Debates of Oct. 11th, 2002

Government Contracts

[Paul Forseth, Canadian Alliance, New Westminster—Coquitlam—Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the President of the Treasury Board.

The Solicitor General has repeatedly tried to hide behind the Treasury Board guidelines to excuse his apparent payoff to friends with taxpayer money.

Has the Treasury Board given the Solicitor General, who maybe I should call the “baron of boodle” down there, a good housekeeping seal of approval about the guideline rules? The last I heard was that Treasury Board officials were still checking into it. Were the Treasury Board guidelines followed, yes or no?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times in the House, Treasury Board guidelines were followed.

My hon. colleague is also well aware that Mr. Wilson is reviewing the case. He will report soon. Let us all wait until he reports.

Softwood Lumber

[John Duncan, Canadian Alliance, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, despite the minister's rhetoric, the long awaited softwood package announced this week fails on every front. No one is satisfied, not labour, not the companies and not the provincial governments.

Instead of creating common sense programs, the minister has announced spending to try to bolster his fading fortunes in British Columbia.

Workers who have already exhausted their EI benefits as a result of the softwood dispute are being told to go and collect welfare.

Why did the minister's announcement fail to deal with retaining these workers--

[The Deputy Speaker]

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Natural Resources.

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, let me quote for the hon. member. This is a quote from Trevor Wakelin, chairman of the Alberta Forest Products Association's Lumber Trade Council. He said:

We welcome the news. We're very pleased that the federal government has come forward to take care of our workers.

Let me give the member a quote from British Columbia. This is from John Allen, president of the B.C. Lumber Trade Association. He says:

By and large, I think it's a good start.

We agree with him. People should listen to the people who represent the lumber--

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member for Laval--Centre.

Immigration

[Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral, Bloc, Laval Centre, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Canada-U.S. agreement on safe third countries has apparently received approval from the federal cabinet. Now there are only a few formalities left before this agreement comes into effect, yet it has not even been discussed in the House of Commons.

Will the minister promise today to submit the text of this agreement to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration so that we can debate it and hear what experts have to say about it?

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I commend the member. She is aware that under section 5 of the Immigration Act, after approval from the special cabinet committee, the implementation regulations will be tabled before both Houses and then referred to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

I also agree that the regulations for implementation should be discussed. There is a process that must be respected. The cabinet has accepted it. Next, once the special cabinet committee has finished with it, we will follow the appropriate procedure.

[Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral, Bloc, Laval Centre, QC]

Mr. Speaker, given the major impact that implementation of this agreement will have, can the minister tell us if these application measures will be subject to a vote in the House, and what sort of timeframe are parliamentarians looking at?

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

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the member is taking the liberty of inventing parliamentary procedure during this morning's oral question period.

If I am not mistaken, she was the whip for her party and she knows the rules of Parliament quite well, and they are quite different from those she has described.

Employment Insurance

[Robert Bertrand, Liberal, Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle, QC]

Mr. Speaker, some expectant or nursing mothers in my riding who have opted for preventive withdrawal under the Employment Insurance Act end up with shorter maternity leave as a result, because they used up their EI benefits while on preventive withdrawal.

How does the Minister of Human Resources Development intend to solve this problem?

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, on September 26, the Minister of Human Resources Development announced a $1.3 million pilot project to help mothers who do not have full access to maternity and parental leave. In the next three years, this project will benefit some 400 women.

I must add that the pilot project will remedy the situation and help us bring Employment Insurance projects in line with benefits--

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca.

Zimbabwe

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

Mr. Speaker, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has hired thugs to rape, torture and murder innocent black civilians in his country. He has engineered a famine that is going to kill six million people in the next few months. These actions have been met with a stony silence on the part of the government.

Why has the government which likes to tout its African agenda not mentioned one word about this holocaust that is taking place in Zimbabwe?

[Aileen Carroll, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, we have indeed been calling for action through the Commonwealth. We were disappointed at the September 23 meeting of the troika. We continue to press as much as we can in that alliance with the Commonwealth to compel responsibility on the part of all members to bring action against Mr. Mugabe.

Foreign Affairs

[Deepak Obhrai, Canadian Alliance, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, just last week a Lesotho court convicted a Canadian company of bribing a local official. This company is a recipient of CIDA aid. This trend shows that a total lack of accountability of taxpayers' dollars is now creeping into our international dealings.

Will the government confirm that no Canadian official was implicated in this scandal?

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

Mr. Speaker, I missed the name of the company that the hon. member referred to. I only know of one case that is presently before the court and about which I cannot comment.

The member did not mention the name of the company in question, I have been told by my colleagues. If he does not mention the name, it is pretty hard to answer the question.

[The Deputy Speaker]

As we continue question period, I fell out of rotation so I will go back to the official opposition.

I would like to give members notice that in approximately five minutes at the conclusion of question period the Chair will be dealing with a matter of personal privilege. I would ask members as much as humanly possible to remain in their seats following question period.

Aboriginal Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, this week an internal report was released which was prepared by a former senior civil servant which found that the government was weak on big policy issues and that many existing policies do not work. This is no surprise to us and is no surprise to Canadian aboriginal people. That is why they have resoundingly rejected the government's proposals to set up 600 different new sets of laws, 600 enforcement officers, and 600 ombudsmen.

My question is for the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Setting aside the obvious excessive cost of such duplication, could the minister explain how 600 ombudsmen appointed by chiefs would be any more effective than an ethics counsellor appointed by a Prime Minister?

[Bob Nault, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, it will be amazing to see how long the member will be the critic for that party if he still does not know what the legislation says.

The legislation says specifically that through aggregation first nations can allow the tribal councils and/or larger organizations to deal with these matters. It is up to them to choose it that way. I am sure the member understands that first nations will want the efficiencies that this legislation will give them.

I recommend very strongly over the week when the member is at home that he read the legislation instead of asking questions that are very much nonsense. That is not what the legislation--

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member for Yorkton—Melville.

Firearms Registry

[Garry Breitkreuz, Canadian Alliance, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, handgun registration has been mandatory for the past 68 years. Now Statistics Canada tells us that homicides with handguns has more than doubled in the past 28 years. On the other hand, homicides with rifles and shotguns have dropped steadily from 64% to 27%.

The evidence is clear. Registering the firearms of millions of innocent citizens does not work. When will the minister look at the facts and scrap this billion dollar boondoggle?

[Martin Cauchon, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite amazing to hear the question. Obviously, the member's party is against protecting our nation. His party is against values as well.

When we made the decision on this side to proceed with the firearms registration process, it was about values. It was about making sure that we will keep building a safe society. When we look at the statistics, this is exactly what has happened with our society.

Let me report to the House as well that there are two phases: licensing and registration. At this point in time it goes very well with the registration system.

Highway Infrastructure

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Quebec had undertaken the impact studies for all of highway 185 and the tendering process for the draft proposal, indicating that this highway is a top priority.

How much longer will the people of eastern Quebec have to wait for the federal government to play its part?

[André Harvey, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian government is already participating in major projects in New Brunswick, and most notably with respect to the highway between Quebec City and Chicoutimi.

In the future, I wish Bloc Quebecois members would vote in favour of bills like Bill C-49, which will provide us with the money to achieve what they are asking for.