Mr. Speaker, it was a good report Friday. We welcome it, and we welcome the opportunity to work with provincial and territorial governments to improve health care for all Canadians.

We have already reinvested in health care transfers to the provinces very substantially. The member knows that. More federal money is needed and will be provided.

We want to have a cogent plan to work with governments to make sure we have not only a more extensive health care system, but a better health care system. That is our objective.

Revenue CanadaOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

Progressive Conservative

Bill Casey Progressive Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the government House leader, and I appreciate his undertaking to address this situation.

I sent over a copy of the formal demand for payment by Revenue Canada. This is an alarming situation in which somebody's RRSP can be deregistered, which means that money will be taxable and he will owe more money. Further, he will not be able to replace the money taken from his RRSP because of the contribution limits.

Would the House leader clarify for all holders of RRSPs that Revenue Canada will not dip into RRSPs and deregister their funds?

Revenue CanadaOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

Glengarry—Prescott—Russell Ontario

Liberal

Don Boudria LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I cannot answer for an individual case, much less for a group of individual cases, by making a general statement that no particular holding of any individual Canadian would be seized for non-payment of taxes. Obviously I cannot do that.

I have received the information from the hon. member. I thank him for that. I will provide it to officials at the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency so that they can examine the particular case to which he is alluding in a way that will ensure at the same time that the integrity of the tax system is protected while of course collecting the tax—

Revenue CanadaOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

The Speaker

The hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine.

Federal Public ServiceOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

Liberal

Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC

Mr. Speaker, I had a dream last night. I had a dream that our federal public service, from top to bottom, was a reflection of Canada's great racial diversity.

Can the President of the Treasury Board give us the government's response to the action plan of the task force on the participation of visible minorities in the federal public service, entitled “Embracing Change in the Federal Public Service”?

Will she tell us that dreams can come true?

Federal Public ServiceOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

Some hon. members

Hear, hear.

Federal Public ServiceOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

The Speaker

Order, please. I want to hear the answer to the dream.

Federal Public ServiceOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

Westmount—Ville-Marie Québec

Liberal

Lucienne Robillard LiberalPresident of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure

Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to announce that the Government of Canada endorses completely the plan of action for visible minorities for the public service, including the establishment of benchmarks.

It is our hope that, within a few years, our public service will represent one of the strengths of this country: diversity.

JusticeOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

Reform

Chuck Cadman Reform Surrey North, BC

Mr. Speaker, clearly Bill C-3 is stalled, and that shows no signs of changing in the near future.

The minister committed to Canadians that the government would have new youth justice legislation in this parliament. I ask again, will we have new youth justice legislation before an election is called?

JusticeOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

Edmonton West Alberta

Liberal

Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, those of us on this side of the House are doing everything we can to ensure that the legislation gets out of committee and comes back before the House.

I would encourage the hon. member to work with some of his colleagues on this side of the House to ensure that happens.

CinarOral Question Period

2:55 p.m.

Bloc

Stéphane Bergeron Bloc Verchères, QC

Mr. Speaker, in 1997, the crown prosecutor called on the sister-in-law of a vice-president of CINAR to validate the evidence accumulated against this firm by the RCMP.

In response to these troubling revelations that would indicate someone wanted to pad this affair on the eve of elections, the Minister of Justice simply said that this new information had been passed on to the RCMP.

How can the crown prosecutor turn to the sister-in-law of a vice-president of a company under investigation in order to decide whether charges should be laid against her? Does the minister not agree that an internal investigation is absolutely necessary in order to discover who made this decision?

CinarOral Question Period

June 12th, 2000 / 3 p.m.

Edmonton West Alberta

Liberal

Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, as I said last week in response to the hon. member's question, there is very little that I can say about this matter because it is under active police investigation.

However I want to reassure the hon. member, as I did last week, that new information did come to the attention of the crown prosecutor on June 6 of this year. As soon as that information came to her attention she turned it over to the RCMP.

NaftaOral Question Period

3 p.m.

NDP

Bill Blaikie NDP Winnipeg—Transcona, MB

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister for International Trade. One day while the minister was away on his travels, his parliamentary secretary indicated to the House that the government was seeking to redefine and reinterpret the chapter 11 investor state dispute mechanism in NAFTA.

Given that the minister has already indicated in committee that he does not intend to seek this kind of investor state dispute mechanism in any other free trade agreement that the government may be contemplating entering into, why does he not seek to get rid of chapter 11 altogether instead of simply redefining or reinterpreting it?

NaftaOral Question Period

3 p.m.

Papineau—Saint-Denis Québec

Liberal

Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister for International Trade

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, chapter 11 is part of the NAFTA that we signed with two trade partners, Mexico and the United States. We are confident that it has helped the Canadian economy a great deal. The NAFTA is a very solid agreement that has helped to promote Canadian exports a great deal in North America.

Chapter 11 is part of the whole treaty. We cannot isolate it completely. I tasked my deputy minister at the last meeting he had with his counterpart in the United States and Mexico to clarify certain aspects of chapter 11 with which we have some difficulties of interpretation.

Employment InsuranceOral Question Period

3 p.m.

Progressive Conservative

Greg Thompson Progressive Conservative Charlotte, NB

Mr. Speaker, the minister has received many interventions in the House on the proposed EI changes in New Brunswick. These changes will impose hardship on the fisheries, agriculture and tourism sectors.

Is the minister now in a position to respond to those concerns? What is the minister's position in respect of those proposed changes?

Employment InsuranceOral Question Period

3 p.m.

Brant Ontario

Liberal

Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development

Mr. Speaker, as the House and the hon. member know, we are looking as a part of statutory requirement at the employment insurance economic zones.

We have been in a 30 day gazetted period. The information has been brought forward from different parts of Canada. The commission will now look at the interventions and the recommendations that have come from communities and it will make its final proposals in a timely fashion.