Debates of Feb. 28th, 2002

Equalization Payments

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the minister could have answered were it not for the Tory yelling behind me.

Perhaps the minister could finish answering the question but also speak to the problem Manitoba finds itself in. It also has to do with fiscal instability brought about by the accounting error on the part of the federal government.

Will the Minister of Finance commit today to act in a way to ensure fiscal stability in Manitoba? Manitoba stands to be very seriously affected by an error of the federal government.

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I will complete the first part of my answer. It is the government's intention in terms of the first question to suspend any negative consequences of Statistics Canada's result for a period of a year so full consultations can take place. At the same time we are going to implement the positive consequences of that for those provinces concerned until such time as the final decision comes down.

As far as the other comment, the Tories are always behind the member.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Chuck Strahl, Canadian Alliance, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the immigration minister does not seem to have a handle on his department.

First, immigration documents go missing from the minister's office giving hundreds of people virtually unfettered access to Canada. Second, ministerial permits vanish from five of his offices. This amounts to a virtual get into Canada free card. Third, the auditor general tells the government that the immigration system is rife with bribery, theft and incompetence. Now we find out that official papers have been bought in Canada and sold in countries around the world. The minister's response was he cannot be bothered to do an investigation.

What kind of disaster is it going to take in the immigration department before he cleans up the abuse?

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, of course we take the issue of security extremely seriously. When we heard that documents had been stolen, we looked into it and we increased our document security. We are taking the matter extremely seriously.

However, it is also important to mention that when there are serious allegations regarding criminal offences, we call in the RCMP. That is what we did.

[Chuck Strahl, Canadian Alliance, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister in his role as chairman of the cabinet committee on security.

The minister has had many meetings with Tom Ridge, the U.S. secretary of homeland security. During these discussions, concerns have been raised about Canada's immigration system. While the government pays lip service to correcting these security problems, it refuses to take action.

Since the minister of immigration seems unconcerned about this latest serious breach of the immigration system, will the Deputy Prime Minister use his clout at the cabinet table and in the special committee to ensure that this abuse is finally stopped?

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I find the hon. member's statements unacceptable. They are all the more so, given what we saw happen this morning. When asked, “Did you have any independent audits done regarding these allegations?”, the former Prime Minister replied, “No, Mr. Speaker, I believed what was written in the newspapers”.

We invested more than $600 million over six years. We increased security and we took the required measures. This government is serious when it comes to matters of security.

[Rahim Jaffer, Canadian Alliance, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the government ignored its own officials regarding the stolen IMM 1000 immigration forms. Now they are being sold on the streets of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Foreign bandits must be laughing up their sleeves when they think about our dim-witted boss at immigration who lets his department continue to use the same forms that are available on the black market.

Instead of sitting on his laurels while waiting for the new forms, will the minister of illegal immigration make an immediate commitment to abolish these forms and render them invalid?

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, the illegal forms were the Canadian Alliance cards in the riding of Gaspé.

I would like to mention that we made decisions. We took action and when there were problems regarding the IMM 1000, we conducted audits. This is why I announced this week that we would be implementing Bill C-11 and the regulations, and that we were replacing the IMM 1000 with the maple leaf card to prevent this fraud. We are very much aware of the problem.

[Rahim Jaffer, Canadian Alliance, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the government should not give us any lessons on selling memberships, that is for sure.

IMM 1000 forms, the equivalent of green cards, are being stolen and sent to organized criminals in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This is another serious blow to the security of our country's immigration and refugee system. Technology was available to replace these forms in the 1990s but the minister plans to keep using the same forms.

Thanks to the minister's inaction, terrorist networks may be using these forged forms to smuggle people into Canada. Will it take a terrorist attack here in this country before the minister starts to act?

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the solicitor general who announced this morning that we are getting tough on cross-border crime because we are investing $4.6 million at Cornwall.

Employment Insurance

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the employment insurance program severely penalizes hundreds of Quebec women who have taken advantage of preventive withdrawal under Quebec legislation, by depriving them of many weeks of benefits.

My colleague wrote to the Minister of Human Resources Development in this connection last August and received a reply in September.

Today, I am asking the Minister of Human Resources Development, who has been aware for more than six months that EI unfairly penalizes pregnant women in Quebec, how she can justify not having done anything to help them.

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will know that this issue affects a small minority of women in Quebec. We are very concerned about the impact on these women.

The hon. member has referenced the fact that I have been in correspondence with the critic on this and he has been satisfied with the approach we are taking. We are working with the Government of Quebec to deal with this issue. I expect a resolution in the near term.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what the Minister of Human Resources Development needs to do is to make use of the provision in the Employment Insurance Act which allows her to transfer funds to a province when a program is already in place there in a given area.

That is what we are calling upon her to do, which would stop Quebec women from being penalized. This is what she ought to do, as a minister, as a representative of the people, and as a woman in particular.

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

Mr. Speaker, what we will do is find a reconciliation of this issue for the small minority of women in Quebec. It is important that they have access to the benefits and that their children benefit from them as well.

Minister of National Defence

[Leon Benoit, Canadian Alliance, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of National Defence admitted to reporters that he clearly knew about the capturing of prisoners by the JTF2 in Afghanistan the first time he was briefed, which was on January 21. Yet in spite of that, he still told the House that he first learned of this information on January 25. It is clear now that the minister misled the House of Commons and the Canadian people.

I ask the Prime Minister, which one of the many versions that his Minister of National Defence has given on this issue does he expect Canadians to believe?

[The Speaker]

That question is out of order.

Employment Insurance

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I remind the Minister of Human Resources Development that Quebec women who are eligible to preventive withdrawal get 90% of their salary. By contrast, the federal program requires them to collect employment insurance benefits, which reduces the duration of their parental leave by the same period.

Does the minister realize that Quebec female workers who are on preventive withdrawal prefer to get 90% of their net salary from the CSST, like those who are covered by the Quebec labour code, rather than collect 55% of their gross salary, like those who are covered by the Canada Labour Code?

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

Mr. Speaker, what I know to be true is that Canadians are very supportive of the fact that the government has doubled parental benefits and we have provided a new opportunity for parents, whether it be the father or mother, to spend upward of a year with their newborn.

There is no question that if the Government of Quebec chooses to add to that program, it is welcome to do that. However, our approach has been to consistently improve the benefits for Canadian women and their families. This is another example of that.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am talking about preventive withdrawal, and we have been talking about it for 10 years here.

In 1993, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois proposed amendments to the Canada Labour Code to correct these injustices, and the Liberals, who were in opposition then, supported these changes. Now that they are in office, they are opposed to them.

Could the minister tell us why she is not correcting this injustice and why she is stubbornly maintaining two categories of female workers: one that is well covered by the Quebec labour code, and another one that is not so well covered by the Canada Labour Code?

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

Mr. Speaker, let me remind the hon. member that it is this government that doubled parental benefits for all Canadians. Let me reiterate that for the small minority of women in Quebec we will work with the government of Quebec to deal with the issue that has presented itself to ensure that they and their children have full benefits.

Zimbabwe

[Keith Martin, Canadian Alliance, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Liberal dominated subcommittee on human rights unanimously called for targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe, including suspension from the commonwealth, travel bans and a freeze of the personal assets of Mr. Mugabe and his cronies.

Will the government finally do the right thing and adopt the subcommittee's recommendations?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, we welcome the report of the subcommittee. Clearly this is a matter which is presently being discussed by the heads of the commonwealth. The Prime Minister left this morning. That matter will be discussed by the commonwealth heads.

The Prime Minister carries with him the authority and respect of the Canadian government. He has a lot of respect in that institution. I know that he will bring his pressure to bear on Mr. Mugabe and ensure that we have the best possible elections in Zimbabwe.

[Keith Martin, Canadian Alliance, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, there is no respect. Our partners have moved ahead. The European Union has moved ahead. The United States have moved ahead. Other countries have moved ahead. The point is the election in Zimbabwe is already rigged. It cannot have a free and fair election.

My question is simple. Why does the government sit by impotently wringing its hands while state sponsored brutalization continues? Our partners have moved ahead. Why is the government not acting shoulder to shoulder with our partners?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, this government has already taken action against the government of Mugabe. We have suspended all direct aid with the government of Mugabe. We have put it on a list in terms of giving visas to leaders. We have taken every action available to us under Canadian law at this time.

It will require a resolution of the commonwealth for us to do more. We will do more. We are working within the commonwealth, and we are working not to score political points but for the benefit of the Zimbabwean people by keeping commonwealth inspectors in place until the elections are over.

Aluminum Industry

[Robert Bertrand, Liberal, Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Secretary of State responsible for the Economic Development Agency for the Regions of Quebec.

For several days there have been reports in the Quebec daily newspapers of major investments in the aluminum industry in Saguenay—Lac-St. Jean, with reference even to an international strategy.

My question to the minister is this: What is the agency doing to support efforts to develop activities in the aluminum industry in this region?