Debates of Oct. 29th, 2002

Father Lindsay

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the entire Lanaudière region will be watching full of pride on Friday, when Father Lindsay receives the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts, during the ceremony for Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.

Appointed head of the Jeunesses musicales de Joliette in 1957, a founder of the Festival-Concours de musique de Lanaudière in 1961, he founded the Lanaudière musical camp six years later. That same year, he created the Centre culturel de Joliette, which won the ADISQ award that year for broadcasting. In 1978, he founded the famous Festival d'été de Lanaudière, of which he is artistic director.

For almost half a century, a great many young and not so young people from Lanaudière and Quebec have become hooked on classical music, thanks to him.

Father Lindsay, the musical and artistic communities of Lanaudière and all of Quebec congratulate you, and thank you.

Canadian Coast Guard

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Musquodoboit Valley—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I stand on behalf of the men and women of our Coast Guard from the west coast, the east coast, and out of the central and Arctic divisions.

Ever since the Coast Guard merged with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans we have seen nothing but disaster after disaster happen to our Coast Guard facilities across this country, from destaffing of lighthouses to decommissioning buoys across the waterways and navigable waters, as well as the tying up of ships.

The reality of the situation is that we simply cannot defend our coastlines from illegal fishing, environmental pollution, illegal immigration and so on. The men and women of our Coast Guard deserve a lot better from the government.

I encourage the government through the minister of DFO to put the resources into DFO to ensure that our Coast Guard is a viable operation now and in the future.

Kyoto Protocol

[Stephen Harper, Canadian Alliance, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, at yesterday's federal-provincial meeting all provinces rejected the federal PowerPoint presentation on the Kyoto accord as totally inadequate. The provinces all expect to have major impacts on their economies and they are calling for a first ministers' conference before ratification of the accord.

Why will the Prime Minister not work cooperatively with the provinces, develop a real plan, and agree to a first ministers' conference before ratification?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have been working with the provinces for years on this file. In fact we started to talk about climate change in 1990 and we are in 2002 today.

My ministers have been involved in many federal-provincial conferences over the years. There was one yesterday. They made progress and there will be another one three weeks from now. We should let the ministers work.

However, a lot of people would like us to delay and delay, and that is not the plan of the government. The time has come for us to make up our minds.

[Stephen Harper, Canadian Alliance, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the government did nothing for five years on the Kyoto accord. It can now take the time to do things right.

After five years the government has no clear targets, no specific actions, and no comprehensive set of cost estimates. This accord will also have an impact on provincial jurisdiction. Without a first ministers' conference there will be no provincial cooperation.

Can the Prime Minister explain to us, how can the federal government possibly implement the Kyoto accord without provincial consent and cooperation?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is the same situation for the provincial government and the federal government. We must respect our international obligations and we must respect the desire of Canadians to do something about climate change.

[Stephen Harper, Canadian Alliance, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this party says we do not have to accept the Kyoto accord; we will do the made in Canada plan here. We will not accept this international obligation.

The government continues to talk about ratification of Kyoto with no implementation plan and now without even provincial consent for an implementation plan. The federal government, acting alone, has very limited options.

Will the Prime Minister admit to the House that for the federal government acting alone on Kyoto this will require major tax increases on energy consumption?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have made a lot of progress on Kyoto since 1990. The provincial governments, municipalities and federal government have made a lot of changes and more changes will come. New technology will come. In the past Canada has met some reductions on pollution problems because Canadians want to have clean energy and a clean situation in Canada.

I know that we will achieve the goal of Kyoto by 2012. We have 10 years to develop the final plan. We are not about to die tomorrow.

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the chaos within the government is obvious. The natural resources minister has stated that nuclear generated electricity requires a serious look in the fight on climate change. The environment minister has said nuclear energy will not be considered.

Which minister's position is the Prime Minister supporting?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should get his facts correct.

What I have said is that in the long term, in order to deal with climate change, we need to deal with all forms of energy. In the long term, in terms of nuclear, we should keep the door open on that option. Whenever we can create energy without creating greenhouse gas emissions we need to look at all our options as we move into the future.

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we have not seen chaos and drifting in a government like this since the meltdown of the Pearson government.

While the government's own ministers fight for supremacy on the Kyoto file, the government continues to ask Canadians for their blind faith. In light of the government's contradictions which we have just seen, with the revolt of the provinces, and national skepticism from the people of Canada, why is the Prime Minister refusing to hold a first ministers' conference on Kyoto?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have been discussing this with the provinces for a long time. The ministers are meeting again. The bureaucrats are meeting in the next few weeks. There will be another meeting in November.

Some people only have one goal in mind and that is to postpone and postpone. It is not what we said to Canadians in the Speech from the Throne. We made a clear commitment that there would be ratification before Christmas.

Government Contracts

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Immigration and former Secretary of State for Amateur Sport says that he did not recommend any company to organize his tour on sports, a contract worth $500,000. However, in addition to the E-mail specifying that he wanted to hire Everest, a second document indicates that Canadian Heritage also recommended Everest.

Could the Minister of Canadian Heritage tell us why her department recommended Everest, or for whom?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, again to repeat the facts of this matter, the contract was required by the Department of Canadian Heritage. The decision to award the contract to a particular company was made by officials within the Department of Public Works. The company that was selected, Groupe Everest, was in fact on a pre-qualified suppliers list available to both Canadian Heritage and the Department of Public Works and that list was established through a competitive process.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in his E-mail dated in March 2000, the head of the task force on sport wrote “Everest is the firm that the secretary of state wants to hire”. He added “I do not have more information. I would like to meet them ... to see what expertise they can provide”.

How does the minister explain that her officials recommended a firm whose expertise they did not know anything about, if it is not because there was political interference?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, whatever a requisitioning department may suggest or recommend, and it is that department's prerogative to make recommendations and suggestions, the selection is made by officials in the Department of Public Works. That is what transpired in this particular case.

With respect to the expertise of the firm, by all accounts the consultation process was very successful.

[Robert Lanctôt, Bloc, Châteauguay, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we know that when Groupe Everest was hired to organize the tour of the Secretary of State for Amateur Sport, Canadian Heritage officials did not know anything about the expertise of that firm, but they nevertheless recommended that it be hired.

Since these officials did not know about the firm's qualifications, it must be concluded that this recommendation was the result of political interference. My question to the minister is: Did this political interference come from her or from the secretary of state?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, to the very best of my knowledge, neither the Minister of Canadian Heritage nor the Secretary of State for Amateur Sport made any representations to officials in my department. It was officials in my department who made the decision.

[Robert Lanctôt, Bloc, Châteauguay, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on May 27, the secretary of state said to the journalists who were questioning him to find out who had awarded the half a million dollar contract to Everest, “Well, the question must be put to Canadian Heritage, because this comes under the purview of Canadian Heritage”.

I would like an answer from the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Why did she recommend that Everest be hired to organize the tour of the secretary of state?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, again while my department welcomes the input of other departments and takes their views into account, the selection decision is not made by those other departments. The selection decision is made according to the views of officials within the Department of Public Works and Government Services.

Taxation

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I find it outrageous that breaking the law should be tax deductible for any taxpayer, personal or corporate. Yet we continue to allow companies to write off fines as a business expense. Presumably Acres International will be able to write off the fine it just got for bribing the Government of Lesotho.

I ask the government, what possible justification could there be for continuing to allow businesses to deduct fines and penalties as tax write-offs?

[Maurizio Bevilacqua, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, I will take this opportunity to clarify the issue which I am sure is of great concern to the hon. member.

Fines and penalties imposed under the Income Tax Act are not deductible. According to a Supreme Court of Canada decision however, other fines may be deductible but only if they are legitimate business expenses.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court in 1999 ruled that fines and penalties can be deductible and since then, businesses have been deducting fines and penalties. The government's own lawyers argued against this. They argued that it is contrary to public policy to allow fines and penalties as tax deductions, but they lost that argument in the Supreme Court. The government did not waste any time cracking down on the disability tax credit. Yet since 1999 it has known that this tax loophole for its buddies exists and has failed to take any action.

I ask the minister again, will the government take action within this tax year to clarify the Income Tax Act so that businesses cannot deduct fines and penalties?

[Maurizio Bevilacqua, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, we will of course monitor the effects of the case under discussion to ensure that fines for serious infractions are not deductible.

I do want to clarify something else that the hon. member mentioned in reference to disability. I want the hon. member to know that the government increased by 70% the funding for disabled Canadians and has done amazing work, particularly led by the hon. member for Fredericton.

National Defence

[Joe Clark, Progressive Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in his speech Friday, the Minister of National Defence criticized government policy in three areas. He opposes the current over-stretching of military personnel. He opposes the current practice of raiding the capital budget to address other problems. He opposes current plans to limit defence budget increases to $5 million over the next five years.

I ask the Prime Minister, was he or his office made aware in advance of the contents of the defence minister's speech, or does he now allow ministers to oppose government policy?