Debates of Nov. 27th, 2002

Government Contracts

[John Williams, Canadian Alliance, St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services is blowing smoke around this issue because the Treasury Board guidelines say nothing about contractors of record. The minister does not know whether they have passed these contracts on or kept them to themselves, according to the information that we have.

My question is for the Minister of Public Works and Government Services. When he says that he has fixed this up, how can he assure the House that I.D.A. has not kept these contracts to itself, has not broken the Treasury Board guidelines and is, therefore, using taxpayer money fraudulently?

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

Because, Mr. Speaker, all the relevant information is publicly available.

An agency of record acts on behalf of all the government to have one control point where all the advertising is placed so that it can be measured and competed for properly. All the dollar value appears to go through one agency but in fact that agency of record does not get the normal commercial rate. That agency of record gets 3.25%, which is for the placement of the media buy and nothing more.

[John Williams, Canadian Alliance, St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we know all about the agency of record but I said that the Treasury Board guidelines did not allow for agency of record. It says that 75% of the contracting is not allowed. No one can have more than 25% of the market.

Let me ask the President of the Treasury Board: Do the rules allow an agency of record to have more than 25% of the contracting?

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

Mr. Speaker, if we had more than one agency of record we would not have an agency of record. We need to have one control point where the media buy is made. Other advertising agencies handle the creative work for departments and do the campaign design but we need one control point where that buy comes through, and that is the agency of record which receives a low commission of approximately 3%, which reflects the value of the work it does and does not in fact reflect the creative work.

Human Resources Development

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette-Et-La Mitis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today the town of Asbestos shut down in support of the 320 workers who lost their jobs following the closing of the Jeffrey asbestos mine. We know that 62% of them are 55 years old or older. Under these circumstances, retraining is not realistic. Only something like the Program for Older Worker Adjustment can help these laid-off workers.

Prior to 1993, when in opposition, the Liberals protested to save the POWA program. Once in power, they eliminated it.

Will the minister be compassionate enough to revive the Program for Older Worker Adjustment?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, on this side of the House we do not discount employees who are 55 years old and assume that they cannot go on to other work. On this side of the House we believe that Canadians can make a contribution through the course of their lives.

Specifically with regard to older workers, however, we have a program in place and have transferred considerable moneys to the province of Quebec so that it can develop pilot programs specifically designed region by region, incident by incident, to deal with the challenges faced by older workers.

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette-Et-La Mitis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am starting to get exasperated with the minister's responses, with her six-plan points, or her six-point plans. I suggest she put in a new tape.

Does the minister realize that she has helped only one person, and that is the former Minister of Finance, by helping him siphon off money from the EI fund at the expense of workers?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary. If the hon. member would take the time to look at the results of some of the pilot projects that are now in place in her own province she would see that this approach is making sense.

We look at the particular circumstances surrounding an incident in a region, as I said, or with an employer, and focus specifically on the needs of individual employees. We find that this approach works well. It is a strong partnership with the government of the province in support of Canadians who are living in that province, and others.

Aboriginal Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, the government spends over $7.5 billion directly on Canada's aboriginal people but to do this it uses more than a dozen different government departments. This can cause waste and duplication. For example, when Indian Affairs and Northern Development replaces a chief that it claims is not competent, other government departments continue to funnel millions of dollars through that same chief.

My question is for the Prime Minister. Why does the government allow some departments to flow taxpayer dollars through the same chief that other government departments claim is not competent?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member has his facts somewhat incorrect. Every single department in the Government of Canada that has work that relates to first nation people on reserves has agreements. Those agreements are audited on a yearly basis and assessed. The work of those departments and the audits are to see whether the programs that we deliver to the communities are successful. If there are financial difficulties, then we move to help them deal with those issues.

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

Mr. Speaker, the right hand and the left hand should get introduced.

Next week the Auditor General will release a report that will again condemn the government for failing to protect taxpayers and aboriginal people.

Bureaucratic overlap, duplication and waste eat up taxpayer dollars before they can ever better the lives of aboriginal people.

When will the government realize that its bloated bureaucracy needs aboriginal people a lot more than aboriginal people need its bloated bureaucracy?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member must be better advised than anyone in the House. I understand that he is talking about a report that will not be released until next week. I have not seen it. I do not know what it says but I suspect that he does.

However, in answer to his specific question, the government has put forward a number of major initiatives, one being the first nations governance legislation with the objective to bring modern tools of governance to first nations to help them with their administrative issues on reserves.

Foreign Affairs

[Stan Dromisky, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Atikokan, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Secretary of State for Latin America and Africa.

In light of his recent visit to Cuba, I and the people of Canada would like to know the present status of the relationship between the Government of Canada and the government of Cuba?

[Denis Paradis, Liberal, Secretary of State (Latin America and Africa) (Francophonie)]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the president of the Canada-Cuba friendship group for his question.

First, I would like to say that we are number one in tourism in Cuba, with 400,000 Canadians who will be visiting Cuba. We are number two in investment in Cuba. Trade and investment are two good ways to promote dialogue and promote Canadian values like human rights and democracy. We are planning right now an exchange of parliamentarians with our amigos.

Veterans Affairs

[Betty Hinton, Canadian Alliance, Kamloops, Thompson And Highland Valleys, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I need some clarification from the Minister of Veterans Affairs regarding a letter dated November 21 addressed to war hero Al Trotter. I received a copy late yesterday.

The minister makes reference to the quasi-judicial review board and says, “As Minister, I do not have the authority to intervene on an individual's behalf or to overturn decisions of the board”.

Is that ministerial lingo for “too bad, so sad, not my problem”, or does it mean that the minister finally realizes he needs to convince cabinet to change the legislation?

[Rey D. Pagtakhan, Liberal, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it is right. A minister may not intervene in the decision of the Veterans Affairs review board. However, when the principle of law in a nation competes or collides with the principle of justice, we have a duty to search for a solution and that is why the minister is searching for a solution. When the answer is ready it will be given in the House.

[Betty Hinton, Canadian Alliance, Kamloops, Thompson And Highland Valleys, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am not quite sure what that was all about.

The minister said that this was a heart-rending case, but it was absolutely heartless for him to fire off a form letter to this war hero.

A prisoner of war camp could not shatter Al Trotter's spirit but the minister has come very close. The minister knows that Mr. Trotter is being shortchanged. He also knows that the legislation that he hides behind is flawed and should be changed.

Will the minister finally commit today in the House, in front of Canadians, to make the changes to that legislation that would right the wrong that has been done?

[Rey D. Pagtakhan, Liberal, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad the member is now following the principle of law. In her question a few days ago she indicated that she would like to find a loophole in the law.

This minister does not find loopholes in the law. We follow the process of law-making in this country. We are searching for a solution. When that is done within the spirit of law and justice, the answer will be provided in this hall of Parliament.

Supply Management

[Jocelyne Girard-Bujold, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this week, the egg producers of Quebec were pointing out the merits of supply management in their sector. They are concerned about the government's shilly-shallying and are calling for specific commitments relating to their production.

Will the Minister for International Trade finally admit that supply management mechanisms are essential for the development of the egg sector, and can he assure us that his position with respect to supply management bears no connection to the one set out in a memorandum to cabinet made public some weeks ago?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure all members of this House that our government is firmly committed to supply management. We consider it to be a system that has served farmers throughout the country well. It is also a system that serves the interests of our consumers very well, and is good for people's health.

Our government is therefore firmly committed in all trade negotiations, be they connected with NAFTA or the WTO, to promote supply management, a system that was created by one of our past governments.

Protection of Children

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, because they care about their children's well-being, Canadians want to know what the government is doing to better protect them.

In the Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada pledged to better protect children from exploitation, and to provide a legal system that is more receptive to their needs, whether children are victims or witnesses.

Could the Minister of Justice tell us about his timeframes for fulfilling these commitments?

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

Mr. Speaker, as we know, the protection of children in Canada is a priority, if not the top priority for this government. In the past, we took action. For example, changes were made to the Criminal Code to create the new offence relating to the use of the Internet to lure children.

We also launched, in cooperation with the Manitoba government, a new Internet site called Cybertip, which is working very well. Following the Sharpe ruling, we said we would review the defence based on artistic merit, and this will be done soon.

I am taking this opportunity to thank the members of the Liberal caucus for their interest and excellent work in this area.

Health

[Carol Skelton, Canadian Alliance, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, only eight laboratory workers in Canada have the resources to test our blood supply for the dangers of West Nile virus. These are the front line people with whom we entrust our blood safety.

With patients having to wait for up to nine weeks for test results, we have a disaster in the making.

Why is the government and the minister not providing the needed resources to protect Canada's blood supply?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, Health Canada works closely with the Canadian Blood Service and works with the provinces and territories. They are very conscious of the challenges in relation to our blood service.

I am very pleased to announce that the most recent independent report of our blood service suggests that our blood system is the safest it has ever been in the history of our country.

Transportation Security

[Gérard Asselin, Bloc, Charlevoix, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the report of the Transportation Safety Board on the Air Satellite tragedy revealed the following, and I quote:

Transport Canada did not comply with its established audit standards for regulatory audits of the operator, thus increasing the risk that training and operational deficiencies would not be identified.

Instead of continually investing in jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces, why does the government not look after its responsibilities properly? What does the Minister of Transport intend to do to address the shortcomings identified by the Transportation Safety Board?