House of Commons Hansard #24 of the 37th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was citizens.
Sheila Copps LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, when we are preparing a communications plan, it usually requires that we communicate with each other.
Joe Clark Progressive Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
She was better off saying nothing, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister of Public Works said “The choice of Groupe Everest was made by officials at Public Works”. On March 17, 74 days before the contract was signed, an e-mail from Canadian Heritage identified Groupe Everest as the then sports minister's choice. On April 10, 50 days before the contract was awarded, Amateur Sport was meeting with Groupe Everest on the contract.
Will the Minister of Public Works, and I would ask him to listen with care to my question, tell us the precise date on which Canadian Heritage and Amateur Sport were told they could begin negotiations with Groupe Everest?
Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, the records in the file indicate that a requisition was provided by the Department of Canadian Heritage dated the 29th of May and the contract was dated the 30th of May.
Leon Benoit Canadian Alliance Lakeland, AB
Mr. Speaker, nine years ago a Liberal defence minister said that the Sea Kings could last until 2000 if they had to. Eight years ago a Liberal white paper said there was an urgent need to replace the Sea Kings. Five years ago another Liberal defence minister said we will follow through on our plans to replace the Sea Kings. Three years ago the last defence minister said it was the number one priority. A week ago the minister said that it would be his highest priority.
When will the government actually replace the Sea Kings?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by congratulating the hon. member for the two years of great service he provided as vice-chairman of the defence committee. I would also like to commiserate with him on the fact that he lost that position earlier today.
As for the Sea Kings, I have said it is a high priority for me. I hope we will get the right helicopter at a low price as soon as possible.
Leon Benoit Canadian Alliance Lakeland, AB
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the defence minister criticized military personnel for making sarcastic jokes about the Sea King helicopters. He said the humour was in poor taste. Let me tell the House what is really in poor taste. It is the way the minister criticizes the gallows humour used by those condemned to fly in our Sea Kings instead of providing them with new helicopters.
When will the minister tell Canadians specific dates for the replacement of the Sea King helicopters, or will he admit that his government has no intention of replacing them?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, the safety of our brave men and women in the Canadian Forces who fly those helicopters and their families are of paramount concern. I stated that I thought it was in poor taste to have pictures denigrating those helicopters, given that our men and women are flying them.
I also have said repeatedly that it is a high priority for me. There has been some slippage and I am working very hard to get that helicopter as soon as possible.
Michel Guimond Bloc Beauport—Montmorency—Côte-De- Beaupré—Île-D'Orléans, QC
Mr. Speaker, the minutes from the April 10, 2000 meeting show that Everest had started its work organizing the Secretary of State for Amateur Sport's tour seven weeks before the contract was signed with the government. This is quite a financial risk for a company.
Who had enough clout to give Everest a solid enough guarantee that it would take on the risk of carrying out a large part of this contract, without yet having been awarded it officially? This had to come from the top.
Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, no one gives guarantees to the private sector. If work was undertaken in advance of a formal contract being authorized, then that work was entirely at the risk of the private sector company.
Michel Guimond Bloc Beauport—Montmorency—Côte-De- Beaupré—Île-D'Orléans, QC
Mr. Speaker, is it not obvious that the only person who had enough clout to reassure his friend, Claude Boulay, and tell him, “Go ahead Claude, you'll get the contract for my tour, I'll look after it for you”, was the secretary of state himself?
Keith Martin Canadian Alliance Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC
Mr. Speaker, the government's systematic neglect of our military is threatening the safety and security of Canadians. Some countries have even questioned our lax borders. Now we learn that the navy will be receiving cuts and it will be forced to ground its ships for five month periods of time. Drug smugglers, terrorists and other individuals will take advantage of this.
My question for the Minister of National Defence is: Why is the government forcing our navy to ground our ships, leaving our borders defenceless?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, our borders are far from defenceless. As I have said in the House before, there are stresses in the defence budget. We are not allowed to run a deficit. Therefore some low priority items in the navy's budget are being postponed as a result of the need to live within our budget. This is responsible behaviour from the point of view of the taxpayer.
I might add that this new planning group with the United States, where we will work more closely with the United States to defend our coasts, will be a plus for Canada.
Keith Martin Canadian Alliance Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC
Mr. Speaker, I have a message for the defence minister. Defending our borders is not a low priority. This is not a small problem; it is acute.
I am asking and pleading with the defence minister as we all are. It is not only us. Our military personnel are also asking the minister because they are deeply worried that we cannot protect our shoreline.
My question is simply this: In this age of terrorism, will the minister stand up, be counted, and put the investment back in our navy so that it does not have to ground our ships and leave our borders undefended?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of water around our country. It is always a challenge for both Canada and the United States to defend it. We will be working more closely together in the future to do that.
But I can tell the hon. member that in terms of our top priorities, there has been absolutely no change. These priorities are: force generation for the campaign against terrorism, maritime surveillance, force protection and Victoria Class submarine preparations. There has been absolutely no reduction in any of those vital programs.
Michel Gauthier Bloc Roberval, QC
Mr. Speaker, contrary to what the Minister of Public Works and Government Services says, no company would spend seven weeks doing most of the work of a $500,000 contract without having the government's authorization, unless it had obtained a very strong guarantee that it would be awarded the contract.
I am simply saying to the secretary of state that since he used his influence to help out his friend Claude Boulay, does he not think he should step down immediately?
Don Boudria LiberalMinister of State and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I believe a question was asked again about a minister in his previous portfolio. This was raised in the House of Commons yesterday and the Chair will recognize it is out of order to put a question in that form.
Michel Gauthier Bloc Roberval, QC
Mr. Speaker, when referring to the ethics counsellor and in tabling his code of conduct 15 days ago, the Prime Minister said, “When it comes to matters of ethics, it is up to the Prime Minister to decide, not the ethics counsellor”.
Given this statement, and given the overwhelming evidence that we now have regarding the secretary of state in the awarding of the Everest contract, should the Prime Minister not immediately fire his secretary of state, who is involved in this affair up to his neck?
David Collenette LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, I was informed that an opposition member wrote to the ethics counsellor on this issue. It is up to Mr. Wilson to look into the matter. We will wait for the findings.
Stockwell Day Canadian Alliance Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC
Mr. Speaker, in refusing to ban all Hezbollah activities in Canada, the government has been offering the lame excuse that the left hand of Hezbollah does the killing but the right hand is a social group.
Today I have obtained the official written policy document of Hezbollah. I quote its leader. He states, “We obey the orders of one leader. Our military apparatus is not separate from our overall social fabric”. Hezbollah's own leader says there is no difference between the military arm and the social arm.
Will the minister now agree with him and ban all Hezbollah activities in Canada?
Wayne Easter LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, the anti-terrorism measures that we have put in place are effective. As the member knows, there is a list. We have listed seven entities.
CSIS in fact does not need to have people on a list in order to be able to do its job. It is in fact doing its job.
As we have indicated before, we will be adding new entities to the list as evidence becomes clear.
Stockwell Day Canadian Alliance Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC
Mr. Speaker, this is the first hint that something may happen. The government may be adding entities, but the first responsibility of any government to its country is the safety and security of its citizens.
The soft stance that we have been taking on Hezbollah could put innocent lives at risk in Israel, but Hezbollah's own document suggests that countries like ours may be targeted. I quote its own leader, its own document, “America and its Atlantic pact allies are Hezbollah's enemies”.
We are in NATO. We are an ally of the United States. We are enemies of Hezbollah. Will the Solicitor General move quickly to ban all activities of Hezbollah in Canada?
Wayne Easter LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear. We take our responsibility very seriously. In fact yesterday the Minister of Justice and I were at meetings with federal, provincial and territorial ministers and we talked about this very issue.
There is a process toward listing entities. We are following that process to the letter and if other entities need to be--
TerrorismOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order, order. It is almost impossible for the Chair to hear the Solicitor General, even when he is sitting very close. It must be dreadful for the members at the other end of the House. We have to be able to hear the questions and answers and I know that some of the members who are making the noise asked the question. They must be interested in the answer. So we will have some order, please.
The hon. Solicitor General I believe has finished that answer, so we will move to the hon. member for Saint-Lambert and a little order, please.