House of Commons Hansard #11 of the 37th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was kimberley.
David Anderson LiberalMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, I urge the hon. member to look at the throne speech where he will see references to contaminated sites under federal jurisdiction. We will of course be putting out more information on this before the House as time goes on.
I entirely agree with him. We certainly should react as quickly as we can to reduce the number of contaminated sites and reduce the impact on health and the environment of those areas.
Kevin Sorenson Canadian Alliance Crowfoot, AB
Mr. Speaker, while the Solicitor General desperately tries to dig himself out of the hole he created while sole sourcing contracts to his political pals, the dirt keeps piling up around him. The rot runs deep and wide in his department. According to auditors, Correctional Service Canada handed out millions of dollars while “ignoring rules”.
Could the Solicitor General explain how $4 million worth of grants were awarded by one of his departments when in some cases applications were never even submitted?
Lawrence MacAulay LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, if my hon. colleague had any desire for an answer he would have given me some detail before he asked such a specific question.
The fact of the matter is that all departments are under the scrutiny of the Auditor General and if anything inappropriate happens it will be found and attended to.
Kevin Sorenson Canadian Alliance Crowfoot, AB
Mr. Speaker, we have asked the Solicitor General the same questions for the past week and he still has not come up with those answers.
The auditors found that 30% of $4 million worth of grant agreements were not compliant with Treasury Board guidelines.
Could the Solicitor General to explain his department's awarding of grants when there was no documented evidence that the recipients met the specific criteria needed?
Lawrence MacAulay LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, on the first part of my hon. colleague's question, I have answered the questions for two weeks for him but he cannot seem to absorb the answer.
The fact is that any advice from the Auditor General is taken very seriously by my department and anything that requires adjustment will be adjusted.
Michel Guimond Bloc Beauport—Montmorency—Côte-De- Beaupré—Île-D'Orléans, QC
Mr. Speaker, at the latest Francophonie summit in Beirut, which the Prime Minister of Canada attended, the participants reaffirmed, in the presence of Algeria, their desire to work to maintain peace in the world, the francophone world in particular.
The Foreign Affairs web site identifies Algeria as a place Canadian tourists should avoid. Can the Minister of Foreign Affairs tells us whether he supports his department's warning?
Bill Graham LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, Canada takes great pride in being part of the Francophonie and we are proud of the Prime Minister's participation at Beirut.
We work in conjunction with all of the countries of the Francophonie, of course. Algeria, or certain regions of it, remains unsafe. It is, of course, our duty to inform Canadian citizens of this, but we continue to work with Algeria, with the Francophonie, and with the rest of the world to try to bring peace to all regions of the world.
Michel Guimond Bloc Beauport—Montmorency—Côte-De- Beaupré—Île-D'Orléans, QC
Mr. Speaker, my supplementary question is for the Deputy Prime Minister.
How can he explain that the moratorium on deporting Algerian nationals back to their country of origin has been lifted, whereas Canadian nationals are being asked to avoid this country because of the indiscriminate killings of innocent civilians that have gone on for years and continue to this day, with at least seven more fatalities this past weekend?
Mark Assad LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
Mr. Speaker, the reason the moratorium was lifted was to regularize the system. Canada has no intention whatsoever of either organizing a blanket deportation or granting a general amnesty. Each individual case is examined on its own merits, with compassion and on humanitarian grounds.
Monte Solberg Canadian Alliance Medicine Hat, AB
Mr. Speaker, the Solicitor General has been a very busy boy. Now we discover that he has broken every rule in the book to funnel a half a million dollar grant to a summer theatre program run by yet another brother, James MacAulay, but the program criteria specifically prohibits grants for projects of a “recreational nature”, like maybe a theatre.
Could the minister explain why the rules do not have to be followed if the grant recipient is family?
Government GrantsOral Question Period
Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte Newfoundland & Labrador
Liberal
Gerry Byrne LiberalMinister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency)
Mr. Speaker, they obviously understand the answer, the answer being of course that the grant was not provided to any family member.
An application was received by the Community Economic Development Organizations which represents community representatives from the province of Prince Edward Island. When the grant was accepted it was for a cultural initiative. It was accepted to increase tourism visitation in Prince Edward Island. That is what was done.
The continuous references to organizations being the family property of a MacAulay member is absolutely and categorically false. I encourage the hon. members opposite to reflect on the fact that Prince Edward Island has a series of non-profit organizations--
Monte Solberg Canadian Alliance Medicine Hat, AB
Mr. Speaker, I guess we should forget Sleepless in Seattle . First we have clueless in Cardigan and now we have stunned in St. Barbe.
The fact is the program criteria says that grants are to go to knowledge based, economy type projects. This obviously does not qualify. Specifically it says that it should not go to recreational type programs. Why is it that when it comes to family members these criteria do not apply?
Government GrantsOral Question Period
Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte Newfoundland & Labrador
Liberal
Gerry Byrne LiberalMinister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency)
Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Alliance Party has said on a regular basis that Atlantic Canadians are defeatists. It has said on a regular basis that we should basically just drift away from Canada.
When it wants to say stunned or it wants to say that we are defeatists, what it really wants to do is project the image that Atlantic Canadians are second class citizens, and this side of the House will have nothing to do with that.
Pauline Picard Bloc Drummond, QC
Mr. Speaker, in his last budget in December 2001, the former Minister of Finance was predicting a surplus of $2 billion for the year 2002-03. Today, six months from the end of the fiscal year, the current Minister of Finance is refusing to provide a credible estimate.
How is it that the government could give us an estimate of the budget surplus 15 months in advance, yet now it refuses to do so five months before the end of the current fiscal year?
John Manley LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, we all know that forecasts are always difficult to make. Take the example of the U.S., where there was a $400 billion refund; now they have a deficit of $165 billion.
I am very proud of the fact that, here in Canada, we have a surplus and we have paid down the debt with this surplus.
Pauline Picard Bloc Drummond, QC
Mr. Speaker, clearly the current minister has kept the same approach as his predecessor.
Will the Minister of Finance acknowledge that the reason he is denying the existence of the fiscal imbalance and hiding the surplus like this is to avoid his obligations and deny Quebec and the provinces the opportunity to invest the money in health and education?
John Manley LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, the surplus is not being hidden. In fact, we know that the federal government's debt load is twice that of the provinces.
Canadians everywhere will benefit from our reducing the debt. It is in the interests of all Canadians. This does not indicate any fiscal imbalance at all. In fact, we have done a good job of managing the books at the federal level.
Stockwell Day Canadian Alliance Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC
Mr. Speaker, our Prime Minister spent his weekend at the francophonie summit rubbing elbows with a world renowned self-proclaimed terrorist whose stated goal is to disrupt any prospects for peace in the Middle East.
Why did the Prime Minister at some point during this conference, while he was out on his weekend pass, not publicly condemn this terrorist and demand an apology from the Lebanese president who was already himself making one-sided comments about the Middle East situation?
Bill Graham LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister was one among many world leaders, presidents of many countries invited to an event to address the opening of the francophonie summit. Lebanon, the host country, has control of the invitations. Those invitations are not vetted by the Prime Minister or any other attendee.
The francophonie summit permits us an opportunity for dialogue on cultures, on civilizations, on human rights and on other issues.
Our policy on Hezbollah is clear. We condemn its military wing as terrorists and we engage in dialogue with those with whom we wish to gain peace.
Stockwell Day Canadian Alliance Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC
Mr. Speaker, our Prime Minister was one of many leaders. It is too bad he did not make Canadians feel proud by being the one to condemn the fact that terrorists were there.
The government continues to refuse to seize the assets and ban the fundraising activities of Hezbollah on Canadian soil while our Prime Minister schmoozes with their people on other soil. There is no guarantee that the funds raised in Canada will not be used for terrorist activities. Why will the government not ban their activities and cease the fundraising of that terrorist group here in Canada?
Bill Graham LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, our position on Hezbollah is very clear. It is the same as that of the British government and most other governments of the world. We have condemned the military wing as a terrorist organization.
The policy of the government and the tradition of this country has always been one of seeking dialogue as a way of solving problems. It would not be consistent with that approach and in trying to defeat terrorism for us to name Lebanese members of parliament, teachers, doctors and farmers in southern Lebanon as terrorists.
Paddy Torsney Liberal Burlington, ON
Mr. Speaker, at the fifth meeting of the International Network for Cultural Policy in Cape Town last week ministers of culture and senior officials from 21 countries expressed their support for an international instrument on cultural diversity.
Could the Minister of Canadian Heritage inform the House of the progress of those discussions and on the need for such an instrument?
Sheila Copps LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the consensus that has been achieved at the International Network for Cultural Policy, including for the first time the government of China's presence, in the search for convention to deal with cultural diversity outside the WTO is that there is a growing world belief that to have true globalization we need to have a dialogue among cultures. One of the ways of ensuring that is an instrument which was subsequently endorsed at the Sommet de la francophonie and for which Canada is a founding partner. The INCP has been working very hard and will continue to work toward an international protection for all the world's voices.
Bill Blaikie NDP Winnipeg—Transcona, MB
Mr. Speaker, I cannot compete with the member for Medicine Hat when it comes to alliteration, but I would like to ask the Minister of the Environment about his kamikaze strategy on Kyoto.
We support the Kyoto accord, but the federal government is making it harder. We are not sure which is the greatest enemy of the accord: the resistance of certain provinces or the incompetence of the federal government.
I want to ask the Minister of the Environment, what gives? You cancelled the meeting. Do you have a plan? Will you ratify by the end of the year? You would not answer the question earlier. Will you commit to ratifying the Kyoto Accord before the end of this year like you promised over and over again?