Debates of May 8th, 2001

National Drinking Water Standards

[Gerry Ritz, Canadian Alliance, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Prime Minister would care to stand today in his place and make a commitment that communities in crisis, such as North Battleford, will get immediate emergency, and I stress emergency, federal funding to resolve their water crisis. Will he do that today?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, in North Battleford, just as last year in Walkerton, Health Canada has sent in emergency teams to work with provincial and municipal authorities to do the chemical analysis, to try to find the source of the problem and to provide assistance to those in need. Health Canada is proud to be part of that team. We are working very well with the people of North Battleford and we look forward to that continued collaboration.

[Gerry Ritz, Canadian Alliance, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, we already know what the problem is and it will take $20 million to fix it.

I want to ask the government to do something today. Will it step up to the bar and come up with some emergency funding to help us avert this crisis? It will take $20 million. Is the government up to the challenge?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I can tell the hon. member that in the most recent of the two infrastructure programs the government has invested in, we have committed $56 million to Saskatchewan alone, and that was just our share. That was one-third of the total outlay to put in new water and sewage treatment plants, and new infrastructure in cities and towns. It comes to a total of over $150 million when all three governments' contributions are combined. I believe that is a very significant contribution. We are prepared to continue along those lines.

Francophone Deputy Ministers

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, under this government, the number of francophone deputy ministers is constantly declining. Francophone deputy ministers now account for only 22% of the total, that is seven out of 31.

How does the government explain this drastic decline in the number of francophones holding positions of authority in the public service, with the proportion of francophone deputy ministers having gone from 32% to 20%?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we must take into account all the senior positions in the public service, because some assistant deputy ministers have more responsibilities than deputy ministers.

Francophones account for 41.2% of all associate deputy ministers. Overall, francophones account for 29.2%, while they make up 24% of the population. Francophones are very well represented in the public service.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, his deputy ministers will be proud of him.

When francophone deputy ministers accounted for 32% of the total number of deputy ministers, a political scientist, who is now the minister responsible for official languages, said that this situation reflected the government's political will to improve the fate of francophones.

Following the same logic today, how can we not conclude that there is a blatant lack of political will on the part of this government to improve the situation of francophones in the country, since the number of them holding positions of authority is constantly declining?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, 29% is more than the percentage of francophones in the overall population. I wonder if anglophones account for 29% of all deputy ministers in Quebec City.

National Drinking Water Standards

[Bob Mills, Canadian Alliance, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it has finally happened: Beware of drinking water. More and more Canadians are under a boil water order and are being told not to drink water from the tap. As usual, it seems as though the government has no plans.

Will the government take a leadership role and together with the provinces and territories develop a comprehensive plan on safe water?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the government provides leadership by sitting with provincial authorities, health experts and scientists to make sure there are guidelines in place to assist provinces in their responsibility to provide safe drinking water.

I cannot let the question pass without observing that when we introduced legislation some years ago, Bill C-14, to deal with a federal responsibility, namely the quality of the materials through which the water passes, that party opposed it and said that the legislation was unnecessary. I gather it has changed its tune.

[Bob Mills, Canadian Alliance, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that party is good at passing the buck, blaming someone else and blaming the provinces.

We are talking about leadership. We are talking about taking a plan and putting the plan into effect.

We hear about the dollars are being sent to the provinces and the municipalities, $4 billion dollars. They say it is not getting to them. The municipalities say they need over $16 billion just to handle the problems they have now. When will the government live up to its commitment?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we are happy to debate ideas but we do think that gamesmanship is really unnecessary.

Let us look at the Alliance Party's position on this very issue when I introduced Bill C-14. The member for Macleod said:

Doom and gloom is always wonderful, but Canadians do enjoy a pretty good standard of drinking water. Maybe some individuals who say that environmental legislation is totally ineffective should reflect upon the success we have had.

The member went on to say, referring to my bill at the time:

This bill is unnecessary. This bill is intrusive. This bill is potentially expensive.

What a change we have had across the way.

Statistics Canada

[Pierre Brien, Bloc, Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this year's Statistics Canada census will not yield any valid data on ethnic or cultural origin, because it deliberately skews responses by offering the additional category of Canadian, which has no scientific basis whatsoever.

Does the Prime Minister realize that the cabinet's manipulation of the census questions makes it impossible to monitor the rate of assimilation of this country's francophones?

[John Cannis, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, there is no manipulation when it comes to questions. As a matter of fact let me quote the privacy commissioner who feels very confident with what is happening. He said “I am satisfied that the questions are reasonable and appropriate from the point of view of privacy”.

[Pierre Brien, Bloc, Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as the minister did not understand my question, does the Prime Minister realize that the government's manipulations are in the process of transforming a scientific tool into a propaganda tool and, furthermore, cast doubt on the very principle of the independence of Statistics Canada?

[John Cannis, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, the only propaganda we hear comes from the Bloc Quebecois side not the Liberal government side. I am sad the Bloc Quebecois has taken this initiative to collect the statistics and to manipulate them.

Let me repeat again what the privacy commissioner said. He said “I am satisfied that the questions are reasonable and appropriate from the point of view of privacy. I am satisfied that all appropriate safeguards are in place to protect the privacy of individuals”.

Government Loans

[Brian Pallister, Canadian Alliance, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the industry minister said in the House that a $32 million loan to Buhler Versatile Inc. was a simple transfer of an existing loan. Wrong. The truth is the new loan has a lot more zeros: zero interest rate owing, zero security, zero jobs, zero respect for the Canadian taxpayer.

The political criteria for the loan was that it delayed layoffs in a Liberal riding until after the last federal election. What other criteria if any must a company meet in order to receive a gift like this from Industry Canada?

[John Cannis, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, the former Conservative, former Reform and now Alliance member is wrong, wrong, wrong. This loan, which had no guarantees attached to it, was given in 1987 by the former Conservative government. The premier and industry minister of Manitoba wrote to this government asking them to support the transfer.

[Brian Pallister, Canadian Alliance, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, there is incredible ignorance on that side of the House on this issue.

Since the member obviously does not know, nor do any of the other members it seems, I would like to inform them that BVI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Buhler Industries. It was created solely for the purpose of assuming a $32 million loan. BVI never owned the plant or the plant assets. The plant assets cannot be taken back as payment if BVI cannot pay the loan. At the time BVI received the unsecured loan, totally unsecured, it had total assets of $100. I have to ask on behalf of the Canadian taxpayers and the members of the Canadian Alliance, why did—

[The Speaker]

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry.

[John Cannis, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad he used the word unsecured because that is what that party is all about today. The loan was unsecured thanks to the former Conservative government.

Let me quote what the premier of Manitoba asked. “The consequences of the Buhler bid did not begin—”

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[John Cannis, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to answer the question but the Conservative Party here feels threatened.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. The parliamentary secretary wants to answer and we all want to hear the answer.

[John Cannis, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, maybe that is why it is now the fifth party.