Debates of March 23rd, 2001

Lumber Industry

[John Duncan, Canadian Alliance, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, there is broad consensus for a return to free trade in softwood lumber. Yesterday the minister said we need a team Canada for softwood lumber. This pro-free trade team needs a captain to unite and ignite the players. When will the minister name this captain?

[Pat O'Brien, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I like my colleague's analogy. Quite clearly the captain who has been playing very efficiently at this game is the minister himself.

As I said earlier, the minister has met repeatedly with representatives of the provincial industries right across Canada.

[An hon. member]

Name one.

[Pat O'Brien, Liberal, London—Fanshawe, ON]

One of my colleagues says name one. The minister has personally met with trade representative Zoellick and very clearly outlined the Canadian position.

The government has an excellent captain on this file. It is the Minister for International Trade.

[John Duncan, Canadian Alliance, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this is not all about who will get credit for doing what. We know the American lumber coalition constantly makes negative statements about Canadian forest practices and policy, but it does not represent all U.S. interests.

For example, the president of Louisiana-Pacific has said that the history and data suggest Canada would win a free trade challenge on the merits. Canada also has major trade allies in consumer, builder, lumber dealer and other groups in the States, so why has the minister allowed our position to erode when there is so much support for free trade?

[Pat O'Brien, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, it is really incredible for me to hear the member make that kind of assertion. He knows full well that the minister has gone across the country meeting with his provincial counterparts. He knows full well that the minister this very week met with representatives of the lumber industry from all regions of Canada.

That kind of assertion is not helpful. I think the member ought to bear that in mind as we seek to continue to have a united consensus in Canada.

Points Of Order

[Dick Harris, Canadian Alliance, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During question period, in a response to a question from the member for Prince George—Peace River, the Deputy Prime Minister read a quote from the acting mayor of Prince George, which he alleges is an acceptance of the secretary of state's apology.

I wonder if it is in order to ask the Deputy Prime Minister to table that document and the source of the quote that he provided to the House today.

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

Mr. Speaker, I believe the hon. Deputy Prime Minister was quoting from one of his briefing notes.

If that was taken from a written document, such as a news report or so on, I will attempt to retrieve it and table it in the House as soon as it can be translated, if such is the case.

[Dick Harris, Canadian Alliance, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am asking for your experience as Speaker. In the event that there was in fact no media source to provide that quote for the Deputy Prime Minister's briefing notes, would he be required to withdraw that quote in the House, it being confirmed that it was in fact a fabrication in his briefing notes as opposed to an authentic quote?

[The Deputy Speaker]

Respectfully to the member for Prince George—Bulkley Valley, this proposition is hypothetical. I am not prepared to deal with that situation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I wonder if the government House leader would advise the House whether the Prime Minister intends to come here and make a statement explaining his actions in the Auberge Grand-Mère affair.

[The Deputy Speaker]

I say to the very long serving member of parliament for whom I have a great deal of respect, that is not a point of order.

Government Response To Petitions

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to two petitions.

Committees Of The House

[Nancy Karetak-Lindell, Liberal, Nunavut, NU]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the second report of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, Northern Development and Natural Resources relating to Bill C-3, an act to amend the Eldorado Nuclear Limited Reorganization and Divestiture Act and the Petro-Canada Public Participation Act. It was agreed on Thursday, March 22, to report it without amendment.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities on Bill C-2, an act to amend the Employment Insurance Act and the Employment Insurance (Fishing) Regulations, with one amendment.

I thank members of the committee from both sides of the House for their hard work on this piece of legislation. We received over 60 witnesses from all parts of the country. Members had to work very long hours, often very late. I greatly appreciate their work on the bill.

Petitions

[Garry Breitkreuz, Canadian Alliance, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions from the residents of the province of Saskatchewan who wish to draw the attention of the House to the following.

Prior to 1992, concentrated liquid strychnine was available for purchase by farmers for use in the control of the Richardson's ground squirrel. However, since 1992 Health Canada has restricted the sale of strychnine such that it is only available in a premixed form, with the amount of strychnine limited to .4%.

The allowable limits for strychnine have greatly reduced the effectiveness of the poison, resulting in populations of the Richardson's ground squirrel increasing. A great deal of crop and hay damage is caused by this ground squirrel. It is very costly to farmers in lost productivity, equipment repairs and injury to livestock.

The petitioners are asking parliament to amend the relevant regulations so as to permit the sale of concentrated liquid strychnine to registered farmers until such a time as an effective alternative can be found.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table a petition today which deals with the very serious issue of the devastating impact of the United Nations sanctions on the people of Iraq.

The petitioners note that these sanctions have been condemned by former UN humanitarian co-ordinator, Denis Halliday, as being tantamount to genocide. They note that the House of Commons standing committee on foreign affairs has unanimously called for the lifting of these economic sanctions.

The petitioners call on the House to urgently pursue the rapid lifting of the economic sanctions on Iraq. They include Linda Morgan and the campaign to end sanctions against the people of Iraq. They have done an outstanding job in bringing the matter to the attention of the people of Canada.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition signed by over 300 constituents from my riding, who are asking the Canadian government to use the employment insurance surplus for other purposes.

Therefore, the petitioners call for the creation of an independent EI fund and ask that access to the benefits and the benefit period be improved upon to ensure that a significant majority of the unemployed in Canada get adequate EI benefits.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present another petition from citizens of the Peterborough area who are keen to re-establish a VIA Rail link between our community and Toronto. The petitioners point out there are great environmental benefits to this link, reduced emissions being important among them.

They also point out great cost savings between the rail service and equivalent road services and the economic benefits that would occur in Peterborough as a result of the employment mobility of residents in our community and as a result of making the greater Peterborough area more accessible as a tourist and educational destination.

They call upon parliament to authorize the re-establishment of a VIA Rail link between Toronto and Peterborough.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition here signed by hundreds of people in the Peterborough area who suffer from end stage renal disease and by their families and friends.

They note that those on kidney dialysis and those who have successfully received transplants are grateful for those treatments, but they point out that the bioartificial kidney, into which research is going on at the present time, offers hope for much greater mobility for those people.

They call upon parliament to work on and support bioartificial kidney research, which would eventually eliminate the need for dialysis or transplantation for those suffering from kidney disease.

I have another petition that also involves kidney disease. The petitioners point out that this is a huge and growing problem in Canada. They call upon parliament to encourage the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to explicitly include kidney research as one of the institutes in its system, to be named the institute of kidney and urinary tract diseases.

Questions On The Order Paper

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all the questions be allowed to stand.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Request For Emergency Debate

[The Deputy Speaker]

The Chair has an application for an emergency debate and I take note that it is signed by representatives and actually House officers of each of the opposition parties, so I sense there is a tremendous amount of interest and seriousness to this question. I will begin with the hon. member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough.

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

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 52, I have given notice to your office of our intention. I speak of our intention collectively because, as you have noted, this letter to you is signed by myself as a representative of the Progressive Conservative Party and by the chief opposition whip, the deputy leader in the House for the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP House leader.

Mr. Speaker, I submit to you that there is a very real and pressing need to have an emergency debate based on information that now is in the public realm. This emergency debate would concern the apparent failure of the Prime Minister to inform the House of Commons fully concerning his relationship to loans given to the Auberge Grand-Mère hotel. This information and this issue have paralyzed the House and shaken the confidence of Canadians in their government.

I urge you, Mr. Speaker, to give the opportunity for all members of the House, including the Prime Minister himself, to come forward to take part in a full and open debate so that there would be commentary and confidence restored to government in this country.

I would urge you to accept this application for an emergency debate. There is tremendous support for this application from members on the opposition side, and I suspect that there may be members on the government side who would support this application. I respectfully submit to the Chair that it is very timely in its nature and, if necessary, we would be prepared to debate this matter immediately.