launch the online version of a new book on behalf of the Minister of Industry. Canada at the Millennium tells the stories of 50 ethnocultural groups that have journeyed to Canada throughout the 20th century.

The project is the result of a unique partnership between the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, Heirloom Publishing and Canada's Digital Collections Program of Industry Canada.

I trust that my colleagues will join me in commending the young website builders who produced the on-line version of Canada at the Millennium .

Terrorism

[Ted White, Reform, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as Canadians we are known for our willingness to welcome immigrants and refugees with a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

If we have a failing though it would be our tendency to assume that every new entrant will leave behind any long held prejudices and deeply held feelings related to conflicts in their previous homelands.

In fact, as the experience with the Babar Khalsa charity in B.C. taught us, criminals and undesirables do infiltrate our society from overseas and use our willingness to embrace other cultures as a way to raise money for wars and terrorist activities abroad.

It took years to get the Babar Khalsa deregistered as a charity, even though CSIS had identified the group as raising money in Canada for terrorism, because those who spoke out about the problem were unfairly labelled by political opponents as intolerant and racist.

Let us not make the same mistake again. Let us begin listening to authoritative warnings about terrorist fundraising activities in Canada.

Montreal's Irish Community

[Raymond Lavigne, Liberal, Verdun—Saint-Henri, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the most Irish riding in all of Canada is surely my beautiful riding of Verdun—Saint-Henri, for it includes four Irish parishes: St. Gabriels, Holy Cross, St. Willibrod and St. Thomas More.

We also have the United Irish Society, which is responsible for the traditional Saint Patrick's parade, which has been held longer, without any interruption, than any other such parade in the world. This year marked its 176th anniversary.

I wish to salute the members of the United Irish Society and the queen and princesses of the Montreal Saint Patrick's parade, and the St. Thomas More parishioners accompanying them.

I welcome them to the Parliament of Canada and ask them to keep up their excellent work on behalf of Montreal's Irish community.

World No-Tobacco Day

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

Mr. Speaker, for the past 12 years, May 31 is World No-Tobacco Day, a date set by the World Health Organization to invite us to encourage those around us to stop smoking, at least for one day, or even to give it up permanently.

It is also an opportunity to encourage all authorities responsible for health to continue their research on the harmful effects of smoking, to disseminate information on the subject, and to engage in concrete actions against smoking.

The proportion of health problems affecting the world's population that is related to smoking is not to be underestimated. According to World Health Organization estimates, there are approximately 4 million tobacco-related deaths every year and, if the trend continues, within 30 years smoking will become the top cause of illness in the world. One in eight deaths could be linked to smoking.

Given the immediate and long term harmful effects of tobacco on health, it is essential for there to be clear and firm support to any antismoking measures and to co-ordinate worldwide efforts in this connection, in order to enhance the effectiveness of our response to the public health hazard tobacco represents.

Gasoline Pricing

[Guy St-Julien, Liberal, Abitibi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the cost of gasoline has jumped by 10 cents. A litre of regular gas is selling for the unheard of price of 84.9 cents in Montreal.

Up to yesterday, retailers had been selling regular gas almost at the floor price established by the Quebec energy board, that is, by the government of Lucien Bouchard.

No retailer wants to sell below floor price, which is dictated by the Government of Quebec and which is the wholesale price plus transportation costs and taxes. Some would have broken the rule. In Montreal, profits usually range between six and seven cents a litre.

Why is the government of Lucien Bouchard maintaining this floor price, when consumers are on the floor.

Terrorism

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, remember when the Prime Minister said that lowering taxes was the not the Canadian way, and if people did not like it they should move out of the country?

Now we have the finance minister saying that any criticism of his support for what CSIS claims is a front for a well known terrorist group is also not the Canadian way.

What would Joe Canadian say in response? I think it would go something like this. I am a Canadian and it is about time the federal government started to treat my tax dollars as funds held in trust, not a personal slush fund for a political party. I believe that a dollar held in the hands of a family or business person is far better than sending it in to the finance minister.

Speaking of the finance minister, I also reject the idea that criticizing supporters of the Tamil tigers who go to public schools dressed in army fatigues and packing replica assault weapons is somehow not the Canadian way.

While Canadians believe in noble ideas like the equality of all people, respect for diversity and freedom to express oneself, it is about time we gave up on the politically correct notion that criticizing a terrorist group is somehow equal to criticizing someone's culture. It is not unCanadian to be against terrorism.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker]

Order, please. If hon. members have comments, I invite them to make them outside the House, because we would like to hear the members' statements.

The Middle East

[Mac Harb, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in honour of peace and the recent pullout of Israel from Lebanon.

I want to ask His Excellency, Dr. Assem Jaber, Ambassador of Lebanon to Canada, to convey our best wishes and congratulations to Lebanon. This is a momentous occasion since it brings an optimistic close to decades of frustration and confrontation.

The pullout of Israel from Lebanon provides a momentum for peace in the Middle East. Now the people of Lebanon can turn, and should turn, their attention to improving their quality of life.

Our world can no longer afford the cost of war when for the price of one bullet we can feed a child.

Workplace Safety

[Bev Desjarlais, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it has been eight years since the tragic explosion that took the lives of 26 miners in the Westray Mine. It has been three years since Justice Richard gave his report on the disaster. He called for changes to the criminal code to hold corporations and managers accountable for putting workers in undue danger.

The House has passed a motion calling on the government to act on Justice Richard's recommendations. Last Monday the justice minister tried to pass the buck to the justice committee by telling the House that the committee was looking at the issue. What the minister said was wrong.

Corporate responsibility is not on the justice committee's agenda. It has never been on the justice committee's agenda. It is time for the Liberal government to stop avoiding the issue of workplace safety.

Every year over 600 Canadians are killed on the job and over a million injured. It is time for the government to hold bosses who do not care about safety on the job accountable.

The NDP leader has tabled a bill to act on Justice Richard's recommendations and hold corporations and managers accountable. I have seconded that bill. We call on the Liberal government, and all members of the House to help us make workplaces safer for all Canadians.

The Late Maurice Richard

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today in Montreal, final tributes were paid to Maurice Richard at the funeral for this man, sportsman, hero and legend.

The sportsman had long retired, but his exploits remained engraved on our memories and passed on from one generation to the next.

The exploits of the hero, not only in sports but expressed in daily life through his qualities of determination, passion and courage, excited crowds and inspired determination and passion in a people. The hero has gone.

The man has left us. And now we pay a final great and sober tribute to his image. The sportsman and the hero depart with the man. But, Maurice Richard today is more with us than ever.

The man made way for the legend. May this legend be handed on from one generation to the next and continue to inspire a desire for excellence and determination in the people.

Farewell Maurice Richard the man. Long live Maurice Richard the legend.

Fisheries

[Mark Muise, Progressive Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, today marks the last day of another successful fishing season in my riding. As our fishermen prepare to put away their gear for another season they can only wonder what lies ahead for their future fishery.

Our fishermen are deeply concerned about their industry because, despite the many promises made by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to resolve the crisis, he has done nothing except increase tension between native and non-native fishermen.

We hear about the millions of dollars being spent to purchase licences and equipment for aboriginals, but what we do not hear from the minister is how he plans to address the serious problem of the summer food fishery. This summer fishery threatens the livelihoods of all fishermen and if the minister does not soon take this threat seriously he will be risking the long term survival of an industry than spans generations.

I want to congratulate our fishermen for another successful season and thank them for their commitment to peacefully resolving the crisis in the Atlantic fishery.

Human Resources Development

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we continue in this House to hear constant attacks from the alliance party about the Minister of Human Resources Development and her department concerning the privacy files. I would like to read a direct quote from the privacy commissioner, Bruce Phillips. On May 30 he said:

I am not just satisfied with the minister's decision; I am delighted by it. I say this on behalf of Minister Stewart. In so doing, I realize that I may be treading into places I ought not to go, but it has been my experience from past dealings with this particular minister on privacy issues that when she has been fully informed and on top of the case, she has responded very quickly. The protocol they presented to me last week for discussions could not have been much improved upon if I had written it myself.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, that was a good attempt at defence, but I think Canadians would be a little surprised today to find out that there is another HRDC website out there with a whole lot of personal information on a whole lot of people who are appealing their EI applications. I would like to ask the minister today, how much is too much information on the worldwide web?

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

Mr. Speaker, on our website are copies of Umpire—the umpires are federal court judges—concerning federal court and supreme court decisions of employment insurance appeal cases. These are electronic copies of the paper decisions that have been available to the public for almost 60 years.

Having said that, I have asked my officials to look at this format and to make sure that the information is being presented in an acceptable fashion.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, again it is a good try, but there is some very personal information on these files, which maybe is not necessary. How about information about Canadians' drug problems? Or, someone with a particular religious belief and how it affects their work. Or, whether or not some of these people have disabled children. The list goes on and on.

How much information is just a little too much?

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

Mr. Speaker, again, we are making information public that is already public. I would note that the website has been endorsed by the federal court of appeal as a source for jurisprudence on the Internet. This was under decision A-401-99.

I want to point out that I have asked my officials to review the format to make sure it is appropriate.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the minister's views on privacy are interesting because, as a member of parliament, HRDC officials will not lift a finger for any of my constituents until I have them sign a letter of consent that I will be assisting them. Yet, if they happen to enter the appeal process, some of the most personal details of their lives are made available from Toronto to Timbuktu.

How much confidentiality do Canadians have a right to when they enter into the EI appeal process?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would hope that the hon. member would know that it is the practice of courts and almost all administrative tribunals in this country to publish their decisions. Let me indicate to the hon. member some of the administrative tribunals, such as the one under discussion, which are presently publishing their decisions: the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, the Canadian Industrial Relations Tribunal, the Public Service Staff Relations Board, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

Let me reassure the hon. member that our system is based upon—