Debates of June 12th, 2003

Adstock Strongman Festival

[Gérard Binet, Liberal, Frontenac—Mégantic, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Adstock's first Strongman Festival will be held from July 10 to 13 under the patronage of Hugo Girard.

Hugo Girard, a police officer from Gatineau and world record holder, is the strongest man in the world, having won, among other things, the 2002 World Strongman Super Series sponsored by the International Federation of Strength Athletes. Since 1998, he has stunned crowds across Canada, the United States and Europe with his feats of strength and immeasurable challenges.

Twelve strong men from Canada and the United States will compete at the Adstock Strongman Festival, and the winners will move on to the provincial competitions.

Since the dawn of time, people have always been fascinated by strong men, from Samson to Cyr to Schwarzenegger. I cordially invite you to come to Adstock to watch the demonstrations of physical strength that are part of our folk tradition in Quebec.

Congratulations and best wishes to the volunteer organizers from the lovely municipality of Adstock.

Immigration

[Sophia Leung, Liberal, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on May 31 I had the honour of opening the Multicultural Helping House Society's new centre in my riding of Vancouver Kingsway.

The new facility will provide services such as helping new immigrants: locate a place to live, find a job, learn basic computing skills, and learn about emergency first aid. I am proud that the society will provide an essential service to many new immigrants and their families.

I would like to congratulate President Tom Avendano and Vice-President Eleanor Guerrero-Campbell, and the many volunteers for their contributions to this special project.

Stroke Awareness Month

[Rose-Marie Ur, Liberal, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to inform members of Parliament and all Canadians that the month of June is Stroke Awareness Month. I speak today not only as a member of Parliament but as a wife of a stroke survivor.

Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in Canada. Each year, approximately 16,000 Canadians die from a stroke. There are between 40,000 and 50,000 strokes in Canada each year. Currently, approximately 300,000 Canadians are living with the effects of stroke. After age 55, the risk of stroke doubles every 10 years.

In adults, stroke is associated with risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure or history of strokes in the family. In children, a stroke is usually the result of another underlying disease or condition.

The warning sings of stroke are caused by the sudden interruption of brain function. Some warning signs include: sudden weakness, numbness or tingling in the face, arm or leg; sudden temporary loss of speech or trouble understanding speech; sudden loss of vision, partially in one eye, or double vision; sudden severe and unusual headache; or sudden loss of balance.

Although there has been significant advancement in stroke research, we need to continue our research to understand the reasons why strokes occur and ways to prevent them. Unless the prevention of stroke is improved, the number of strokes across Canada is expected to increase over the next two decades.

Millennium Excellence Award

[Gurbax Malhi, Liberal, Bramalea—Gore—Malton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform the House that three of my young constituents have been selected to receive one of the 404 millennium excellence awards this foundation provides to outstanding Ontario students entering college or university for the first time in 2003.

Selected on the basis of outstanding academic achievement, community service, and leadership and innovation, they represent the future of our country.

I would like to recognize Crystal Chan, Jenny Yap and Teresa Racco, from Mayfield Secondary School and St. Marguerite Youville Secondary School in Brampton, for their outstanding accomplishments. My most sincere congratulations to these young achievers and my very best wishes for even greater success as they move forward in life and make their mark on the future of our great country.

Daniel Vendette and Bruno Langlois

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Daniel Vendette and Bruno Langlois, two dockers from the Port of Montreal who, on May 23, did not hesitate to brave the icy waters of the St, Lawrence River to save a mother and her child.

Josée Vigneau, aged 27 and five months pregnant, slipped off the dock into the river with Maude, her two-year-old daughter, in a dangerous space between the dock and a ship that was moored there.

Twenty seconds later, Daniel Vendette, who was working nearby, did not hesitate to dive into the dark waters to rescue mother and child with the help of his colleague, Bruno Langlois, who guided him from the dock. It was not a moment too soon: the child was already a metre under water.

Modest about their achievement, our two heroes did not have much to say when they were questioned by the Journal de Montréal . At the risk of embarrassing them, I want to congratulate them publicly today.

Bravo to Mr. Vendette and Mr. Langlois. Bravo to all the dockers who bring so much life to the riding of Mercier.

Millennium Excellence Award

[Werner Schmidt, Canadian Alliance, Kelowna, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the following young people from our Kelowna constituency who are the recipients of this year's millennium excellence awards.

Based on a national competition, each has been recognized for excellence in academic performance, leadership, community involvement, and interest in innovation.

They are: Andrea Pisesky, Teryn R. Buna, Glen Y. Chua, Ryan T. Dyk, Lindsay N. Maier, and Jenna O'Donnell. I congratulate them on their achievement. May these scholarships take them a step further to the realization of their dreams.

Italian Canadians

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, June 1, 2003, over 3,000 people participated in the festivities for Italy's national holiday “Festa della Republica” as well as for the first anniversary of the opening of the Leonardo Da Vinci Cultural & Community Centre in my riding of Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel.

The Consul General of Italy, COMITES of Montreal, the Leonardo Da Vinci Centre, and the Italian-Canadian Foundation hosted the day's events. Other dignitaries in attendance included the Speaker of the Senate, as well as senators, members of Parliament, members from Quebec's National Assembly, the Mayor of Montreal, and many city councillors and community representatives from across the island.

As my riding of Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel has the highest concentration of Italian-speaking Canadians, the location chosen could not have been any better. The riding continues to be one in which different cultural groups, traditions, and beliefs are valued and maintained.

I am proud to represent a riding that serves as a model for all others across the country. It is a place where people, no matter what their origins, can live together in friendship as a true representation of Canada's diversity.

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, visiting Parliament today is a courageous group of women, the women with the red umbrellas. They came from across the country to share their stories of recovery from the debilitating disease of bipolar depression.

These women lived through tragedy until they discovered a simple vitamin and mineral supplement which helped them to recover their lives and restore them to their families. Over the past year Health Canada has initiated progressive restrictions on their supplement. The simple vitamin and mineral formula has been turned back at the border and people calling Health Canada are being told the product has been banned.

Clinical studies have been published in peer-reviewed journals like the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, and the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology . Unbelievably, research at the University of Calgary which was funded by the Alberta Science and Research Authority was shut down by Health Canada, even though there is no evidence of harm to anyone taking this product. These people are here representing thousands across the country who feel their health and security are being threatened by this Health Canada embargo.

Will the minister ensure access to this product is not impeded and that the right to freedom of choice in personal health care by Canadians is respected?

National Winter Holiday

[Pat O'Brien, Liberal, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the bitterly cold and interminable winter just now barely fading from memory serves as a vivid reminder that Canadians deserve a national winter holiday.

The many long weeks from New Year's day to Easter represent the longest time Canadians endure without a long weekend. There are several worthy possible reasons to create a new national holiday. The latest suggestion comes from a group called the Guinness Party of Canada which, while having some fun, still promotes the serious idea of making St. Patrick's day a national holiday, and some of my colleagues opposite agree. Some 90,000 Canadians recently registered their support for this idea online.

Whether it be flag day, heritage day, St. Patrick's day or some other day, it is time to seriously consider giving Canadians a winter long weekend. To that end, in the fall I will present a private member's bill to create a national winter holiday.

New Brunswick

[John Herron, Progressive Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Mr. Speaker, on August 27, 1952, the federal government authorized the expropriation of the 720 square kilometre area in southwestern New Brunswick, now occupied by CFB Gagetown. Three thousand residents, including 720 families in 20 rural communities, were forced to leave their homes.

On December 3, 1952, Colonel A.J. Brooks, member of Parliament for the riding of Royal, rose in the House and stated:

--it came as a great shock to the people in [Western Queen's county] to read in the newspaper that their homes [farms, communities, churches, schools, friends, societies and cemeteries] were to be taken from them and that this was to be a military area.They are splendid people; they are people whose ancestors lived in that section of the country for four and five generations.

Some of those ancestors were my Irish ancestors in that regard. Fifty years later, former residents and descendants will gather to reflect on their heritage and celebrate their once proud communities.

I invite all members of Parliament to join the thousands of former residents and their descendants from all across North America for the 50th anniversary of this tragic event.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, in response to a question I put to him about the Long Point first nation school in Winneway, Témiscamingue, the Minister of Indian Affairs flippantly answered that he was not familiar with the case.

For two years now, his officials have been telling Chief Mathias and the band council that the minister is well aware of the case, that he is looking into it and that he is very sensitive to the needs of the children in Winneway. Dozens of pages of correspondence have been sent to the minister's office in the past few years. This was all for naught, since the Minister of Indian Affairs is clearly a minister in name only, who is totally insensitive to the hardship and needs of aboriginal peoples.

On behalf of my colleagues in the Bloc Quebecois and our future colleague Sylvain Sauvageau, I demand that the minister take his responsibilities and immediately provide sufficient funding to the Amo Ososwan school, in Winneway, Témiscamingue.

Unesco

[Yvon Charbonneau, Liberal, Anjou—Rivière-Des-Prairies, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Friendship Group of Parliamentarians for UNESCO, I would like to point out that tomorrow and the day after, Ottawa will be hosting an international conference of parliamentarians on strengthening relations between UNESCO and the parliaments of the world.

In addition to its primary mission, which is to promote education, science and culture, UNESCO has been given several broad mandates, such as the promotion of a culture of peace, dialogue of cultures and civilizations, and protection of cultural diversity. In a word, UNESCO has taken on the duty of humanizing globalization, which constitutes an essential reference point.

There is considerable overlap between what parliamentarians and UNESCO do.

The Ottawa conference is sponsored by UNESCO and the Department of Foreign Affairs. It will lay the foundation for an international network of parliamentarians for UNESCO which, in conjunction with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, will help parliamentarians familiarize themselves with UNESCO and contribute to its policy direction and programs.

Chabad

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP is pleased to join with all the other parties in the House of Commons in recognizing and celebrating the work of Chabad Lubavitch. This worldwide movement provides a network of educational and social service institutions, operates schools, youth centres, social agencies, summer camps, soup kitchens, medical clinics and non-sectarian drug rehabilitation centres. There are 72 Chabad centres in Canada.

At this time we also pay tribute to the leadership of Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, who passed away in 1994. He assumed the leadership of Chabad in 1950 and guided the movement into the international service that we recognize today and from which so many people benefit.

Millennium Excellence Award

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

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I recognize several outstanding young people in my constituency of Erie-Lincoln.

Millennium scholarships were awarded to four local high school students who excelled in their studies and show great potential for our Canadian community.

I ask all members to please join me in congratulating Elissa Smith and Emily Wilson, both of Port Colborne High School; and Rebecca Bogar and Adam Sherk, both of Ridgeway Crystal Beach High School, for outstanding academic achievement and excellence.

Ashley Browne, from Ridgeway Crystal Beach High School, also deserves special recognition for being selected to participate in a trade mission to Mexico with junior team Canada. Ashley will be the first young person from Niagara to join a junior team Canada delegation, and she plans to promote the growing Niagara wine industry during her trip.

I congratulate these young people, their families, friends and schools. I wish them all good luck. They make us very proud.

Agriculture

[Gerry Ritz, Canadian Alliance, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the mad cow crisis in western Canada is changing from mad cows to mad cowboys. The Liberals seem content to stand by and watch a vibrant industry grind to a halt.

That need not have happened if the Minister of Agriculture had only sent a strong signal of support for the beef industry.

Instead, the minister is using this crisis to push his own agenda. He is blackmailing the provinces to sign on to his third failed initiative, that much touted agricultural policy framework. Everybody in the west realizes that the APF can never work as a crisis management tool. It will not happen.

Folks in my part of Canada are always wary of Liberal posturing because we have worked through crises before on our own. The outbreak of CWD in our elk herd has been under control for more than two years now and still export borders are closed to our elk ranchers.

Where are the Minister for International Trade and the Minister of Agriculture when we really need them?

It is high time for the Liberal government to lead, follow or get the heck out of the way as the provinces step up and go to bat for the beef industry on their own.

Health

[Jay Hill, Canadian Alliance, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear now that SARS has ravaged Toronto's economy. Ontario's health care system has spent literally millions of dollars fighting the SARS outbreak and yet the Prime Minister continues to say that it is not a disaster. He has actually reneged on the disaster funding he had committed to.

I ask the Prime Minister: If this is not an emergency then what is?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry but I was in consultation with the chairman of the transport committee on an urgent and pressing matter.

I am sorry there is levity on the other side of the House but there is no levity when it comes to the government in dealing with SARS. This is a very serious issue. Ministers have been seized with the issue. The Minister of Industry has been working on an economic package. The Minister of Human Resources Development has been working on matters dealing with the impact on workers. As a result, the government is certainly seized of the issue.

Agriculture

[Jay Hill, Canadian Alliance, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we can see how seized they are, they cannot even listen to the question.

For weeks the government has avoided dealing with the ban on Canadian beef saying that it has to wait for the science. Well, the science is now done and yet the health minister and the public works minister have both said that the border remains closed “for other reasons”.

Is the real reason the border remains closed that the Prime Minister refuses to call President Bush, or is it that he knows President Bush will not take his phone call?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is no to the hon. member's question.

[Jay Hill, Canadian Alliance, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we still do not know “no” to which question. I suspect it is the latter and that he will not accept the call.

The transport minister blames the government's inability to address important issues, such as SARS, mad cow disease and softwood lumber, on the fact that his government is now in transition. The treasury board minister said that governing has become more difficult and will likely only get worse.

The Prime Minister's own cabinet now seems to understand what the Prime Minister does not, that he is the problem and not part of the solution. Canadians deserve much better.

Will the Prime Minister now step down, or are Canadians doomed to spending another summer watching his party trying to get rid of him?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the hon. member has been so far back behind the curtains over there that he has not seen what this government has done in the last six months, with an outstanding budget and an active legislative agenda, led by the Prime Minister and culminating in the passage of Bill C-42. We are 100% behind the Prime Minister and the legislative program of this party and this government.

[Howard Hilstrom, Canadian Alliance, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the agriculture minister denied that he was blackmailing the provinces into signing the agriculture policy framework. Today he confirmed that unless the provinces sign on there will be no compensation for the beef industry. In my books, that is blackmail and it is shameful.

Why will the agriculture minister not provide a compensation package outside of the APF?

[Lyle Vanclief, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member who just asked the question was very vocal about the previous disaster program that we had and said that it needed to be replaced with something better. That is what we have done, at the wish of not only the opposition but lots of people in the industry. That program is there.

As the hon. member said, the previous program was no good and we wanted to replace it with something better. The third party review has said that what is there to replace it is much better than what was there in the past. I am sure that when the industry understands that fully it will be signing and it will be asking respective ministers to sign it, as some ministers already have and more will be tomorrow.

[Howard Hilstrom, Canadian Alliance, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, auction markets across Canada remain closed. Neither feedlot operators nor cow-calf ranchers are able to move their animals to export. A staged opening of the U.S. border to young animals is the most likely scenario. That will mean older, grass fed cows will not be able to be sold unless they go into the domestic market.

What is the government doing to work with the beef industry to ensure there is a domestic market for these culled cows that cannot be exported?

[Lyle Vanclief, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows full well, being a beef producer himself, the domestic market is only so large. The best approach, but not our only approach, is to get the market open so we can ship not only the younger beef but also the older animals to those markets where they have been slaughtered and processed in the past.

In the meantime, we also fully understand the pressure, both financial and otherwise, on the beef industry in Canada and we will be working with the provinces and the industry to alleviate that.