Debates of April 29th, 2002

Terrorism

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

Mr. Speaker, this is the only place in the world where we will hear Hezbollah referred to as a legitimate organization.

Again from the CSIS document filed in federal court, this is the nature of Hezbollah. In Buenos Aires, March 1992, there was a Hezbollah suicide attack on the Israeli embassy. In July 1994 there was a Hezbollah suicide truck bombing of an office building in Argentina with 96 people killed. In July 1994 in Panama City, a Hezbollah suicide attack killed 21 people.

By just saying no to Hezbollah, will the minister strike a blow to terrorism, change the perception of Canada as a safe haven and retract his statement about Hezbollah being a legitimate organization?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows full well that his statement is wrong that in no country with Hezbollah is this distinction made. The precise same distinction that we have made has been made by the authorities in the United Kingdom for exactly the same reason. That country has a great deal of experience with terrorism and knows that in the course of dealing with terrorism we must be careful not to shut off places which will enable ultimately peace to take place if we can encourage the right type of actions.

Canada will not be terrified by the hon. member deliberately misstating what the facts are and deliberately trying to mislead us by using one term to cover two separate situations.

Employment Insurance

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in Murdochville, 84 workers are 50 or more years old and their opportunities for relocation are considerably diminished.

Is the tragic situation of the people in Murdochville not one more clear indication to the government that it must urgently restore a program for older workers who cannot be relocated and trained for another job?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will know that the Government of Canada identified $30 million to use in partnership with the provinces to focus specifically on issues facing older workers. Eleven million dollars of that is invested with the province of Quebec.

I would hope the hon. member would also be encouraging his colleagues there with the Government of Quebec to work with us to look at opportunities in the area of Murdochville in this vein.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, these programs are for workers who can be relocated.

Will the minister not show a little compassion and admit that workers in Murdochville aged 50 and up who have been laid off see their chances of being trained for other jobs and relocated as nil, and that the usual measures are not going to cut it in the difficult situation these people are facing?

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

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the monies that I identified in my first answer are monies that are there for pilot projects that are specifically able to be flexible to the needs of individual older workers community by community.

We have a positive working relationship with the Government of Quebec. I hope the hon. member will be speaking to it about the importance of developing programs for the workers of Murdochville. This is exactly the approach the Government of Canada has taken in this regard.

Terrorism

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

Mr. Speaker, the problem is that Hezbollah has two activities; one is social development and the other is terrorist activities. They are two halves of the same whole and cannot be separated. Even CSIS says the same thing. I will quote from a public document:

In addition to direct military confrontation, Hezbollah has engaged in terrorism as a means of achieving its objectives.... Hezbollah has publicly voiced its opposition to any Middle East peace...vowing to continue the resistance with blood and martyrdom.

It is clear according to CSIS that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. Will the minister ban fundraising--

[The Speaker]

The hon. Deputy Prime Minister.

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

Mr. Speaker, we take a back seat to no country on listing agencies that are involved in terrorism. Three countries in the world have listed Hezbollah: Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. We have listed it exactly the same as the United Kingdom has.

The problem with the Alliance Party is it wants us to always do exactly the same as the United States. That is not necessary in this case.

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

Mr. Speaker, whenever the opposition engages in tough questions over the government's incompetence, the Liberals resort to name calling and fearmongering.

In the CSIS documents, 300 pages substantiate the notion that Hezbollah is raising money for social development and terrorist activities.

I will ask the Deputy Prime Minister once again one simple question. Will he do the right thing and ban fundraising by all of Hezbollah?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have done the right thing by listing Hezbollah. As I have said already, this is not name calling. We did it like the United Kingdom. We did not do it like the United States. There is no other country that has taken the step we have taken.

They try to create the impression that somehow or other there are terrorists under every bush. It is simply not the case.

Wind Energy

[Jocelyne Girard-Bujold, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government claims to be committed to reducing greenhouse gases in Canada and helping the Gaspé. Since 1970 it has subsidized the oil industry to the tune of $66 billion, $3.7 billion of those for Hibernia, which is the equivalent of $7,000 for each person in Newfoundland.

Is the government prepared to expend the same financial effort to assist in developing the industry of manufacturing wind chargers in the Gaspé that it has for the oil industry in Newfoundland?

[Claude Drouin, Liberal, Secretary of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, we are already involved in the wind power project. A new request has been received and we are going to look into it.

I must reiterate that we work in collaboration and are always there to work for the development of the region.

[Jocelyne Girard-Bujold, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Murdochville has all the technical facilities for the manufacture of wind charger components. There are consortiums already in place and Hydro-Québec has made a commitment to purchase wind generated energy.

Does the government not believe it has a duty to do as much for the Gaspé and wind energy as it has done for Newfoundland and oil?

[Claude Drouin, Liberal, Secretary of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, our programs are in place. They exist. We have already done our share as far as wind power projects are concerned. We are going to continue to do so according to the requests and to the criteria we have in place. Rest assured, without any fear, that we are going to work for the economic development of the region.

Species at Risk

[Bob Mills, Canadian Alliance, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as vice-chair of the environment committee, I and other members spent weeks listening to concerned Canadians. These are the people who the minister calls front line soldiers. Environmentalists, farmers, ranchers, foresters and industry all said species at risk could not be saved without providing compensation.

Will the minister guarantee today that compensation regulations will be drawn up within three months of the bill becoming law?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly welcome the good work done by the committee and the hon. members on that committee in listening to representations with many different viewpoints from right across the country.

That said, the difficulty we face with compensation, of which the member is well aware, is that we had a number of studies done. They were put to some of the stakeholder groups and it was not possible, despite very constructive discussion on all parts, to come up with a compensation system which was, we should say, completely acceptable. Therefore we intend in the first months and years of the bill on the basis of experience with providing compensation in an ex gratia way, to develop regulations--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Red Deer.

[Bob Mills, Canadian Alliance, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the real answer is that the minister knows compensation is necessary but he lost the fight in cabinet. A letter from one cabinet minister to another said that removing compensation from Bill C-5 altogether would be the ideal case. That is the truth of the matter.

Instead of telling landowners to trust the government and playing a shell game, why does the minister not admit that the bill will not provide any compensation any time in the future?

[David Anderson, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Obviously, Mr. Speaker, I would not make such a statement because it would be patently untrue.

In the bill we find compensation provisions and I believe the words used are “fair and reasonable”. It is important for us to make sure that where there are costs that are well out of what is expected, exceptional costs, the government does indeed recognize that it is important for the state to come forward and provide assistance.

Labour Force

[Judi Longfield, Liberal, Whitby—Ajax, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the G-8 ministers of labour and employment met on the weekend in Montreal. Would the Minister of Human Resources Development tell us the purpose of the meeting and what was accomplished?

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

Mr. Speaker, I did have the pleasure of hosting my colleagues, the ministers of labour and employment from the G-8 nations as well as representatives from the OECD and the International Labour Organization to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing our labour markets in the 21st century.

We talked about the importance of continuing to build strategies to make sure those who are under-represented in today's labour force have more access and opportunity.

We talked about the importance of enhancing the culture of lifelong learning in our jurisdictions and as well about the importance of better recognizing credentials from one jurisdiction to another.

It is a priority for the government to ensure that our labour force reaches its full potential. These discussions--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Sackville--Musquodoboit Valley--Eastern Shore.

National Defence

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Musquodoboit Valley—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, before I ask my question, I thank the people of Edmonton for holding such a fabulous ceremony yesterday on behalf of our fallen soldiers in Afghanistan, and of the injured.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.