The hon. member for Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar.
House of Commons Hansard #103 of the 37th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was plan.
House of Commons Hansard #103 of the 37th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was plan.
Canadian Institutes of Health ResearchOral Question Period
The Speaker
The hon. member for Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar.
Carol Skelton Canadian Alliance Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK
Mr. Speaker, this is not the first time the CIHR has attempted to ignore Parliament. In March 2002 the institute wanted to fund embryonic research, even though legislation was pending. Opposition protests forced the institute to back down.
Is the minister going to allow the institute to continue on its own agenda?
Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, the institute has no agenda of its own in the sense that it has made it very plain that it is well aware of the legislation before the Parliament of Canada. It has indicated that if there are any inconsistencies between its guidelines, as developed by its oversight committee, and the legislation, the legislation will take precedence. It is very simple.
Gérard Binet Liberal Frontenac—Mégantic, QC
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Labour.
In light of a question asked yesterday in the House by the opposition, which gave an inaccurate depiction of the labour situation at Cargill, could the Minister of Labour inform us of the true status of the dispute between Cargill Ltd. and the Syndicat national des employés de Cargill Ltd.?
Claudette Bradshaw LiberalMinister of Labour
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to provide the proper information on Cargill. The Cargill union and employers have accepted the mediator's recommendation on settlement of the collective agreement and the back to work protocol.
The parties ought to be signing the new collective agreement today or tomorrow, and the return to work is scheduled for May 19, 2003.
David Anderson Canadian Alliance Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Mr. Speaker, 2002 was a challenging year for farmers. They faced drought, grasshoppers, frost and floods. However their greatest challenge has been the Liberal government. Farmers are already out seeding and they still do not have a risk management program. They have no program, no details, no way of knowing what their 2003 coverage is.
When will the minister release the details of the agricultural policy framework so farmers can make good business decisions for 2003?
Lyle Vanclief LiberalMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Mr. Speaker, I believe the hon. member was in the standing committee on agriculture a few weeks ago when I went over the proposed program for the producers. That program is out there with the provinces. I have authority from our government to sign the agreements with the provinces, and we will put that in place. One province has already signed so their producers can have that protection for this year, and I await the signatures of all the others.
David Anderson Canadian Alliance Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Mr. Speaker, farmers are frustrated beyond belief. They did not have much of a program last year and they do not have any program this year. Farm organizations are frustrated. The requests for a one year delay have been totally ignored. Provinces are frustrated. Only one province has signed the implementation agreement for the APF.
The entire agricultural support system is changing without the average farmer having a clue what the government is doing. When will the minister let farmers know the details of the proposed new risk management program?
Lyle Vanclief LiberalMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Mr. Speaker, over a week ago I sent a personal letter to every holder of a NISA account in this country to explain the program. That is 160,000 letters that we sent out to explain it to the farmers. At the request of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and the farm organizations we completed a third party review. The results of that have been published. They said very clearly that the proposed program was better than the programs that we had in the past.
I repeat that I am awaiting the signatures of the provinces. As soon as the provincial governments sign it, that program will be there for the producers. I urge the hon. member to get--
Jocelyne Girard-Bujold Bloc Jonquière, QC
Mr. Speaker, the war in Iraq is over. The price of crude oil has scarcely increased. Yet in Montreal yesterday all gas stations jacked their prices up 10¢ a litre on the same day, at the same time. Just coincidentally, we have a long weekend coming up.
Will the Minister of Industry agree that the oil and gas companies' behaviour raises a competition issue, and that competition is one of his responsibilities?
Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, the Competition Bureau has already looked at the issue of competition in connection with the oil companies several times in recent years.
The matter raised by the hon. member involves retail prices. I would like to point out that retail price hikes are a provincial jurisdiction. The provincial governments must, therefore, be the ones asked to deal with this issue.
John O'Reilly Liberal Haliburton—Victoria—Brock, ON
Mr. Speaker, CF-18 fighters have performed admirably in patrolling Canada's air space and conducting overseas operations. Yesterday the first upgraded CF-18 was delivered.
Could the Minister of National Defence explain what the modernization of the CF-18 fleet means for the Canadian Forces?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, yes, yesterday I was very pleased to receive the first modernized CF-18. This is a major program costing more than $1 billion but it is a very cost effective way in which to upgrade and modernize our fleet so they can operate very efficiently and seamlessly with our allies. The CF-18s will be able to fly extremely well for many years to come.
Bill Casey Progressive Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Mr. Speaker, the softwood lumber industry in Atlantic Canada has managed to maintain an exemption from countervail charges and from export taxes for years but now the department is sending out mixed signals and the industry is getting very nervous in Atlantic Canada.
Will the government assure the Atlantic Canadian industry that it will maintain its exemption from any export tax that it is now negotiating with the United States?
Murray Calder LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister for International Trade
Mr. Speaker, on the softwood lumber issue, we have always maintained a two track approach to it: our challenge at the WTO, which is going very well, and back at home where we are in consultation with the industry and the provinces to get the best deal on this.
Deborah Grey Canadian Alliance Edmonton North, AB
Mr. Speaker, earlier the Solicitor General said that there were very good reasons for not making the sex offender registry retroactive. Let me assure everyone that there are no reasons ever good enough to justify being brutally attacked and killed by sex offenders who could and should have their names on a list.
Why does the government hide behind the privacy of predators rather than the protection of the public?
Wayne Easter LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, I really fail to see where the Canadian Alliance is coming from on this particular issue. The fact is that when we on this side of the House put legislation forward we believe in ensuring that all the safeguards are there for it to stand up to the court system and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
What we are trying to do through the legislation is to provide the police with the tools to do better investigations in terms of sex offenders. We have been asked by the provinces to do that. We have been asked by the territories to do that. We have been asked by the police forces to do that. The government is doing it.
Caroline St-Hilaire Bloc Longueuil, QC
Mr. Speaker, on May 5, the Colombian army launched a military operation to free the hostages being held by FARC, an operation that ended tragically with the assassination of 10 hostages.
The President of Columbia's approach is seriously jeopardizing the lives of hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt.
Does the Minister of Foreign Affairs plan on intervening with the Government of Columbia to obtain the assurance that negotiations will be favoured over military operations, which endanger the lives of the hostages?
Bill Graham LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, this is an extremely important issue for us. We have had regular contact with the Colombian government on this issue and have asked it to intervene, to negotiate with FARC and other rebels in Columbia.
This is a very tense and very difficult situation. The Colombian government assures us that it is working with the United Nations. We are always there to work toward finding a solution to a problem that is threatening the lives of several people.
John Reynolds Canadian Alliance West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the government House leader the business for tomorrow. The House, of course, will then recess, the members will go home to work very hard for seven days in their constituencies and then we will be coming back. Could he tell us the work that he has planned for the week we return?
Don Boudria LiberalMinister of State and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, this afternoon we will continue with the opposition supply day motion that we commenced this morning.
Tomorrow we will resume the debate on Bill C-28, the budget implementation bill. This would be followed by Bill C-31, the pension bill of certain veterans and members of the RCMP. If and when this is completed, hopefully tomorrow, we would then resume consideration of Bill C-36, the archives bill, and possibly Bill C-17 on public safety.
Next week, as the hon. leader of the opposition in the House has stated, is a constituency week.
I have designated May 26 as an allotted day, although we are willing to have further conversations about that this afternoon.
On Tuesday, May 27, if Bill C-28 has not already been disposed of, we would at that point have to return to it. We would then turn to Bill C-25, the public service bill, followed by business not yet completed from this week.
This is the program at this juncture.
Stephen Owen LiberalSecretary of State (Western Economic Diversification)
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. In a question during question period the hon. member for Skeena made reference to the softwood lumber community adjustment initiative as being $110 million for the Province of British Columbia.
The national program announced earlier by the Minister of Natural Resources is actually for over $340 million for the country, $110 million of which is for softwood adjustment across the country. Somewhat over 50% of that would be available for community adjustment in British Columbia.
Points of orderOral Question Period
The Speaker
I am sure the House appreciates the clarification offered by the minister of state but I do not think it was a point of order he was raising. It sounded like--