Debates of Oct. 22nd, 2001

Bill C-36

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Justice who has said repeatedly that she wants to listen to the advice and recommendations of the committee but she knows that the committee will not be giving advice or making recommendations. The committee will either be amending the legislation, Bill C-36, or not.

Is the minister prepared to say in the House that she will accept amendments coming from the committee that have to do with sunsetting certain controversial clauses of the bill? That is what the House and the committee needs to know.

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the committee has a number of options available to it, one of which is to propose amendments to the House in relation to the legislation. The other option is that it can provide advice and recommendations to the government and the government can propose amendments to the legislation.

I have tried to be very open with the House committee and again this morning with the Senate committee. I look forward to hearing the views and advice of both committees. If the hon. member has amendments to propose and if we think they improve the legislation we will certainly consider them very seriously.

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, we may have amendments to propose but I think government backbenchers on the committee need to know that the government is truly open to amending the legislation. The Prime Minister's remarks did not exactly help in that respect.

Is the Prime Minister still open to the legislation being amended, having certain clauses sunsetted if that is the will of the committee? The House needs to know that otherwise the committee process will be a sham.

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I think the Prime Minister and I have both been clear that we believe the three year review mechanism is the appropriate one. However I believe we have both been equally clear that we are open to advice and recommendations from either the House or the Senate committees. If the House committee chooses to make recommendations in relation to amendments, we as the government will consider those and we will consider them with an open mind.

I hope our goal is the same, which is to have the most effective and yet the fairest anti-terrorism legislation possible.

Health

[Bill Casey, Progressive Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health just said twice that there are different versions of what happened with regard to the Cipro issue. What are those versions and which one does he believe?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I believe the true version and I want the member to know that only one version is true.

I also want the member to know that we are doing everything we can to resolve the disputes that are in place at the moment. I also want to assure the House that despite the back and forth, our bottom line is health security. We are keeping our eyes on our responsibility and we will meet our responsibility.

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

Mr. Speaker, this is no laughing matter. It is a serious issue. The minister will just have to swallow the pill on this one. It has gone on and on.

With all the differing versions we want the truth. Who is making the pill right now in case we need it and who will pay for it?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we will have sufficient pills to protect Canadians. We will stockpile the pills that we think are necessary and we will do that in a responsible fashion.

I do not want the House to think for a moment that we are going to lose sight of our most important responsibility. I announced last week that we will be stockpiling medications and that is exactly what we will do so that Canadians have what they need when they need it.

Immigration

[Leon Benoit, Canadian Alliance, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we know that more than 70% of refugee claimants who are not accepted by the government never leave our country. The British government has recently pledged to remove more than 24,000 illegal immigrants.

When will the minister of immigration announce her intention to remove people who are in this country illegally?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have asked the member opposite to table any evidence that he has to support the premise of his question. He is absolutely wrong.

Canada's number one priority is the removal of anyone who poses any kind of criminal threat to Canada's security. Our second priority is the removal of failed refugee claimants. Our third priority is the removal of others without status.

I challenge the member to table the evidence that is in the preamble to his question.

[Leon Benoit, Canadian Alliance, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister ought to read the performance reviews that come from her own department. That is where those figures in fact came from.

Just last week a man who has been facing deportation since 1997 escaped from government custody. Since 1996 Askan Forsat, who remains at large, compiled a lengthy and violent criminal record while he was a guest in Canada at taxpayer expense.

Why will the minister not make public safety her top priority?

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

Mr. Speaker, public safety is the number one priority of my department. I point out to the member opposite that in the last five years we have removed 45,000 people. Last year alone 8,636 individuals were removed, 1,700 of whom were criminally inadmissible, and the rest were either failed refugee claimants or those without status.

Humanitarian Assistance

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the UN secretary general personally issued an urgent appeal to member states on September 27.

The UN and its agencies need over $900 million Canadian to help approximately seven million Afghans who are relying on international assistance for their survival. As of Friday, the UN still had only received 11% of that amount.

If the government truly wants to exercise the leadership that it can, should it not focus its efforts on humanitarian assistance and truly support the work of the UN in that regard?

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her question.

First, when the United Nations said that they would need so many hundreds of millions of dollars to help Afghan refugees, that was assuming a worst case scenario, that was if all Afghans were to leave their country.

Under the existing circumstances, Canada has so far given $16 million in humanitarian assistance for Afghan refugees. Canada has always been there for Afghans. We have given $150 million over the past ten—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Mercier.

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that out of 22 countries that provide humanitarian assistance, based on relative wealth, Canada ranked 18th in the year 2000.

Quebecers and Canadians are disturbed by the bombings, because they see the impact on civilian populations.

When will Canada make a meaningful contribution?

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, Canada and Canadians are concerned by this issue.

Over the past 10 years, Canada has contributed $150 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghan refugees and their country.

As for what is now being done for Afghans and refugees, not only did Canada give $16 million, but that money has already been allocated, which is not necessarily the case with other countries that promised money, but that have yet to come up with it. As for Canada, it has delivered—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Calgary West.

G-8 Summit

[Rob Anders, Canadian Alliance, Calgary West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in a short nine months Kananaskis, Alberta will be host to the G-8 summit. To date the Alberta government has received no formal commitment of financial support from the federal government. Quite obviously, given recent world events, heightened and costly security measures are needed now more than ever.

When will the government quit ignoring Alberta's demands and put funding commitments for the Kananaskis G-8 summit in writing?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the Calgary police service and the RCMP have established a joint operation to assure the security of the G-8 summit. Discussions on reimbursement to Alberta and Calgary are under way.

[Rob Anders, Canadian Alliance, Calgary West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister obviously does not know what the Calgary police service is doing.

The G-8 summit in Italy cost $225 million. The Quebec summit of the Americas cost $100 million. Amazingly, Quebec is still trying to recover money from the government's broken funding promises.

I would like to know what guarantees the government is prepared to make so the people of Calgary, Canmore and Alberta will not be left holding the bag like Quebecers were.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure my hon. colleague that the Government of Canada will stand up to its commitments. I can also assure my hon. colleague that discussions are under way with the Alberta government and the city of Calgary on reimbursement. A joint service has been established between the police service in Calgary and the RCMP to make sure we have the proper service and security in place.

Trade

[Mac Harb, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last year the Minister for International Trade along with his counterpart from Singapore announced that they were going to look into the possibility of free trade between Canada and Singapore. Could the parliamentary secretary tell the House what happened to those discussions and where we are at this point in time on this issue?

[Pat O'Brien, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, at APEC this past weekend in Shanghai, Singapore's Prime Minister Goh and the Prime Minister of Canada announced the intention of our two countries to begin negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement. Such an agreement would be the latest in a series of ongoing bilateral agreements that Canada has successfully negotiated. It would give us market access via Singapore to a very important region of the world. We look forward to an early conclusion to these negotiations.

Anti-terrorism Legislation

[Scott Reid, Canadian Alliance, Lanark—Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last Thursday the justice minister said that the government would be open to any suggestions that might improve the new anti-terrorism bill. In particular, she left the door open to a sunset clause which could limit some of the more controversial aspects of the bill. Yesterday however, the Prime Minister said that he rejects the idea of a sunset clause. This not only contradicts his own justice minister, but it has also shanghaied the work of the justice committee.

Why does the Prime Minister refuse to allow the committee system to do its work on the most important bill that will be placed before this parliament?