Debates of April 25th, 2001

Lumber Industry

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

Mr. Speaker, on April 9 the Minister for International Trade held a press conference in which he stated that there was no urgency in the softwood lumber issue because “there is no way countervailing duties could apply before August”.

This is wrong. The duties could be retroactively charged as of yesterday. Already softwood lumber orders are being cancelled.

Will the minister finally call together the industry from coast to coast and once and for all establish a plan of action the industry can live with?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, we have been in consultation with the industry on a daily basis for a very long time. We have been monitoring the file extremely closely. We will be having a stakeholders conference in the next few weeks when the industry also feels that the time is opportune.

I think it is very important that as a country we remain united. We should not play one region against the other. We should try not to panic. We should not play the game of the Americans, because we know that on this issue, east and west, Atlantic and Quebec, we are not subsidizing our industry and we should say it loud and clear.

Industry Canada

[Charlie Penson, Canadian Alliance, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, another damaging audit has condemned Industry Canada in the handling of the access.ca project.

This audit found that the information highway branch bypassed the federal contracting system, backdated agreements and could not confirm whether those companies paid to deliver the program had fulfilled their obligations.

Will the minister explain why he would tolerate such shoddy and dubious management in this project?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am also answering for the Minister of Industry today.

The hon. member has asked an interesting question. I will have to check to see whether what he is saying is accurate. I will look into it, and either myself or the Minister of Industry will get back to him before too long.

[Charlie Penson, Canadian Alliance, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, while he is looking into it, maybe he could look into a couple of other matters.

This is a follow up audit to another that raised serious questions last October. Despite being given explicit training on correct procurement procedures after the last audit, the director continued to flaunt the rules. In fact this individual pressured fellow employees to approve questionable invoices and told them not to express concerns about the contracting process.

Will the minister or the Deputy Prime Minister assure the House that he will either direct the branch to follow the government's procurement rules or else set them free to the private sector?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, first I will check on the accuracy of what the hon. member has said. We will look into this and provide him with an answer.

In the meantime, I would love to see a management audit of the Alliance Party. I am sure there would be some shocking results in it to date. Where is its management audit?

Cheese Import

[Marcel Gagnon, Bloc, Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, under the WTO agreement, Canada may import 20,400 tonnes of cheese annually. But, without any trade agreement requiring it to do so, Canada last year imported 9,000 additional tonnes of cheese.

Will the Minister for International Trade confirm that the government issued such permits and that it is thus continuing to import cheese in excess of WTO quotas?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the Canadian government always respects its international obligations.

It is true that we occasionally go beyond our obligations when it comes to international trade. This can sometimes arise because Canadian consumers are asking for more of certain specific products. When they justify their need for those products, we can then exceed quotas to meet domestic needs.

[Marcel Gagnon, Bloc, Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure that the minister understood the question.

This is an issue that is detrimental to the interests of dairy producers in Quebec and in Canada, who already have excess inventory on their hands.

Since Canada is under no obligation in this regard, will the minister undertake not to issue any more such supplementary import permits?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly do not issue supplementary import permits when products are not requested or required in connection with the needs of certain consumers or of our market.

We definitely have the best interest of our dairy industry's cheese producers at heart. We are regularly prepared to promote their interests outside the country, just as we are going to keep on respecting, but not exceeding, our international trade obligations, barring a specific requirement in our economy.

Cida

[Deepak Obhrai, Canadian Alliance, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, an internal evaluation conducted by the United Nations development program exposed its west African gun control project as a complete failure.

Unfortunately for Canadian taxpayers the minister responsible for CIDA sunk $400,000 into this botched project. Why does this minister continue to give hundreds of thousands of dollars with no monitoring in place to ensure value for taxpayer money?

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Minister for International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, one of the main priorities of my department is peace building and conflict resolution and to try to bring peace in different parts of the world where thousands of people are still dying.

It is absolutely critical that we continue to assist and work very hard to ensure that peace is negotiated and brought about and victims get the kind of assistance they need.

[Deepak Obhrai, Canadian Alliance, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the question was regarding gun control in west Africa. According to the minister's draft long term strategy document, “CIDA finds itself managing a large number of projects, with fewer and fewer resources and more and more demands on staff time and resources”.

How could the minister guarantee taxpayer value for aid dollars when the number of projects remain constant but the resources to monitor them are shrinking?

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Minister for International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, I assure the member that every program at CIDA is thoroughly monitored. In fact the auditor general in all audits said that 97% of all the programs that were audited showed 100% compliance.

We are very careful and the department is extremely vigilant in all the programming that we do.

National Defence

[Stephen Owen, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, serious allegations were made in the House yesterday regarding living conditions on Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt. I call on the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence to respond to this allegation.

[John O'Reilly, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the member's question is a good one.

Over $5 million has been invested in health and safety repairs for married quarters over the last two years at CFB Esquimalt. The health and safety of all members of the Canadian forces is our first priority. We intend it to continue to be our first priority.

Citizenship And Immigration

[Inky Mark, Canadian Alliance, Dauphin—Swan River, MB]

Mr. Speaker, today Canada's privacy commissioner is questioning the practice by Canada Customs and Revenue of opening mail on behalf of Immigration Canada and other departments. The commissioner had previously suggested that the immigration department obtain a search warrant to open large suspicious parcels. That suggestion was rejected by the minister of immigration.

My question is for the immigration minister. Why did she balk at getting search warrants to open these packages and not protect the privacy of the citizens of the country?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have asked my departmental officials to verify that the powers which are in the hands of customs and revenue are in compliance with the law which was passed by the House.

Certainly privacy is a paramount consideration. However the member should know that we are very concerned about fraudulent documents which are coming into Canada in packages that are properly opened by customs and revenue to ensure the national security interests of all Canadians are considered as a priority.

[Inky Mark, Canadian Alliance, Dauphin—Swan River, MB]

Mr. Speaker, are we to understand that the privacy of our citizens is less important than the convenience of the immigration department?

I am not disputing the need for confiscation of contraband items, but protecting the privacy of Canadian citizens should be top priority, not invading it.

What are the minister's specific plans to ensure that the mail which crosses our borders will not be tampered with unnecessarily?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member should know that Citizenship and Immigration Canada does not have any legislative authority to open mail. The department does not do that.

It is Customs and Excise Canada that opens mail where it has reasonable grounds to believe that the package contains documents which may be fraudulent. Those are then given to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration as evidence and can be seized under the Immigration Act. That is in the national security interests of Canada and, as I said before, privacy concerns are always paramount.

Lumber

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the softwood lumber agreement ended on April 1, and producers in Quebec and Canada are concerned by the turn of events and the attitude of the Americans, who are calling for the imposition of countervailing duties.

Could the Minister for International Trade not show a little more initiative and be a little less professorial with American producers by forming a delegation to explain just what goes on in the lumber industry in Canada?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member very much for her constructive suggestion.

Every possible way to inform American opinion and to make it clear to the U.S. Congress just how things are and how they work in Canada would be useful.

I can assure the member that the Canadian embassy has done a magnificent job over the past year and that we have more support in Washington than we have had for a very long time.

I invite all of my colleagues visiting Washington or meeting American legislators to be sure to pass on accurate information to build our case.

International Co-Operation

[Colleen Beaumier, Liberal, Brampton West—Mississauga, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on Monday an historic labour agreement was signed with Costa Rica.

My question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour. Could she explain to the House the importance of this agreement?

[Judi Longfield, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, this agreement on labour co-operation with Costa Rica demonstrates Canada's commitment to promoting and protecting worker rights in the context of the trade liberalization of the Americas.

Both countries have pledged to enforce their laws relating to the 1998 ILO declaration on fundamental rights and principles at work.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of the recipients of the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award.

Her Excellency the Governor General presented these awards at a ceremony this morning at her residence. The Governor General's Caring Canadian awards go to persons who make a significant voluntary and unpaid contribution to their fellow citizens and to their community.

I know all hon. members join me in saluting the selfless efforts of these caring Canadians.