Debates of Nov. 2nd, 2001

National Security

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely true that current Canadian law does not allow us to do that unless a specific police investigation is involved.

Therefore that is why the government, in the aftermath of September 11, is looking at new technologies to improve the situation and at legislative changes.

Softwood Lumber

[Marcel Gagnon, Bloc, Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for International Trade needlessly provoked British Columbians affected by the lumber crisis with his false and misguided statement when he called them nervous nellies.

In addition to apologizing earlier, will the parliamentary secretary respond favourably to the request made by the whole industry for a summit meeting to discuss Canada's position on this issue?

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

Mr. Speaker, let me say for the third time that I regret the use of the descriptive phrase by the hon. member, but that does not change the reality that the government is highly engaged on this file.

We filed at the WTO on October 25 to pursue our legal option. We are in a series of negotiations or discussions between Canadian officials and American officials involving the provinces and stakeholders from all parts of the country. We are in daily contact with the provinces and industry officials. There could not be a wider consultation taking place.

[Marcel Gagnon, Bloc, Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, discussions are not enough.

How can the minister tell all the stakeholders that this is not the time to hold such a summit meeting, considering that on November 12 he will act as their spokesman before the U.S. secretary of commerce?

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

Mr. Speaker, I do not know from where the hon. member is getting his facts, but there are very few people in the industry calling for anything more than what is taking place right now: daily consultation and a very aggressive two track approach.

Next week the Minister for International Trade will meet with the new representative Racicot and again press this issue very aggressively. The Prime Minister of Canada has repeatedly raised this issue with President Bush as recently as one week ago at APEC. That is strong, aggressive intervention by this government.

Rcmp

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in direct contradiction to RCMP Commissioner Zaccardelli's testimony to the justice committee, RCMP Sergeant Mike Niebeduk said yesterday that the redeployment of 2,000 RCMP officers was affecting important investigations and as a result public safety would be compromised.

Will the solicitor general immediately commit to providing the necessary funding for the hiring and training of new RCMP officers?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague is well aware that we have just put $100 million into this area and $2 billion including and since the last budget.

We also have a cabinet committee in place evaluating what needs to be done. As the Prime Minister has indicated quite clearly, what needs to be done will be done.

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, they have to listen to their employees. A senior RCMP officer told me this morning that the $90 million promised by the government for the RCMP means three or four new officers for British Columbia. This hardly makes up for the longstanding deficiency in staffing or for the loss of officers to this special project.

Will the minister make a serious commitment to the RCMP and Canadians to make sure that we have proper law enforcement?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I think $2 billion is a reasonably strong commitment to the security of this nation. I also get my information from the commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who has indicated to me that it has the funds to fulfill its mandate.

Publishing Industry

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Beauport—Montmorency—Côte-De- Beaupré—Île-D'Orléans, QC]

Mr. Speaker, for the past few months, some small magazine publishers have been confronted with a terrible alternative: either accept to disclose to Heritage Canada confidential information on their subscribers, or do without subsidies to cover part of their mailing costs.

In order to spare publishers a long process before the information and privacy commissioner, will the Minister of Canadian Heritage take quick action to correct the situation, as she is entitled to do under the act?

[Sarmite Bulte, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, in order to demonstrate that public funds are allocated in a transparent manner, the Department of Canadian Heritage relies on third party evaluations of publishers' circulation numbers so that when a publisher indeed can in fact establish that it has 15,000 subscribers it qualifies for the program.

I do not understand. People are always asking us about accountability. What better accountability can we find than the audit we have proposed here?

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Beauport—Montmorency—Côte-De- Beaupré—Île-D'Orléans, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what justification can there be for the minister to accept that the name, street address, credit card number and date of expiry be disclosed to make the publisher eligible for a subsidy, when she knows full well that this is totally illegal?

[Sarmite Bulte, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, again I do not quite understand the hon. member's question. He alleges that all these names and addresses are required. I would put him to strict proof thereof.

Quite frankly the publishers can actually select from a wide range of audit services to be able to comply with PAP.

Terrorism

[Randy White, Canadian Alliance, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Samir Mohamed is a terrorist. He failed a refugee claim in 1997. That was four years ago. Last month he was given yet another hearing while he was being held for direct links with terrorist activities in the United States.

What in the blue blazes is wrong with those people over there? Why is this guy still in Canada?

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

Mr. Speaker, I know the member opposite would want to congratulate his leader who has realized that refugee claimants, even failed refugee claimants, even failed refugee claimants who came undocumented, have faces, are real people. These cases are often the kinds of cases that members of parliament make representations on.

If the member for Langley--Abbotsford wants to give me notice of any particular case, I would be happy to give him as much information as the privacy legislation permits me to do.

[Randy White, Canadian Alliance, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I will not give her any notice at all. This has been noticed all over the United States. This fellow is in detention in British Columbia right now.

I want to know from the minister why he is still in Canada after failing deportation hearings once, twice, three times.

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

Mr. Speaker, people who pose a security risk to Canada are held in detention. I am pleased the member opposite noticed that we detain whenever we have a security concern. We detain right up until the time we are able to deport, which is at the end of due process.

It is my goal to deport those who pose any security risk to Canada as quickly as possible. Everyone on this side of the House wants them out of here as quickly as possible.

Prebudget Consultations

[John Harvard, Liberal, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance. He spent most of yesterday listening intently to members in the take note debate on the upcoming budget.

Would the parliamentary secretary take a few moments to tell the House what he learned from yesterday's debate?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for that excellent question. I spent the whole day in the House yesterday and I thank members for many excellent suggestions.

On the whole we had from the left the tax and spend from the NDP I have mentioned before. On the right from the fifth party we had a blank slate and not one suggestion in concrete terms, suggesting it has no ideas for the budget. From the Reform Alliance a few suggestions were useful, but on the whole it was more slash and burn.

Acoa

[Wendy Lill, NDP, Dartmouth, NS]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of State for Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. Mayor Peter Kelly of Halifax wrote to the Prime Minister yesterday asking for one-third federal support for the Halifax harbour cleanup, an essential and long overdue environmental and waste cleanup project.

The project has been in the planning stages for decades and the mayor has been waiting for two years for a real federal commitment. Will the federal government be coming up with at least one-third of the $260 million required so that we can halt the dumping of raw sewage into our beautiful harbour?

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency)]

Mr. Speaker, prior to the government coming into power there were no federal expenditures in infrastructure at all. Since 1993 we have had a third major infrastructure program.

Unfortunately the amounts are higher than the city of Halifax requires, but it is in discussion with us, with the federal government, with the Treasury Board Secretariat and with the Minister of Environment. The Prime Minister has a task force on urban issues and we look forward to the report.

[Wendy Lill, NDP, Dartmouth, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the minister of state has actually mentioned that the project is far too big to fit into the tiny federal infrastructure project.

The federal share in the Halifax cleanup alone is about $90 million. The total commitment for infrastructure under the program across Nova Scotia for next year is less than $20.

How will the federal government be able to pay for the project? At this point in time we need $90 million. Where will it come from and when will it happen?

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency)]

Mr. Speaker, I resent the characterization of our investment in infrastructure as tiny. This very day we will be making announcements in New Brunswick for $20 million which will be expended over the fall, winter and summer periods.

Across Atlantic Canada there will be hundreds of millions in round one alone, creating many jobs. As I said, the question of Halifax will be discussed in the context of all other issues for large urban centres.

Softwood Lumber

[Jay Hill, Canadian Alliance, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, today Canada's $10 billion softwood lumber industry faces duties of more than 30%. Tens of thousands of Canadian jobs are now at risk in addition to the thousands of workers already sitting idle.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for International Trade regrets his quote of a few nervous nellies in one part of the country, but in B.C. alone 15,000 people are out of work because of his government's inaction and not one of them is nervous, just damn mad.

Will the Prime Minister immediately go to Washington and refuse to leave until the issue is settled?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is absolute nonsense to say that the government has been inactive about this very serious situation.

There was a conscious decision by all involved to let the softwood lumber agreement expire in order to pursue a durable solution. There was a conscious decision to proceed on a two track policy of legal options at the WTO and engage the American officials to find the root causes of this, to find a long term, durable solution and not another band-aid solution that will put us back in this straitjacket five years from now.