Debates of April 6th, 2001

Agriculture

[The Speaker]

The hon. the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

[Larry McCormick, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, let me be perfectly clear. At no time did the minister tell the producers of P.E.I. not to grow potatoes. The minister encouraged producers to make sure of their market before they grew more potatoes.

In fact, the minister continues to work hard, along with his officials, to develop further markets across Canada for our producers of potatoes in P.E.I. He should check the facts.

The Environment

[Grant McNally, Canadian Alliance, Dewdney—Alouette, BC]

Mr. Speaker, industrial construction waste is being dumped straight into the ground at an illegal landfill site on the Cheam Reserve in the Fraser Valley in B.C. Even the Canada Land Company has dumped construction waste into the site next to the Fraser River.

Why does the government continue to turn a blind eye when it knows that this illegal landfill site is in full operation?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I will take the matter up with the provincial minister. I would suggest, however, that the Alliance Party make clear whether it is asking the federal government to assume jurisdiction in a provincial sphere on issues of this nature before proceeding with questions of this type.

[Grant McNally, Canadian Alliance, Dewdney—Alouette, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister knows that there is a shared jurisdiction here, that there is an illegal landfill operating and that industrial waste is being dumped straight into the ground.

When a Global Television news crew went to this illegal dump it was assaulted, had its camera and van taken away, and was told to get out.

Why does the environment minister protect this kind of activity rather than the environment and those people? What is his answer to this?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should apologize for his comments. I have in no way endorsed any violence on any reserve or in any situation with the Global Television Network. His statement that we are somehow protecting this is outrageous. I suggest he apologize for it.

There are areas of shared jurisdiction, but I would explain to him a constitutional point that sometimes shared jurisdiction does not mean the federal government can take over that part of it which is provincial. Is that the position of his party?

Organized Crime

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Opération Printemps 2001 in Quebec has proven that organized crime generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually. In the case of the criminal group, Les Nomades, alone, the Quebec provincial police estimate profits of $100 million.

In view of the scope of the problem and the millions of dollars that go untaxed, will the Minister of National Revenue set up a special team of experienced investigators to comb through the tax returns of these wrongdoers currently on the inside?

[Martin Cauchon, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue and Secretary of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, permit me to congratulate my colleagues the Minister of Justice and the Solicitor General and this government on the absolutely incredible and wonderful legislation, which, really, will enable us to go after organized crime.

Obviously, I cannot discuss specifics, but I would simply like to say that the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency has a special program pertaining to the application of the law and audits of the application of the law in the area of organized crime as a whole.

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister could have been a little more loquacious in his response and he could have congratulated the Bloc Quebecois, because we have been calling for this legislation for five years. I am pleased to learn that the minister will do everything he can to recover this money.

I would remind him that there are some zealous employees in his department, who bleed the poor for $5,000. I would hope that the department will do everything, put its best investigators to work, and that each of the files of these criminals will be gone over with a fine tooth comb to recover the hundreds of millions of dollars they are not paying in taxes each year.

[Martin Cauchon, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue and Secretary of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, first, allow me to thank the Liberal members on this side of the House. They have done a remarkable job in our caucus to enable us to set up this legislation.

Second, in reference to the remarks of my colleague, he should perhaps look at the mandate of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency and at some of the initiatives undertaken respecting taxpayers as a whole, and, more specifically, the initiative on equity, considered a fine initiative for all taxpayers, both corporate and individual.

Third, I say what I promised. We have a special team doing audits and ensuring the law is applied to organized crime.

Highways

[Darrel Stinson, Canadian Alliance, Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we were told that the Trans-Canada Highway was the lifeline of Canada, yet in 12 short years 126 people were killed and more than 2,278 were injured on a short section of the highway out of Revelstoke, B.C.

Why is Canada still the only G-7 country with no national highway investment program?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know where my hon. friend has been for the last number of years. The fact is that for 80 years the federal government has contributed in some way to provinces for the construction of highways. We agreed on a basic 25,000 kilometres of the national highway network. The Minister of Finance announced $600 million for that purpose last year.

Yes, we would like more money and I am hopeful that more money will be applied. We have just announced funding allocations to the province of British Columbia. Hopefully that will deal with the very pressing problem in Revelstoke.

[Darrel Stinson, Canadian Alliance, Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Mr. Speaker, funds are not lacking. In B.C. alone last year the minister took more than $750 million in fuel taxes but put zero back into B.C. highways. How does the minister justify that?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I have been accused of a lot of things in my life but not of being a thief.

The fact is the Government of Canada uses fuel taxes as part of general revenues to fund the many government programs Canadians demand, including the $600 million that the Minister of Finance has announced.

It seems to me that the hon. member said in the preamble to his question that there is no funding problem. If that is the case then he should go to the British Columbia government to deal with the Revelstoke problem on an urgent basis.

Telecommunications

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board. The Government of Canada has set an ambitious goal of becoming the most connected government in the world to its citizens by 2004. How is the Government of Canada progressing with its government online initiatives?

Is progress being made with the government online project?

[Alex Shepherd, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Hull—Aylmer for his question. Government services to every citizen in Canada, whether they live in Toronto or Iqaluit, has been the goal of the government. A recent study ranked Canada as number one of all industrialized countries in connecting its citizens online.

I am proud to announce that in addition to the $160 million we have already put into this initiative, we have now put another $120 million into our budget for the 2001-02 fiscal year.

Empowering Canadians and giving them access to government information will ensure that Canadians and their parliamentarians will be more effective in addressing the needs of—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Saskatoon—Humboldt.

Bilingualism

[Jim Pankiw, Canadian Alliance, Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK]

Mr. Speaker, treasury board numbers confirm that for every increase in the number of federal public service jobs designated bilingual, there is a corresponding decrease in the participation rate of anglophones.

I should like to know what steps the government is prepared to take to end the systemic discrimination against English speaking Canadians with respect to federal public service hiring and promotion.

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

Mr. Speaker, this is probably one of the most insulting questions I have ever heard in the House.

I would hope that the Leader of the Opposition on the first day back will do what another member did yesterday and ensure that this member apologizes as well.

[Jim Pankiw, Canadian Alliance, Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it is the Liberal government that should apologize for the fact that its application of forced bilingualism is costly, discriminatory and a source of national divisiveness and disunity.

Notwithstanding, I ask the justice minister why she demanded and received intervener status on behalf of Ontario francophones in the Montfort case but has not requested intervener status to protect Quebec anglophones from that province's bill 170.

She is prepared to defend the interests of French speaking people in Ontario, but she is not prepared to defend the interests of English speaking people in Quebec. Why the double standard?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I sincerely hope that is not the official position of the Alliance Party. If it is, it is a complete departure from the very honourable statement made by the former leader of the Reform Party, Preston Manning, when he said he understood the benefits of bilingualism to all Canadians.

[The Speaker]

The hon. member knows she meant the hon. member for Calgary Southwest and not his name.

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Hamilton East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, he went so far as to work in French, to try to learn French, because of his belief in a country where both official languages are recognized. I hope that this is not the new Canadian Alliance policy.

Fisheries

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Matapédia—Matane, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in order to settle the dispute between the Quebec and Newfoundland fishers over the Greenland turbot, the minister has mandated a group of three experts to provide him with recommendations.

The experts from Newfoundland and New Brunswick recommend that Newfoundland be given a share of Quebec's traditional quota, while the Quebec expert proposes increasing Quebec's share.

Which recommendation does the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans intend to follow, the one from the maritimes experts, who again propose to trample on Quebec interests, or the one from the Quebec expert?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman is referring to Greenland turbot-halibut.

We set up a panel with Judge La Forest and two other members. It looked at the whole issue and listened to both parties, the Quebec fleet as well as the Newfoundland fleet. It submitted a report, which I will be reviewing closely before making a decision.