House of Commons Hansard #113 of the 36th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was park.
Lee Morrison Reform Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Mr. Speaker, perhaps the minister should some day answer a question.
On June 4 only 382,498 firearms had been registered under the new system and about 103,000 were in process. Depending upon how many firearms are actually in circulation, completion of that process will take somewhere between 18 and 50 years.
How many thousands of employees does the minister estimate will be required to supplement the 1,600 who are already employed in this idiotic fiasco?
Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, would it not be refreshing if the official opposition actually got behind Canadians and supported gun control and public safety?
Would it not be useful if this party, as opposed to attempting to undermine Canadians' confidence in the gun licensing and registry program, actually worked with Canadians, their families and their communities to support this program?
Lorne Nystrom NDP Qu'Appelle, SK
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.
Today's financial services bill concentrates more and more power in the hands of the Minister of Finance: the power to make regulations, the power to decide on ownership, and the power to decide about mergers. All of this comes at the expense of parliamentary democracy, making this place less and less relevant to the Canadian people.
Can the minister explain why hoarding all that extra power in his hands, in effect making himself a banking czar in this country, is in the public interest?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, that is not the case.
First of all, the Minister of Finance is accountable to parliament.
Second, the bulk of the areas in which his discretion lies has to do with the holding companies that are permitted investments in that area as opposed to other places.
In terms of parliament, the hon. member will know that under the previous legislation the Minister of Finance had total discretion. Under the new legislation parliamentary hearings will be mandatory.
Lorne Nystrom NDP Qu'Appelle, SK
Mr. Speaker, under the new legislation the Minister of Finance still has the final power, as he knows.
I want to ask him about rural communities. Banks are important to people and small businesses in rural communities. Yet this legislation only requires six months' notice before they pull out. In six months they are gone.
Why does the minister not bring in legislation that would make it a requirement that the banks not be allowed to close a branch in a rural community and that as long as that branch is making a profit in a community it should stay in the community?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, on the one hand we have brought in legislation that will make it eminently possible for a number of new banks, including credit unions, to provide smaller communities with a great deal more access to banking.
We have also brought in guaranteed access to bank accounts. We have now provided a guaranteed low cost account for Canadians.
In terms of closure, as the hon. member said, we are already finding that mandatory delays on closure so that the communities and the banks can come together are bearing great fruit.
Elsie Wayne Progressive Conservative Saint John, NB
Mr. Speaker, things must not only be right, they must appear to be right. For obvious reasons I take any discussion about the frigate program very seriously, as it is dear to my heart.
When contracts are being bid on for the frigates and DND officials are leaking sensitive documents to certain companies, that is not right.
With this unacceptable practice, will the Minister of National Defence tell the House why he will not have an independent RCMP investigation into these leaks?
Art Eggleton LiberalMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, I have confidence that the provost marshal, General Samson, will get to the bottom of this matter. We will soon see from the results of the investigation what will be done in this case. We take this matter most seriously.
I do note that most of the contracts were investigated and most of the work was done during the time that the hon. member's party was in government.
Elsie Wayne Progressive Conservative Saint John, NB
Mr. Speaker, all I can say to the minister on that one is, like his shipbuilding policy today, that statement simply does not float.
Throughout the situation of leaks the Minister of National Defence has praised the frigates built in the Saint John shipyard and the Quebec shipyard, and rightfully so, he should praise them. However, the Department of National Defence and the companies involved in the frigate program have seen their reputations tarnished as a result of charges not being laid.
Why will the minister not do an independent RCMP investigation?
Art Eggleton LiberalMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, this matter is fully under investigation. As I indicated a few moments ago, we want to get to the bottom of the matter.
Regarding the allegation about the two companies getting information, neither one of them got any contracts whatsoever.
This matter is still being fully examined and will be reported on fully. Meanwhile, the investigation is still very much afloat, even though the Tories certainly sunk in their time in dealing with it.
Sue Barnes Liberal London West, ON
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Secretary of State for the Status of Woman.
We have heard reports that at the recent Beijing +5 United Nations conference on gender equality, Canada's agenda was narrow in scope and addressed only the needs of women in our country.
What did we accomplish not only for women in Canada, but for women around the world, specifically those in developing countries, the women and girls in those countries who are in extreme need in many cases?
Hedy Fry LiberalSecretary of State (Multiculturalism)(Status of Women)
Mr. Speaker, Canada took to the Beijing +5 United Nations conference an extensive list of issues that we felt would not only benefit Canada, but specifically women of the developing world; issues like how the diversity of ethnicity and race and poverty cause trafficking in women and children, cause forced marriages for girls of eight years old and cause the buying and selling of women and children in the world. We brought issues to the table like armed conflict and land mines, concerns about the fact that HIV and AIDS are decimating women and villages around the world. Those are the issues Canada brought to the conference.
Bob Mills Reform Red Deer, AB
Mr. Speaker, we seem to have a contradiction. The Minister of Health says he will spend more money on health care. The Prime Minister says that enough money has been spent on health care. Canadians on waiting lists deserve to know. Who should they believe, the Minister of Health who wants to spend more money, or the Prime Minister who says they have spent enough?
Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, Canadians know better than to listen to the Canadian Alliance when it comes to health care, the party that would walk away from the Canada Health Act and give us American style, two tier medicine.
The Prime Minister has made it quite clear that we want to reach common ground with the provinces and have a common vision for the future of health care. We will be there with more money in transfers for health care. In addition to the 25% increase in cash transfers over the last two years, we are prepared to invest more to improve the Canadian health care system to provide quality services to all Canadians.
Stéphane Bergeron Bloc Verchères, QC
Mr. Speaker, in 1997, a crown prosecutor called on the sister-in-law of a vice-president of CINAR to validate the evidence gathered against this firm by the RCMP.
Will the Minister of Justice stop hiding behind the RCMP investigation, admit that this situation is ridiculous, and order a new internal investigation into this matter so that we may learn who took such an incredible decision and, more to the point, why?
Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, information came to the attention of the crown prosecutor on June 6, 2000. That information was turned over to the RCMP immediately.
Let me reassure the hon. member that in fact I am in the process of investigating when the crown prosecutor came into possession of this information and other facts surrounding this event. Let me reassure the hon. member that anything, any information that came into the crown prosecutor's possession, was turned over to the—
Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC
Mr. Speaker, the government's declining support for post-secondary education is creating havoc for students and institutions alike. Not only are students hurting from unprecedented high debt loads, but the government's new research chairs will actually widen the gap between have and have not universities, with three universities taking up close to one-third of the program.
Will the minister acknowledge that accessibility is being seriously undermined? Will he explain why the research chairs favour a few and neglect the majority?
John Manley LiberalMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, first of all, the research chairs represent the biggest single investment in excellence in Canadian universities in generations. There are 2,000 chairs across Canada. There is not a university in this country that is not astonished at the number of chairs they have compared to what they had two years ago.
Secondly, the member mentioned declining support for post-secondary education. What does she think about? We have the Canada Foundation for Innovation. We are making the Networks of Centres of Excellence a permanent program. There are the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian research chairs program. This government and this Prime Minister have been the best at—
Diane St-Jacques Progressive Conservative Shefford, QC
Mr. Speaker, according to the UNICEF report that came out today, 47 million children in developed countries are living in poverty. Canada occupies the No. 17 position in a list of 23 industrialized nations.
The reason for Canada's low standing is that one child in five lives in poverty. Even though this government has passed various budget measures, the problem of poverty still persists.
Will the Prime Minister make up his mind to take real measures to eliminate our children's poverty now?
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, we welcome the UNICEF report. Very clearly it suggests to all governments in Canada that we have to do better by our youngest citizens.
I hope the House will recognize that the report was based on 1994 data. We hope that the work we have undertaken with the provinces, particularly in the area of the national child benefit, will provide better results in subsequent reports.
Clearly we want to continue to work with other jurisdictions in support of Canadian children. That is why last week I spent time with my counterpart focusing specifically on the issue of Canada's children and early childhood development.
Presence In The GalleryOral Question Period
The Speaker
A number of visitors are with us today. Members may receive them after I introduce each person or each group of persons. First I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in our gallery of His Excellency Borys Tarasiuk, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Presence In The GalleryOral Question Period
The Speaker
I also draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in our gallery of two of our commissioners from the Territories: Glenna Hansen, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, and Peter Irniq, Commissioner of Nunavut.