Debates of March 20th, 2001

Lumber

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, the objective of this government is to have free trade where softwood lumber is concerned, as we do in other areas.

Our objective is clear and firm and we are going to act responsibly in order to ensure that all of the very important interests in the softwood lumber matter throughout the country are respected by this House and by our government, which will provide the necessary leadership, and by the Americans and the American producers above all, who are only concerned with protectionism in this area.

Justice

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the solicitor general told Canadians that American sex offender registries are of no value because only 50% of the people who should be registered are registered.

On the other hand, the government introduced the national gun registry where less than 50% of Canadians are registered.

Perhaps the solicitor general could enlighten us. Why it is more important to register law-abiding Canadian citizens rather than sex offenders.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, what I said yesterday was that we do have a national registry. We have CPIC, one of the best database systems in the world. It is the envy of all police forces around the world. We have a national database with input from all the provinces across the country.

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

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, he is the only one in the country who believes it.

The Canadian Police Association represents over 30,000 front line policemen and those policemen say, and I quote:

A registry would help us investigate and apprehend repeat sexual offenders in ways CIPC cannot.

Let me quote Ujjal Dosanjh as he introduced the sex offender registry in British Columbia yesterday. He said “There is no national registry and none is guaranteed or promised”.

Could the solicitor general get the courage to stand up in the House and be forthright enough to say that the CPIC system is not a national sex offender registry?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said a number of times in the House, CPIC is a registry of all individuals who commit a criminal offence in Canada, whether it is a sex offence or any other offence.

What I have said over the last few days is that the government will not spend dollars just to duplicate a system already in place. I met with the Canadian Police Association today, and we are working together to make sure that we have the best possible rules and tools in place.

Summit Of The Americas

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette-Et-La Mitis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, by paying $75,000 for a coffee break and up to $1.5 million for the Prime Minister's reception, companies and CEOs will have access to the 34 heads of state present at the summit of the Americas in Quebec City, while civil society is excluded from the event and parliamentarians are not allowed to see the documents of the sectorial tables.

Is this not proof that the sponsorship system being promoted by summit organizers is slanted toward commercial priorities, to the detriment of all others?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I think the Prime Minister gave a very good explanation of our government's practice, which is to allow certain companies that behave like responsible corporate citizens to benefit from this opportunity to encourage our country's hospitality. What these companies are doing, obviously, is acquiring a certain visibility vis-à-vis countries where this is important.

But I think that we have been very clear that these companies will not have privileged access to heads of government. They are doing this for the visibility and in order to improve Canada's credibility and skill when it comes to providing top-notch hospitality, rather than having taxpayers foot the bill, which is what the Bloc Quebecois would prefer.

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette-Et-La Mitis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am not about to pay $500,000 to believe all that.

Why is the government so mean and secretive with civil society, pressure groups and parliamentarians when it is throwing the summit doors wide open to those willing to put cash on the table?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, the member's simplistic approach is not worthy of this House. Everyone is perfectly aware that we will be meeting with representatives of non-governmental organizations. I have already accepted.

My colleague, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and I will be sitting down with representatives of the summit of the people. We are going to work harmoniously with them as well and they too will have a chance to express their views.

I find it very interesting to see the Bloc Quebecois aligning itself with those who oppose free trade and economic progress and who are trying to do everything they can to hamper the economic development of our country.

Lumber

[Gary Lunn, Canadian Alliance, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in 11 days the softwood lumber agreement will expire. The government has had 1,816 days to prepare and what does it suggest? It suggests 1,816 days of litigation.

Tens of thousands of workers will lose their jobs. Our industry will be bankrupt. Where will our government be? It will be in court.

We have spent $100 million in legal fees in the last 20 years. Where are we now? We are at ground zero.

Will the minister agree that going back to court for four more years is not the answer while Canadians lose their jobs?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, up until today I have always thought that the Alliance Party supported the government's move toward free trade. Moving toward free trade means that every country can have some recourse to its legal tools that we have in the kit.

I can tell the opposition that the government has not been waiting for the termination. We have not been waiting for the end of the agreement. We have been working for a few years on this file. We have been working at building a coalition of consumers in Washington and supporting them in their arguments.

Canada has initiated a WTO challenge against the United States legislation regarding export restraints of Canadian logs. We have been active—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member For Saanich—Gulf Islands.

[Gary Lunn, Canadian Alliance, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable that our government is not even talking to the Americans. The minister goes on about all these things they have done for the last three years but there are absolutely no discussions going on right now.

Make no mistake that thousands of forestry workers in this country face a very uncertain future and unemployment because of our government's incompetence to set the record straight in Washington.

What will it take for the government to pick up the phone instead of burying its head in the sand and pretending that everything is going to be just fine on April Fool's Day?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I have been engaging in dialogue with Mr. Zoellick. I was in Washington three weeks ago. We have expressed very well the points of view of the Canadian industry and the Canadian provinces. The Prime Minister also raised the issue with President Bush when he met him.

We have been engaged in talks and we will continue to provide the right leadership for all regions of the country toward free trade and against U.S. protectionism.

Official Languages Communities

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, true to its convictions the Government of Canada reiterated its commitment to linguistic duality in the January 30 Speech from the Throne, along with its desire to mobilize the efforts of the federal government in connection with official languages.

On this Journée internationale de la Francophonie and the first day of spring, can the Prime Minister tell us what his government has in mind for promoting the cultural, economic and linguistic development of this country's official language minority communities?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this is a major priority for our government. Certain steps have already been taken and we have considerably increased the program budgets for Francophonie and French language education.

For example, we have a totally new initiative in the medical field.

We have established an institute here in Ottawa to help francophones in the health field. We are going to take all necessary steps to allow all Canadians access to the French language in Canada and to celebrate with all Canadians the fact that Canada is the second ranking country in the world as far as numbers of French speakers are concerned.

Trade

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Medical Association today validated the concerns we in the NDP have been raising repeatedly in the House about the government's trade agenda. It agrees with us that under NAFTA and GATS, Alberta's bill 11 on private hospitals will allow international trade tribunals to intrude in our health policies. It agrees that action is needed now because there is no retreat from liberalizing a sector of trade. If we open the door now, we cannot go back.

Will the trade minister now agree to act with urgency to protect Canada's health care system in all its trade deals, or is the minister saying the CMA is wrong?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, let me reaffirm quite clearly in the House today the firm commitment of our government in the past, today and tomorrow, never to open the door to force our public health or public education systems into a challenge at the international trade level.

In all our trade agreements, whether at the GATS level or at the FTAA, Canada will protect the margin of manoeuvre of our government and our provincial governments in the health and education sectors.

Foreign Affairs

[Svend Robinson, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Secretary of State for Latin America and Africa. Today we learned that 33 Huey helicopters, recently sold by the Canadian government to the U.S. state department, are in fact being used by the Colombian military as a part of the destructive Plan Colombia. Last week the minister agreed in committee that this kind of sale would be totally unacceptable.

Will the minister now agree to close the gaping loophole in our military export controls that allows this shameful complicity with the Colombian military, a military that has one of the worst human rights records in the entire hemisphere? Will he close this loophole now?

[David Kilgour, Liberal, Secretary of State (Latin America and Africa)]

Mr. Speaker, the helicopters to which the member refers were built in Fort Worth, Texas, in the 1970s. They were brought to Canada and used by the Department of National Defence for about 20 years. They were then sold to the U.S. government. They were reconfigured by the U.S. government and sold to Colombia. We do not give re-export permits to the government of the United States.

Employment

[Loyola Hearn, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resource Development. Every year the minister releases her programs for student summer placement programs. These programs are available to not for profit and for profit agencies.

This year the not for profit groups are paying 100% and the for profit are paying 50%. She has lumped the municipalities in with the for profit groups. Why did the minister's department decide to do this?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is absolutely correct. The Canada student summer placement program is one of the most important programs in which the Government of Canada participates.

I can tell him the reason we chose to make the changes on which he commented is that we want more students to participate. There is no less money. We just hope more students will be able to participate.

[Loyola Hearn, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the minister is correct. If we have everyone paying 50% we will get more students, but small, medium size and large municipalities cannot afford to pay a cent. They are taking out street lights to balance their budgets. The best organized institution in communities is the council.

Will the minister review her decision to see the negative effect this decision is having on small and medium size communities and even larger ones throughout the country?

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

Mr. Speaker, I note that members on this side of the House have raised the issue with me. Indeed we are looking at the direct application in communities and we will see.

Fundamentally the intention of the program is to ensure that the largest majority of students possible can participate in this great program.

Agriculture

[Howard Hilstrom, Canadian Alliance, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. The Liberal member for Lambton—Kent—Middlesex said she was devastated when the minister announced only $500 million in aid. She stated “It was one of my darkest days in politics so far. I had really honestly thought the Prime Minister understood the plight of grain and oilseed farmers”.

Her constituents clearly want her to vote yes. Will the government unshackle its backbenchers today and allow them to freely vote the wishes of their constituents?