House of Commons Hansard #159 of the 37th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was flag.
Randy White Canadian Alliance Langley—Abbotsford, BC
Mr. Speaker, let me quote one EI umpire: “The board agrees with Mr. Wong that no claimant should have to repay more in benefits than what they have received”. Let us think about that: penalties, wrongly assessed victims where the government actually makes money, is a tax. That is a Liberal fundraiser.
Would the minister stop blaming everyone else and be responsible enough to fix this problem and repay all those individuals who were wrongfully assessed moneys out of their pockets?
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, the persistence of these questions suggests to me that perhaps the hon. member does not fully understand the process at play here. Let me try to explain it again.
In these cases we are talking about individuals who are in receipt of employment insurance benefits and at the same time have earnings because they worked, received back pay, shift premiums or vacation pay and did not declare the earnings.
In these cases the government sets up an overpayment and works to collect that amount of money which is equivalent to the undeclared earnings only, except in very rare cases associated with the two week waiting period.
Randy White Canadian Alliance Langley—Abbotsford, BC
Mr. Speaker, talk about not understanding the problem. The minister just does not quite get it. The formula is wrong. Subsection 19(3) is incorrect. That is why the government changed it. It realized it was wrong. We are talking about a five year period where the government ripped off a whole bunch of workers and will not admit it is wrong.
Why does the minister not stand in the House and say she will look at all these problems, try to fix them, and give these people back the money that came out of their pockets incorrectly?
Jane Stewart LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is suggesting that somehow we created some additional overpayment or penalties. With great respect that is not the case.
Let me very clear that what we changed in August 2001 was an administrative practice. Right now the overpayment will only be deducted from the specific weeks in which the undeclared earnings were received. In the past the undeclared earnings could be collected over the whole period of the claim. The amount of the overpayment remains the same pre or post regulatory change.
Jean Augustine Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Mr. Speaker, we are all concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe. Is there anything new? What is Canada's position? Could the Prime Minister update us on the situation in Zimbabwe?
Jean Chrétien LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, a few minutes ago I had the occasion to speak with the president of South Africa, and Zimbabwe has been suspended from the Commonwealth.
I congratulated Mr. Mbeki who told me that yesterday he and President Obasanjo met with Mr. Mugabe. They told him that Zimbabwe was to be suspended. They talked about reconciliation and they invited the government to take some people in the opposition to be part of the government.
I had discussions with these two leaders and the prime minister of Australia over the weekend. I have urged them to act positively because it was unacceptable--
Svend Robinson NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Mr. Speaker, that is very good news indeed. The auditor general is investigating whether there was fraud in the Groupaction contracts and the RCMP may be investigating whether there is corruption in the awarding of those two contracts.
In view of the fact that the potential fraud and corruption occurred on the watch of Alfonso Gagliano when he was minister of public works, I want to ask the Prime Minister just what action he is prepared to take.
The Prime Minister said that if something is proven one acts. Will the Prime Minister clearly act to fire Alfonso Gagliano as ambassador if these allegations are proven accurate?
Don Boudria LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, what is being audited by the auditor general right now are two documents, not the former minister. They are two documents: the 1998 report and 1999 report.
She will produce a report on that which I have undertaken to table in the House of Commons and to take whatever corrective actions are necessary at the time.
Judy Wasylycia-Leis NDP Winnipeg North Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, two years after the tragic and preventable death of Vanessa Young and six years after the government first learned about possible fatal reactions from the drug Prepulsid, has the government taken any concrete steps? Not one.
Have we even seen something as basic as the mandatory reporting of adverse drug reactions recommended by the Ontario coroner? No. What do we have? A lot of talk and maybe another office being set up to review and monitor drug safety.
Will the health minister at least ensure Canadians that any office she sets up will be separate from the administrative quagmire in her department and totally free of any influence from the drug industry?
Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, let me reassure the hon. member and everyone in the House that we take very seriously our regulatory obligations in post-marketing surveillance of drugs in relation to their safety and efficacy.
Obviously the Vanessa Young situation was a terrible tragedy. My department, Health Canada, is responding to the 14 recommendations of the coroner's inquest. As Dr. Peterson who heads up the drug approval agency in my department mentioned earlier today, as of April 1 we will create a new directorate in the Department of Health to ensure that--
Deborah Grey Canadian Alliance Edmonton North, AB
Mr. Speaker, the case of the missing reports just simply does not end. There is trouble now in the heritage department and who knows where else across there.
In 1996 that department gave a $56,000 contract to Olson & Olson to provide land use regulations for Lake Louise, but guess what? Six years later we find out that there is only a “draft document”. There is not a hint of a final report yet. “Drafts R Us” seems perfectly acceptable to the government. Why?
Jean Chrétien LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the minister has replied to all the questions. The auditor general is looking into that situation and we will know exactly what happened.
If there was a document that was lost we will find out. One thing I know is that it took three elections for the hon. member to find the proper form to sign for her pension.
Deborah Grey Canadian Alliance Edmonton North, AB
Mr. Speaker, I can understand it is hard for them to keep up with, but that is the wrong scandal. This was another report out of the heritage department.
The Prime Minister obviously cannot even keep control of his rat pack. He eliminated honest John Nunziata a few years ago over the GST. Tobin is toast. The minister of binders seems to just heartily defend photocopies of a draft report. Now nobody's baby has nobody's report. Why has the Prime Minister not taught his rat pack the value and defence of taxpayer dollars?
Don Boudria LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, all of us on this side of the House are unanimous in ensuring the proper expenditure of taxpayer dollars. That is why I have asked the Auditor General of Canada to do a verification pursuant to these two documents and I have undertaken to table it in the House of Commons.
Monte Solberg Canadian Alliance Medicine Hat, AB
Mr. Speaker, the province of Manitoba has said it cannot even deliver a budget until this mess with the $3.3 billion that the government overpaid the provinces has been sorted out. Manitoba is supposedly owing $608 million. That is a lot of money for a province the size of Manitoba.
Could the finance minister explain to Canadians why their provincial governments have been left hanging while this government figures out whether or not it will clawback the $3.3 billion?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, when one has to go back as far as one has to go back to determine what all the facts are, quite clearly it will not surprise the hon. member to know that this becomes a matter of considerable complexity.
The fact is that the government wants to act fairly. It wants to act fairly certainly in the case of the province of Manitoba as well as all the other provinces. That is why it takes time.
Monte Solberg Canadian Alliance Medicine Hat, AB
Thank you, Arthur Andersen. Mr. Speaker, the provinces have been trying to get answers for weeks. They have been petitioning this minister, the revenue minister and the auditor general.
Will the finance minister force the province of Manitoba and the other provinces to pay up for what is yet another Liberal screw up?
Elinor Caplan LiberalMinister of National Revenue
Mr. Speaker, the context of the member's question is wrong. We have been working very closely with the provinces. We shared immediately that there was a problem.
In fact we told them that our intention was to act fairly with both Canadian taxpayers as well as the provinces. They have been fully informed and we are working together.
Jocelyne Girard-Bujold Bloc Jonquière, QC
Mr. Speaker, recently, the Minister of Finance told the House that Quebec could count on funding other than that allocated to the Strategic Infrastructure Fund for the highway construction promised by the Liberals before and during the last election campaign.
Knowing the five priorities of the government of Quebec, those being highways 175, 30, 50, 185 and 35, will the Deputy Prime Minister tell us whether, with the money in the fund and the other amounts mentioned by the Minister of Finance on Wednesday, he intends to invest in these five projects? If not, which highways will be his priorities?
David Collenette LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, as I have already explained, I met with my counterpart, Mr. Ménard, and we discussed all the highways in the province of Quebec.
I emphasized that we had infrastructure money in this budget and in the Minister of Finance's 2000 budget. We also have a strategic program for highways. We have many programs and we are going to discuss this issue.
I noted, however, that the Bloc Quebecois voted against the budget yesterday and is therefore not in a position to criticize our government.
Jocelyne Girard-Bujold Bloc Jonquière, QC
Mr. Speaker, I challenge the Minister of Transport to tell us whether Bill C-49 contained any reference to the highways I mentioned earlier.
March 31 is 12 days away. Not only did the government make all sorts of election promises with respect to Quebec's highway system, but it promised $2 billion in its budget for infrastructure.
What does it intend to do between now and March 31? Will it use these 12 days to hand over this money in order to keep its promises, which everyone, including the government of Quebec, is waiting for it to do?
David Collenette LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that the Bloc Quebecois is against the infrastructure program, including the highways, because yesterday it voted against the budget.
Paul Forseth Canadian Alliance New Westminster—Coquitlam—Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the minister of immigration. Canadians have a right to be upset. Even after the revelations of September 11 the government continues with low border security at Pearson airport. A people smuggling ring brings in dozens of phony refugees every week from countries such as Costa Rica and India which are both democracies.
When will the government bring in a list of third safe countries and stop this abuse of a well intentioned law?