Debates of May 4th, 2001

Parental Leave

[Caroline St-Hilaire, Bloc, Longueuil, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Ministre de la Famille du Québec announced that the Quebec parental leave program might have to be deferred until January 2003, because of the federal government's refusal to transfer to it the sum of $500 million pursuant to section 69 of the Employment Insurance Act.

What explanation is the federal government going to give to the Quebec families forced by its stubbornness and confrontational policies to wait yet another year before being able to benefit from a parental leave program tailored to their needs?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada has been providing maternity benefits to Canadians for more than 30 years and parental benefits for the last decade. The initiative builds on a very longstanding foundation. The extension of maternity and parental benefits has been provided to Canadians at no additional cost. In fact for the last seven years premiums have gone down under the government.

Currently there are employers and provincial governments that provide some top ups, and the province of Quebec is perfectly at liberty to do that, building upon the very sound foundation that the Canadian system provides.

[Caroline St-Hilaire, Bloc, Longueuil, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is a broad consensus in Quebec on this matter. Even the Quebec national assembly has unanimously supported a motion demanding that the federal government transfer the necessary funds to create its own parental leave program.

When is the federal government finally going to respect Quebec consensus, which it seems to take an unhealthy delight in systematically ignoring?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada has obligations to all Canadian workers. That is why we have established a very sound system that has served well over time. As I indicated earlier, in the case of maternity benefits they have been there for 30 years. In the case of parental benefits they have been there for 10 years. It provides a very sound system, at no additional cost.

Where provinces or employers wish to build upon that, they are certainly at liberty to do so, based upon that very solid foundation put in place by the national government for all Canadians.

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable that the Minister of Natural Resources should be answering questions dealing with family issues, while the President of the Treasury Board, who is from Quebec and who should understand these issues, remains silent.

The federal government does not understand that the Quebec parental leave plan fits the Quebec reality.

I am asking the government, and more specifically the President of the Treasury Board, if the federal government will finally recognize, as the Quebec government did, that a parental leave program must be part of a family policy rather than part of an employment insurance program, and must certainly not be connected to the Department of Natural Resources.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman shows a surprising lack of knowledge about the parliamentary system. Today I have the privilege of answering questions in the House on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of Human Resources Development, and I am proud to do so.

I am proud to explain to him once again that the Government of Canada through the employment insurance system makes enormous provision for dealing with the needs of families raising children. Maternity benefits and parental benefits are part of that.

In the last year we have taken a major step to extend those benefits to the advantage of all Canadians everywhere, in every corner of the country, and where provinces and private sector employers wish to—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot.

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is simply unbelievable that the Minister of Natural Resources should be answering these questions.

Is the federal government saying that the family is not important, that it is not important to have children? Is it also saying that Quebec will have to wait until it is sovereign before it can have a family policy? It will happen and we will help make it happen.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, the government has demonstrated by its actions an enormous commitment to all Canadian families.

I think, for example, of the child tax benefit which was initiated by the government. In every budget since it was introduced it has been increased by the government to the advantage of Canadian children. It will accumulate to something in the order of $9 billion worth of benefits to Canadian children over the course of the next number of years.

On top of that were the maternity benefit extension, the parental benefit extension, and the early childhood development provided for in the last budget was at $2.1 billion. This government—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Halifax.

The Environment

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday Canada lost the Metalclad decision in the British Columbia supreme court. So did Mexico but, more important, so did the environment.

A U.S. corporation circumvented environmental legislation so that it could foist a toxic waste dump on an unwilling community. Is the government now prepared to admit chapter 11 of NAFTA is not working well, is not a good clause as the Prime Minister insists but instead constitutes a hazard to our environment?

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

Mr. Speaker, once again the leader of the NDP misquotes the Prime Minister. What he said in his press conference following the summit was that the clause works reasonably well.

The minister had given the full context of our trade with the United States. The Minister of International Trade has said the same thing.

There have been attempts to misrepresent the statements of both gentlemen but they do not bear scrutiny. The government has been very clear. It wants to seek clarification of the clause but it is not prepared to see a reopening of that clause.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the clarification of the clause came yesterday from the B.C. supreme court. It is a threat to our environment.

The government is so exclusively preoccupied with protecting the commercial interests of corporations it ignores the fact that yesterday's Metalclad decision increases the cost of protecting our environment, in this case by over $16 billion U.S. to ban a toxic waste dump.

How could the government maintain the myth that NAFTA chapter 11 is not a threat to our environment?

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

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the NDP may be of the mind that nothing is being done but she is simply misinformed if that is the case.

There are ongoing meetings with officials. The minister is taking up the matter of chapter 11 with his counterpart ministers. I repeat, the minister and the Prime Minister have been very clear. The government feels that in certain cases chapter 11 has been expanded beyond the original intention of the signers. It seeks clarification and that there is the wherewithal within NAFTA to achieve that clarification.

Fisheries

[Loyola Hearn, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Last year the minister issued a quota of 1,500 metric tonnes of Newfoundland northern shrimp to P.E.I.

Will the minister tell us whether he has or is about to issue the same amount, perhaps with an increase, and if that temporary measure as he said last year has now been made permanent?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have seen a tremendous amount of growth in the northern shrimp resource. We have gone from 37,000 tonnes some five or six years ago to 112,000 tonnes.

We need to make sure that conservation is a priority. I am still looking at the plan and no final decision has been made. I can assure the hon. member that conservation will be our number one priority to make sure we harvest the resource in a sustainable way for all Canadians.

[Loyola Hearn, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, that is the same answer as last year. I would like to ask the minister about the recreational fishery.

Newfoundland over the last few years has been limited to a fishery on a couple of weekends. This year the member for Gander—Grand Falls told Newfoundlanders that the minister would allow a lengthy fishery where each individual would be able to buy 40 or 50 tags for the recreational fishery in the province.

Will the minister explain what type of recreational fishery he plans for the province of Newfoundland this year?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question because when I first became Minister of Fisheries and Oceans there were representations from the Newfoundland government. It did not want to have a recreational fishery only on a two weekend basis. It wanted the fishery ongoing throughout the season with proper tags, control and management.

This year we will be doing that on a pilot project basis, as the representation from the Newfoundland government. We will ensure there are proper tags and proper licensing so that we have better management and control of the recreational fishery. It will be done on a pilot project basis. It was done as a result of the request by Newfoundland government. We will be watching closely how it works.

Health

[Keith Martin, Canadian Alliance, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, 15 year old Vanessa Young's tragic death could have been prevented if she had all the relevant information about her medication.

The health minister wants to simply warn people through his website. That is feeble. How could the health minister offer such a feeble solution to such a life and death problem?

[Yvon Charbonneau, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health has answered these questions over the past several days.

He said that he wanted to implement all the recommendations of the coroner's jury regarding this tragic case. Some of these recommendations will seek to improve the public information system on drugs.

[Keith Martin, Canadian Alliance, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the problem is the answers we are getting are simply not good enough. This is a life and death problem and we need to prevent these problems from occurring in the future. There are solutions available.

Sana Sukkari is a pharmacist at Brant Memorial Hospital. She has put forth a very important solution. Her research shows that Health Canada could prevent deaths such as Vanessa's by standardizing drug information leaflets so patients get the vital information they require.

My question is simple. When will the health minister implement this common sense, life saving solution?

[Yvon Charbonneau, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Health indicated, he is open to examining all the suggestions made, particularly those that seek to improve the system. He will certainly take heed of the hon. member's suggestion.

Employment Insurance

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, rather than improving matters, the federal government is stubbornly refusing to transfer funds to Quebec, preferring to go after young people, which is no help at all to parents wishing to have children.

Again today, it is attacking women by appealing a Winnipeg umpire's ruling that the EI plan was unfair and discriminatory toward women.

When is the government going to change its attitude and give up this policy of systematic confrontation?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, in this case the Canada Employment Insurance Commission made a unanimous decision to pursue a judicial review of the umpire's ruling. The scope of the umpire's ruling went beyond the particular case under consideration. Therefore the commission felt that it was important to seek that verification from the courts with respect to that ruling.

However the hon. member should note that we have taken a number of steps in the House to ensure that the employment insurance program is more responsive to the needs of Canadians. I think of Bill C-2 which the Bloc voted against.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the President of the Treasury Board, who comes from Quebec.

Are attacking unemployed workers, women and young people, ignoring self-employed workers and making life hard for young Quebec families, the values that the Prime Minister of Canada was talking about yesterday in Montreal? Was that what he really meant to say?