Debates of Oct. 12th, 2004

Foreign Affairs

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the first election in Afghanistan has been a great success and according to reports received there was a high turnout, particularly by women voters.

Voting day was not particularly violent. This indicates the great determination of the people of Afghanistan and of the international community. The commitment of Canada and the rest of the international community has helped the people of Afghanistan take an important step forward during this period of transition.

Some candidates have alleged irregularities and these are being investigated. A Canadian diplomat will be among the three experts on the review panel hearing these complaints. In the meantime, all the signs coming out of the elections are quite positive.

Public Service

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the President of the Treasury Board. More than 120,000 public servants have started their strike. These people have suffered an actual loss of earnings of nearly 10% over the past 10 years. What is clear, as confirmed by the conciliation boards, is that the government's stonewalling is unjustified.

Why is this government so disrespectful with its front line workers who provide vital services to our country while it so liberally distributes bonuses and severance packages to its senior political staff?

[Reg Alcock, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, I am not certain what purpose we serve by pitting one group of employees against another. The reality is we are at the table negotiating in the same way we always have. They have professionals at the table and we do, and we are reaching agreements. I am not certain what the member is so exercised about.

Finance

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the government should start wondering why workers are frustrated and walking picket lines. If it did so, it would realize it is because the government's financial numbers look more like Nortel's financial numbers. They just do not add up.

Every spring for seven years the government has been telling poor kids, students, environmentalists, city mayors and so on, that the cupboard is bare, and every October, every fall, suddenly billions in surplus mysteriously appear. This year is no exception.

When will the government stop this charade and come clean with Canadians about its budget numbers?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, let me remind the hon. member where the additional revenue at the end of the last fiscal year went, as reported at the time of my budget. It went to help with SARS, it went to help with BSE, it went to help with our health care system and it went to help with municipalities. The rest of it went to reduce debt.

Sponsorship Program

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister pledged last spring to clear up the sponsorship scandal before he called an election. He said that he would provide all the documents to the public accounts committee. He did not do that. We now know he was more concerned about getting re-elected than in coming clean with Canadians.

How does the Prime Minister explain the sudden appearance of a 10 million page paper trail after the June election?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and the government has been extremely open and transparent with information on sponsorship and has provided, as the hon. member recognized, over 10 million pages of documents to the Gomery commission. That is because we are interested in getting to the truth here.

Beyond that, the commitment to transparency and openness in information has been recognized by the Information Commissioner who has said that the government will be sufficiently self-confident, courageous and honest to beat the secrecy addiction to which most governments fall victim.

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, a different set of lips but the same old song. Let us quote someone else here, “Anybody who knows about”--the scandal--“and did nothing should resign immediately”. That was the Prime Minister before he tried to cover this all up. In his rush to the polls the Prime Minister withheld vital information from the public accounts committee and the Canadian electorate. Why the cover-up?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is just plain wrong. The fact is the Prime Minister and the government were completely open with the public accounts committee and responded to any request for information. The fact is Justice Gomery's commission did ask a broader question and the information was provided.

The hon. member should not prejudge the work of Justice Gomery. At the same time, he should not prejudge the work that the government is doing to provide open, transparent information to ensure that this type of thing does not occur again.

Employment Insurance

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there is a report today that the Department of Human Resources has lost track of over half a billion dollars a year through consistent errors in EI payments. Canadians are tired of this casual approach to the waste of their tax dollars. An internal memo indicates that hundreds of millions of dollars could be saved if the government just caught up with the computer age.

Why will the minister not stop the wasteful flow of money out of his department due to errors that could be eliminated by simply learning how to log on to the Internet?

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, the member would probably like to acknowledge that a departmental performance report tabled in the House last week indicates that we are doing precisely that and that the success rate of the department has actually improved by over 10%.

What the member would probably also like to point out to the House is that the moneys were not lost. The recovery rate is a very high percentage, in excess of 95%.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, half a billion dollars lost is a failure rate, not a success rate. The minister's department now has a dramatic history of waste and mismanagement from the infamous billion dollar boondoggle onward. Yet there seems to be virtually no interest in addressing the bungling and incompetence as millions of dollars flow out the door unaccountably.

Can the minister tell us if he is aware of any other examples in his department where tax dollars are flowing out the door that should not because the government simply has not managed the programs properly?

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, I think Canadians might be outraged by the rhetoric of the member opposite. Those moneys have not flown out the door. They have not been lost. All of the moneys have been paid to Canadians who were on employment insurance and needed that money in order to pay their mortgages, send their kids to school and meet the day to day requirements of life. When those moneys were unaccounted for, they were recovered.

I want to applaud the member for recognizing that the report also indicates that there is an ongoing system to ensure that the success rate moves from 95.5% to 100%.

Child Care

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Speech from the Throne reiterates the government's intention to introduce a Canada-wide child care program with standards that will apply across the country. Quebec's leading role in child care is recognized by all.

Does the federal government intend to fully respect Quebec's areas of jurisdiction when introducing its program?

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, Minister of Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member said, there was an express commitment in the Speech from the Throne. There are meetings coming up on November 1 and 2 with my provincial counterparts. We will be discussing matters at that particular time.

As the hon. member has suggested, the Quebec system is certainly, in its ambitions, very much a model for a national child care system.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in establishing this Canada-wide child care program, will the federal government make a commitment to respect Quebec's jurisdictions by providing the opportunity to opt out completely, unconditionally and with full compensation?

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, Minister of Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, in order for there to be a true national child care system, the provincial governments cannot do it alone. The federal government cannot do it alone. Everybody needs each other in order for it to happen, including the Quebec system to be a significantly better system than it even is at the moment.

Canadian Heritage

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the heritage minister's pathetic attempt to defend the indefensible is an absolute joke.

The Prime Minister's principal secretary, the former heritage minister, slammed the Conservative leader and the Conservative Party 19 times. The speech was purely a partisan speech. Contrary to what the minister said, it is not on the government website. It was designed--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker]

Order. The hon. member for Crowfoot has a powerful voice, but even I cannot hear him under the circumstances. Perhaps we could have order in the House so we can hear the question. How is the minister to answer if he cannot hear the question?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it was purely a partisan speech, slamming the Conservative leader, slamming this party at a festival that was worth more than that. It was designed solely to slam the opposition during the election. It violated the Canada Elections Act.

What will the minister do--

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Canadian Heritage.

[Liza Frulla, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, the minister at that time defended the CRTC. She defended a $20 billion Canadian industry with 740,000 jobs. That is what she did.

She went to Banff, talked to one of the biggest, I would say, international television festivals. She did it within her mandate. It was mandatory to go. She accepted the invitation really--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Crowfoot.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Canadian Heritage just said, the Banff television festival is one of the major events, if not the major event of Canada in television and news media. A speech for an event of this significance would be written by a departmental assistant.

My question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Who in her department wrote her predecessor's Banff speech? How many taxpayers' dollars did the government spend to write that type of partisan election stump speech?