Debates of June 13th, 2003

Viking Millennium Celebration

[Dick Harris, Canadian Alliance, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in the Canadian Alliance if we see a problem we investigate it and we fix it. We do not try to cover up like those Liberals over there do.

That money was not spent on the Viking millennium projects; there are no receipts. It was not political contributions; there are no records at the riding level. That could only leave that perhaps it was meant to augment some personal income. So I ask the Minister of National Revenue, will she direct her department to audit the ACOA minister's personal income file and recover any taxes owing on his other income?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has just admitted in a question that he is asking about something that has nothing to do with the government, by his own admission. Why does he ask questions about the fundraising of political parties, riding associations or anything else that by his own admission has nothing to do with the Government of Canada, by a person who was not a minister of the Government of Canada, by the admission of the question again?

[The Speaker]

Order. The hon. member for Prince George—Bulkley Valley wants to ask a supplementary and it is hard to imagine how he is going to be able to hear the answer to know what to ask with all the noise that is coming from his own side. I would ask for a little order. The hon. member for Prince George—Bulkley Valley has the floor.

[Dick Harris, Canadian Alliance, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question surrounds some possible tax evasion and I would think that would be of interest to the government. What we have here appears to be a new twist on the underground economy, a new example of how to make extra money and avoid paying taxes on it.

Given the cloud of scandal now hanging over the ACOA minister, will he just step aside today until this whole issue is cleared up?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I know that you are very fair and you have probably allowed more latitude to the opposition within the rules to ask these spurious questions, but I can categorically tell you, Mr. Speaker, that the minister for ACOA is supported by all members on this side of the House, including the Prime Minister, and I reject any allegations made by the hon. members opposite.

Agriculture

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, encouraged by government and others to plant tobacco on their sandy soil at the turn of the last century, Quebec's flue-cured tobacco growers are now facing a situation that has caused the loss of over half their market this year.

Can the Minister of Agriculture confirm what his parliamentary secretary said this week to the flue-cured tobacco producers of Lanaudière region who met with him, namely, that his government is seriously studying the possibility of assisting tobacco growers to explore alternate crops?

[Claude Duplain, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, we met with the Quebec producers this week, and the hon. member was with me. What was said was that, within the strategic framework, measures could be taken, possibly, to help the tobacco producers. That was what was said.

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the strategic framework contains no guarantee that a program will apply. Instead of just being open to the possibility, can the minister commit to creating a specific program tailored to the tobacco growers, if there is no suitable existing program, so that they can find alternate crops?

[Claude Duplain, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot make such a commitment on behalf of the minister—that much is certain. But what I am saying, and it is true, is that within the strategic framework there are programs to help tobacco growers who will work with the department's officials on finding ways to diversify their crops, in both Quebec and Ontario.

National Defence

[Leon Benoit, Canadian Alliance, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the large planes this government is planning to rent to move Canadian military equipment are both unreliable and dangerous. Seventy-five Spanish peacekeepers were recently killed when one of these rented Ukrainian planes crashed. Families of those killed were so upset they shouted “murderer” at the Spanish prime minister and defence minister as they attended the funeral mass.

Why would this government rent such unreliable and dangerous planes rather than purchasing our own reliable strategic airlift planes?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, there are only two NATO countries that have that internal lift capacity: the United States and the United Kingdom. All of the other NATO allies rely upon other strategic arrangements, and the Minister of National Defence has indicated in cooperation with other nations in NATO that we are in fact examining these capabilities to make sure that our troops can be carried in a timely and safe manner.

[Leon Benoit, Canadian Alliance, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canada could be the third. Why will this government not recognize that? The fact is, the cost for Canada to rent airlift for the Afghanistan mission will probably be much higher than if we had owned or leased our own planes to do the job. In the long run, owning or leasing would save money and ensure the planes are there when we need them.

Why would the government choose the high cost, high risk option rather than doing what is best for Canada and best for our military?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, doing what is best for Canada and best for the military are always at the top of the government's agenda. In fact, what we are looking for here is the most cost effective way to provide the service that is needed. The hon. gentleman assumes a certain course is better and the other one is worse. We are prepared to look at the alternatives and make sure that we get the best.

Canadian Heritage

[Eugène Bellemare, Liberal, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Mr. Speaker, thousands of Canadians are interested in researching their family tree. Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage inform the House of the new tools available to Canadians to help them conduct their search?

[Carole-Marie Allard, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform the House that, since March, Canadians and other genealogy buffs have access to a goldmine of information called the Canadian Genealogy Centre. Just visit www.archives.ca.

Mr. Speaker, as you already know, there are 43 references between 1925 and 1935 to the name Milliken in Immigration Canada's database.

Foreign Affairs

[Keith Martin, Canadian Alliance, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been repeatedly arrested and rearrested and his followers raped, murdered and tortured, all this for simply protesting against the thuggish regime of Robert Mugabe.

Why has our government refused to strongly and publicly condemn Robert Mugabe for these actions and call for the release of Morgan Tsvangirai and his followers?

[Aileen Carroll, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada shares the concerns of the hon. member, very much so.

We remain very concerned about the situation there. We are doing our utmost within the Commonwealth. We have been very active in other multilateral forums. The Minister of Foreign Affairs operates with bilaterals where he can. It is simply not something that there is an easy solution to. Speaking out and condemning accomplishes very little. Actions accomplish more, and this government is engaged on Zimbabwe.

[Keith Martin, Canadian Alliance, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, what the government is doing is condemning the people of Zimbabwe to death. Unless it acts these people are going to be murdered, as they are being murdered right now as we speak.

The government talks big and acts very little. I spoke about a responsibility to protect. The government wanted to make the African agenda a centrepiece of its so-called legacy but it is not working. We are not saving lives.

My question is simple. Will the government strongly denounce Mugabe for gross crimes against humanity and call for his indictment for the crimes against humanity that he is participating in right now?

[Aileen Carroll, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

As I have said, Mr. Speaker, we have been supporting and are very actively supporting multilateral action to respond to the human rights crisis that has been described.

However, we cannot think of bringing Robert Mugabe before the ICC, as the hon. member knows, because it has no jurisdiction. Mr. Mugabe cannot be indicted by the court in the absence of a UN Security Council resolution calling for the ICC action. This is known to the hon. member, and again we are hearing rhetoric at a time when the information required is well known.

Mining

[Serge Cardin, Bloc, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at the time the last federal budget was brought down, the Mining Association of Canada said that, in the end, eliminating the resource allowance would lead to a definite increase in taxes paid by the mining industry. The federal government has once again shown how little consideration it has for regions like Abitibi, where the economy is largely dependent on mining.

Is the minister aware that these new fiscal measures, far from helping the industry and the communities that depend on mining, are imposing an increase on the average amount of tax paid, particularly by gold and copper mines?

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his question. We actually engaged in a discussion with the resources industry sector precisely to improve the tax system to make it more efficient and effective and take the types of measures that speak to economic growth. When we speak about economic growth, it also speaks about economic growth for the areas the hon. member just mentioned.

Fisheries

[Loyola Hearn, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the recent closing of the Atlantic fishery has left a lot of people out of work. The instability makes sure that many plant workers will not even qualify for employment insurance this winter. We need a long term focused plan to address this overall problem, but in the interim we need a short term fix.

Will the minister responsible for ACOA assure us that he will deal with the Minister of Human Resources Development and the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to ensure that these people are looked after this fall while we are putting a long term plan in place?

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency)]

Mr. Speaker, at the time of the closure of the cod fishery in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, the Government of Canada announced a short term program to provide income supplementation.

In addition to that, we also announced that we will be working on long term measures to be able to stabilize communities over the long term and provide benefits to those communities and individuals that will be affected. In addition to that, we recently announced an income bridging program to be able to provide some income to those affected workers while those programs were put in place.

We are interested in dealing with a wide variety of programs to be able to put in place a good comprehensive strategy for Atlantic Canadian and Quebec fishers and plant workers.

Housing

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, thousands of British Columbians are living in leaky housing co-ops and face building envelope failure, unhealthy moulds and fungi. To add insult to injury, they have had to deal with a federal agency, CMHC, that has been incredibly difficult to deal with.

Will the minister responsible for housing and CMHC ensure that fair financial help is available to these families, who are tired of fighting? Will he commit that they will not face eviction and that their homes will be fixed and they will be healthy to live in? Will he do that?

[Steve Mahoney, Liberal, Secretary of State (Selected Crown Corporations)]

Mr. Speaker, our government, in cooperation with the province of British Columbia, invested $27.7 million to help people with leaky co-ops and leaky condos in British Columbia. We are well aware of the serious nature of this problem. In fact, we are working and talking with the federal co-op foundation to find other ways to help these folks so they can live in homes that are healthy and comfortable for their families.