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.

Topics

Criminal CodePrivate Members' Business

7:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

No.

Criminal CodePrivate Members' Business

7:05 p.m.

Liberal

Bob Speller Liberal Haldimand—Norfolk—Brant, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is too bad that the hon. member for Northumberland could not complete his remarks. I know coming from the riding he does he would be very supportive. I appreciate the support that he has given me on this piece of legislation. I thank all hon. members who today rose in their place and spoke on behalf of what I think Canadians feel are their values and some of the things that they cherish. I am speaking of course of our Canadian flag.

Unfortunately this piece of legislation will not be voted upon. It has been deemed by a committee of the House which has a member from all parties that the bill and in fact previous bills should not be voted upon. On that committee we need unanimity to get items voted upon.

That aside, Canadians from across the country need to take this issue and speak out. They need to call their members of parliament, provincial MPPs and put forward either petitions or letters to tell those who are in power and in the public service that they understand the feeling out there on this issue.

I want to address one issue raised by the member for Pictou--Antigonish--Guysborough. He suggested that in the bill anybody who might dispose of the flag inadvertently might be charged with a criminal offence. If the member reads subsection 56.1(2) of the criminal code it says:

No person is guilty of an offence under subsection (1) if the person disposes of the national flag of Canada because the flag has become worn, soiled or damaged.

There is no question that this is not the case. It is too bad the member has left the Chamber but I would hope that he would have read and understood that point. There are a number of people in the House who support the bill and I am wondering if I could get unanimous support to have the bill votable.

Criminal CodePrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)

Is there unanimous consent?

Criminal CodePrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Criminal CodePrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

No.

Criminal CodePrivate Members' Business

7:10 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)

As the motion has not been designated as a votable item, the order is dropped from the order paper.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

Criminal CodeAdjournment Proceedings

7:10 p.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

Mr. Speaker, on December 13, 2001, I asked the following question of the Minister of National Defence here in the House:

Mr. Speaker, 45-gallon containers of PCBs and Agent Orange have been discovered on the old Tracadie-Sheila firing range in New Brunswick

Is this firing range a dumping ground for National Defence or is it really a Canadian Forces firing range?

Before I was elected in 1997, my predecessor, Doug Young, came to Tracadie-Sheila with $20 million to clean up the firing range. For the information of those listening to us, the Tracadie-Sheila firing range has been in use since 1942; DND conducted training at that range. The government decided to close it down and at the same time assumed the responsibility for cleaning it up. The amount allocated for this was $20 million.

I have done some research and found that I sent a letter to the Minister of Defence on April 20, 2000, another on July 4, 2000, another on August 11, another August 31 and another September 1, 2000. The regional press often writes articles about the contamination of this military camp.

It is not that people do not want this military facility; it represents one third of the land on the Acadian Peninsula. This site could easily be used for regional or economic development purposes.

Allow me to quote from the editorial of L'Acadie nouvelle , under the heading “Taken hostage”.

This week we learned that the decontamination work carried out on the site—remember that it covers one third of the area of the Acadian Peninsula—is a surface operation. Basically, it is a travesty of a clean-up.

These are not my own words, but those of the editorialist of L'Acadie nouvelle . After a little research, it has become clear that everyone in the region is concerned.

This is why I have raised this issue in the House, and more than once. I asked questions to the minister, who needs to take responsibility before someone gets hurt. We are told that there are bombs underground in this area, and that there could be PCBs and Agent Orange. Why is the government waiting for something to happen before doing something? The best thing that could happen would be for DND to send in experts to check the ground again.

Allow me to continue reading from L'Acadie nouvelle :

When it comes from a former Corporal in the Canadian Armed Forces, we should listen. According to Luc Perron, who knows the area like the back of his hand, an additional $20 million would be necessary to do the work properly after the scheduled 2001 deadline.

This is worrisome. The Minister of National Defence replied, and I quote:

Mr. Speaker, the Department of National Defence takes it environmental responsibilities very seriously.

In fact the reports from the environmental auditor have generally indicated that defence has been one of the leaders with respect to dealing with such matters. We will continue to do that on this site and on any other site. I would be happy to provide further details with respect to the Tracadie site to the hon. member.

That was on December 13, 2001, and today, March 19, 2002, the minister has yet to contact me to discuss the matter.

Again, I am asking the Minister of National Defence to take the Tracadie-Sheila issue seriously and do a complete cleanup. I would like to hear the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence, because he certainly had time to review the matter, given how long we have been discussing it in the House.

Criminal CodeAdjournment Proceedings

7:15 p.m.

Haliburton—Victoria—Brock Ontario

Liberal

John O'Reilly LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence

Mr. Speaker, sustaining and protecting the environment as well as human life are priorities for the Department of National Defence.

The Tracadie Range was used for various military purposes from 1939 until its closure in 1994. The Department of National Defence agreed to transfer the Tracadie Range to the province of New Brunswick in 1997. The agreement stated:

All environmental contamination...will be remediated or cleaned up by the Department of National Defence at its own risk and expense in a timely fashion.

The agreement clearly demonstrates the Department of National Defence's commitment to assuming its responsibilities with respect to environmental matters. The overall aim of the cleanup work is to allow the re-utilization of the site for forestry and blueberry cultivation as well as recreation and tourism.

A five year plan for ammunitions related areas cleanup of unexploded ordnance was also established and was completed in summer 2001. Thus far, the department has already spent $20 million at the Tracadie Range.

With respect to the putative presence of PCBs and Agent Orange on the site last year, which my hon. colleague referred to in his question, an investigation conducted last June showed no contaminants above provincial guidelines. Moreover, the barrels that were found on the site and mistaken for Agent Orange were indeed orange in colour but full of holes, indicating their use for target practice, not for the storage of toxic contaminants. In this case, as in many others, the Department of National Defence responded promptly.

The Department of National Defence is well aware of the environmental impact of its past and present activities and is committed to addressing environmental issues across Canada in a proactive manner. The Department of National Defence takes its public safety responsibilities very seriously. It has always had an open relationship with local residents, consulting and working with them to respond to their concerns. We also have a close working relationship with Environment Canada and provincial officials and we ensure that all our activities comply with provincial standards and regulations.

As one of the federal government's largest landholders, with responsibility for more than 20,000 square kilometres of land, DND remains deeply committed to minimizing the impact of its activities and operations on the environment. The department's first sustainable development strategy was tabled in 1997. Building on this strategy, in February 2001 the department tabled a new strategy that further took into account the input of an array of stakeholders from inside the defence team, other government departments, non-government organizations and our allies.

The new sustainable development strategy demonstrates our continuing commitment to integrating environment considerations into all the department's activities and practices. A commitment to sustainable development, to the implementation of an environmental management system that is comparable with the International Organization for Standardization, better known as ISO 14001, and to the code of environmental stewardship are all integral components of the defence environmental policy. In accordance with the code of environmental stewardship, the department will integrate environmental concerns into all its activities.

I want to thank the member for Acadie--Bathurst for bringing this forward. I hope we have been able to clarify some of his concerns, that is, there is no Agent Orange or other contaminant on the site.

Criminal CodeAdjournment Proceedings

7:20 p.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

Mr. Speaker, I regret to say that I disagree completely with the hon. member. I want him to take note that the day that there is a problem at the Tracadie-Sheila military camp, the Liberal government will be entirely responsible, and I will be there to bring up the subject again.

The secretary of state says that there is no problem in Tracadie. It is sad to say such a thing. They are only cleaning up the surface. Last week, I met with people working at the Tracadie-Sheila military facility. They had found unexploded bomb fragments and bullets. This is not the first time that this has happened.

It would be too bad to have a tourist site, as the member has just mentioned, and people afraid to visit it because of bombs. Does this make any sense? Is this all the Acadian peninsula means to the government? We will give these people a firing range, but we will give them a bomb, an area which has not been cleaned up.

It is simple. Once again, all I am asking is for the minister to conduct an independent study for the safety of the people of Acadie--Bathurst.

Criminal CodeAdjournment Proceedings

7:20 p.m.

Liberal

John O'Reilly Liberal Haliburton—Victoria—Brock, ON

Mr. Speaker, let me sum up by saying that the department is committed to improving the level of environmental awareness throughout the department and the Canadian forces through environmental awareness training and to encouraging and recognizing the actions of personnel that have a positive impact on the environment.

Since 1992 the department has had a dedicated funding program in place to deal with major environmental issues facing DND and the Canadian forces. Between 1992 and 2000, $400 million was allocated to this program, the majority of which went to clean up contaminated sites.

Criminal CodeAdjournment Proceedings

7:20 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)

Pursuant to Standing Order 38(5), the motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted.

Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 2 p.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7.24 p.m.)