Debates of Oct. 10th, 2003

Aboriginal Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, Marie Antoinette was out of touch, too.

The government paid $300 million to move 600 Inuit from Davis Inlet to Natuashish, Labrador. This is a $500,000 per person and the government has completely botched the job.

Gas sniffing and alcohol abuse are worse now than they ever were at Davis Inlet. New community leadership is being called for and four months ago the majority of eligible voters demanded that the minister call new elections for chief and council.

When will he listen to the people and--

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I am really shocked at the message that the hon. member has brought to the House.

We have attempted to work with the people of Davis Inlet. We have developed a new housing program for them. We have had certain difficulties. But for him to condemn those people the way he did today is certainly a shame to our Parliament.

Job Creation

[John Maloney, Liberal, Erie—Lincoln, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada has released its labour force survey for September 2003. Would the Secretary of State for International Financial Institutions advise the House as to the results of the survey?

[Maurizio Bevilacqua, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, I want to bring to the attention of the House that we are indeed pleased to see the increase of 46,000 new jobs in the month of September. It means that since the beginning of 2002, over 650,000 new jobs have been created in Canada. The majority are full time jobs.

On behalf of the government I want to thank the hard working men and women of the country for helping us build Canada's economic renaissance.

International Aid

[Deepak Obhrai, Canadian Alliance, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, CIDA gave $50 million in bilateral aid to the government of China. The government of China ranked number two on CIDA's list of countries receiving bilateral aid. At the same time, the Chinese government is spending billions of dollars on its space program.

Will the minister call on the Chinese government to do its part to reduce its own people's poverty?

[André Harvey, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his interest in international development.

I would like to make it clear that no funds have been transferred directly to the Chinese or Indian governments. We are working to fight poverty. There are international organizations under the guidance of the United Nations, such as the World Food Program and the International Committee of the Red Cross. We are very proud of the work we are doing to help the 250 million Chinese people living in poverty.

[Deepak Obhrai, Canadian Alliance, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, next week the Chinese government is planning to launch its first manned space flight. China will be joining countries such as the Russian Federation and the United States that have accomplished this great feat.

Why does the minister not tell the Chinese government that fighting poverty in its country should be its number one priority? Why does he not do that?

[André Harvey, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend is currently one of the experts in international aid. He knows very well that the United Nations consider poverty as one of the priorities of their program. Pockets of poverty affect hundreds of millions of people, and by going through the international organizations, we are assured of not making errors in any action we take.

Health

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this week the commissioner of the environment told us that only six of the 405 pesticides on the market have been fully re-evaluated, a process that took over ten years. As a result, use of all six pesticides has been restricted or banned outright for public health reasons.

How can the minister justify re-evaluations taking so long when it is a matter of public health?

[Jeannot Castonguay, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the Pesticides Act was passed last December. Since then, we have better tools with which to re-evaluate all the pesticides currently available.

We must however be realistic; things are not going to change overnight. There is a process in place. To date, more than 61 pesticides have been re-evaluated, and this work is ongoing. We have a schedule, we are following it, and we will meet our deadline. My hon. colleague is well aware of that fact; he is simply trying to cloud the issue.

Electoral Reform

[Joe Jordan, Liberal, Leeds—Grenville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I understand that some members are getting ready for the next election. In fact, I read this morning that the member for Halifax held her nomination meeting last night.

Could the government House leader provide the House with an update as to the plans for Bill C-49, a government bill designed to address some of these anomalies with riding redistribution?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his excellent question.

I am pleased to inform colleagues that the government intends to proceed with Bill C-49 on the Monday following the Thanksgiving recess. Given the new interest in nominations, I am sure her NDP colleagues will want to support the bill. Then the member for Halifax will have an opportunity again to be nominated.

Immigration

[Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral, Bloc, Laval Centre, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Immigration recognized, in agreement with the Bloc Quebecois, that he has to implement an appeal process for unsuccessful refugee claimants. Nonetheless, the minister does not seem to view enforcement of his own legislation as the best solution.

Will the minister explain his objections to the refugee appeal division provided for in the Immigration Act, that he himself had passed by Parliament, and his reasons for reneging on his commitment to the members of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration with respect to the appeal procedure?

[Sarkis Assadourian, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, as my hon. member knows, the Government of Canada and CIC follow the exact procedures set by the House of Commons whenever we have the obligation to do it. We do a very good job.

Government Assistance

[Gary Schellenberger, Progressive Conservative, Perth—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canada continues to face a number of very serious challenges, from the carnage of hurricane Juan on the east coast, devastating forest fires throughout the west, to economic crises such as the decimation of the Canadian cattle industry and excessive tariffs imposed on softwood lumber that are killing the industry.

In light of this, the current government is expected to recess the House in the very near future.

My question is for the government House leader. Why is the government abandoning Canadians and forcing them to deal with these disastrous situations?

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

Mr. Speaker, this is certainly not a question that was thoroughly researched.

I have announced the legislative program for the government for several weeks to come. I am continuing to work in cooperation with all hon. members to ensure we can get out of here in time on December 12 for the Christmas recess.

The hon. member may be very enthusiastic about recessing earlier. He might want to cool his ardour for a little while yet.

[Wendy Lill, NDP, Dartmouth, NS]

Mr. Speaker, after 10 years of deep cuts to vital services, Nova Scotians are worried about drowning under a rising tide of broken Liberal promises.

We are now told we owe hundreds of millions of dollars to the federal government because too many Nova Scotians have gone down the road to Toronto for jobs. That is roughly equal to the estimated damage from hurricane Juan.

Will the minister guarantee that Nova Scotia will not be forced to cough up these funds in order that it can pay for vital services like health, education and disaster relief?

[Maurizio Bevilacqua, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, the Minister of Finance is presently meeting with the finance minister of Nova Scotia.

We are always looking for better ways to deal with finances here in Canada, but as always, we do that with a great deal of fairness.

Forest Industry

[James Lunney, Canadian Alliance, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, for two and a half years communities in my riding have been crippled by mill closures and thousands of laid off workers.

The promised federal aid is more smoke and mirrors. The result is that many families have had to leave coastal B.C. just to survive. Now, struggling workers are so distraught that 12,000 IWA workers are on the verge of a strike over outsourcing of the remaining work.

Will the government ever take the plight of B.C. forestry workers seriously and bring about a resolution while there is still an industry to save?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, we are investing in communities. Let me give the hon. member some examples.

In the riding of Cariboo—Chilcotin, $2 million was invested under the community adjustment program. In the riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan, $310,000 for a community adjustment program was invested. In the riding of Vancouver Island North, $230,000 was invested.

These are investments in those communities. By the way, all of these investments are in Alliance ridings.

Health

[Charles Caccia, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in her latest report, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development notes that in 1994 the federal government committed to setting up a database on pesticide use and that it has still not done so.

Can the Minister of Health inform us as to when a pesticide sales database will be set up by Statistics Canada?

[Jeannot Castonguay, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his important question.

As I mentioned earlier, the new Pest Control Act was passed in December 2000. I said that it was an important tool for determining how we will deal with pesticides in the future.

Department officials are currently drafting regulations to allow us to implement the legislation. We expect that, as early as next year, with the regulations, we will be able to set up the database my colleague is referring to.

House of Commons

[The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bakopanos)]

I have the honour to lay upon the table the performance report of the House of Commons administration for the period 2002-03.

Government Response to Petitions

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 67 petitions.