House of Commons Hansard #123 of the 36th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was firearms.
The Speaker
As is our practice on Wednesday, we will now sing O Canada, and we will be led by the Leader of the Official Opposition.
Sarmite Bulte Liberal Parkdale—High Park, ON
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to draw attention to the 25th birthday of the Toronto International Film Festival, which has just ended.
Canada has a long-standing tradition of celebrating homegrown and international talents in filmmaking in all parts of this country. In Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and Vancouver, in cities across the country, our film festivals not only celebrate cinema, but bring the ides of the world to Canada and bring international audiences to Canadian films.
Founded in 1976, the Toronto International Film Festival has since become one of the most important film events in the world, featuring 329 films from 56 countries this year. It is also the largest showcase for Canadian films with 25 features and 40 shorts this year.
I would like to salute those who have made the festival the success that it is, the organizers, the artists and creators without whom there could be no festivals and the knowledgeable and enthusiastic audiences.
Please join me in wishing a happy 25th birthday to the Toronto International Film Festival.
Lee Morrison Reform Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Mr. Speaker, my son has join the exodus of young professionals from Canada. A 40% increase in salary and a 30% decrease in income tax proved irresistible to him. I cannot fault him for his actions.
He would have liked to have maintained some ties here but if he does not sell his house and even close his bank account the Canadian tax collectors will regard him as legitimate prey no matter where he goes.
What the Prime Minister said, more or less, was “There is no place here for smart people with ambition. Go elsewhere. You are not welcome here”. The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency adds “And don't come back.”
Gurbax Malhi Liberal Bramalea—Gore—Malton, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am overjoyed to report that business activity continues to boom in my riding. There are lots of good news business stories in Brampton and Mississauga.
For instance, Royal Laser Tech Corporation recently completed construction of a 136,000 square foot building at Airport Road and Williams Parkway. It has invested $20 million in the building and its equipment. The project currently employs between 50 and 60 people and that number is expected to rise up to 200 within the next year.
All this economic activity is due to the continued strength of the Canadian economy. It has created hundreds of high paying jobs for workers living in my riding of Bramalea—Gore—Malton—Springdale and helps explain our very low unemployment rate.
Paul Steckle Liberal Huron—Bruce, ON
Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I advise you that Huron—Bruce is now home to the new Canadian Underwater Hockey Champions. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, you heard me correctly, “underwater hockey”. After producing so many individuals that dominated the game on the ice, Huron—Bruce is branching out to claim supremacy under the water.
From September 8 to 10, 12 players and 3 coaches from the Kincardine Poolsharks travelled to Quebec City to compete in the Canadian under 19 underwater hockey championships. After the 10 game round robin and best of three finals had concluded, this Kincardine team was left undefeated in all three medal games.
I would like to congratulate head coach Terry Brown and team captain Kyle Schilroth, along with all of the Poolsharks' coaches and players. Once again Huron—Bruce managed to score the winning goal.
Ted McWhinney Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Mr. Speaker, British Columbia's Steve Nash has led the Canadian basketball team to the top of their section heading into the quarter-finals at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. In their last game, Canada upset the defending world champions, Yugoslavia, 83 to 75. Nash once again was the catalyst in that game, scoring 26 points with 8 rebounds and 8 assists.
We congratulate Canada's Olympic basketball team on their inspired performance at the Sydney Olympics as they approach a first Olympic medal in basketball since the 1936 Berlin Olympics where we won the silver medal.
Derek Lee Liberal Scarborough—Rouge River, ON
Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure and pride to I stand here today to celebrate that Canada has won another gold medal at the Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Sebastien Lareau of Boucherville, Quebec and Daniel Nestor of Toronto, Ontario, have performed the deed. They have become our dragon slayers by defeating the Australian doubles Woodbridge and Woodforde, the woodies.
This team of dedicated athletes who came together this year to represent Canada at the Olympic games defeated the Australians in very hard fought matches. Both are accomplished tennis players. Daniel Nestor reached the finals at the world doubles championships in 1998. Sebastien Lareau won the 1999 world doubles championship, a gold at the Pan-Am games in 1999 and the U.S. Open last year. After losing to this same pair of Australians earlier this year at Wimbledon, they felt they had a score to settle, and settle it they did.
I am sure members will join with me in congratulating these fine gentlemen for this great victory and thank them for the honour this gold medal brings to Canada.
Inky Mark Reform Dauphin—Swan River, MB
Mr. Speaker, today's news confirms that our record high population is due to immigration.
Six years ago the government voted down one of the Canadian Alliance's motions to test all immigrants for HIV. The government has now had a change of heart. Ironically the number of physicians needed to check for infectious disease has been reduced over the last five years from 44 to 22. The auditor general has been hounding the department for the past 10 years.
How can the minister even assure Canadians that her testing plan will achieve results given the workload departmental physicians currently face? Six years after our motion the government has finally realized that Canadian health and safety must be a priority of immigration policy.
The last time medical standards were looked at was in 1978. Protecting the health of Canadians would be the first priority of a Canadian Alliance government.
Stéphane Bergeron Bloc Verchères, QC
Mr. Speaker, once again, a young Quebecer of great promise has made a name for himself at the Sydney Olympics.
Last night, while the rest of us were comfortably asleep in our beds, a young man from Boucherville was sweating mightily as he realized a dream, and a source of pride for the rest of us at the same time.
Sébastien Lareau and his partner from Ontario, Daniel Nestor, have just gone down in history. With their win in men's tennis doubles, they have earned Canada's first Olympic medal in that sport.
They did so with considerable panache, as they were victorious in the finals over the reigning champions, the number one in doubles in the world, and Australians to boot, Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, dubbed “the Woodies”.
This is not the first major victory for Sébastien. About a year ago, he won the U.S. Open. After many years of hard work, today he is seeing the results. He is proud of the community he comes from, and it is equally proud of him.
Congratulations and thank you, Sébastien, for this great Olympic first and for all the other successes yet to come.
Irwin Cotler Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to 55 survivors of the Holocaust who are here on Parliament Hill today, survivors of the worst genocide of the 20th century, and who alone understand that the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust are too terrible to be believed but not too terrible to have happened.
I say to the survivors, and to those whom they represent here today, “you are the true heroes of humanity. You have not only witnessed and endured the worst of man's inhumanity to man, but you somehow found in the wellsprings of your own humanity the courage to go on, to rebuild your lives as you helped build your communities here in Canada. You taught us the evils of racism and bigotry, and the dangers of silence in the face of evil; of the importance of remembrance and the remembrance to act; of the reminder that every human being is a universe, and whoever saves a single person it is as if they saved an entire universe”.
I ask all members to join me in this tribute to these heroes of humanity, and to remember and act upon the injunction of “Never Again”.
Diane Ablonczy Reform Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Mr. Speaker, the evidence keeps building that an election must be coming soon. The Liberals have suddenly decided to reverse themselves on EI changes after years of ignoring concerns from Atlantic Canada.
One change is to restore full EI payments to seasonal workers who make about $50,000 a year and above. The Liberals have yet to explain why more money should not instead go to seasonal workers at the lowest end of the income scale.
The Canadian Alliance is committed to a strong employment insurance program. Members of the PC Party and the NDP choose to deliberately misrepresent the issue for political purposes rather than join the fight for their most needy constituents.
I urge the government and all members of the House to focus on constructive debate on policy issues that matter to Canadians even with election fever raging.
Raymonde Folco Liberal Laval West, QC
Mr. Speaker, on September 27, 1945, the concentration camps in Poland and elsewhere in Europe were liberated, and the world discovered the full horror of the Nazi holocaust.
Today, the 55th anniversary, the Government of Canada and national Jewish organizations are commemorating the event and honouring 55 holocaust survivors. The ceremony will commemorate the six million men and women and half a million children who did not survive these terrible events.
We also remember the thousands of survivors, many of whom emigrated to Canada and made such a contribution to our country's economic, social and cultural growth.
I therefore invite my colleagues in this House to remember these events and to pay tribute to the survivors and descendants of these victims of the holocaust.
Bill Blaikie NDP Winnipeg—Transcona, MB
Mr. Speaker, from Seattle to Washington to Windsor to Melbourne and now to Prague the movement against the current model of globalization continues to grow.
Instead of trade deals that limit the power of governments to serve their people, the protesters want a completely new approach to globalization. They want agreements with binding and enforceable standards to protect core labour standards, human rights, the integrity of the environment and cultural diversity. They want debt relief so that the poorest nations of the world can even contemplate helping their citizens to survive. Most of all, they want meaningful democracy. They want their elections to matter. They want their policies to be made by elected representatives and not unelected trade tribunals.
As long as governments, negotiators and, in this country, the Liberals refuse to listen to their citizens and rethink the current approach to globalization, the protests will continue.
Serge Cardin Bloc Sherbrooke, QC
Mr. Speaker, what a surprise this morning for the people of Compton—Stanstead to learn in Info-Vision that their Conservative elected member now Liberal defector is still considering matters.
Has he already forgotten that his new leader in Ottawa said a few weeks ago that his time for reflection was past and that he was now very definitely a Liberal?
In the same breath, he says he has frequently disagreed with Liberal policy but thinks that the Prime Minister's approach has changed in the areas of finance and health. He said “If the financial situation in Canada has greatly improved, it is thanks to the work of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney”. He is sorry to see that the public is showing so little enthusiasm for the Conservative leader, who will no doubt be glad to hear that.
The people of Compton—Stanstead will not be taken in by a member who deceived them and who changes tack with the slightest breeze. They will vote for Gaston Leroux, the Bloc Quebecois candidate, an honest, reliable and coherent member.
Rick Borotsik Progressive Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Mr. Speaker, rumours of a fall election call this past Sunday did not come to fruition but the fall is not yet over.
Here are the top 10 reasons why the Prime Minister could call a fall election: Tenth, it is too cold to golf; ninth, his wife said he could; eighth, it is not the first time the Liberals have called an election during a crisis—remember the 1997 Manitoba flood; seventh, the Liberal nervous Nellies have to be shown who really is the boss; sixth, only one word for this number, surplus, so much money, so little time to spend, spend, spend; fifth, three years with this Prime Minister just seems like a long time; fourth, it falls nicely between water ski and downhill ski season; third, the Liberals got away with broken promises the last two times, three times are a charm; second, plain and simple, the Minister of Finance; and first, the reason why the Prime Minister could call an election this fall is that there are no new ideas.
Jocelyne Girard-Bujold Bloc Jonquière, QC
Mr. Speaker, the federal government will be holding consultations to determine whether or not Canada should adopt the biosafety protocol, an international treaty which will define the rules for the exchange of genetically modified organisms.
Canada opposed the adoption of this protocol at a meeting of environment ministers held in Cartagena, Colombia, in 1999. In his last annual report, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development mentioned that Canada's position showed more concern with trade than with the environment.
Seventy-five countries have now signed this protocol, but in several respects Canada's position remains contradictory. Protection of biodiversity, human health and the environment should be a priority of this government.
I therefore urge the Minister of the Environment to show some leadership and take action to ensure that Canada signs the biosafety protocol as soon as possible.
Stockwell Day Canadian AllianceLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, we have just learned through access to information that on May 4 our Canadian high commissioner in Sri Lanka sent a classified message to Ottawa warning that a minister of the crown was about to attend a dinner for a Tamil terrorist front organization.
The commissioner wrote “In view of the timing and sponsorship, consideration must be given to the perception of attendance of a minister of the Canadian government”. Why did the finance minister ignore this warning and attend the meeting anyway?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, this was a meeting of Tamils who had gathered together to celebrate the Tamil new year.
These are Canadian citizens who were gathered to celebrate their feast. I am pleased that I attended a meeting of Canadian Tamils celebrating their feast.
Stockwell Day Canadian AllianceLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, CSIS clearly lists the Tamil tigers as one of the many groups with terrorist links that are active in Canada. The United States state department lists FACT, which was the sponsor of the dinner that the minister attended, as a front organization for the Tamil tigers.
These facts were included in the warning that was sent from our officials. Yet both the Minister for International Cooperation and the Minister of Finance have claimed that FACT is an innocent cultural organization. Why did two ministers of the crown ignore the warnings of our own Canadian diplomats?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, this was not a meeting of Tamil tigers. This was a meeting of Tamil Canadians.
At the particular meeting a young woman stood up who had recently graduated from high school and talked about what she wanted to do in Canada, what she was going to do in university, how she wanted to be a success, how important Canada was to her, and how this was her country.
She said that she could not believe that people would condemn her because of her Tamil race, because of something that was happening somewhere else. It is too bad that the Leader of the Opposition does not see that.
Stockwell Day Canadian AllianceLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, the high commissioner in Sri Lanka expressed concern about the possible security threat that the minister's attendance would have on Canadian mission staff and their families.
Foreign Affairs recognized the threat. They wrote back saying “Thank you for keeping us up to date on the threats on personal security of Canadian mission staff and dependants”. They should not try and hide behind these threats that we are just zeroing in on a certain individual. We applaud this young woman who spoke but we do not applaud the denial that the finance minister is making. Why does the Prime Minister allow these—
Jean Chrétien LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, there was a celebration of Canadian citizens. There were representatives of the federal government and provincial governments present. There were editors of newspapers present.
When people come to Canada from anywhere else in the world we want them to be equal. What the Leader of the Opposition is saying tells us a lot about his thinking—
Jason Kenney Reform Calgary Southeast, AB
Mr. Speaker, it is CSIS, our security force, not the official opposition, which has said that the Federal Association of Canadian Tamils, FACT, has connections to the Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam.
I am holding in my hand an e-mail from the high commission in Sri Lanka dated May 26, indicating that after the finance minister had this dinner there was a front page picture in the Sri Lanka newspaper saying “Canadian finance minister at the Tamil tiger fundraiser held by the Federal Association of Canadian Tamils”.
Despite warnings from our own officials, why did the finance minister allow our officials to be put in danger—