Debates of May 7th, 2002

World Asthma Day

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, today, May 7, is World Asthma Day.

Asthma is a chronic lung disease that causes shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, wheezing and coughing. It is one of the most common and costly illnesses in North America and mortality rates have risen 58% since 1980. Every day 14 Americans die from this disease. Today 17 million Americans, 3 million Canadians and 1 in every 20 children suffer from asthma.

Asthma can start at any age and at any time, and there are strong links to heredity and the environment. Triggers can be dust, pollen, animals, exercise, certain foods, chemicals and air pollution.

I have asthma. The good news is that asthma does not have to control one's life. One can live fully and actively by avoiding the triggers, developing a personalized action plan and taking medications as directed.

While there is a need for more research, awareness and education about asthma, decreasing environmental pollution is an imperative before the very air that we need to sustain human life becomes a cause of its destruction.

Agriculture

[Howard Hilstrom, Canadian Alliance, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the all talk and no action federal and provincial agriculture ministers have announced that there will not be any immediate financial help for grain and oilseed farmers and pulse crop growers. There will be no trade injury compensation program. Country of origin labelling will hurt our livestock producers.

These farmers and ranchers are being crushed by a $180 billion U.S. farm bill. Even with full knowledge of the devastation to Canadian farmers caused by subsidies the federal minister refuses to commit to the program.

The minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board has also turned his back on wheat and barley farmers in the designated provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Manitoba and Saskatchewan agriculture ministers stated after the conference that in essence there is no federal financial commitment, there are no details, and much more work needs to be done.

The agriculture minister, the Canadian Wheat Board minister and all the Liberals have turned their backs on farmers, and they are either incompetent or simply cold hearted.

Multiple Sclerosis Carnation Campaign

[Paddy Torsney, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, an estimated 50,000 Canadians have multiple sclerosis, a disease affecting the central nervous system. The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada is making a difference for individuals and their families living with this disease.

Tomorrow, May 8, is the official start of the 2002 Multiple Sclerosis Carnation Campaign, and I am honoured once again to participate. A team of Ottawa MS chapter volunteers will join me just outside the Chamber tomorrow to help kick-start the campaign and present carnations to all members of the House.

Since 1976 the MS carnation campaign has raised over $30 million to help support MS research and provide services for people with MS and their families. On Mother's Day weekend thousands of volunteers in over 280 communities across Canada will be selling carnations to help find a cure for MS.

I encourage all members of the House to join me in supporting this wonderful campaign, and I ask all Canadians to wear a carnation tomorrow, buy carnations in their communities and support MS research. Together we will find a cure.

Agriculture

[Dick Proctor, NDP, Palliser, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the new U.S. farm bill that has just been handed out means further subsidy payments that would drive down international prices of grains and oilseeds even further, and to that would be added pulse crops.

That could deal a fatal blow to many Canadian farm families. Saskatchewan's agriculture minister says the cost to farmers in his province alone would be $500 million to $600 million, money the province does not have. The federal government has an abysmal record when it comes to helping our farmers, but let us concentrate on solutions.

Canada's agriculture ministers have just wrapped up a two day meeting in Ottawa. They are asking the federal government for a minimum of $1.3 billion to offset the trade injury Canadian farmers would suffer from this newest subsidy program. The federal agriculture and finance ministers say they cannot help, but Canadians know there is at least $10 billion of unexpected surplus in our revenues this year.

The government can help and it must before thousands of Canadian farm families are forced off the land.

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, a year ago, the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities tabled a unanimous report containing 17 recommendations for humanizing the EI program.

Before long, however, the Liberal majority was forced to recant, because the Minister of Human Resources Development, setting herself up as the spokesperson for her bureaucracy, rejected the report out of hand, preferring to continue to pocket the funds of the jobless for the Minister of Finance's coffers.

Tomorrow, the Bloc Quebecois is going to hold a horror show. We will demonstrate that pregnant workers, older workers, young workers, seasonal worker and those employed in family busineses are the victims of the federal government's inaction.

All MPs and senators are invited to visit our Chamber of Horrors. They will have a chance to view a film starring the Minister of FInance, “The Great EI Robbery”.

This may be a sad anniversary to be celebrating, but it is a golden opportunity to give the government a shock that may goad it into action. The workers, employers and unemployed richly deserve it.

Laval West Liberal Association

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval West, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is my great pleasure to draw attention to the visit to Ottawa by the members of the Laval West Liberal Association, who have come to visit this House and see it in operation.

Thanks to the ceaseless work of its members, the Laval West Liberal Association is a driving force behind the continued success of Liberal ideology among the people of Laval and Canada. It is thanks to the work of these people that so many Liberal members were elected in the last election right across the country.

The devotion of these people represents what is truly good in Canadians.

A big thank you goes to them.

Safe Drinking Water

[John Herron, Progressive Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Mr. Speaker, today I tabled a bill in the House on behalf of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and our leader the right hon. member for Calgary Centre, an act to ensure safe drinking water throughout Canada.

We are proposing a way to keep a promise made in the House to Canadians one year ago on May 8, 2001 when the Liberals along with most parliamentarians in the House supported a motion we put forward which called upon the government to take immediate action working with the provinces and territories to turn existing guidelines and suggestions into national enforceable standards in the form of a safe water act.

This is yet another broken promise by the Liberal government. It is appalling that the government refuses to act to ensure the right of every Canadian, no matter where they live, to know that the drinking water they consume is safe. Walkerton should have served as a wake up call to the government.

Now that we have done the government's homework for it and introduced a bill which would work to ensure that such a tragedy did not happen again, we ask the Government of Canada to support our bill or to introduce their own safe water act to ensure that we have national standards for drinking water.

Mental Health Week

[Gurbax Malhi, Liberal, Bramalea—Gore—Malton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this week, May 6 to May 12, is Mental Health Week. The Canadian Mental Health Association wants all Canadians to know about the impact of mental illness on Canadians.

Approximately one in five Canadians will have a mental health problem during their lifetime, and today in our society people with mental disorders continue to experience personal feelings of shame and to face discrimination. The need to include and accept people with mental illness is an important social justice issue. A mentally healthy society shows compassion and has room for everyone including the mentally ill.

I commend the work of the Canadian Mental Health Association in raising the issue of mental illness this week, and for calling for respect and understanding for those Canadians who suffer from this terrible illness.

Divorce Act

[Larry Spencer, Canadian Alliance, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Mr. Speaker, for too long the government has poorly served the best interests of children and families. Last month we were shocked to see this government vote not just once but twice against increasing the protection of children from sexual predators. Just last week, by refusing to table meaningful changes to the Divorce Act, the government has once again shown that families are not its priority.

After years of consultation, millions of dollars, hundreds of witnesses, a joint House-Senate report and a justice department paper still thousands of Canadian children are being denied access to both parents in a winner-take-all justice system. When parents divorce they never divorce their children. New legislation is needed now to allow children of divorced parents to have a meaningful relationship with both parents and both sets of grandparents.

The government is stalling on this issue. It continues to ignore committee reports and recommendations, do its own thing and let the children suffer.

National Palliative Care Week

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

Mr. Speaker, May 5 to 12 is National Palliative Care Week, a time for us to reflect on the importance of palliative care. As individuals near the end of life, they and their loved ones often need the kind of holistic care that palliative care provides to manage symptoms and to support the best possible quality of life in all its dimensions: physical, spiritual, emotional and social.

The Government of Canada has an ongoing commitment to quality palliative care. A secretariat on palliative care and end of life care has been established within Health Canada. Health Canada has also injected substantial funding into web based projects such as PALLIUM and start-up funding for the Canadian Virtual Hospice. The federal government has provided funding to the national Canadian Palliative Care Association to develop national norms of practice for hospice palliative care.

I hope the House will join me in applauding the efforts of the many providers of care, from spiritual care and social support to the dedication of health care professionals, volunteers, family caregivers and others who tirelessly dedicate their efforts to bringing quality palliative care to Canadians.

Government Expenditures

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, corruption within the government is more widespread than one nothing report from Groupaction. Seventy per cent of Canadians think the government is corrupt and for a reason. Millions and millions of tax dollars may have been squandered by the government or paid to its friends as patronage or port.

Will the government widen the probe into corruption so that Canadians can see the truth about the use of their tax dollars?

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

Mr. Speaker, first, there was no poll saying that 70% of Canadians believe the government is corrupt. Second, there is no investigation into corruption. Third, the report of the auditor general on three files will be tabled in the House tomorrow. The Leader of the Opposition may want to wait and review it.

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the government saw it yesterday. All Canadians cannot wait to see it. They should have seen it yesterday.

Now that the auditor general has indicated the RCMP needs to probe this government's corrupt behaviour on Groupaction, Canadians need assurance that all the needed information will come to light.

Will the government recall Alfonso Gagliano from Denmark so that he can co-operate fully in the RCMP investigation as I am sure any hon. minister on that side would want to do?

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

Mr. Speaker, I remind the Leader of the Opposition that the auditor general was asked to look into these files by the minister of public works himself. Of course we have indicated not just to the auditor general but to anyone else who may be authorized to look into the matter that they will have the full co-operation of the government.

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the minister of public works asked the auditor general to look into it after two pretty tough days of questioning in the House by all opposition parties.

The Prime Minister indulged in a real whopper yesterday when he suggested that the gross waste on federal sponsorship magically made separatism disappear. Now the intergovernmental affairs minister has contradicted the Prime Minister and said that the danger is still alive.

Since the government's own point man on the province of Quebec has said that the Prime Minister is wrong and the program has no use, will the government strap the sponsorship program right now?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to know if the hon. Leader of Opposition would like us to do that before we respond to his request for funding under the program. I quote his letter referring to the international volunteer firefighters symposium, which states:

--this undertaking will be a marvelous opportunity for Canada to showcase itself to the world, and I would like to see our visitors going home with glowing accolades about our country and our people.

Would he perhaps like us to wait until we have a decision on that proposal?

[Grant Hill, Canadian Alliance, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that was for 5,000 firemen. It had nothing to do with the riding of the Leader of the Opposition.

Let us go over the Groupaction file in more depth. The government gave $1 million to Groupaction and then Groupaction gave $70,000 to the Liberal Party of Canada. My question is straightforward. Will those donations also be a part of the RCMP investigation?

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

Mr. Speaker, the government does not decide what the RCMP will investigate. The member should know that.

Now we understand. Alliance members want us to scrap the program but if it applies to certain volunteer organizations, we should continue the funding. In fact the Leader of the Opposition writes and asks us to maintain the fund.

I do not understand how many ways they think they can put a particular suit of clothes on. They have to decide this. Should the Government of Canada pay for visibility or should it not?

[Grant Hill, Canadian Alliance, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, one thing we know about the unity the Liberals foster is that they give money to the teams in one part of the country and nothing to the others.

Let us go back to the question I asked in the first place. Groupaction received $1 million from the government. It gave $70,000 back to the Liberal party of Canada. I ask this again. Will that be part of the RCMP investigation? Yes or no.

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

Mr. Speaker, the government does not decide what the RCMP will investigate.

Once again the hon. member has the facts wrong. I am given to understand that government sponsorship funds have been made available in all parts of the country, including to all professional hockey teams in Canada.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, for the Prime Minister, no holds are barred in keeping Quebec from attaining sovereignty, even the brazen misuse of public money.

Since 1995, the federal government has funded a sponsorship program to sell federalism to Quebecers, pouring $40 million annually into dubious contracts.

Since the Prime Minister thinks that he has acted properly by using public money to support federalism, will the Deputy Prime Minister admit that, for the government, the end justifies the means?

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

Mr. Speaker, members know that for years we had a basic campaign on the idea that Quebec plays an important and key role within Canada. There is nothing preventing us from increasing the regard in which Canada is held in the Province of Quebec.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing preventing them from doing that, not even dubious contracts. I would mention as an example the report on Pierre Elliott Trudeau and the articles praising federal programs in L'Almanach du peuple . It was for these articles that Groupaction, which has contributed $112,000 to the Liberal Party since 1998, received $250,000 in commissions. Groupe Polygone, whose vice-president of public affairs was the current minister of immigration, pocketed $2.3 million. Anything goes.

Will the Deputy Prime Minister admit that the government is very free with public money when it wants to promote federalism and that the friends of the party are doing very well as a result?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have had a look at L'Almanach du peuple , and I found more pages for the government of Quebec than for the Government of Canada. Was it free for the government of Quebec?

I also noted a nicely presented curriculum vitae for the leader of the Bloc Quebecois on page 703 of L'Almanach du peuple .

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, every time the government finds itself in a bind or has its integrity questioned, it calls for a police investigation and that is the last we hear of it.

Members will remember the scandals at Human Resources Development Canada that were in the headlines just before the last election campaign, and that we have not heard of since then, Conili Star, Planta Dei Pharma, Confections Saint-Élie. We never hear a thing about them any more.

Does a police investigation into Groupaction not really mean that the government will stop answering questions, and that the whole issue will be buried so deep that we will never hear about it again? There needs to be a public inquiry.