Debates of April 25th, 2002

Leadership Campaigns

[John Manley, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations]

Mr. Speaker, this is exactly the kind of debasement of the language that all of us in public life need to be concerned about.

There are rules around contracting and contracts issued in the public service. If the hon. member thinks they were not followed let him bring those allegations forward and we will see. If he thinks Mr. Thornley is not properly registered under the Lobbyist Registration Act let him make a complaint.

However for him to stand in his place in the House of Commons under parliamentary privilege and make accusations of corruption without a single iota of evidence is simply scandalous.

[Randy White, Canadian Alliance, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Oh, yes, Mr. Speaker, it must be a coincidence. It is just a coincidence that ministers of the government allow their departments to give grants to people who just happen to be raising money for people who are out there trying to become prime minister.

Just how long is it going to be in this country before people are just sick and tired of the government using their taxpayers' dollars to promote ministers to try to be prime minister? Just how long is that going to be?

[John Manley, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member alleges a grant. Let him produce one piece of evidence about a grant, one piece of evidence that somebody received a grant. It is false.

Second, let us talk about waste. Let us talk about their words before. These are the people who thought that Stornoway was a waste. They thought parliamentary pensions were a waste. They thought having a chauffeur driven car for the Leader of the Opposition was a waste.

The people of Canada are going to conclude that voting for the Alliance is a waste.

Microbreweries

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Mr. Speaker, considering the economic importance of microbreweries and the difficult situation in which they find themselves because of the unfavourable treatment to which they are subjected, compared to their foreign competitors, should the government not urgently use the opportunity provided by Bill C-47 to ensure microbreweries are extended the same treatment as small wine producers and ignore the intense lobbying by major breweries?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the hon. gentleman knows that such an amendment to Bill C-47, as ruled by the chair of the finance committee, on professional advice, is outside the scope of the bill as tabled in the House. That is not to say that the tax treatment of microbreweries is an unimportant matter. It obviously is, but it would require a separate and distinct piece of legislation.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Mr. Speaker, large breweries know full well that as they buy time, competitors in the microbreweries sector grow fewer, and they can just keep increasing their share of the market.

Does the government not realize that by yielding to the lobby of major breweries, as it did at the Standing Committee on Finance, it is directly contributing to the elimination of microbreweries, which are caught between their foreign competitors, who benefit from a favorable tax treatment, and large breweries, which just want to bump them out of the market?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, what lack of imagination on the part of Bloc Quebecois members. They asked the same question five times in the past 24 hours.

Here is a good question for them. Why has the Quebec economy been so strong over the past 12 months, creating 40% of all jobs in Canada? This is a good question that they could have asked. The answer is that federal policies have greatly contributed to the strong growth of the Quebec economy.

Government of Canada

[Gerry Ritz, Canadian Alliance, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, 70% of Canadians are openly condemning the Liberal government as corrupt. A litany of untendered deals. Contracts are missing. Liberal leadership candidates hide behind ethics counsellor's rulings but when we check them out, there are no rulings or no record of any discussions.

Is not the real issue here and the real problem the missing ethics of these guys on the other side?

[John Manley, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations]

Mr. Speaker, the fact that the hon. member stands up and claims that a poll said something it did not raises questions about the ethics of the person asking the question.

[Gerry Ritz, Canadian Alliance, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister ranted and raved and tried to blame everyone else about his government's continued failings, but no matter how he rants and raves the public is no longer buying that self-serving Liberal spin.

Untendered contracts that clearly benefit Liberal friends is not a false impression, as the Deputy Prime Minister would have us believe, of any corruption.

When will the Prime Minister clean up his cabinet and rein these guys in? Who is in charge?

[John Manley, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations]

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, if the hon. member has some particular complaint about contract processes, then let him bring that to the appropriate place and raise it. We have a committee of the House that deals specifically with those items. Let him raise it.

The government issues many, many contracts per day. Surely they can find some that are worth complaining about, but then to try to turn that into an allegation of overall corruption is the kind of debasement of the language that is very unfortunate in this place.

Orphan Clauses

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Force Jeunesse and representatives from several groups, including the Bloc Quebecois and the Parti Quebecois are particularly supportive of the young Radio-Canada employees now on strike to protest their lack of job security, a form of discrimination in disguise.

We are not asking the Minister of Canadian Heritage to interfere in the negotiations. We are asking her to show the same courage vis-à-vis these young people that she showed when she denounced other forms of discrimination at Radio-Canada and said that they had better stop, and soon.

[Claudette Bradshaw, Liberal, Minister of Labour and Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) (Status of Women)]

Mr. Speaker, when there are issues under dispute during collective bargaining, they should be brought to the table.

If there is an issue under dispute at Radio-Canada, it should be brought to the negotiating table and included in the collective agreement.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if the Minister of Canadian Heritage wants to demonstrate her lack of political courage, she is free to do so.

My question is for the Minister of Labour, and it is very clear. Is the minister prepared to pass legislation prohibiting the use of orphan clauses in the Canada Labour Code? Yes or no?

[Claudette Bradshaw, Liberal, Minister of Labour and Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) (Status of Women)]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, they are already negotiating. We will see what is in the collective agreement and then we will see what has to be done.

Government of Canada

[Vic Toews, Canadian Alliance, Provencher, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear why 70% of Canadians consider the government corrupt. Minister after minister serves as evidence for this obvious conclusion and yet the Prime Minister wants more evidence. We already have the ethics counsellor working overtime to deal with what we have.

Why will the Prime Minister not see the obvious and admit that he has failed to take the real steps necessary to deal with this serious problem?

[John Manley, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations]

Mr. Speaker, the actual question asked by the pollster was: Do you personally think that the Canadian political system is corrupt?

That is not this government. That includes the hon. members, it includes the leadership candidates in the Alliance Party and it is caused, in part at least, by the extreme, the excessive, language that they repeatedly use, rather than questioning government operations and administration, every time to impugn the morality of people on the other side. It is not acceptable.

[Vic Toews, Canadian Alliance, Provencher, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the executive and the cabinet represent the political system and Canadians see them as corrupt.

The Prime Minister is among the minority of Canadians who do not see the government as corrupt. It must be lonely at the top of that shaky tower.

Will the minister stop blaming the media? Will he stop blaming the opposition? Will he stop ducking his responsibilities and will he take real steps to deal with the problems of his executive and his cabinet ministers?

[John Manley, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations]

Mr. Speaker, this is a continuation of the empty allegations, the impugning of integrity without any facts.

Look at the list of things that opposition members have come to this place proclaiming to believe in. They change their minds as soon as they arrive. They are part of the political system. Their rhetoric on Stornoway, their rhetoric on pensions and their reversal of field contribute directly to that imputation of corruption that they are part of. We had all better tone down our rhetoric.

Private Members' Business

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday during the hour reserved for private members' business we saw the frustration that members experience. I have a great deal of sympathy for the member for Nepean--Carleton in getting his motion adopted. I have also a great deal of sympathy with the member for Calgary Southeast who blocked consensus. This is evidence of a system that does not work.

We have other bills and motions. The bills of other members that meet the criteria are sometimes not given votable status.

When I raised this issue, the government House leader said he would look into it with the leaders of the parties opposite. Where are those discussions and where are we on this--

[The Speaker]

The hon. government House leader.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I believe we do in the House have a dysfunctional and unsatisfactory system for determining the votability of private members' business. When I say we, I mean all of us together as parliamentarians.

I would note that the government does not have a majority on the subcommittee that presently decides these things. The opposition outnumbers the government four to two, so we all need to work together on a solution.

The House leaders are meeting to discuss this topic. The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs will be working on it as well. We need creative solutions, not just the bellowing from a bunch of buffoons.

Health Care

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I assume the health minister has taken note of the most recent statistics showing drug costs going through the roof. I hope she understands how untenable this situation is and realizes that if there is one issue that threatens the sustainability of public health care in Canada today it is this issue of escalating drug costs.

I hope she is revisiting some of the old, broken Liberal promises for such things as a national drug plan and reduced patent protection.

I want to know, what is her plan today to rein in uncontrolled drug costs?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is probably aware that as part of the September 2000 accord on health care the first ministers spoke to the challenge of increased drug costs. In light of that accord, federal, provincial and territorial ministers are working together. We are working on a common review process. We are looking at both cost effectiveness issues and utilization issues in relation to prescription drugs.

The hon. member raises a very serious concern, but it is one to which there are not any easy solutions and we will only be able to find a solution if health care professionals and federal, provincial and territorial ministers work together.

Canada Post

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, Canada Post has just reported its seventh consecutive profitable year, doubling its net income over the previous year, yet it continues to deny the most basic labour rights to thousands of rural route mail couriers. These workers have no EI, no CPP and no health and safety legislation and they are denied the right to free collective bargaining.

Will the minister for Canada Post finally remedy this historic injustice and will he agree that rural route mail couriers should be entitled to all the rights that all ordinary workers in Canada enjoy?