Debates of Sept. 22nd, 2000

Infrastructure

[Alex Shepherd, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Nepean—Carleton for his question. While no formal agreements have been signed as yet, I am pleased to report that the president is presently negotiating with all provincial and territorial governments and that these negotiations are on schedule, to be completed on or before the end of the year if not sooner.

I would also like to add that $2 billion levered with another $4 billion by our municipal, provincial and territorial partners will mean $6 billion will be available for municipal infrastructure priorities such as safe drinking water and waste management, which will enhance the quality of life for both rural and urban Canadians.

The Environment

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, corporate America plans to spill the equivalent of emissions from 480,000 cars per day into the Fraser Valley. That is the result of a new power generation plant going up in Sumas, Washington. This is in an area that has the third worst air quality in the nation.

If all MLAs, citizens, businesses, virtually everyone in British Columbia disagree with it, why is it that the Minister of the Environment is the only one who will not support these people?

[The Speaker]

Order, please. We make special provisions sometimes. If the hon. minister would prefer to answer the question sitting down, he may.

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, that is very kind of you and I would like to reply. I did not know that when I rise to speak I have such remarkable support outside the building. To finish the response, on May 2 of this year I responded to the proposal that was put forward by the proponent of this particular energy facility.

I point out to the member that we have consistently opposed the aspects of this plan which would increase pollution in the Fraser Valley. I urge him to join with me and with other members so that we can have a Canadian approach rather than have the Americans proposing something and him and his colleagues—

[The Speaker]

That answer is a real barn burner. I am going to get more information here. This might be a false alarm. We will wait for another couple of minutes. I am simply going to suspend the questions for a few minutes and then I will come back when I get the information.

[The Speaker]

We will suspend to the call of the Chair.

(The sitting of the House was suspended at 11.54 a.m.)

The House resumed at 12.20 p.m.

[The Speaker]

I have decided that it is a little too long after question period. If it is possible we may make some kind of adjustment next week but I do not know exactly what that will mean.

In view of the fact that it is 12.20 p.m., many of the ministers have had to leave and I do not want the member's questions to go improperly answered. We will work that out hopefully next week in some way.

Points Of Order

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I was just on my way up to the chair to give you notice that I wanted to address you specifically about the Chamber. I am not sure if it is a point of privilege or a point of order.

[The Speaker]

You said you wanted to address me specifically. I am always willing to listen to a member.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this arises out of the alarm that we just had in the House of Commons. I want to refer specifically to your behaviour in the chair when you said that maybe we could let this wait for a couple of minutes.

You and I are both school teachers. You know what to do when we have people who are personally our responsibility and we hear an alarm. You are up and out. You know that I got up and out as quickly as I could. The galleries cleared sooner than this Chamber.

This is not just a little laugh or chuckle. I am deadly serious. No, we could not smell smoke and maybe you wanted to hear the minister's answer. However, you said that we would leave it for a couple of minutes. It could have been a bomb and there could have been not just members of parliament here. There could have been people in the galleries and staff in the building. I do not think that we need to just pass this off.

I have been here many years and you longer. That was a different sound than many of the alarms than we have had. It was incumbent upon us and it was incumbent upon you to get people up and out of here as quickly as possible. You are responsible for the Chamber and, in fact, the whole place. I think it was—

[The Speaker]

I take the chastisement as one former teacher to another that I did not react as quickly as I might have. It is good that you brought it up.

We have been through this on a number of occasions and I usually wait for my Sergeant-at-Arms because we do have false alarms. We were in the middle of a question period and perhaps I wanted to hear some more questions and responses. The alarm that you heard is the same alarm that we have always had here.

I will take your advice under advisement. As one former teacher to perhaps a former student, I take advice usually in the spirit with which it is given and I thank you for your intervention.

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I know that this is kind of unconventional and I realize that today has been rather unconventional.

I have been waiting a number of days to ask a question during question period and it stopped just before my turn. I appreciate that I am out of order probably with this request, but I would like to seek unanimous consent to ask the Minister of the Environment a single question. It is an important question. It is a serious question. Could I seek unanimous consent to see if I could have that opportunity?

[The Speaker]

The hon. member has sought unanimous consent to put a question to the minister. Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker]

I make it clear that question period is over but this is a question we are permitting in extraordinary circumstances. I will hear this one question as this is all we consented to.

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I will forgo the colourful introduction and go right to the question for the Minister of the Environment.

The minister will be aware that on VIA trains from coast to coast, from Halifax to Vancouver and elsewhere, when one flushes the toilet on a VIA train it flushes directly onto the tracks. The millions of people who ride these trains literally flush their toilets on the tracks. This is a serious question and I have been asked about this by various railway unions who work on the tracks. The Minister of the Environment of course will be aware of the environmental implications.

Could he see fit, at least, to get in touch with VIA officials and ask them for their timetable for putting proper containers on-board their trains so that they are like some of the private trains which already have containers on their passenger cars?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I hope that my reply will not have the incendiary effect of my reply as in the last response.

In response to the question of the hon. member, as the hon. member may appreciate I do not have the details in front of me and I am guessing, but I believe there was some $40 million in the budget to deal with the problem that he has raised before the House.

This is a longstanding situation. We are now trying to put in effective holding tanks on all VIA trains across the country so that we can completely deal with the problem that he has raised. I cannot give him at this stage information as to how far that program has progressed, but there is a substantial amount of money put aside to deal with that very problem. I thank him for raising the issue.

Order In Council Appointments

[Derek Lee, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table, in both official languages, a number of order in council appointments made recently by the government, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 110(1). These are deemed referred to the appropriate standing committees, a list of which is attached.

Government Response To Petitions

[Derek Lee, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 46 petitions.

Petitions

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present this afternoon.

The first petition is from a number of constituents from Kamloops who point out a number of concerns they have with the Criminal Code of Canada. Their fundamental concern is to ask the Government of Canada to amend the criminal code to prevent persons convicted of serious crimes from being released from custody pending the hearing of their appeal, except in very exceptional circumstances.

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in the second petition, the petitioners are concerned about the U.S. national missile defence program. It is a $60 billion plus program that Canada has been asked to participate in.

The petitioners are calling upon parliament to declare that Canada objects to the defence program of the United States of America and ask the government to play a leadership role in banning nuclear weapons and missile flight tests.

Questions On The Order Paper

[Derek Lee, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Speaker]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.