Debates of May 21st, 2002

Government Appointments

[Carol Skelton, Canadian Alliance, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Alfonso Gagliano should not represent Canadians in Denmark. Today the Toronto Star stated:

There is ample evidence that Gagliano does not belong on the public payroll.

Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and rescind Alfonso Gagliano's appointment now?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I find this very incredulous. There have been no accusations, just innuendoes and members trying to throw dirt like that. As the saying goes “When you throw dirt you lose ground”. That is what is happening to the Alliance Party.

[Carol Skelton, Canadian Alliance, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Alfonso Gagliano should not be Canada's representative in Denmark. The auditor general said that he broke every rule in the book when he was a minister of this government. Mr. Gagliano does not represent Canadian values.

Will the Prime Minister rescind Mr. Gagliano's appointment right now?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, there is documentation on that. The member of parliament knows very well that the auditor general never blamed Mr. Gagliano for anything. She was very clear. She made a distinction. She talked about some people in the public service. She never named a minister or the staff of any minister. She named two bureaucrats.

These comments are innuendos. They are dirt. This is absolutely unacceptable to the people who have been elected and who have to respect each other.

National Defence

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on April 17, 2002, the chairman of the American joint chiefs of staff stated that the U.S. northern command took Norad and moved it under northern command.

Since General Myers said clearly that Norad would come under the new northern command, could the Minister of National Defence assure the House that Norad will never be placed under U.S. northcom?

[Art Eggleton, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, General Eberhart, who is the commander of Norad, will also be the commander of northcom. However they are two separate organizations. Norad will continue as a binational command reporting to both Canada and the United States. We will have command and control over our own forces and our own territory as has been the Norad tradition. There will be no change in that whatsoever.

We are also looking for ways in which we can enhance co-operation for the benefit of our own citizens and our own continent in terms of co-operation in other areas involving the military.

Infrastructure

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor to Detroit is a vital artery between Canada and the United States with over 40,000 vehicles crossing the bridge daily via Huron Church Road.

The Minister of Transport has said that this was Canada's number one infrastructure priority yet he has done nothing to assist the local municipality that bears the enormous costs of maintaining this vital roadway.

The people of Windsor have seen 11 months of foot dragging to select a consultant for the binational study for a new border crossing. Why has it taken so long for the minister to act and when will we see results?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to congratulate the hon. member on his first question in the House.

I would like to remind him that the government signed an agreement with the government of the United States and the government of Ontario to plan for access toward the Ambassador Bridge which will look at all of the various options over the next coming years. We do realize however that there is an immediate problem that must be dealt with and the government will deal with that problem.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that still does not answer the question when.

I met with the minister over four years ago. On behalf of the people of Windsor I requested federal funding to cover the costs of such things as policing and snow removal on Huron Church Road. The government has ignored the people of Windsor, meeting behind closed doors and out of sight.

Will he commit today to act on our request for interim operational funding to expedite the binational study, yes or no?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that study needs to be speeded up given the various problems we have had but there are other options the government is looking at. An infrastructure program was announced in the 2001 budget and those are matters under consideration.

This is still the number one surface transportation priority facing the government and the government, as I have said, will act.

Government Contracts

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services' stay at a chalet owned by Groupe Everest boss, Claude Boulay, gives, at the very least, the perception of bias.

Since 1993 Groupe Everest has received over $55 million in taxpayer funded government contracts. In exchange, it donated $77,000 to the Liberal Party. The minister showed bad judgment in vacationing at the donor's fancy digs just two months after a new job and the scandal over cozy government contracts first broke.

Whether or not he or his son paid for the stay is not the real issue. Will the minister admit he broke section 23(1) of the conflict of interest guidelines or continue down this slippery slope of denial?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member perhaps prepared this question previously, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it does not reflect the answer I gave to another hon. member earlier today in which I said that notwithstanding the fact that I did not think I broke any rule, I would not do it again.

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, according to reports it was the minister's son who made the weekend arrangements to stay at the Boulay's chalet and the public works minister's son is an aide to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

My question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage, a fellow former rat packer who used to have histrionics and furious fits over allegations of government corruption when in opposition. Do her staff members have access to Groupe Everest chalets? Is it merely a coincidence that the same company received a number of lucrative contracts from her department just hours after the public works minister and his son enjoyed the weekend visit? What a duplicitous double standard.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, in an earlier incarnation I was an opposition critic to a very good minister from Central Nova . He was of course a relative of the member across the way. I never brought that relationship to the attention of the House. My family members are independent beings, as I am, and deserve the respect of all of us, as he does.

Airline Industry

[James Moore, Canadian Alliance, Port Moody—Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's provincial tourism ministers say the Liberal air tax is crippling travel into rural communities. They are calling on the government to reduce the $24 tax now to protect their tourism industries for this coming summer.

Will the government cut the air tax before the House rises for the summer and give Canada's tourism industry a real break?

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

Mr. Speaker, the government is highly aware of the importance of the tourism industry in the country. Air travel has resumed much faster than any of us thought after September 11. It augurs well for tourism in the country.

We said many times that the government will review the situation in the fall. Should revenues exceed the anticipated expenditures we will reduce the charge at that time.

[James Moore, Canadian Alliance, Port Moody—Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, why does the transport minister not get up, earn his money and answer the questions rather than sloughing them off to the minister responsible for credit cards.

What the minister does not understand is that if an air carrier does not earn a profit in the summer months it will not earn a profit for the entire year.

Why will the government not cut the tax and finally take the iron boot off the air industry so that finally we could have some competition in our skies and service small communities? Will he do it before the summer break?

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

Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member on the other side should understand is that taxation is a matter for the finance department. As I just said, the signs are that the tourist industry is improving.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. Even with the minister close at my right hand I cannot hear the answer. We must have some order so that hon. members at the far end of the Chamber can hear the minister.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, matters of taxation and charges come under the authority of the finance department.

Softwood Lumber

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in two days, American duties of 27.2% will be applied against the softwood lumber industry in Canada and Quebec. The bill will total almost $3 billion. The government announcement last week of $75 million in assistance for the forestry industry is not only completely insufficient, but it completely misses the mark.

Does the Minister for International Trade understand that a grant for research and development does nothing to meet the immediate needs of the industry and does nothing to help the 1,800 workers who have lost their jobs since the beginning of the dispute?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I was very happy with the ITC's decision last week to return the $760 million that was posted by the Canadian industry. I think we have to acknowledge that there is some leeway and that our industry won three–quarters of a billion dollars this week.

Also, to say that $75 million in research and development, $75 million to expand the international market, is nothing, is certainly not what we are hearing from the industry in Canada, which is very grateful to the government for investing in its future.

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I did not say it was nothing, I said it did not meet the immediate needs of the industry or the workers.

Are we to understand, based on the refusal of the Minister for International Trade and his colleagues to announce a real assistance plan, that the government is ready to crawl back and negotiate with the Americans?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, the opposition is asking us to come up with a plan without even knowing certain facts. We have just had $760 million freed up. We have to take this information, which we just received last week, into account. The government has not ruled out any options.

Last week, we were careful to state that this was only an initial announcement in our support for the industry. Other assistance will be announced in due course in the coming weeks.

One thing is certain: our government is not ruling out any options and will stand by the Canadian industry.