Debates of April 6th, 2001

Summit Of The Americas

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, so far the government has been talking the talk about transparency, democracy and dialogue in connection with the integration of the Americas, but it has not walked the walk. Parliamentarians are excluded from the summit, other members of civil society are excluded, the provinces are excluded, and there is much public concern because no one knows exactly what is being negotiated.

What steps is the government going to take to prevent the Quebec summit from going down in history as the summit of exclusion?

[Denis Paradis, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, picking up on the end of that, I will just state that parliamentarians are absolutely not excluded. A debate was held here in the House.

Our standing committee on foreign affairs has been sitting for several weeks to hear representations from civil society, from organizations, and will continue to do so until the summit.

It is therefore totally wrong to claim that parliamentarians are excluded.

National Defence

[Art Hanger, Canadian Alliance, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, members of the Canadian forces are getting hit with another rent increase that will overshadow the recently announced pay raises. Here is a quote from one member of the military:

Being a member of the military I feel you should be made aware of the real facts the defence minister does not understand. My pay went up $74.63 a month. As of September 1, my rent will be increasing $100 a month.

On behalf of members of our forces, why does the defence minister boast about pay increases when in reality he is clawing it all back in rent increases?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has it all wrong. There was not only the pay increase on April 1 to which he refers, but there was a retroactive one that goes back to October 1999.

When we look at the rent increases over the last three years and we compare them against the pay increases we have given over the last three year period as well, the pay increases are far in excess, 10 times in excess of the rent increases which, by the way, are levelled off at 25% of the gross family income and meet the provincial general guidelines on rent increases.

[Art Hanger, Canadian Alliance, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that the soldiers do not see it the same way as the minister. Here is another quote that I would like to put to the minister from a family member of a soldier:

Everyone was so happy when it was announced that our soldiers were finally getting a pay raise, and it is true that this was a slap in the face when the defence minister gave his okay to up our rents. We are back to square one.

My question is for the minister. Why will the defence minister not drop this ridiculous rent increase and give our soldiers and their families a break for once? Roll back the rents.

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, for example a corporal would be getting a rent increase in the area of $35 to $40 a month but over the last three years has had a pay increase of some $600 a month.

Some 70% of the people who work for the military live in market accommodations. The other 30% do not. We as a government have an obligation, not just the military, to make sure that we are charging market rent. We also make sure that their rent is below 25% of their gross income and that their pay increases are far in excess of the rent increases.

Summit Of The Americas

[Jocelyne Girard-Bujold, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister for International Trade has always assured us that Quebec would be well represented at the Quebec City summit, because he and the Prime Minister are Quebecers.

However, the negotiating documents on the FTAA currently accessible to Quebec parliamentarians are not available in French.

How can the Minister for International Trade reconcile his statements with the fact that French, the language spoken by Quebecers, is excluded from the basic texts?

[Denis Paradis, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, there will be four official languages at the summit and official texts will be in French, English, Portuguese and Spanish.

[Jocelyne Girard-Bujold, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, does the Deputy Prime Minister realize the absurdity of the situation? The summit is taking place in Quebecers' national capital, in the largest French community in the Americas, yet Quebec is excluded and French is absent.

The only way for Quebecers to avoid such absurd and insulting situations is for Quebec to finally become a sovereign state.

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the question is based on an utterly false premise.

French will not be excluded from the summit of the Americas. At this summit, Canada will welcome the heads of all the countries from the Americas, and talks will be conducted in the four languages mentioned a few moments ago by my colleague.

Health

[Scott Reid, Canadian Alliance, Lanark—Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency tells us that it has put together a comprehensive plan to deal with an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Canada. Unfortunately it has not advertised and circulated this plan to industry stakeholders. This means that municipalities, local veterinarians and farmers do not know how they fit into contingency plans to contain an outbreak.

Yesterday at committee the CFIA stated that its plan would be put on its website before the end of the day. It was still not available this morning. Why is the CFIA still failing to adequately inform all industry stakeholders about its responsibilities in the event of an outbreak?

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

Mr. Speaker, we were very glad to have the CFIA at committee yesterday morning, along with the armed forces and one of the veterinarians from Kingston who was overseas to look at the situation firsthand.

We have many people from across Canada co-operating with the CFIA, the RCMP and the police. A plan has been in place and the plan is being updated and added to daily.

The CFIA had a rehearsal, an emergency preparedness planned with Mexico, the United States and Canada last November. We are doing everything possible.

[Scott Reid, Canadian Alliance, Lanark—Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease would shut down Canada's beef exports and that could cost the country billions of dollars.

The CFIA is only now developing a communications plan with Canadian travellers. It has failed to communicate its contingency plans to Canadian livestock producers. Good communications is one of the most valuable tools for keeping this disease out of Canada. It is crucial to contain foot and mouth disease if it arrives on our shores. Why has it taken the government so long to develop any communications plan?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have had a plan and it is in place. It is ready in case of any emergency at all. We are ready.

Besides the plan, we have videos that are being shown on all Air Canada flights. We have points of information at all the international airports. We are handing out literature in five languages on all incoming airplanes. We have staff working along with the Customs and Revenue Agency interviewing people who come from offshore. We are there and we have had this plan available for years.

Premier Of Quebec

[Gérard Binet, Liberal, Frontenac—Mégantic, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec's premier, Mr. Landry, continues in his unjust attacks on Canada. He continues to use the expression “night of the long knives”, in reference to the patriation of the constitution. And now he is accusing the Government of Canada of “viol des foules” or rape of the masses.

Will the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs tell the House what he thinks of this attempt to sidetrack the public debate?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the night of the long knives was a bloody settling of accounts between Nazis in Germany in 1934. Le viol des foules is the title—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Le viol des foules is the title of a classic story by Serge Tchakhotine about propaganda in totalitarian regimes. These attempts to establish a subliminal connection between Canada and the worst horrors of the 20th century are unworthy and serve only to discredit their perpetrators.

We continue to hope that the premier of Quebec will show himself worthy of his office and that he will agree to work more constructively with Canada.

Fisheries

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

Mr. Speaker, in 1996, crab fishers agreed to contribute to a solidarity fund in order to provide financial assistance to crew members and plant workers.

Crab fishers' contribution to this fund has dropped from 15 cents a pound to 5 cents a pound. Today, the fishery is still in crisis and thousands of people are affected.

Is the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans prepared to give the solidarity fund a quota so that, once and for all, a solution can be found to this situation and we do not have a repeat of the confrontations we have seen in recent years?

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

Mr. Speaker, the solidarity fund was something that crab fishermen participated in. It is a voluntary program. I congratulate them for taking the step. I know they are very much interested in participating again in that program, and I encourage them to do so.

As far as the quota system goes, we have a five year agreement with crabbers. We will continue to make sure we maintain that five year agreement until next year.

Highways

[Bev Desjarlais, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the transport minister acknowledged that Canada's highways are in terrible shape. Studies say it will take $17 billion to bring our highways up to minimum standards. It is that bad because of years of government neglect.

The $600 million the government is investing in highways over the next four years is not nearly enough. The minister has stated that if we have the resources we need to invest in infrastructure, but he also said toll roads are okay.

Toll roads are not okay. Privatizing our roads is not the answer. Will the government make a commitment to dramatically increase funding for highways?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that highways are primarily a responsibility of the provinces, although there is a tradition going back 80 years for federal involvement using the federal finance power.

A year ago the Minister of Finance announced $600 million for highways. I said publicly that this was just the start and I hoped there would be additional resources.

There are lots of calls upon the government's resources. The hon. member's party has been first and foremost in asking that money be allocated to health care, on which we all agree. We have to live within our means. We have to live within our own priorities.

Freshwater Exports

[John Herron, Progressive Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Mr. Speaker, a few minutes ago I gave notice to the government House leader of a question.

The member for Toronto—Danforth has produced in the past disturbing literature endorsing the export of bulk water. Last evening the same member said in interviews that the House had struck a committee on water with him as chair.

Will the government House leader confirm to the House that no such committee has been struck or established?

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

Mr. Speaker, indeed no such agreement has been reached, either among House leaders or otherwise, and no order has been passed by the House.

Reading the media quotes of some people in House leadership positions this morning, it does not appear that one will be forthcoming soon.

Agriculture

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

Mr. Speaker, if there is a blight for P.E.I. potato farmers, it is the attitude of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and his callous comments to P.E.I. farmers that they should consider getting out of the potato industry. He should be protecting, not provoking island farmers. One Liberal backbencher from Malpeque has denounced the minister. The rest are stony silent.

Today the P.E.I. legislature is debating a unanimous resolution calling on the federal government to close Canadian borders to potatoes from the United States.

Will the minister of agriculture retract his insults, travel to Prince Edward Island and personally meet with potato farmers? Will he support the island initiative to ban U.S. potatoes? They have to start planting—