Debates of Jan. 31st, 2001

Immigration

[Elinor Caplan, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to let people know exactly what happened. An envelope was received in my office. It was opened. There was a substance inside. The substance was tested. As soon as it was determined it contained bacteria, it was immediately sent to a lab for testing. Because of our concern for the employees who work for us the building was closed.

[Deborah Grey, Canadian Alliance, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that there should be some mechanism in place before people open general mail. There are reports that this could potentially be anthrax. That moves it into a completely—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. The hon. member for Edmonton North has the floor.

[Deborah Grey, Canadian Alliance, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to believe there is so much noise on the floor of the House of Commons when lives are potentially in danger.

The report has come out that the substance may possibly be anthrax. What is the immigration minister able to do and what will she do to make sure that she is in control of her department and in control of this crisis that is ongoing now?

[Elinor Caplan, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, the first thing I will do is tell the member opposite that it is irresponsible to speculate on what the substance might be. The scientists are making that decision.

The second thing I will tell her is that the employees who came into contact with the substance were immediately examined by physicians and given, as a precaution, antibiotics to ensure that their health and safety was our number one priority.

I support the decision of the senior management of my department to close the building until we have the answers to all the questions. I also want her to know that the issues have been referred to the appropriate authorities, the RCMP and the scientists, and everything that should be done is being done.

Speech From The Throne

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's throne speech made repeated references to what the Prime Minister calls “the Canadian way”, which is just an excuse for increased interference in the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces.

In fact, the main innovation in the throne speech was to ignore federal jurisdiction or introduce a series of initiatives that ride roughshod over the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces.

I therefore ask the Prime Minister if he can explain to us why the only area in which he really shows any imagination is that of interfering in jurisdictions that do not concern him.

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, in the throne speech we alluded more than once to the fact that we had agreements with the provinces in all these areas.

We have signed a number of agreements, regarding children in particular. We have been working together with the provinces for several years now and we are continuing to do so because we believe that, if Canada is to be successful, all levels of government must be involved in any programs introduced.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, speaking of agreements, there was one on health last September. Let us remember that it came about after the federal government cut off health funding. The provinces were left holding the bag because they had to provide the services. This has been a great hardship to the provinces.

Would it not be more correct to say that the real innovation in the throne speech was to give back to Quebec and the provinces money that was rightly theirs for health services, at the 1994 funding levels?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, when the country was bankrupt because of the bad administration prior to the arrival of the Liberal government, all governments, including the federal government, had to reduce expenditures.

Now that we have balanced the budget, interest rates are much lower and the unemployment rate has dropped considerably. As a matter of fact, on September 11, Mr. Bouchard congratulated me on my patience and objectivity.

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, for years, the provinces, and Quebec in particular, have had problems with health service funding. The reason for this is simple: the needs are in Quebec, while the money is in Ottawa. Instead of dealing with this problem in the throne speech, the Prime Minister has again trotted out his obsession with the “citizens' council”.

Aware as he is that the present level of federal funding of health systems has dropped from 20% to 14%, can the Prime Minister not, instead of hanging on to this pointless concept, assume his responsibilities and raise the transfer payments to their 1994 level, as all provincial premiers are demanding?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has said, several months ago Quebec signed an agreement, along with all the other provinces, concerning not just health care funding but health care system reform.

We have considerably increased transfer payments to the provinces for health and we have reached an agreement on the priorities for reform and improvements to our health care system.

We are therefore working together, the federal government, Quebec and all the other provinces, on this public priority.

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

Mr. Speaker, at the time this agreement with the premiers was reached, his idea of the “citizens' council” was rejected.

Can the Prime Minister explain to us why he insists on imposing this fancy of his, which will in no way improve health care and services, whereas considerable progress would be made if he were to increase transfer payments?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign, we promised to work toward setting up such a council in order to get Canadians more directly involved in the process of health care reform. It is clear, however, that we are going to proceed by consulting our provincial partners, and I intend to raise this matter with my counterparts at the appropriate time.

Trade

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.

Five hundred of the world's corporate representatives have security clearance and access to the free trade area of the Americas' negotiating documents, yet what is in those documents is not being shared with Canadians.

With so much at stake and with so many legitimate concerns about inadequate protection for agriculture, for the environment, for health and education and for Canadian culture, why is the government supporting such a closed process?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I will take note of the hon. member's question because no one has informed me that there is any problem in the development of this conference.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the government's throne speech yesterday was loaded with being more open with Canadians but anyone who is not a government insider or one of the members of the corporate elite is completely shut out of the FTAA process.

The throne speech completely failed to acknowledge let alone address legitimate concerns being raised about the government's approach to globalization. Why are Canadians with legitimate concerns about this latest free trade deal being forced to the barricades?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I am so very proud that Canada was the first country of the 34 to put its position on the Internet. We cannot be more transparent than that. The Canadian position is right there on the Internet.

As for the negotiating documents, obviously there are 34 parties to it. It is not up to Canada to share it if other countries do not want to share it. Canada would support sharing it at this stage. However our partners do not wish that. We will respect them. The Canadian position is right there on the Net, and we are the first country to do it.

Ethics Counsellor

[Joe Clark, Progressive Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, my question to the Prime Minister is simple and it allows a yes or no answer. Will the Prime Minister fulfil his 1993 red book promise?

The Ethics Counsellor will be appointed after consultation with the leaders of all parties in the House of Commons and will report directly to parliament.

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, when I named this person I consulted the leader of the Reform and the leader of the Bloc at that time. They both agreed that Mr. Wilson was the person with the qualities to do that job.

[Joe Clark, Progressive Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that is a promise broken.

I have another question for the Prime Minister. In his various conversations with the president of the Business Development Bank was there any reference, direct or indirect, to the Grand-Mère Golf Club located next to the Auberge Grand-Mère, a golf club in which the Prime Minister had held shares?

[Brian Tobin, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question. It gives me an opportunity to point out that this matter has been looked at by the ethics counsellor several times. Clear answers have been given with respect to the notion of any conflict of interest.

As recently as today, the ethics counsellor, in a letter addressed to the Leader of the Opposition, reiterated his position at least three or four times in the text of another letter. Let me read the last sentence of the letter:

Therefore it has been my position that the Prime Minister had no financial links with either the golf course or the Auberge.

Canadian Economy

[Joe Peschisolido, Canadian Alliance, Richmond, BC]

Mr. Speaker, clearly an economic storm is heading toward Canada, but the government is not moving.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. Will he be presenting a budget before April 1 this year?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that the slowdown in the American economy has implications for Canada's economy.

Most economists in Canada and elsewhere outside the country believe that October's economic statement was the right tonic for the Canadian economy and is working.

That said, we are continuing to follow the situation and, if we must take other measures, we will.

[Joe Peschisolido, Canadian Alliance, Richmond, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this government is ignoring what is happening in the States. The Canadian economy is becoming more or less competitive compared with the States.

I would like to know whether the Minister of Finance will really cut taxes in order to address this new economic reality? This is no longer October 2000.