House of Commons Hansard #153 of the 37th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was parties.

Topics

Organized CrimeOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

The Speaker

The hon. member for Rosemont—Petite-Patrie.

Cartagena ProtocolOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Bloc

Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—Petite-Patrie, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Cartagena protocol on biosafety came into effect without Canada's involvement. This proves how important it is to the federal government to control GMOs. The first meeting of the protocol signatories on the implementation of the Cartagena protocol will be held in Kuala Lumpur in February.

Does the government plan to attend this important meeting?

Cartagena ProtocolOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Victoria B.C.

Liberal

David Anderson LiberalMinister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, consultations with respect to the Cartagena protocol, which I have talked about many times in this House, have not concluded; they are ongoing. I thank the hon. member for his question as to whether or not we will be going to Kuala Lumpur; we will.

Cartagena ProtocolOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Bloc

Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—Petite-Patrie, QC

Mr. Speaker, the minister and his government seem to forget that the public is worried and wants its representatives to show that we too are concerned about GMOs. The minister has until November 25 to ratify the protocol if he intends to participate in this important meeting.

What is he waiting for to ratify the protocol?

Cartagena ProtocolOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Victoria B.C.

Liberal

David Anderson LiberalMinister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, we are waiting for consultations to wrap up, as I have said many times in this House. I assure the hon. member that the answer is yes, because this is very important.

I remind the House that it was in Montreal, here in Canada, that the Cartagena protocol was truly finalized. It was not in South America, but here in Canada, and that is very important to us.

Child PornographyOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Canadian Alliance

Maurice Vellacott Canadian Alliance Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK

Mr. Speaker, in 1999 police began investigating a child pornography website in Texas that they then shut down and obtained its huge international subscriber list. Of more than 2,000 subscribers in Canada, only 10% have been investigated. In Germany, police have identified 530 suspects and seized 745 computers.

In Canada, movement has been shamefully slow. Is the failure of the Liberal government to effectively prosecute these child predators due to a lack of resources, a lack of strong legislation, or simply a lack of political will? Which is it?

Child PornographyOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Outremont Québec

Liberal

Martin Cauchon LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, the member knows very well that the government is strongly committed to charging those people. We will get rid of those people who are involved in child pornography, which is an awful crime that has no place in Canada or anywhere else in the world.

We have lately created the new offence of Internet luring, which has been used to charge people across Canada. We have also created, with the Government of Manitoba, the website cybertip.ca which has been working very effectively as well.

Child PornographyOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Canadian Alliance

Maurice Vellacott Canadian Alliance Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK

Mr. Speaker, I think he is saying there is a bit of a weak will there. There is no legislation and there are inadequate resources.

The Americans have also diligently investigated this extensive child pornography ring and taken effective steps to prosecute those within their jurisdiction. In Canada, the Liberal government is asleep at the switch.

Canadian police have told us frequently that they lack the resources to deal with child pornography. Would the government commit to giving the police the adequate resources to eliminate this evil of child pornography?

Child PornographyOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Outremont Québec

Liberal

Martin Cauchon LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows very well what the government has been doing over the past few years.

In light of the Sharpe decision of the Supreme Court, we have decided to proceed with Bill C-20 in order to increase the protection of our children in Canada. We have been working hard in order to pass that bill.

He knows that we did not really have the full cooperation of his party and he should be ashamed. Working together, we would have been able to pass Bill C-20.

National DefenceOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

David Pratt Liberal Nepean—Carleton, ON

Mr. Speaker, about a year ago the Minister of National Defence announced the cancellation of the supply chain project. The decision at the time was to go with an in-house solution called the materiel acquisition and support optimization project.

Could the Minister of National Defence give the House an update on this important project.

National DefenceOral Question Period

11:55 a.m.

Markham Ontario

Liberal

John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Defence

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question. It illustrates the non-ideological approach of the government to finding savings for the benefit of the taxpayer. If contracting out works best, we will contract out, but if, as in this case, an internal solution which will save the government $43 million a year is best, we will adopt it.

I wish to congratulate the large numbers of civilian and military employees who have been working diligently on this. I am very pleased to report that they will be ahead of their target for savings this current year.

JusticeOral Question Period

11:55 a.m.

Canadian Alliance

Garry Breitkreuz Canadian Alliance Yorkton—Melville, SK

Mr. Speaker, on February 16, 1995, the justice minister promised the House that “Registration will assist us to deal with the scourge of domestic violence”.

This week, Statistics Canada reports that family homicides have increased by 28% in the last three years, and domestic homicides with registered guns have almost doubled in the last year.

How many lives would have been saved if the government had spent $1 billion addressing the root causes of domestic violence?

JusticeOral Question Period

11:55 a.m.

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine Québec

Liberal

Marlene Jennings LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Solicitor General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to give all members in the House and Canadians listening a few facts.

Between July 1, 2003 and October 27, 2003, a total of 343,683 registration certificates were issued. Some 84% of the applications since July 1 have been received via Internet.

The phone service at Miramichi is excellent. As a result of increased volumes due to hunting season, response times have increased from one minute to two minutes. More than 1.95 million people have--

JusticeOral Question Period

11:55 a.m.

The Speaker

The hon. member for Yorkton--Melville.

JusticeOral Question Period

11:55 a.m.

Canadian Alliance

Garry Breitkreuz Canadian Alliance Yorkton—Melville, SK

Mr. Speaker, what a totally irrelevant answer. My question was about domestic violence and getting at the root causes of it, and the minister did not answer.

The justice minister's performance report tabled in the House last week documented an additional $47 million in indirect costs for the gun registry, never before reported to the House.

However, the report did not answer the one question everyone has been asking for the last 11 months. How much will it cost to fully implement the registry and how much will it cost to maintain it?

JusticeOral Question Period

11:55 a.m.

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine Québec

Liberal

Marlene Jennings LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Solicitor General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if perhaps the member opposite was not in the House when we voted the budget items and the supplementary estimates.

Guaranteed Income SupplementOral Question Period

11:55 a.m.

Bloc

Marcel Gagnon Bloc Champlain, QC

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the efforts of the Bloc Quebecois, the government has finally seen the error of its ways by providing 23,000 surviving spouses of veterans with access to the benefits they never knew they were entitled to.

In keeping with this gesture, and since, through its own fault, this same government has deprived seniors of the guaranteed income supplement, which they were entitled to, will it finally admit it was wrong and make retroactive payment to eligible seniors?

Guaranteed Income SupplementOral Question Period

11:55 a.m.

Shefford Québec

Liberal

Diane St-Jacques LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources Development

Mr. Speaker, according to international standards, the income level of seniors, already low, is dropping in Canada. We are doing everything possible to reach those who did not receive the guaranteed income supplement.

Members of this House have also taken steps to reach these individuals, and we will continue our efforts until all of these individuals have received this supplement.

The EnvironmentOral Question Period

November 7th, 2003 / 11:55 a.m.

Liberal

Charles Caccia Liberal Davenport, ON

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of the Environment.

Given the importance of the provinces, territories and industry in achieving the necessary reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, can the minister inform the House on the progress made so far on discussions with other levels of government and industry?

The EnvironmentOral Question Period

11:55 a.m.

Victoria B.C.

Liberal

David Anderson LiberalMinister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, I can inform the House that a week ago today I signed the first of the federal-provincial-territorial agreements with the Territory of Nunavut.

Today, the Minister of Natural Resources will sign an agreement with Prince Edward Island. Yesterday, the Prime Minister signed the first agreement with industry, the Forest Products Association of Canada.

We are proceeding in a swift and effective way to get agreements in place so that we can cooperate fully with our territorial and provincial partners as well as industry to reduce the scourge of climate change.

Aboriginal AffairsOral Question Period

Noon

Canadian Alliance

Dave Chatters Canadian Alliance Athabasca, AB

Mr. Speaker, we were assured by the government that the Mackenzie Valley pipeline would proceed as normal despite the allegations of the Deh Cho first nation about a conflict of interest with a senior bureaucrat from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

We now know that the actions of the aboriginal affairs minister have put the project timeline at risk. A lawsuit is being prepared which could tie up the pipeline for years. All of this is because the minister has refused to meet with this group.

Why has the Prime Minister allowed the childish actions of this minister to put the pipeline project at risk?

Aboriginal AffairsOral Question Period

Noon

Kenora—Rainy River Ontario

Liberal

Bob Nault LiberalMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development

Mr. Speaker, first of all, there is no court case.

Second, we are meeting on a regular basis with the Deh Cho. We have been at the table for a number of years and we continue to negotiate with that group.

The pipeline and the process in the cooperation agreement are not at risk. If, through the process, first nations decide that they want to intervene either through the environmental assessment process or through the courts, nothing that I say here can stop them from doing that.

BioChem PharmaOral Question Period

Noon

Bloc

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

Mr. Speaker, the meeting yesterday with Industry Canada was crucial for the unemployed researchers from BioChem Pharma.

As proof, Shire's head of finance came from London in preparation for negotiations with Ottawa.

Can the Minister of Industry tell us if he ensured that the revitalization of BioChem Pharma would be part of the agreement with Shire to compensate for the closing of this laboratory and save several dozen jobs in research?

BioChem PharmaOral Question Period

Noon

Beauharnois—Salaberry Québec

Liberal

Serge Marcil LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, the main concern of the Minister of Industry is to save existing jobs and investments that have been made.

We are awaiting the results of the discussions currently underway.

Presence in GalleryOral Question Period

Noon

The Speaker

I would like to draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of His Excellency Pavel Dostál, Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic.