Debates of March 15th, 2001

Lumber Industry

[Dave Chatters, Canadian Alliance, Athabasca, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House the Prime Minister suggested that the government would use President Bush's desire for a continental energy policy as leverage in the softwood lumber agreement negotiations.

Both the trade minister and the natural resources minister have stated previously that the government would not use Canada's energy resources as a bargaining chip. If there is one thing investors hate it is uncertainty.

I have a question for the Prime Minister. Will his government use access to the energy resources as leverage in Canada's softwood lumber agreement?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we only said to the Americans that we were for a free trade agreement with them and to respect the free trade agreement between the two countries in energy and in softwood lumber. We want to have a free trade agreement that applies to both sectors.

[Dave Chatters, Canadian Alliance, Athabasca, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it may have been a problem with my hearing but Peter O'Neil in the Ottawa Citizen heard the same as I did, that the Prime Minister suggested there were would be a linkage.

Who is speaking for the government? Is it the trade minister? Is it the natural resources minister? Is it the Prime Minister? Will they use Canada's energy resources as a linkage?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister speaks for the government and he says exactly the same thing as his ministers.

Ethics Counsellor

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has suggested we look at the evidence given by the ethics counsellor. So I read it, and he said that, in May 1999:

The course the Prime Minister did take was to have negotiations. They are very well advanced, I understand. They have been very well advanced for some time. I keep saying that my understanding is that there will be an imminent closure to this.

How can the Prime Minister say that the ethics counsellor cleared him, when he simply confirmed in May 1999 what he was still negotiating, that is, to have shares paid for after intervening to ensure the continued existence of the Auberge Grand-Mère? These shares were worth more,—

[The Speaker]

The Right Hon. Prime Minister.

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the ethics counsellor was clear that the shares had been sold and that payment followed a number of years later. The shares were sold in November, before I became Prime Minister in 1993.

Health

[Beth Phinney, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health. Three years after the compensation package for hepatitis C victims was announced there are still victims who have not received compensation.

My office has received complaints regarding the complicated process for compensation. What is the minister doing to ensure that the victims receive their compensation?

[Yvon Charbonneau, Liberal, Anjou—Rivière-Des-Prairies, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank our colleague for asking that question, because if there are complaints from people in various ridings, Health Canada is only too happy to hear about them.

The Minister of Health wrote a very vigorous letter to the joint committee, charged by the courts, with the administrator, to compensate victims, on January 30.

The joint committee reassured the minister that it would rectify the situation. If problems continue, we would like to know.

Immigration

[Monte Solberg, Canadian Alliance, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Amodeo ended up receiving landed immigrant status from the government. To do that she would have needed police clearance.

Could the minister explain how her department could grant landed immigrant status if Mrs. Amodeo also received police records which clearly would have indicated her connection to Mr. Amodeo and organized crime?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am surprised the member opposite would suggest that a woman who is married to someone is a chattel and therefore carries any criminal record with her.

He should know better in the year 2001 that men and women are able to submit individual applications. In this case Mrs. Amodeo had her husband's name removed from the application. He should know better.

Housing

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for housing has told the House before that he is prepared to announce a further housing initiative.

Does he plan to sit down with provincial housing ministers who are calling for a meeting with the minister to communicate to him their concerns that there needs to be a significant contribution for affordable housing and not just a subsidy for private rental housing? Will the minister consult with the provincial ministers and with communities before he makes his announcement?

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I already said in the House that since January, not now when the member is asking the question, my officials, officials at CMHC, had meetings with provincial officials to consult and work on a program that would help Canadians in need of homes.

That is what we are doing. When the program is ready I will sit down with the ministers and I will be glad to announce it here.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

Order, please. I wish to inform the House of the presence in the gallery of His Beatitude Mar Nasrallah Pierre Cardinal Sfeir, Patriarch of Antioch and all the Orient.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[The Speaker]

I also draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of the Hon. Janet Ecker, Minister of Education in the province of Ontario.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

Business Of The House

[Chuck Strahl, Canadian Alliance, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, inquiring minds do want to know. We do have some indication because of a motion passed earlier today that we will perhaps get on to discussing modernizing parliament.

We are looking forward to that, but as for the rest of the business of this week and next, would the government House leader tell the House and the listening nation what we will be dealing with?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow we will debate second reading of Bill C-5 respecting species at risk. I also hope that tomorrow we will be able to complete second reading of Bill C-14, the Canada Shipping Act, and to send it to committee.

Monday and Tuesday of next week shall be allotted days, with appropriation bills being considered at the end of the day on Tuesday.

Next Wednesday, pursuant to the motion and the special order passed earlier today, and I thank all hon. members for their co-operation, we will debate a motion to establish a special committee to improve and modernize the Standing Orders of the House of Commons.

Perhaps I could also take this opportunity to indicate to all hon. members, pursuant to requests that were made and to commitments made earlier, that it is my intention to seek from the House measures to have a special take note debate on the summit of the Americas to take place on Tuesday, March 27.

I know this is several days ahead, but given the considerable interest of several hon. members I thought I would indicate the intention as it presently stands is to call that order on the evening of March 27 so that all members could make necessary arrangements to participate in the debate should they so wish.

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, what a shocking disappointment. On the Thursday question, I am just wondering if the government House leader would confirm his undertaking that ministers will be readily available for a full indepth examination of the estimates in committee.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was going rather quickly with his question. I may have missed part of it. I understood it to be to ensure that ministers would be available at committee for estimates. Certainly all ministers are informed that they are to do so.

If other House leaders have difficulty with that I can certainly assist, as I believe I have in the past, to ensure as much as possible the presence of ministers for the consideration of estimates, providing there is the normal time that is usually acceptable for notification and so on. My co-operation is hereby provided, as I believe it has been in the past not only to this hon. member but indeed to all hon. members.

Points Of Order

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, you will surely recall that, on Tuesday March 13, during Statements by Members, I inadvertently or unwittingly pointed out the presence in the gallery of two VIPs from my riding. While I did not at any time ask them to rise, I have since learned that what I did was the exclusive prerogative of the Chair.

I would beg your clemency, Mr. Speaker, for I did so out of ignorance. I also assure you that the members of my party now understand the importance of this prerogative which is yours alone, and will be more careful in future.

[The Speaker]

I would like to assure the hon. member that the Chair is most merciful.

[Elsie Wayne, Progressive Conservative, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Today in my question for the Minister of National Defence during question period I quoted from the Federal Court of Appeal document.

The minister said I was incorrect. I seek unanimous consent of the House to table the Federal Court of Appeal document by the three judges regarding EH Industries Ltd. and the Minister of Public Works and Government Services of Canada.

[The Speaker]

Does the hon. member have unanimous consent of the House to table these documents?