Debates of April 23rd, 2001

Prime Minister

[Deborah Grey, Canadian Alliance, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on April 5 I asked the minister whether Jonas Prince or any of his companies had received any assistance from the minister's department, the BDC or the Export Development Corporation. The minister promised “to report back to the House at the first opportunity”.

It is almost three weeks later. This is his first opportunity. Will he now answer the question? Was there any funding?

[Brian Tobin, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I am not prepared to answer today. I have just come back; it is my first day at work.

I want to report to the member that there are crocuses on Parliament Hill, the snow has melted and Canadians are really very tired of these questions.

[Deborah Grey, Canadian Alliance, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I dare say they are tired of the snow, but I do think Canadians deserve an answer. Surely someone has been working in the shop over there while the minister has been dear knows where.

Was there any funding, direct or otherwise, to Jonas Prince? When will the minister put someone on this file and when will he give Canadians an answer?

[Brian Tobin, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite will ask the Leader of the Opposition to lend me his shoe phone I will call right away.

[The Speaker]

I remind all hon. members that cellular phones are not allowed in the House.

Organ Donation

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Ajax—Uxbridge, ON]

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

Canada has one of the lowest organ donation rates in the industrialized world. More than 3,700 Canadians are waiting for organ transplants. Thousands more are in need of replacements for tissues such as corneas.

Given that today is the launch of National Organ Donor Awareness Week, could the minister tell the House what the Government of Canada is doing to rectify and correct the situation?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member of Pickering—Ajax—Uxbridge for everything that he and other members of the House have done on the subject of awareness of organ donation.

Earlier today I took part in a very moving ceremony at Rideau Hall, at which Her Excellency the Governor General as patron kicked off a week to increase public awareness of the need for organ donation in Canada. There were some real heroes there, heroes who are members of families of those who have given organs, relatives, and indeed recipients of organs themselves.

They demonstrate the importance of organ donation. We must raise awareness. Twenty million dollars last week was confirmed by the Government of Canada as an investment for a national strategy. We must increase organ donations in Canada.

Summit Of The Americas

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

Mr. Speaker, while the Prime Minister on Saturday in Quebec City was extolling the virtues of democracy inside the wall, outside that same wall the RCMP riot squad was attacking peaceful, non-violent protesters with tear gas and plastic bullets. In fact earlier that day a young woman was hit in the throat with a plastic bullet. I saw it. I got a bullet in the leg.

In light of this attack on peaceful demonstrators, is the solicitor general prepared to order a full, public, independent inquiry—

[The Speaker]

Order, please. It is very hard for the Chair to hear the question. The hon. Solicitor General of Canada.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank everyone who worked so hard to make sure that we had a successful summit in Quebec.

The priority of our police and security agencies during the course of the summit was to ensure a safe and secure meeting for everyone, including delegates, protesters, media and the police themselves, and they did that.

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

Mr. Speaker, the young people sitting on the street peacefully singing were no threat to any leader inside that wall.

In a democracy, people have the right to peacefully demonstrate their profound disagreement with the FTAA. These same demonstrators were attacked outside the wall in Quebec City with gas and plastic bullets.

I ask the solicitor general once again whether he finds it acceptable to have the RCMP attack peaceful demonstrators with plastic bullets and tear gas? Is this really democracy?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, we will not apologize for the police taking the appropriate action to make sure that we had a safe summit.

What I want to do is thank the thousands of young people and any persons who came to peacefully protest. I am also very pleased they were able to do that in a reasonably safe environment.

The Prime Minister

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

Mr. Speaker, newspaper reports allege that Shawinigan hotel owner Yvon Duhaime owed $23,000 to the Prime Minister in 1997. Could the Prime Minister confirm to the House that Yvon Duhaime owed him money, whether there was any other outstanding debt or whether there was any form of debt owed from the sale of the Auberge Grand-Mère hotel or any other dealings? Was there any debt?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat my previous answer. The answer is no.

Agriculture

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. Could he tell the House whether he wants Canadians to accept that he was some kind of a security risk to the Quebec summit. Is he not embarrassed to stand here and tell us that somehow he could not get into a conference that was sponsored by his own government?

After his successful telephone conference with the secretary of agriculture, Ms. Veneman, could he now tell Prince Edward Island potato producers that they can plant this spring so they will not face financial ruin? Could he get his facts right this time?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, I outlined that the president and the Prime Minister had a discussion. The president asked that the discussion after that take place with the secretary of agriculture, Ms. Veneman. That is when I was informed.

Because of the security and all that needed to be done, it was not physically possible for me to get safely into the meeting. We had a very successful meeting over the telephone. I did not have to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars to be there for a meeting. Our officials are in Washington this afternoon continuing those discussions.

Health

[Diane Ablonczy, Canadian Alliance, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in the face of rising concerns about Canadians being denied prompt quality health care, the government's only response has been to commission yet another lengthy study. It already has in hand the 1997 report of its National Forum on Health which studied medicare for two years. In addition, the Senate is engaged in a comprehensive study on health care and has released its first report.

With this wealth of information already available, why is the government still unable to show the leadership that Canadians are looking for on health care issues?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, it was this government that brought all the premiers and government leaders together last September for an unprecedented, unanimous agreement on stabilizing the health care system, not only an additional injection of dollars but a coherent plan upon which all governments agreed to tackle the issues of shortages of doctors and nurses, modernizing equipment and making certain Canadians have access to frontline care. That is leadership.

Apart from that we asked Roy Romanow to look at the long term questions of sustainability. That is the kind of leadership Canadians want.

[Diane Ablonczy, Canadian Alliance, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is not very difficult to get unanimous agreement that the government should restore the huge cuts it made to health care since 1995. It is hardly leadership to put back the money that it took out of the system.

There is a lack of prompt, quality health care in the country. People are on waiting lists. Our equipment is obsolete. Even third world countries will not take it. Something needs to be done.

The minister keeps talking about the long term. Canadians are suffering now. What is being done and what can the government do to help?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows as well as I do that as a result of increases in the last 18 months there is significantly more money in the hands of provincial health ministers to provide services on the ground.

The member knows as well as I do that among other things we put $1 billion last September in the hands of provincial ministers to purchase new MRIs, new CT scans and whatever other equipment is needed on the ground.

We have worked with provincial partners to address the practical issues on the ground. We are tackling waiting lists. Working with those partners, we will provide quality care to Canadians across the country.

Lumber

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

Mr. Speaker, things are at a standstill regarding the lumber issue, since the United States have rejected the proposal to appoint special envoys to find a solution to the dispute and thus avoid a long legal battle.

Since the U.S. president seemed very open to the establishment of a free trade area of the Americas this weekend, could the Prime Minister tell us what the U.S. president's reply was when he raised the Canadian lumber issue?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, things are not at a standstill when, at every level, be it the Prime Minister with President Bush or myself with American Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, we have raised the issue and confirmed or reiterated what our industry, our government and the provincial governments have stated during consultations with the U.S. commerce department, on Thursday and Friday.

I can assure the House that our government is working hard on this issue, at every possible level.

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

Mr. Speaker, this government has known for five years that the agreement would end on March 31, 2001.

We are fed up with all the talk. I live in a region that produces lumber. My constituents are fed up with the rhetoric. They want answers.

When will the government sign an agreement? We have had enough of the rhetoric.

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I wish I could understand the position of the Bloc Quebecois which has been asking us specifically not to negotiate anything with the United States government. The Bloc says “Let free trade develop as it should”. Bloc Quebecois members have been most vigilant in this House to prevent me from having a dialogue that could possibly lead to negotiations.

There is a blatant contradiction between what the Bloc Quebecois member just said and what the Quebec industry is asking, and what the party's head office, the PQ in Quebec City, is asking.

Health

[Rob Merrifield, Canadian Alliance, Yellowhead, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians do not need 18 months and a $15 million royal commission to recognize that there is an acute medical staffing shortage.

Federal funding cutbacks in the 1990s have led to massive layoffs of health professionals and decreased enrolments in our medical schools. Now Canadians are paying the price for that lack of foresight. The shortage of doctors, nurses and technicians are only expected to get worse.

Will the government wait behind the cover of the Romanow commission, or will it take immediate action and help increase quotas in our schools by this fall?