Debates of Oct. 10th, 2003

Taxation

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, we must help one another. Should the Government of Canada show an unexpected surplus, it should naturally help the provinces. That is how things are done in a federation, when we show solidarity, and that is what we are doing.

To claim that there is no fiscal pressure is to ignore what is going on around the world, to ignore that the other G-8 countries are showing deficits, and to ignore that just yesterday, France was called to order by the European Union because of its unexpected deficit. Is the hon. member living in the clouds?

Member for LaSalle--Émard

[Leon Benoit, Canadian Alliance, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Lansdowne Technologies is based right here in Ottawa and received $12 million in Public Works contracts. Yet the next Liberal leader claims he did not know anything about this company, even though it is sitting right here under his nose.

He wants Canadians to trust him, but how is that a company sitting right here in Ottawa, doing millions of dollars of government business, was removed from his declaration of assets?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that when this issue is raised in the House, the opposition does not bother to raise it with the appropriate authority, and that is the ethics counsellor. However the member for LaSalle—Émard did raise it with the ethics counsellor. To ensure that the matter was properly dealt with, Mr. Wilson is examining the issue and he will report in due course. That is the proper way to deal with it, if members are interested in answers. If members are just interested in flap, then follow the opposition.

[Leon Benoit, Canadian Alliance, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that excuse does not cut it. The former finance minister signed that declaration list, and he is responsible for his signature on that list.

Lansdowne Technologies is a subsidiary company connected to the next Liberal leader. The company is based right here in Ottawa. The purpose of the company is to gain procurement of government contracts. Its clients include Transport Canada, National Defence, Foreign Affairs, Health Canada and Public Works.

Why was it removed from the disclosure list of the new Liberal leader?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Wilson will report on that in due course. However Mr. Wilson has already said that because this company was a subsidiary of a firm that was listed on the declaration, the blind trust provisions would apply in any event and, therefore, the matter was already covered.

The Environment

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I was delighted to participate in a display of Canada's leading companies in hydrogen technologies. I was even more proud that the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Natural Resources announced $215 million to help Canada's leading role in this industry.

Could the Minister of Natural Resources tell us how this will help solve the world's climate change problems and create a more innovative and sustainable economy for Canada?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his interest in this issue.

The Minister of Industry and I announced $215 million to be invested in the hydrogen economy to ensure that Canada continues to be a leader in the hydrogen economy and that we develop a foundation so when the rest of the world is looking for energy, which is clean burning and which can help us in Kyoto, Canada will be there, leading.

I know the Alliance members do not understand what it is to invest in the country. They are only interested in cutting.

Fisheries and Oceans

[Loyola Hearn, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, over a year ago a Russian flag boat with an Icelandic crew, the Olga , was caught in the NAFO zone with an excessive amount of cod. The boat was sent back because the Canadian government could not do anything with it.

Recently a reporter in St. John's, under freedom of information, asked what happened to the Olga . The minister's department replied that it did not know.

The Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans found the Olga in Iceland. The owner is a friend of the minister and is landing fish in the minister's district--the Icelandic minister.

If the committee could find it, why could the minister's department not find it?

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member of the Canadian Alliance's rump for clarifying that it was the Icelandic minister and not the Canadian minister.

I would thank him for congratulating the Canadian delegation to the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization for having made great advances. We continue to take any infraction very seriously and work with our partners internationally to reduce those amounts. We have in the past and we will in the future.

[Loyola Hearn, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the minister does not have a clue what happened because he has no authority and he does not want any authority. However let me ask him another question.

He does have authority to protect our inland waters, the salmon streams and rivers. Year after year the guardians on the rivers are being cut.

How can the minister justify cutting protection on rivers that he is responsible for seeing are stocked and maintained properly?

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, the member should know that we have maintained that program. It is a very good program. We take it seriously. We have good cooperation from the communities. We always want to work with the provinces. However we have to work to ensure that we use our resources as best as possible and as efficiently as possible for the good of all Canadians. That is what the opposition parties preach. That is what this party practises.

Foreign Affairs

[Lorne Nystrom, NDP, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the government has refused to provide any information on the Maher Arar case. The RCMP is not providing any information as well in terms of its participation. Meanwhile, Lloyd Axworthy has said, “Canadians are being treated like mushrooms--kept in the dark and fed fertilizer”. The foreign affairs committee now has invited the American ambassador to testify.

Could the government explain why it resorted to inviting the American ambassador to testify about the role of the RCMP, which is our national police force, in its involvement with a Canadian citizen? Why can the government not answer that question?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Minister of State and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is asking why a committee invited someone to appear before it. I hate to remind him, but Standing Order 108(2) enables committees to do exactly that.

Status of Women

[Bev Desjarlais, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Secretary of State for the Status of Women.

The Minister of Transport suggested at the environment committee that both the Commissioner of the Environment and the Auditor General are too political and should go back to their knitting. The minister might as well have said they should return barefoot and pregnant to the kitchen. This is a blatant attack on two women who play an important role in holding the government accountable.

When will the minister demand an apology for this unashamed, sexist attack from within the Liberal cabinet?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Minister of State and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I will endeavour to verify whether the allegation as stated is precisely what the hon. member said. I gladly will inform the minister, if such is the case. However, I do think it should be verified more accurately to determine whether that is what was said and meant.

Fisheries

[John M. Cummins, Canadian Alliance, Delta—South Richmond, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in late August of this year, in an advertisement in the Prince George Citizen , an Indian band offered sockeye salmon for sale at the band office. It claimed the sale was authorized by DFO as part of treaty negotiations. By what authority was it authorized?

The House was advised a year and a half ago by the committee for the scrutiny of regulations that separate native commercial fisheries were illegal. A court in B.C. ruled such fisheries illegal this summer, so by what authority did the minister allow for this fishery?

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and a pleasure to get a question from the critic, particularly on a Friday.

He should know that the regulations do remain in force. The private sales were deemed to be illegal by the provincial court. That is being appealed and I will not comment on that further.

However he is talking about an advertisement that pre-dated that. I do not know all the details of that advertisement. I certainly will check it out and give him further details.

[John M. Cummins, Canadian Alliance, Delta—South Richmond, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like an answer on a Friday, this Friday, to the question. The question is quite simple. There is no authority to allow for these separate commercial fisheries, and treaty negotiations are not an excuse.

In last summer's decision, the court rejected including special commercial fishery rights and treaties, calling the notion rash and imprudent. Why does the minister continue to break the law?

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, no law is being broken. The private sales agreement has been terminated. That decision is being appealed. We do not see the private sales as a panacea. I think improvements can be done to that type of arrangement. However we always seek to have fair, equitable access by all Canadians, including native Canadians, to the commercial fishery.

Agriculture

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has forced cattle producers into poverty by refusing to extend assistance past September 1.

What answer can the minister, who is so boastful of his agricultural policy framework, give to the Fédération des éléveurs de bovins du Québec, which points out that this does not meet the expectations of farmers here since it does not cover all losses, but only 70% of them?

How can he justify not covering the other 30%, when we know very well that businesses are being forced into bankruptcy because of lack of income?

[Claude Duplain, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, I do not understand the hon. member. We have a strategic policy framework. It has been signed, and makes $5.2 billion available over the next three years. Cattle producers can access those funds immediately, because the APF was signed yesterday morning.

So I do not understand the hon. member's question at all.

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

Such cynicism, Mr. Speaker.

Laurent Pellerin, the head of the UPA, has said, “This does not suit us at all”, referring to the agricultural policy framework. He went on, “Quebec has 25% of the population of Canada, and 20% of agricultural production, yet we are getting a mere 10% or 11% of the envelope”.

Thirty seconds after he has brushed aside the concerns of the cattle producers, is the minister going to step his cynicism up a notch by doing the same to those of the entire agricultural industry of Quebec?

[Claude Duplain, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague likes to quote people, so I will give her a quote as well. Had she read on a bit further, she would have seen that Mr. Pellerin also said, “This will be excellent news in the long run, however, because of the efforts to dovetail the federal program and the farm income stabilization insurance program”.

He went on to say, “Quebec producers should be at the same level as before, once they have access to the best of both worlds—”.

What could be better than that?

Aboriginal Affairs

[John Duncan, Canadian Alliance, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, how does one spend $2.5 million for three days of meetings? Just ask the heritage minister who is planning a three day feel good aboriginal tourism conference at Whistler Resort in B.C., just a few miles down the road from poverty and joblessness at the Mount Currie Reserve.

The people live in poverty while the minister eats cake. She wins the Olympic gold medal for wasteful spending. When will the minister stop abusing native people and Canadian taxpayers?

[Carole-Marie Allard, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the gathering will focus on aboriginal communities in Canada. We believe in aboriginal tourism on this side of the House.

We think it is a noble cause because bringing people together will certainly improve the dialogue of cultures in Canada.