Debates of Dec. 6th, 2002

Firearms Registry

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I think it was evident in the reply yesterday from the Minister of Justice that all appropriate measures necessary to deal with this unfortunate situation will be taken by the government. I think the minister should be taken at good faith.

Terrorism

[John Herron, Progressive Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Mr. Speaker, when the Solicitor General made his announcement on November 27 that the federal government was adding six groups to the list of suspected terrorist groups, he noted that he was considering adding others.

Yesterday the Minister of Foreign Affairs said, “The last statement of the leader of Hezbollah is clearly an indication his party is advocating a form of conduct that we do not approve of and that would be contributing to global terrorism”.

In that light, could the government confirm whether Hezbollah is one of those groups? Has the Minister of Foreign Affairs made such a request to the Solicitor General and if not, why not?

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, facts continue to be compiled in terms of quite a number of entities, actually. It is under my mandate as the Solicitor General that I have to look at the facts based on criminal and security intelligence information and that is in fact what I will do. The hon. member can be assured that we will be bringing forward entities in the not too distant future.

Violence Against Women

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on this national day of remembrance and action on violence against women, we remember the horror of the 14 young women who were so brutally murdered.

That tragedy compelled action, including the need to register guns to prevent violence against women.

Now we are faced with the staggering financial mismanagement of the registry, while at the same time services and programs to women have been cut.

I would like to ask the minister, will the government end this disgraceful record of mismanagement and restore front line services for women who are facing poverty and violence?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad the hon. member recognizes the fact that the country has a gun control law that works and is effective, and no greater rationale for it is, of course, the ceremony that we have marked earlier, with the tragic deaths of women in Montreal and the ones that have occurred in Vancouver.

I have to underscore the fact that the gun control law is there. It will stay, as will the registry.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister is full of wishful thinking on what he would like to hear. I think I very clearly suggested and put forward that the registry had been completely mismanaged. Let us remember it was set up to prevent violence against women, while at the same time the homicide rate for young women separated from their spouses is double that for other women.

Again I ask the minister, how does the government plan to deal with the mismanagement and also prevent the murders of more women?

[Paul MacKlin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, we are very concerned about the issues that the hon. member raises. The reality is that we take many measures on this side of the House to look at prevention. We work very hard at trying to find new ways of prevention. The gun control legislation is simply one method that we have used. We will keep looking for other ways and means of preventing those situations that occur and that the hon. member is concerned about.

Terrorism

[Stockwell Day, Canadian Alliance, Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC]

Mr. Speaker, for two decades now Hezbollah's chief, Nasrallah, has called for war on the western world. Hezbollah has struck in South America. It has struck in Europe. It has killed in the Middle East. It has killed hundreds of Americans and it has promised more killings worldwide. Suddenly yesterday the foreign affairs minister had this revelation. He said, “Hezbollah...does not intend to be governed by the rules of civilized conduct”. As my five year old granddaughter would say, “Hello?”

What out of body experience did the foreign affairs minister have to suddenly wake him up and stop his year-long defence of Hezbollah? What happened?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as the Solicitor General has told the House, it is his responsibility and it is the government's responsibility to ensure the safety of Canadians and we will continue to do that.

It is my job to advise the Solicitor General of foreign policy issues, which include guaranteeing peace where possible but suppressing terrorism through our international conduct. The statements made by the sheik yesterday made it very clear that we have to factor that into our decision and we will do that.

I am confident that the Solicitor General and the cabinet will deal with this matter in the interests of security for Canadians, our allies and the development of peace around the world.

[Stockwell Day, Canadian Alliance, Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC]

Mr. Speaker, rather than blaming the Solicitor General, I am asking the foreign affairs minister this. After months of Canadian Alliance pressure on this, after dozens of questions on this, after a record of killing and murder by this Hezbollah group, after announcements time and again on its Internet, an Internet which a high school student in Canada can tap into and see that it is dangerous, what was it that caused the flip-flop? If this has caused the flip-flop and he believes it is dangerous, why is he not putting it on the list of banned groups today?

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that the hon. member is having an out of body experience. The fact of the matter is that he is talking about the latest headlines that he reads in the papers. We have heard those latest headlines before.

We have a responsibility as a government to base the listing of entities on criminal and security intelligence information. We will do that. We will not be pushed to do it hastily. We will do it in the proper fashion in the proper order and we will do it timely and soon.

École de médecine vétérinaire de Saint-Hyacinthe

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food was at the UPA congress but said nothing about any progress in connection with the École de médecine vétérinaire de Saint-Hyacinthe. With three days left until its deadline to report to the American association, Ottawa has all but abandoned the school and Quebec will no longer be able to train accredited veterinarians in French.

Will the federal government stop treating Quebec with contempt and immediately free up the necessary money to allow the only French language school of veterinary medicine in North America to regain its full accreditation?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is asking questions on a daily basis on this issue, but I can tell you that he is not working anywhere near as hard as the member for Shefford on this side, as the backbenchers and all of the government who approached this. They have been leading the way.

I also want to make one thing very clear. December 9 is a date that has been set by some people in Quebec, but it is not the final date. December 9 is the date on which the board and the university are starting to prepare their presentation to the accreditation body, which they must provide to that accreditation body by the end of December this year.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is not just a date set by some people. It is a date set by the American association, and the dean must present a final report and say that the federal government is not giving one red cent to the school of veterinary medicine to modernize its equipment and to keep its accreditation.

The countdown is starting, you might say. It sends a signal to students who are thinking of enrolling in the school of veterinary sciences in Saint-Hyacinthe in the near future not to go, because the school may very well lose its accreditation in the end.

I am asking the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to stop the waffling and party politics and to make a commitment today to support the modernization of the school's equipment so that it can continue—

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

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

Mr. Speaker, I remind the hon. member that we are fully aware of the situation approaching as far as the review of the accreditation of the college at Saint-Hyacinthe, and there are three other university colleges that are approaching similar reviews across this country and--

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

No, it's the only one. Liar.

[Lyle Vanclief, Liberal, Prince Edward—Hastings, ON]

--I can repeat again that the government is working very hard and we will continue to work very hard in order to do all that we can to ensure that no veterinary college, whether it be in Saint-Hyacinthe--

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

Liar. You are a liar.

[Lyle Vanclief, Liberal, Prince Edward—Hastings, ON]

--whether it be in Prince Edward Island, whether it be in Ontario or Saskatchewan, loses its accreditation.

Government Contracts

[Ken Epp, Canadian Alliance, Elk Island, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has a dark cloud of scandal hanging over him. It is alleged that when he was junior minister for amateur sport he interceded on behalf of his friends at Groupe Everest to ensure that they were awarded a half million dollar contract.

The minister denies his involvement, but his former executive director, Roger Farley, confirms it.

Could we get the ethics counsellor to investigate this immediately and to clear the air by making the report public?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, some weeks ago, before the November break, this matter was debated in the House in question period.

The ethics counsellor said that he was looking into the matter and that he would make that report public at the appropriate time.

[Jay Hill, Canadian Alliance, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

That is right, Mr. Speaker, and a month ago, as requested by the Deputy Prime Minister, I wrote to the government's so-called ethics counsellor, Howard Wilson, regarding this very issue. To date he has not replied.

When I tried to raise this issue with Mr. Wilson yesterday in the procedure and House affairs committee, the Liberal chairman would not allow my questions.

What good is an ethics counsellor if he does not even reply to requests to investigate? Why do the Liberals' ethics not require them to get to the truth?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, when we are dealing with accusations of this magnitude and when we are dealing with people's reputations, we have to be extremely careful.

I note that Mr. Wilson is quoted today in the newspaper as saying that he wants his officials to make sure that the hon. member's complaint “is not vexatious and frivolous...”. He is doing his job to protect everyone's reputations.

Health

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this week the Auditor General brought out into the open the administrative fiasco of the firearm registry program. At the same time, we had the government indicating its intention to meddle in the administration of the health care system. There is a bit of of a paradox here.

Should the government not use today's meeting of ministers of health to show its concern for the well-being of patients by announcing the immediate and unconditional transfer of the funds to Quebec?