Debates of Oct. 4th, 2002

Justice

[Jean Augustine, Liberal, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) (Status of Women)]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the concern expressed. I think all Canadians are horrified by the present situation before us. We sympathize with the families of those women and at the same time we are looking at the process that is occurring in British Columbia. The police and RCMP are involved in that activity.

We are concerned about violence against women and children. We addressed that in several ways. This is a very serious issue that we as Status of Women Canada are reflecting upon.

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, if the Solicitor General requires some strategic advice I will give it to him for free: resign now.

My question for the government is this. The British government has declared that all military personnel will receive the Queen's Jubilee Medal. In Canada an order in council said that only 8,000 members of our military would receive the medal.

If this is such a significant medal for contribution to our country, does the government not believe that all our military personnel deserve to wear this prestigious medal?

[Sarmite Bulte, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the aim of the jubilee medal is to honour people in Canada who have made a contribution to their communities. In fact, this program was modelled on previous medal programs, including the silver jubilee medal program in 1977 and the Canada 125 medal program in 1992. Exactly the same procedure was followed.

Government Contracts

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Solicitor General. He talked about strategic advice. Is there any hard copy evidence of any piece of strategic advice that the department received and will the minister table in the House every copy of every piece of strategic advice or other advice received from the firm associated with his official agent, the beneficiaries of this $140,000 contract?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the Solicitor General issued a statement today and put all the facts before the House. He has answered a number of questions. I think we should allow those facts to speak for themselves.

I find it rather ironic that the right hon. member from Calgary talks about strategic advice. His whole career has been patterned on not following any strategic advice at any time.

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

Mr. Speaker, the House would welcome any evidence that any advice was received. The only way that can be provided would be for the Solicitor General to do the honest thing and to table this material in the House.

Let me ask a question of whoever is speaking for the minister responsible for ACOA.

Everett Roche is a member of the advisory board of the Atlantic Innovation Fund which awarded $6.5 million to Holland College, whose president is the brother of the Solicitor General. Did the minister's official agent vote to give money to the minister's brother's college?

[Serge Marcil, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, one would swear that the leader of the fourth party in the House supports private colleges.

In case the hon. member does not know, Holland College is a public college under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education. We provide greater support to research and development in small universities and colleges located in the regions.

As far as we are concerned, the subsidy went to a public college for research and development purposes.

Would the opposition prefer that governments fund private colleges? And as regards the industry committee—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Calgary—Nose Hill.

[Diane Ablonczy, Canadian Alliance, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Actually, Mr. Speaker, the money that the Solicitor General's friend voted on for his brother's college was to fund a course that had been turned down by law enforcement officials as not necessary and not worth the cash.

The Solicitor General needs to get his story straight here for the House. First, he tells the House that this man, this friend of his, was providing advice regarding P.E.I. He said that this was good for P.E.I. and for Canada. However the contract stipulates that the man was supposed to give communication advice on matters of national security.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that my hon. colleague has referred to the man who has done the work and provided the strategic advice for me. In fact, Mr. David Nicholson is a renowned Canadian. He is a former deputy minister in the federal system. He won awards in the system for his efficiency. The fact of the matter is Prince Edward Island and Canada is a better place because Mr. David Nicholson was one of my advisers.

[Diane Ablonczy, Canadian Alliance, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the House will note that the Solicitor General very carefully avoided clarifying particularly what advice he actually got as opposed to the advice that was contracted.

This is not a small matter. Here we have a man who is in charge of Canada's entire law enforcement infrastructure, responsible to preserve truth, justice and the rule of law in our country, weaseling around and not giving straight answers.

No matter how the minister tries to dress this up, is it not true that this was a plain, old, sweetheart contract?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I have said many times this was the contract that was publicly posted. The fact of the matter is, what I needed was strategic advice from a man with the capabilities of Mr. David Nicholson. The fact is, I was able to do that with this contract, and Prince Edward Island is better off, Canada is better off and, for example, the national drug strategy is in the Speech from the Throne, and many other things.

Strikebreakers

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the Speech from the Throne, in what has become known as his political legacy, the Prime Minister did not have a single thing to say about the weakness of the federal legislation which allows the use of scabs. He is thus sending a very clear message to the public: the Liberal government agrees with the use of scabs.

Why is the Prime Minister so dead set against civilized negotiations during labour disputes, and unwilling to include anti-scab provisions in the Canada Labour Code, which would finally enable Ottawa to catch up with the Government of Quebec in this regard.

[Gurbax Malhi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Labour Code does not impose a general provision on the use of replacement workers during a legal work stoppage. The code inhibits the use of replacement workers where it is determined that such a use is designed to undermine the representational capacity of the union.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec has outlawed the use of scabs for 25 years now, and we do not want anything to do with them.

Quebec's legislation is producing very positive results. Why is the Prime Minister continuing to block the progressive measure I am proposing, preferring instead to encourage businesses to use scabs with complete impunity?

[Gurbax Malhi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Labour Code does not impose a general provision on the use of replacement workers during a legal work stoppage. However, if the trade union feels this is the case it can file a complaint with the Canada Industrial Relations Board for determination.

Bilingualism

[Scott Reid, Canadian Alliance, Lanark—Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in 2001 municipalities on both sides of the National Capital Region amalgamated to form the two cities of Ottawa and Gatineau. Since that time the Liberal government has been relentless in its pursuit of official bilingualism on the Ontario side, but only on the Ontario side.

It has repeatedly demanded that Ottawa's bilingual status be entrenched in provincial law and transferred several million dollars to city hall for this purpose. Not one federal minister has uttered a single word in defence of the rights of the large English speaking minority in the City of Gatineau.

What is the reason for this double standard on minority language rights in the national capital area?

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

Mr. Speaker, there is no double standard. The member represents, as I do, part of the National Capital Region. He knows, as I do, that the Prime Minister has been the strongest advocate of a bilingual Canada for a long time. He knows that as well as I know that.

I think the hon. member across would agree with me on that fundamental issue, as would probably none other of his colleagues by the way.

[Scott Reid, Canadian Alliance, Lanark—Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. minister is quite right that I represent an Ottawa riding, however I was born in Gatineau.

The fact is the minority, of which I was once a member, is restricted in its rights by provincial law. Municipal services are restricted by provincial law. It is against the law in Quebec for the City of Gatineau to provide full services to its minority. This is not true in Ontario, yet we have not heard a single word from a single minister on that side of the House defending the rights of that minority.

My question to the minister is: why are the rights of one minority in the national capital area not protected as well as the other?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member across and I have another thing in common, we were born in the same city as well as agreeing on bilingualism.

However, that does not change the fact that our Prime Minister and our government are committed to bilingualism. We have repeated our rededication in the throne speech. Yesterday, the Official Languages Commissioner spoke of the progress made by the government in relation to our strategic program which will come shortly. Our commitment is there toward a bilingual and very strong Canada.

The Economy

[Judi Longfield, Liberal, Whitby—Ajax, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the recent Speech from the Throne reminds us that because of our collective efforts we have new opportunities, new possibilities and new choices for the Canada we want.

Could the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women tell the House what the Canadian government is doing to advance women's economic possibilities, choices and opportunities in the new economy?

[Jean Augustine, Liberal, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) (Status of Women)]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her question. I have just participated in the second ministers' conference on women in the APEC economies. The main theme was advancing women's economic interests and opportunities.

I am pleased that the Speech from the Throne reflected the fact that the government was committed to small and medium sized businesses. Those businesses had barriers, barriers that I hope we will pursue. There are benefits to women in exporting. We hope to remove some of the barriers in international trade and other avenues.

Forest Industry

[Dick Harris, Canadian Alliance, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the government knows very well that the province of British Columbia is facing one of the greatest natural disasters in its history. The mountain pine beetle has infested over 60,000 square kilometres and at this point has caused over $4 billion in lost timber. The government has ignored any and all of B.C.'s calls for help.

I ask the government, when will it come to the aid of the forest industry and the people in B.C. and help them with this fight against the mountain pine beetle? When will it do it?

[Lyle Vanclief, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Natural Resources who is unable to be here today I can verify that the minister has had discussions with the government of British Columbia.

We recognize the severity of this issue. We also recognize the responsibilities that may differ between the province and the federal government and we want to ensure that the jurisdictions of the responsibilities are followed.

National Parks

[Brian Fitzpatrick, Canadian Alliance, Prince Albert, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the spruce budworm is absolutely devastating Prince Albert National Park. The government to date has refused to do anything to deal with this problem despite the fact that BTK, an organic based chemical, is an effective and safe treatment.

Why has the government embarked on a massive expansion of national parks when it refuses to manage the existing parks?