Debates of March 14th, 2001

Immigration

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

Mr. Speaker, first, it is important for people to know that this individual is not an immigrant. There was an original permanent resident application made. His name was removed from that application by legal documentation. When he was subsequently sponsored his application did not go forward. He is not a permanent resident of Canada.

As soon as we sufficient information was given to us by the RCMP he was arrested. He is in custody and is awaiting a deportation hearing.

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

Mr. Speaker, still on the Amodeo affair, yesterday the Minister of Justice confirmed that an extradition request had been made in September 1999.

She told the House, and I quote: “The confidentiality imposed upon that communication prevents me from making the contents of those communications known publicly”. That is not what we are asking for. We do not want to know what was in the request. What we want to know is whether she informed the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

Since discussions in cabinet and between ministers are not a matter of public record, we can assume that the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration knew in September 1999 that a request for extradition had been made.

Yes or no. Did the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration know in September 1999 that a request for Mr. Amodeo's extradition had been made?

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

Mr. Speaker, let me clarify for the hon. member that CIC was informed by appropriate federal agencies when Mr. Amodeo was positively identified and located and when there was adequate evidence to commence deportation proceedings.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is rather strange. When we put a question to the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration rises, and when the question is for her the Minister of Justice rises.

Something is not right. Could the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration tell me whether or not in September 1999 she was advised by the Minister of Justice that Italy had made a request for Mr. Amodeo's extradition?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thought I was clear in my previous response but let me repeat it for the hon. member.

CIC was informed by appropriate federal agencies when Mr. Amodeo was positively identified and located by the RCMP and when there was adequate evidence to commence deportation proceedings against him.

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

Mr. Speaker, no wonder they can lose all track of Mr. Amodeo when they cannot even tell whom a question is for.

I am asking the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration when she learned that there was an extradition request. Did the Minister of Justice in fact inform her in September 1999 that there had been a request for Mr. Amodeo's extradition? My question is not for the Minister of Justice but for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. It is impossible to hear the minister, and she has the floor.

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

Mr. Speaker, let me simply reiterate that CIC was informed when the RCMP positively identified and located Mr. Amodeo. At that point the decision was made to commence deportation proceedings against Mr. Amodeo.

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

Mr. Speaker, I do not know whether there has been a cabinet shuffle, but my question was for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

I ask her again whether, in September 1999, her colleague, the Minister of Justice, informed her, as it was her responsibility and duty to do, that Italy had requested Mr. Amodeo's extradition, when this individual and his wife had already begun the procedures to immigrate to Canada? Did she know? Yes or no.

This question is for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, not the Minister of Justice. We know that she knows nothing.

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

Mr. Speaker, as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration I have responsibility for deportation. As soon as the RCMP had sufficient evidence so that we knew the whereabouts and identity of this individual, my department was notified, the individual was arrested, detained and deportation proceedings began.

Agriculture

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian farmers are suffering. They have faced cut after cut. They are facing strong, subsidized competition from the Europeans and the Americans and even the Japanese, and then there is the cost of gasoline.

Unfeeling, the government has done nothing. I hope the Prime Minister has seen the farmers' despair today. Will the Prime Minister finally wake up and stop ignoring the agriculture crisis?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food explained very clearly to the House yesterday all of the measures the government has already taken in this matter.

A few days ago, we put an additional program in place worth $500 million, which will lead to an additional contribution of 40% from the provinces. Furthermore, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Agri-Food have made available to the farmers interest free lines of credit of up to a maximum of $700 million.

I think these are very significant initiatives, since we have been aware of this problem for a long time.

I note that the opposition has not asked a question on this for weeks. It was the Liberal caucus on this side of the House that raised the problem.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, it is a good thing we have a Hansard record in the House.

The farmers of Canada are paying a big enough price for the government's neglect. It is the last straw to have the Prime Minister steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that we have a crisis, let alone allocate the appropriate resources and initiate the measures necessary to resolve the crisis. Behind the tens of thousands of farmers being driven off the land are the broken lives and the shattered dreams of real live people.

Who does the Prime Minister think he is helping by ignoring the crisis? Does he think the farmers of Canada—

[The Speaker]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, there will be $2.6 billion available this year, plus the $700 million that will be loaned to the farmers interest free. It is a big improvement over anything that was on the table some years ago. We recognize that.

I want to repeat that for five weeks there were no questions from the other side. It was the members on this side of the House of Commons who had to finally put it in front of the public.

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

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

The government has announced $750 million in new funds for the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, nearly $50 million of new subsidies for the gun registry and a farm aid program that is so inadequate it is driving thousands of Canadian farmers into bankruptcy. No Prime Minister in 50 years has treated agriculture with more contempt or less priority than the Prime Minister.

Will the Prime Minister provide at least another $400 million now to stop the Canadian farm crisis?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have been in the House of Commons for five weeks and the leader of the fifth party never asked a single question on this problem, so we know how serious he is.

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

Mr. Speaker, because that is the kind of answer we get. I understand that the Prime Minister told his caucus this morning that the polls do not show a crisis in agriculture.

How callous and how typical for the Prime Minister to use polling data from urban Canada to justify throwing farmers into bankruptcy. This is not about polls. It is about responsibility. Will the Prime Minister tell the House just why he gives such a low priority to the survival of Canadian farm families?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, for five weeks the leader of the Conservative Party did not raise one question on that. It was the caucus of the Liberal Party that went and talked to the farmers, discussed that with them and came back to us. We proposed a package of $500 million plus $700 million interest free loans so they could start the next season.

The problem was put on the table by this side of the House while the leader of the fifth party was throwing manure.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. The Chair appeals for a little order. It is very difficult to hear the questions and answers today and I do not know why. I know the hon. member for Langley—Abbotsford will assist the Chair in every respect.

Immigration

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

I can end some of the happiness over there, Mr. Speaker. The solicitor general just said that the RCMP does not arrest under a foreign warrant but a Canadian warrant.

If there were pictures taken of Amodeo meeting with a Montreal mob boss in 1999, and he was considered armed and dangerous, and he was wanted in Italy and Germany, and he was in Canada, then why would a Canadian arrest warrant not be issued?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, again I tell my hon. colleague that I do not run the internal operations of the RCMP, but I get my facts from the commissioner of the RCMP. The hon. member's statement is just simply wrong.

There were pictures taken. There were pictures sent back and forth, and some of them were wrong. I had been advised that the RCMP located and identified this individual in December of last year. Following that, he was arrested, jailed and is now awaiting deportation hearings.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that he says there will be deportation hearings because the immigration minister just said Amodeo is not an immigrant. If he is not an immigrant, why is there a deportation hearing? Maybe she could clarify that.

Under what pretence was he in Canada, meeting in Canada, meeting with a mob boss and considered armed and dangerous? Pictures were taken. Is he here on a visitor's visa? Let us hear the immigration minister once again convince us that he should not have been arrested in—