Debates of March 15th, 2001

Immigration

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

Mr. Speaker, I will make an unequivocal statement in the House. No one receives permanent residence status in Canada without having a complete security check and a criminality check. Anyone with a criminal record or anyone who poses a security threat to Canada is inadmissible and they are not granted permanent residence status in Canada. That is the law.

Agriculture

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the discovery of potato wart in a small corner of one field in Prince Edward Island has crippled the island's number one industry. The government has announced assistance for island's producers. However hundreds of their crews, most of whom have not worked all winter, are still waiting for some recognition of their plight.

Could the Minister of Human Resources Development tell the House whether any assistance will be forthcoming, and when will the workers know of her decision?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, I recognize the hon. member for Egmont and his Liberal colleagues in the province of Prince Edward Island for the diligence they have shown on this file.

In fact there are over 500 employees in the sector who have been negatively impacted as a result of the cross-border ban. My department is working with the province and with local stakeholders to determine which action will best assist these employees. I hope to announce the results and a good action plan in the near future.

The Economy

[Lorne Nystrom, NDP, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. Yesterday the Dow fell below 10,000 points. The Canadian dollar is now one cent away from an historic low in the country. There are now 63,000 fewer jobs in agriculture than one year ago. The U.S. and Japanese economies are both in serious trouble. Yet there has been no federal budget in the country for the last 13 months.

Will the government finally bring in a budget this spring to deal with all these serious problems, or does the government intend to continue fiddling until February 2002, a full two years since the last budget?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the government had the wisdom to have a budget in October in anticipation of the difficulties faced by everybody. We managed to reduce taxes on January 1 through the biggest tax cuts in the history of Canada. The timing could not have been better.

We read in the press that they are trying to cut taxes in the United States. In Canada we did that on January 1, 2001.

Transportation

[Bev Desjarlais, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada spent two years investigating the Swissair disaster and made five recommendations to make jetliners safer.

Today it was reported that the Liberal government will not follow a single one of them. It says it will only do it if other countries do the same. If safety was the number one priority of the government, it would follow the safety board's recommendations regardless of what other countries do.

Whatever happened to Canada setting an example for the rest of the world? Our own safety board has made these recommendations. Why will the minister not set an example for the world and implement them?

[Brent St. Denis, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, it is very important that Canada co-operates with all nations to make sure international air travel is safe for everyone. It is important that Canada co-operate on every level.

I am sure the recommendations of the safety board will have a very serious review, notwithstanding the member's comments.

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, three federal court of appeal judges confirmed in a ruling last week that there is evidence of politics having played a role in the process to replace the Sea King helicopters.

These findings were specifically directed at the Department of National Defence and are unacceptable. How could the Minister of National Defence possibly justify these findings?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know what court the hon. member was in, but the court decision in fact dismissed the application.

We are proceeding with a fair, open competition for those 28 helicopters. We want to ensure we get the best helicopter that meets the needs of our military.

They wrote the statement of requirements. The statement of requirements is what we are proceeding with, as they wrote it. We want to get them at the best possible price, and that is the way we are proceeding on this procurement.

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

Mr. Speaker, the federal court quoted military correspondence which stated:

Even though the Cormorant EH-101 is politically unacceptable, (political suicide as you said) how do you ensure that it does not win a MH competition?

The court called this patent politicization within the Department of National Defence. It was the three judges who said it. The court said it. Will the minister ask the judge advocate general to begin an immediate investigation into this matter?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, that is simply not true. She seems to want to be selective in what part of the judgment she reads. I have read the judgment. The judgment clearly says a case has not been made and the court dismissed the case.

We are proceeding to do this in the right and proper fashion to get the best helicopters to meet the needs of our Canadian forces.

Ethics Counsellor

[Stockwell Day, Canadian Alliance, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I very clearly asked the Prime Minister, relating to the public record which shows the names of three of the four shareholders of the Grand-Mère Golf Club, if he would tell us if that fourth mystery shareholder was Mr. Jonas Prince or was in fact the Prime Minister himself.

He did not answer which one so I will simply ask this question. Does the Prime Minister know who the fourth mystery shareholder is?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I sold my shares to Mr. Prince in November 1993. The ethics counsellor testified very clearly in front of the committee. He looked at all the documents and he said that I had absolutely no ownership of the shares after I was sworn in as Prime Minister.

[Stockwell Day, Canadian Alliance, Leader of the opposition]

Mr. Speaker, he sold those shares but he admits after about of year of pressure on the question that he got the shares back in 1996. He keeps avoiding that.

Why will he not tell us if he knows who is the fourth mystery shareholder and what is the accepted process after shares have been told to be sold but he winds up getting them back?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would like the Leader of the Opposition to look at the testimony of the ethics counsellor in front of the committee. He explained that from A to Z very clearly.

National Defence

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

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

Last week, we learned that senior Chinese military had trained with the Canadian army in order to perfect their techniques for fighting in extreme weather conditions.

How can the Prime Minister, this supposed—and I mean supposed—defender of human rights in China agree to collaborate with the Chinese army, an instrument of repression par excellence in China?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the Chinese army is not training with the Canadian army. We are engaging, however, in dialogue because China is an important part of security and defence issues in the Pacific.

As we do in many other areas as well, including trade, we engage in constructive dialogue with the Chinese. We want them to know about our values and our areas of concern. This gives us an opportunity to show them how a military works and works well in a civilian controlled context.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will go further.

We have now learned that the army's chief of staff, General Baril, will be going to China for a four-day visit. The Prime Minister often claims that he must use economic exchanges to advance the cause of human rights.

Is the Prime Minister now going to tell us that he is going to use military collaboration with the Chinese army to advance human rights in China? I find this a bit much.

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, there are Canadian values and there is an opportunity to promote values and views about how a military operation occurs in a democracy. This is a good opportunity for General Baril to be able to impart those values and those views.

China is a very important player in terms of the security of the Pacific. That is why we have engaged in this constructive dialogue.

Taxation

[Gurmant Grewal, Canadian Alliance, Surrey Central, BC]

Mr. Speaker, when Canadians buy gasoline at the pumps the price includes federal and provincial taxes. On top of that, this greedy government charges the infamous goods and services tax. In simple words, consumers pay the GST on other taxes.

How could the Prime Minister, since he is the expert on GST, justify the application of the GST on other taxes? Why will he not remove it?

[Jim Peterson, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, when we looked at this issue earlier it became obvious to us that there was a heavy load of provincial taxes and federal taxes, and that if there were to be any meaningful relief it would have to be carried out by both levels of government. That is why we made the offer to the premiers to do so, and they turned it down.

[Gurmant Grewal, Canadian Alliance, Surrey Central, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the crude cost of gasoline is 28.9 cents a litre. Federal, provincial and excise taxes are added to it. Then 7% GST is charged on the total. The price of the same gasoline becomes 74 cents per litre. We are talking about a tax on top of taxes.

The Prime Minister at least should not be so greedy as to charge consumers GST on taxes. A tax is neither a good nor a service. Why would he not be fair and not charge the GST?

[Jim Peterson, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said all along, it is very obvious that if we are to get meaningful relief to consumers at the pumps then we will have to enter into it in a very co-operative way, working with the provinces. That offer was made to the premiers. They did not accept it.

Asbestos Industry

[Gérard Binet, Liberal, Frontenac—Mégantic, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister for International Trade.

Following the decision of the WTO's appeal body, which ruled in favour of France by saying that the ban on chrysotile asbestos was in compliance with multilateral trade agreements, what will be the short and long term consequences for Canada on international markets?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, we are very disappointed by the final ruling of the World Trade Organization, even though our appeal helped secure important gains in terms of the precedents that will apply to future issues.

We still believe that the safe use of chrysotile asbestos is much more appropriate than its total ban.

The asbestos industry must now work even harder to promote the safe use of chrysotile by other foreign partners, and our government will be by its side to help it do so.