Debates of June 1st, 2001

Cedar Lodge Restoration Resort

[Lynne Yelich, Canadian Alliance, Blackstrap, SK]

Mr. Speaker, on June 16, Cedar Lodge Restoration Resort will be celebrating its fourth anniversary.

Cedar Lodge is a 44,000 square foot hotel and conference facility overlooking Blackstrap Lake, Saskatchewan. Although it is mostly known for its conference centre, Cedar Lodge has much more to offer.

Suzanne Claire, owner and operator, has committed herself to serving those in her community who are in need. Her staff, who are all volunteers, have a devotion to others to provide self-restoration and community outreach programs.

The value that Cedar Lodge fulfills in self-restoration include experienced staff and counsellors offering spiritual guidance and ongoing daily workshops. These services include stress management, defeating depression, addiction management and, most important, a surrounding of peace and tranquillity.

This project that Ms. Claire has initiated is self-reliant. With absolutely no funding from any level of government, she has made this self-healing centre a success through the generosity of the community and also through her strong faith.

Centres Of Excellence In Women's Health

[Karen Kraft Sloan, Liberal, York North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health recently announced that Health Canada will contribute an additional $1.7 million over the next year to the national Centres of Excellence for Women's Health.

There are five of these centres across Canada: in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. The centres use a multidisciplinary approach to address quality care in the health system, health protection, aboriginal women's health and rural women's health.

Since their establishment in 1995, the centres have played a critical role in more than 250 research projects.

I salute the world renowned work done by the Centres of Excellence in Women's Health and I look forward to the new research that will be done as a result of this funding.

Labour

[Dick Proctor, NDP, Palliser, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Retail Council of Canada gives a retailer of the year award but we should consider a sweatshop retailer of the year award. There is no shortage of worthy candidates from which to choose.

Nominations could consider the Disney Corporation which has sweatshops in China that force women to work seven days a week, 16 hours a day for the princely sum of $90 a month.

We could consider Walmart which manufacturers its Kathy-Lee products in southern China where workers are reportedly locked up for all but 60 minutes a day, work 90 hours a week and then charged most of those wages for room and board.

This year's sweatshop retailer of the year award goes to Reitman's stores which continues to import huge amounts of clothing from Burma in spite of the Canadian government policy asking businesses to refrain from trading with that country because its brutal military regime uses profits from the textile industry to finance the repression of its citizens.

National Children's Day

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, June 2 is National Children's Day. I salute the children of Quebec, Canada and the entire planet and want them to know how important they are to us.

It is a shame and a scandal to see that despite surpluses of close to $100 billion over the next four years, one child in five will continue to live in poverty in Canada.

A campaign in support of children's rights “Say Yes for Children” is currently getting started around the world. It is an international campaign intended to encourage people from all over to make a commitment to improve the living conditions and well-being of young people.

I invite parliamentarians and the public to say yes for children by signing the virtual petition at UNICEF's website.

Changing the world for children and doing it with them is a commitment that cannot be broken.

Quebec Minister Of Transport

[Yvon Charbonneau, Liberal, Anjou—Rivière-Des-Prairies, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to criticize the remarks made yesterday in the Quebec national assembly by the member for Joliette, Guy Chevrette, against the member for Lafontaine, Jean-Claude Gobé.

By calling him a “bloody Frenchman” and carrying on insulting him in the most offensive manner possible, Guy Chevrette has shown himself once again to be ill-mannered, impulsive and a worn out politician.

For the past 15 years, Mr. Gobé has legitimately represented the people of Lafontaine, a riding that includes part of the federal riding I represent.

With his racist remarks and insults, Guy Chevrette represents neither Quebecers nor, I hope, his political party. This man showered me with insults when I sat at the national assembly and since then.

Chevrette is worn out, finished, kept in office by a certain type of press to which he feeds his twaddle. Mr. Gobé has represented Quebec with dignity on several international missions to francophone countries and has my full support and that of my colleagues, especially the member for Brossard—La Prairie, under these unfortunate and unacceptable circumstances.

Rcmp

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

Mr. Speaker, I wish to commend RCMP Constable Jodeen Cassidy and Corporal Al Ramey for their successful efforts to locate a 19 year old accident victim who spent a horrible eight days trapped at the bottom of a deep ravine in a badly wrecked car.

Constable Cassidy piloted her RCMP helicopter on a determined and persistent mission until she located the crash. Corporal Ramey volunteered as a spotter and between the two of them, surely saved the life of Joe Spring.

These two RCMP officers went above and beyond the call of duty and we commend them wholeheartedly. We all wish young Joe Spring a speedy recovery and we again thank Constable Jodeen Cassidy and Corporal Ramey for their extraordinary efforts in this lifesaving rescue.

The Environment

[Aileen Carroll, Liberal, Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our government's sound economic planning is based on careful consideration of economic indicators like GDP and unemployment rates.

However these indicators alone are limited in their ability to assess our progress toward larger goals of environmental sustainability and health. That is why we strongly support the national round table on the environment and the economy and Statistics Canada in their development of environmental indicators.

The indicators will enable us to better establish a database to help us with our economic and environmental decisions.

As the finance minister has said, the existence of indicators compels decisions. These indicators will help us ensure that our children grow up in communities that offer clean air and water, are free of toxic chemicals and are open, natural spaces.

National Defence

[Grant Hill, Canadian Alliance, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the military says that it needs 35 helicopters to undertake its duties. How many will it get?

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

Mr. Speaker, the government is committed to the acquisition of 28 new shipborne maritime helicopters.

Through a competitive process that is fair, open and transparent, we will get the very best product at the very best price for the men and women of the Canadian forces to serve the country in the way we are committed to and the way they are committed to.

[Grant Hill, Canadian Alliance, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to note that the military asked for 35 and is now getting 28.

It also asked for helicopters that would allow them to be in the air for more than three hours. How long will these helicopters be able to be in the air under adverse circumstances?

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

Mr. Speaker, the requirements for this helicopter were written by Canadian military people, not by politicians.

The military is getting exactly what it wanted. Even in letters to the editor yesterday and today, vice-admirals have said these are the specifications that they want, not the 1960s dinosaur type tactics that the Reform Party is looking for.

[Grant Hill, Canadian Alliance, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that is a very interesting commentary. Military advisers said they wanted 35 helicopters. They wanted helicopters that could be the air for more than three hours. They are getting neither.

How does the parliamentary secretary explain the fact that political interference has intruded in what the military really needs and what it really wants?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, there has been no so-called political interference. The military developed a statement of requirements. The government accepted the statement of requirements. Under the Minister of National Defence and the Minister of Public Works and Government Services the procurement process is now under way.

[Peter Goldring, Canadian Alliance, Edmonton Centre-East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, cold war, hot war, no war, what is the difference when the chief of maritime staff says he cannot meet his domestic needs? Referring to reduced Sea King capability he says that it:

—will directly impact my ability to...maintain operationally ready maritime forces and to conduct surveillance and control of Canadian territory.

The end of the cold war is a poor reason to lower aircraft standards. Why are we not raising standards for our military?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the chief of maritime staff made it perfectly clear in his testimony before the parliamentary committee that “Canada's navy is more combat capable today than it was a decade ago during the Persian war conflict”, and the vice-admiral made it clear in his testimony that “the navy has been provided the resources it needs to fulfil its mandate and maintain combat capability”.

[Peter Goldring, Canadian Alliance, Edmonton Centre-East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we now have a hat trick of Liberal procurement screw-ups. There were shipping contracts given without tender that now discourage shipping bidders.

A jeep-like vehicle contract went to a sole European bidder because the government drove away Canadian competition.

After 25 years a helicopter contract is to be given for a replacement with only 75% of the capability of 40 year old Sea Kings. Why is the minister allowing Liberal politics to manipulate serious military procurement?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's premise is totally wrong. We are responding to the military's own statement of requirements.

I would think that a member of the Alliance Party is the last person in the world to talk about “screw-ups” unless he is looking at himself in the mirror.

Federal-Provincial Relations

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

Mr. Speaker, after more than two years, we finally got documents on the unity operation led by the Privy Council.

The purpose of the operation was to orchestrate the federal government's actions during the 1995 referendum held in Quebec. Several pages of the document were censored under the pretext that they could adversely affect federal-provincial relations.

Could the President of the Privy Council tell us how a document that was originally supposed to promote Canadian unity can now adversely affect federal-provincial relations?

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

Mr. Speaker, members opposite should have a more consistent approach.

Every now and then they complain; they claim that they do not have access to documents under the Access to Information Act. This is what they say. Of course that is rarely the case. In fact, it is never the case.

Today, they are claiming that they complied with the Access to Information Act, but did not have access to the documents that they wanted. There is something wrong with these questions.

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

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the government clearly did not understand the question and this is why it is addressed to the President of the Privy Council.

I am asking the President of the Privy Council, who boasts about clarity and transparency, to tell us: Is the document so bad and so much against Quebec that it still cannot be released six years later?

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

Mr. Speaker, the government House leader replied as regards compliance with the act. We do comply with the act.

The facts speak for themselves. The Government of Canada does not in any way act against Quebec. The Government of Canada protects the right of Quebecers to be full fledged Canadians and to fully enjoy the benefits provided by their great country.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Mr. Speaker, several passages in the documents we obtained after two years of waiting were blanked out in accordance with section 14 of the Access to Information Act, which provides as follows:

The head of a government institution may refuse to disclose any record requested under this Act that contains information the disclosure of which could—be injurious to the conduct by the Government of Canada of federal-provincial affairs.

How could these censored passages have been so controversial that they could have been injurious to the conduct of federal-provincial affairs by the Government of Canada?

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

Mr. Speaker, once again, we see how ridiculous the question is. We are being accused of obeying the law. We plead guilty. We always obey the law.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if it is true that the disclosure of these documents would have seriously damaged relations between Quebec and the federal government, will he explain how it is that the federal government acted contrary to its own interpretation of the legislation by faxing complete copies of these documents to the Liberal Party of Quebec just a few days before the 1995 referendum campaign?

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

Mr. Speaker, the government complied with the legislation, and the same type of legislation applies, as far as I know, to the executive council of the government of Quebec. The member is entirely free to ask the government of Quebec for any information he wishes.