Debates of Nov. 21st, 2002

Aboriginal Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, sadly, on more than 100 reserves across Canada residents have to boil their water or risk serious illnesses.

The government has not responded with action. It has responded with a $6 million study, the paralysis of analysis.

The government can find $44 million to build a brand new, totally unnecessary reserve in northern Manitoba, but it cannot fix broken down water systems.

These are not just bad choices. These could be fatal choices, especially for seniors and children.

I am asking the minister today, will the government put an immediate stop on the building of new reserves and start cleaning up the water systems on our existing reserves?

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

Mr. Speaker, again it is unfortunate that the member does not get himself well briefed. I tried to explain last time he or one of his colleagues asked this question.

Since 1995 we have spent above and beyond our normal capital funding for water treatment plants and sewer treatment plants, with some $500 million extra. This year we will spend over $200 million in water treatment plants alone to upgrade the systems on reserves.

The information that the member has submitted to the House is blatantly false, and I wish he would stop putting those comments to the House.

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

Mr. Speaker, the minister's temper is flaring. He should try living on one of these reserves.

The minister has replaced dozens of chiefs with his own financial managers in the last couple of years. Then he tells the managers that they do not have to pay the bills for local small businesses. This leaves tens of millions of dollars owing to private sector, family owned businesses. That is grossly unfair to those Canadians and the government is doing nothing about it.

The minister said that the chiefs are not responsible. The minister's manager is not responsible. When I asked the minister, he said he is not responsible.

On behalf of these Canadians, I want to ask the minister, if he is not responsible for this, who is--

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

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

Mr. Speaker, let me put this question to the member again, as I did last time, and then I will answer the question for him. Is his party saying that the Government of Canada should guarantee every transaction between the private sector and a first nation?

If his party is suggesting that the government should go good for every single contract that is out there in the private sector with a first nation, we are talking about literally billions of transactions every year. This responsibility lies with the first nation government and the private sector and that is where it will stay.

École de médecine vétérinaire de Saint-Hyacinthe

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the veterinary college at Guelph University , in Ontario, recently received accreditation from the American Veterinary Medical Association, after receiving millions of dollars from the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Could the Minister of Agriculture tell us why the veterinary college in Saint-Hyacinthe cannot rely on the same level of support from the federal government, at a time when it is struggling to stay alive?

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

Mr. Speaker, the money that went to the University of Guelph was money that came to the University of Guelph as a result of an application to the Canada Foundation for Innovation. All universities have had the opportunity to apply through that. When they do, they indicate in their applications how they want to use it and their applications go into the system for that fund like all others.

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, by abandoning the veterinary college in Saint-Hyacinthe, the federal government is preparing to pull another Saint-Jean military college on us. They have closed down the only French language military college and are about to do the same with the only French language veterinary college in North America.

Are they not preparing to play the same trick again on the francophones of North America?

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

Mr. Speaker, there is no intention at all. The provinces support the veterinary colleges all across the country, and every university and every college had an opportunity to apply to the Canada Foundation for Innovation fund. I have not had a chance to see whether that college did or not, but I do know that it had the opportunity to do so. If it did so and was successful, it would have to follow the use on which it applied for it.

Justice

[Vic Toews, Canadian Alliance, Provencher, MB]

Mr. Speaker, in Canada criminals are out of jail before victims are out of the hospital.

Although the Department of Justice spent $136 million last year on a gun registry that has failed to keep guns out of the hands of real criminals, it allocates only $2.7 million to the victims of crime.

Why is the plight of victims such a low priority for the government? Why are victims only worth 2%?

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

Mr. Speaker, here we are once again back to the question of the very principle of the protection of our society.

We all know that on this side of the House we stand by that principle. We did proceed in the past and we will continue to proceed with the question of the gun registration system which is in place. Of course some may say that it is costly, but we are talking about protection of our society.

We have to talk about costs to a certain extent, but we have to talk as well about efficiency. When we look at the statistics on the impact that has had on our society, it has been very positive. We stand by those principles.

[Vic Toews, Canadian Alliance, Provencher, MB]

Mr. Speaker, maybe he could tell the people who were gunned down by gunmen in downtown Toronto that the gun registry is working.

The government has spent almost $1 billion on a gun registry that simply does not work and it continues to spend over $100 million a year simply because it is too embarrassed to admit that the system does not work.

Not for my sake, but for the sake of the victims of violent crime, why will this minister not redirect the money to programs and police services that work?

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

Mr. Speaker, within Justice Canada we have various programs in order to improve the situation in our society in terms of security and protection. For example, there is the national crime prevention program. It is a good partnership with the private sector and non-profit organizations as well as the provinces. We are getting involved as well in some other areas. We refer to the question of the gun registry. It works. Of course it has been costly, as he said. We started the whole program from zero and we have built up a very good system. Now it is up and running. If we look, for example, at the revocation rate, it is higher compared to the previous system. We stand by--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Sarnia—Lambton.

Pipelines

[Roger Gallaway, Liberal, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pipelines have been abandoned throughout southwestern Ontario and other parts of Canada yet the National Energy Board has no rules to protect landowners when their use stops.

I would like to ask the Minister of Natural Resources whether after 10 years of consultation would he now tell the NEB and his officials to create rules that ensure the safe removal of these pipelines from privately owned lands?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, the matter is already regulated under the National Energy Board which operates under the authority of the National Energy Board Act. It is an independent federal regulatory agency responsible for the regulation of interprovincial and international pipelines.

More specifically, the NEB is responsible for all aspects of the construction and operation of federally regulated pipelines. Abandonment of any pipelines regulated by the NEB requires prior approval pursuant to subsection 74.1 of the act and is subject to the provisions of the Environmental Assessment Act.

However, I will take the matter into consideration. This issue has been raised by the hon. member--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake.

Agriculture

[Howard Hilstrom, Canadian Alliance, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the government's incompetence on the trade front has resulted in our largest trading partner, the United States, targeting the wheat sales of prairie farmers. The Americans are alleging that the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly results in subsidized exports and dumping. Thousands of wheat farmers on the Prairies do not even want the monopoly because it results in them receiving lower prices for their wheat along with lost marketing opportunities.

Why does the government not give prairie farmers freedom of marketing choice like it does in the rest of Canada?

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

Mr. Speaker, the same export rules apply everywhere in Canada. The same export permits are required in every case. The authority over the Canadian Wheat Board is vested in the hands of farmers themselves through a producer-elected board.

[Howard Hilstrom, Canadian Alliance, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister knows very well that in fact the Wheat Board is not run by farmers; it is run by government appointed people. The minister also knows that farmers in the rest of Canada do not have to go through a buyback.

I am asking the minister directly, should farmers in Ontario have to go through the buyback through the Canadian Wheat Board?

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

Mr. Speaker, farmers in all parts of Canada, whether in Ontario or the west, have the ultimate control over the situation through a democratically elected system.

Let me make one point. The government stands for farmers. Not like the opposition whose previous leader went to Washington, stood on the steps of the U.S. capitol, joined hands with Newt Gingrich, and sided with the United States.

Cod Fishery

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Matapédia—Matane, QC]

Mr. Speaker, scientists are on the verge of confirming that the catastrophic management of fisheries by Fisheries and Oceans Canada may warrant a total moratorium on the cod fishery. A government document suggests that such a moratorium will have a major impact on the eastern regions of Quebec and the Lower North Shore, as did the 1992 moratorium.

Instead of making the same mistake as in 1992, does the government plan to cooperate with Quebec to put forward concrete measures to help the communities that would otherwise pay the price for the government's inability to manage cod stocks?

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, I want the hon. member to know that we have had preliminary discussions with the Government of Quebec.

On December 2, I am scheduled to meet my counterparts from the Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Nunavut, to discuss a number of issues. Probably the most important one on the agenda will be the cod fishery. We will plan ahead for a possible reduction or moratorium and a partnership with all stakeholders to support the communities affected.

Television Transmission Services

[Carole-Marie Allard, Liberal, Laval East, QC]

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Canadian Heritage tell us whether she feels that Canadian television transmission services are being jeopardized by the satellites operating illegally in Canada at this time?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Laval East for her question. The situation she refers to is a very serious one.

At the present time, up to 1 million Canadian homes are receiving illegal signals. This represents a $400 million loss to the broadcasting systems, which represents thousands of jobs.

I congratulate the broadcasters of Quebec for today launching an information program aimed at ensuring the survival of Canada's cultural life.