Debates of March 22nd, 2001

Multiculturalism

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps I should read in the House of Commons what she said:

I am very proud of what communities have accomplished in this country to counter racism and hate and to promote cultural diversity, especially the city of Prince George's city council task force on hate activities.

She paid tribute to the people of Prince George who are working on the ground to fight hate activities. I think that I would like to compliment the city of Prince George which has these activities in that city. It is a good way to be good Canadians. I am proud of Prince George and I am proud of the Canadians who are fighting racism in our land.

Public Service

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, one of the headline in this morning's edition of La Presse was to the effect that francophones were still vastly under-represented in the upper echelons of the federal public service.

How can the Prime Minister justify such a poor showing by his government, when the recent appointments he made only served to exacerbate the situation?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, the government takes very seriously the equitable participation of francophones in this government, in proportion to Canada's population.

Furthermore, when we look at the public service as a whole, francophones are strongly represented. Clearly, if some francophones leave the smaller group of deputy ministers, this reduces the percentage, but we are doing everything possible to achieve equitable participation in our government.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what she says in the House and what she actually does are two different things.

Is it not completely abnormal for the government's francophone ministers, such as herself, to be forced to work in English in their department in order to be understood by their own deputy ministers?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the Bloc Quebecois, I have the pleasure of working in both official languages of this country in my own department.

Multiculturalism

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

Mr. Speaker, the multiculturalism minister made no mistake when she delivered a rehearsed answer to a rehearsed question. She claimed that the mayor of Prince George himself told her that there were cross burnings. She told the reporters “I have a letter from the mayor”.

That is not true. The mayor said no such thing. If the Prime Minister will not fire her for her intolerance, will he fire her for lying?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we can see how desperate they are. They do not respect any tradition of the House of Commons. I will quote again what she said.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. I cannot hear the Prime Minister's answer. I hear language that is inappropriate for use in the House and I ask members to calm down. We will not have such words bandied about in the House. Hon. members know that is out of order.

The Prime Minister is giving an answer. Members are entitled to be heard in the House and the Prime Minister will be heard too.

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Saint-Maurice, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister could not be more clear. Yesterday she said:

I linked the city of Prince George with a specific hate activity. I regret that and I apologize to the people of Prince George.

Nothing could be more clear than that.

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

Mr. Speaker, the minister has lost the confidence of millions of Canadians who want to fight racism. She has no credibility to fight racism. She has shown herself to be intolerant.

Will the Prime Minister ask the multiculturalism minister to resign immediately?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism has been travelling the land for years talking about the diversity of Canada, the tolerance, and the participation of people from all races who have joined us.

She has travelled abroad talking very eloquently about the quality of our society in Canada, where we can live in unity with diversity. She is a good example of a person who came as an immigrant and made a great contribution to the people who have become new Canadians with different colours, different languages and different religions.

Potato Producers

[Carole-Marie Allard, Liberal, Laval East, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Prince Edward Island's potato producers are going to receive $14.1 million to help them dispose of the surpluses they have built up following the unfair restrictions imposed by the United States.

Will the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food tell the House whether he has obtained any assurances that Prince Edward Island's producers will not flood other Canadian markets, including Quebec's, to dispose of their production?

[Lyle Vanclief, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, the announcement that was made last week was precisely to take those potatoes off the market so that they would not flood into another province and affect the market.

The $12.6 million will be used to dispose of potatoes in an environmentally friendly way, and $1.5 million will be used to send table potatoes from Prince Edward Island to food banks across Canada to help those who need that food.

Taxation

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.

Tomorrow will be the second anniversary of the House passing my motion on the Tobin tax, the tax on international financial transactions. Canada was the first parliament in the world to endorse the idea. This has sparked a global movement of parliamentarians in support of the idea.

The time has come to put Canada's leadership once again in the forefront. Since the minister voted for the motion in the House, would he be willing to put this idea on the agenda at the United Nations conference on financing development? The deadline for such a move is April 15 and the conference takes place next year.

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, there are a great number of global public goods, such as the protection of the environment, prevention of the spread of disease and debt relief, all of which require extensive international public financing. The Tobin tax certainly is one vehicle, and it is for that reason that members on both sides of the House voted for it.

I have, on numerous occasions, at the G-7, the G-20 and the IMF raised the issue. The problem is that of course it requires the co-operation of all the major financial centres. That co-operation is not yet coming, but we continue—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Churchill.

Highways

[Bev Desjarlais, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, last Friday when I asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport about toll roads, he said that toll roads “could be included as part of the improvement to the national highway system”.

Toll roads are an outrage to the people of Canada. Canadians pay GST, income tax and gas taxes expecting this money to pay for the roads. Canadians expect the federal government to adequately fund highways.

Is it the Minister of Transport's position that toll roads are an acceptable way to improve Canada's crumbling highways or will he, as the municipalities and provinces have asked, increase federal highway funding beyond what little was given in the last budget so—

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Transport.

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, $600 million was allocated in an earlier budget for highways. I have said publicly and I will say it in the House that we would hope that more money could flow into that account in the near future, but government resources are indeed limited and the call on those resources is vast.

On the specific issues of tolls, obviously public-private partnerships and the use of tolls have a place in Canadian society. They have been used successfully. However, the government will not tolerate the use of tolls if it impedes one part of the country from communicating or transporting with the other.

Employment

[Bill Casey, Progressive Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Public Service Commission is advertising a program and policy job opening in the office of the Governor General of Canada. Even though the Governor General of Canada serves all Canada, most Canadians cannot even apply for this job. Only people from Ontario and Quebec can apply.

Was this restriction applied by government policy or did the Governor General of Canada request that people from eight provinces and three territories be screened out of this opportunity just because of where they live?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, section 13 of the Public Service Employment Act provides for the establishment of geographic criteria.

Does the House know which government revised that legislation in parliament in 1992? It was the Conservative government. I am very surprised by the question that I have been asked today.

[Bill Casey, Progressive Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I just asked her if the Governor General requested that a restriction be applied. However, I will go on.

There is another job on the website that shows the reason for this concept of western alienation. The website is advertising 50 government policy and planning jobs in Ottawa, which pay up to $81,000, but only applicants from Ontario and Quebec can apply for these 50 jobs. People cannot apply if they are from the west or from the east.

Would the Prime Minister change this policy and allow everyone in Canada to apply for jobs in Ottawa?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, this is not a policy. This is legislation that was passed by the Conservative government in 1992. We respect the legislation and I think the Governor General respects the legislation and is following the criteria of the legislation as directly as possible. I believe each department has to decide how it applies the legislation.

Multiculturalism

[Brian Pallister, Canadian Alliance, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women made divisive, malicious and false comments in the House.

First, the comments were rehearsed. The Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women maligned the people of Prince George. She maligned thinking Canadians. She maligned tolerant Canadians with her comments and by her conduct.

Today she offered a halfhearted statement that did not undo in any way the damage and hurt she caused yesterday. An intolerant minister's divided—