House of Commons Hansard #101 of the 37th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was national.
Wayne Easter LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite has come a long way. He is now talking about prevention which was something he did not want to agree with us a while ago.
In fact, inmates are entitled to the same health care, under the same kinds of conditions, as all Canadians. We are trying to provide treatment for inmates as well as education in prevention. I am glad to see the hon. member is on side now in terms of prevention.
Kevin Sorenson Canadian Alliance Crowfoot, AB
Mr. Speaker, it is the government that has not woken up yet to the problem that is facing it.
The general population, and correctional officers and their families are put at risk. Even the inmates, to whom the Solicitor General owes at least some level of duty and care, are being put at risk because the Solicitor General refuses to protect them from dangerous and potentially deadly viruses.
My question is again to the Solicitor General. Not if, but when will he impose mandatory testing on all--
Correctional Service of CanadaOral Question Period
The Speaker
The hon. Solicitor General.
Wayne Easter LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, again, I am glad to see that the hon. member has come a long way. As he knows, the safety of the public, inmates and staff is of paramount importance to us. That is why we have introduced a fairly expensive treatment program and are proceeding with extensive prevention measures. I believe we are doing the right thing and making giant steps forward in terms of protecting the public, staff and inmates.
Julian Reed Liberal Halton, ON
Mr. Speaker, actors, producers and directors from the Canadian film and television industry are on Parliament Hill today making it clear that support for Canadian production is needed now more than ever.
My question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage. What will the Government of Canada do to ensure that Canadians continue to enjoy homegrown shows like This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Eleventh Hour ?
Sheila Copps LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank the hon. member for the question because I think he is the only member of ACTRA who actually happens to be a member of Parliament as well. I know that I am available any time for This Hour Has 22 Minutes , but I do not get any ACTRA fees.
I will say that I am pretty proud of the record we have. Since we have come into government we have signed co-production treaties with 25 foreign countries, including 635 projects and a total of $4.5 billion in funding. The CFVPTC has created $10.8 billion in total--
Wendy Lill NDP Dartmouth, NS
Mr. Speaker, Canada is facing a deep crisis in Canadian TV production. Since 1999 we have seen twelve domestic TV dramas reduced to four, thousands of jobs lost and some of our best creative minds forced to go south to work. This crisis stems from four years of bad CRTC policy and four years of drift and neglect from the cabinet.
Will the minister today commit to use the Broadcasting Act to review the 1999 CRTC policy and start to rebuild Canadian TV drama using the necessary regulatory and financial resources?
Sheila Copps LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
First, Mr. Speaker, with your permission I would like to table a document that lays out the road map for success in Canadian film and television. I would also like to table the list of all those productions that have received an additional $130 million. At the same time, I would like to agree absolutely with the question of the hon. member.
Of course the work of the standing committee on broadcasting is going to open doors to new investment in Canadian television and film, and I hope to see many future Gordon Pinsents being launched because of the programs of the Government of Canada.
Bev Desjarlais NDP Churchill, MB
Mr. Speaker, a month ago the Liberal government was ready to loan millions of dollars to Air Canada. Now Air Canada is trying to extract a 20% pension cut from its employees, including those who have already retired. Think of what it means to a retired pensioner to lose 20% of their income overnight.
I ask the government, since it was willing to loan Air Canada millions to squander on executive salaries, will it now put the loan money on the table to make sure pensioners do not lose their retirement security? Or do pensioners not matter as much to the government as airline executives?
David Collenette LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the hon. member that Air Canada is now under CCAA process, which means the courts are supervising the transactions, including the issues of compensation, collective agreements and pensions. I would think that the hon. member should let the court do its job.
John Herron Progressive Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of National Defence. Although the statement of operational requirements stayed the same, the important information on helicopter specifications changed at least seven times. These changes have lowered the bar in terms of safety and operational requirements.
Now, three former deputy ministers, including Raymond Hession, have all slammed the process. Hession has even called the decision to acquire the lowest cost instead of the best value helicopters “plain stupid”. Would the minister confirm that more than seven drafts of helicopter specifications, not requirements, have been produced?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, having spoken many times to the chief of defence staff, just to make absolutely sure I spoke to him yesterday. As he said at the time, the statement of requirements in 1999 had the full support of the military leadership.
To go on to the next part of the hon. member's question about translating that statement of requirements into the technical requirements to build this complicated thing that is called a helicopter, the chief of defence staff went on to say, and he cited as well the chief of air staff--
National DefenceOral Question Period
The Speaker
The hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester.
Bill Casey Progressive Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Mr. Speaker, for about a year now the Minister for International Trade has said that we were going to have a made in Canada solution, but the United States Department of Commerce has just produced a policy bulletin that says the U.S. Department of Commerce will determine whether individual Canadian provinces have reformed their policies and practices. If the U.S. Department of Commerce is going to determine what the Canadian provinces do, how is that a made in Canada solution?
Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister for International Trade
Mr. Speaker, for two and a half years we have adopted a very clear strategy, one which was challenging the U.S. allegations that we were giving any sort of subsidies to our softwood lumber producers. Let me tell the hon. member that we are not, we will not and we have not done so in the past.
However, given the long time it takes before the courts, we have said that with the support of industry all over the country and all of the provinces we should sit down with the Department of Commerce. As to those policy bulletins, the provinces and the Government of Canada have contributed substantially to their elaboration and I believe they can be very helpful in the future.
David Anderson Canadian Alliance Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Mr. Speaker, last October the minister for the Canadian Wheat Board was informed that the board was illegally taking money from farmers' pooling accounts. It is taking this money to manage and administer national licensing fees which the Wheat Board Act says the government has to pay.
The minister said he was going to refer the matter to “officials and law officers”. It has been six months since the Canadian Alliance raised this issue. What are the results of the minister's investigation and why is this illegal practice continuing?
Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, I did in fact refer the matter, which was raised by one of the directors of the Canadian Wheat Board, to the board of directors of the board as well as its legal counsel. I asked them to inquire into the matter to see if there was anything to the allegations. I have certainly not been advised to this date that there was anything to substantiate the allegations.
It is after all a matter of the management of the Canadian Wheat Board, which by law is vested in the hands of the directors.
David Anderson Canadian Alliance Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Mr. Speaker, it is the board of directors that is breaking the law. The minister in charge of whitewash just cannot get away from that.
In Australia, licensing fees cost $20 million annually. We cannot even guess how much Canadian farmers have been illegally charged because of the lack of transparency at the Wheat Board and the Canadian Wheat Board directors.
Does the minister know how much farmers have been charged? Why is he allowing the Canadian Wheat Board and the board of directors to operate illegally outside of the Canadian Wheat Board Act?
Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, there is nothing at all on the public record to support the allegation that the hon. gentleman has just made. The fact of the matter is that this House created a new governance system for the Canadian Wheat Board. The old system of appointed commissioners is gone. There is a modern, corporate style board of directors, 15 in total, 10 of whom are directly elected by farmers themselves.
The opposition would like to replace the judgment of farmers with the political judgment of the Alliance Party. I would rather rely on farmers.
Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage has a new pretext to avoid explaining $25 million in cuts by her department to the Canadian Television Fund. She said that it was too complicated.
Will the minister admit that what is not complicated is that, once again, she has no intention of keeping her promises?
Sheila Copps LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, this year, there will be $230 million in the fund. When I created this fund six years ago, there was $200 million. There is $30 million more than there was when we created it. That is what I said a few weeks ago.
Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC
Mr. Speaker, the minister cannot deny that she promised to restore funding to the Canadian Television Fund the day before producers were to launch a campaign condemning the cuts, because she did not want to hurt her leadership campaign.
Now that she has launched her campaign, can she tell us when she will restore the $25 million she promised that were cut from the Canadian Television Fund?
Sheila Copps LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, with the permission of the House, I will table here today the list of all those who received this additional funding, for a total of $230 million, which represents a $20 million increase over what there was before.
So, if the House agrees, I will table everything I have been given to show that we are spending $230 million this year, in comparison to what we spent at the start.
Will the Bloc Quebecois agree for these documents to be tabled?