Debates of Oct. 28th, 2004

Agriculture

[Andy Mitchell, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, not only is money flowing to producers under the CAIS program, but on September 10 we instituted a special CAIS program advance for the beef producers. I am pleased to report that to date, 4,500 of those producers have taken up the offer. We are in the process of ensuring that they have the cash and the necessary liquidity in addition to the restructuring measures that we took on September 10 that will allow our industry to be profitable with or without a border opening.

Taxation

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

Mr. Speaker, Quebec finance minister Yves Séguin has criticized the behaviour of the Prime Minister at the last federal-provincial conference, labelling it as Quebec bashing.

How does the Prime Minister explain this angry response from Mr. Séguin, a federalist and a Liberal, when he is boasting of his desire to enter a new era of federal-provincial cooperation?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the finance minister in Quebec that both the Prime Minister and I, and I think every other premier around that table, spoke very constructively about the important role played by Quebec and are very supportive of the objectives that Quebec has been pursuing under the distinguished leadership of Premier Charest.

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

Mr. Speaker, from those words from the mouth of the Finance Minister, we can see how familiar he is with Quebec, how he has his finger on the pulse there. We have evidence of his great knowledge in the way he handled the Desjardins case.

Will the Prime Minister admit that what makes his attitude so terrible is that he could have afforded to make a better offer to the provinces, but instead bowed to caucus pressures and sided with Ontario and against Quebec?

A fine example of openness and cooperation, that is.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we have indeed sweetened the offer to all of the provinces across the country.

We are taking equalization from $8.9 billion this year to $12.5 billion in five years. That is a 42% increase. When we combine the effects of the health deal and the equalization deal for Quebec this year, that is $979 million more, and next year, $1.8 billion more.

Quebec and all provinces are being treated very fairly under this new arrangement.

National Defence

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring to the attention of the House another Liberal first. The United States has now been forced to partner with Sweden in a submarine training program.

The United States has lost faith in our country's ability to provide a reliable submarine program. Will the Minister of National Defence explain to the House why we have been left behind in submarine warfare capabilities in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic waters?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the premise of that question is absolute nonsense. The United States navy partners with lots of other countries. It not only deals with Sweden, it deals with many of our NATO allies.

Fortunately I can say that the Canadian navy has one of the best records of working with the United States navy. In fact, it has commanded U.S. navy ships in the Persian Gulf.

We have an unparalleled record of working with the American navy and we will continue to do so. We welcome other countries to work with us both together.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the submarine program is vital to the defence of Canadian sovereignty, but we do not have the submarine capability to fully patrol the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coasts.

The Washington Times is reporting that China is now further expanding its submarine force with new non-nuclear submarines to counter western naval prominence in the Pacific Ocean.

Will the Minister of National Defence explain why Canada should have its coastal waters and North American naval interests defended by Sweden?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, there is a Swedish submarine that happens to be in San Diego doing training exercises with our American friends. It is not there to defend Canada. I do not believe it is there to defend the United States. I believe it is there to work with us all in trying to make ourselves secure. We welcome this enterprise. We welcome all who want to work with us.

We are not like the opposition who think that we can pull a shell around ourselves and say that we do not want anyone else in our waters. We like our allies and we will work with all of them.

Public Works and Government Services

[Michael John Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Public Works and Government Services.

Last month the minister announced a new strategy for his department, a strategy that will see more efficient services in areas such as procurement and property management.

I and many of my constituents support that initiative, but we are concerned that this could lead to a centralization of services in Ottawa. It is my hope that this new strategy takes the needs of small communities and business in Atlantic Canada into account.

What assurances can the minister provide that this initiative will not result in a reduced federal presence in Atlantic Canada?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for this very important question. I can assure him that in no way, shape or form will this initiative reduce the visibility of the Government of Canada in the regions of our country. We have new approaches to real estate in my department that I believe have the capacity to increase our presence in the communities and regions across Canada.

As for procurement, we will consider regional standing offers and other methodologies of approaches for procurement to ensure that small and medium enterprises across Canada throughout our regions have an opportunity to provide goods and services to the Government of Canada.

China

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, China has an active commitment to foreign aid and even has 125 peacekeepers in Haiti, where Canada has none. In 2003 China spent $2.4 billion U.S. on aid to North Korea.

Why are Canadian taxpayers still giving $54 million a year in foreign aid to China?

[Aileen Carroll, Liberal, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, China is changing very quickly. It has the world's largest population and has very uneven social, economic and political development. Having the Chinese build a more democratic and prosperous country is good not only for China, but for the world. That is why we send experts to China to help at the Supreme Court level and with the legislators.

The opposition may wish us to ignore China. We think it is very important to engage China.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

The minister is ignoring reality, Mr. Speaker. China has a booming economy which is now the number one recipient of private foreign investment in the world, receiving $53 billion U.S. in new money. Canadian companies are ranked among the top 10 investors. It is time for China's government to take responsibility for helping its own poor people.

How can the Minister of International Cooperation justify giving aid to China?

[Aileen Carroll, Liberal, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, we do not ignore the facts of China. It is important that the opposition understand that 20% of the world's poor live in China.

What is very important is that through our development relationship we are able to engage China on many different fronts. It is our opportunity to impact China's reform and to be there to assist the Chinese with that. I might add that China frequently looks to Canada in that regard in a manner in which it does not look to other countries.

Agriculture

[Denise Poirier-Rivard, Bloc, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is a crisis in agriculture, especially among the farmers who are victims of the mad cow crisis. They are exasperated by the government's inability to defend their interests. Quebec's producers have been hit twice: they are the victims of one diseased cow found in Alberta and they are receiving ridiculous prices and subsidies for their cull.

Since we know that one farmer received as little as 7¢ for an animal, what is the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food waiting for before he reveals a sensible plan to come to the aid not only of beef cattle producers but to farmers who produce cull cattle in Quebec?

[Andy Mitchell, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, there are two significant things that need to be done to address that particular problem.

First is the need to build more capacity. In our announcement of September 10 we are providing initiatives by the federal government to increase that capacity.

In addition, the hon. member and I have had a chance to talk about this. We are in discussions with a number of organizations, including the province of Quebec--and this would also apply to other dairy areas--on exactly how to deal with the cull cow issue in the short term. We will deal with increased capacity in the long term, but we are also having discussions about what to do in the short term.

Foreign Aid

[Brent St. Denis, Liberal, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we all know Canada is a leader in helping the developing nations of the world, especially those in greatest need. Can the Minister of International Cooperation tell us how much of the government's expenditures on foreign aid are for administration and specifically, what percentage of the total money spent on aid does running the department cost?

[Aileen Carroll, Liberal, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question. As the House knows, we are committed to delivering our aid programs in the most effective and cost efficient manner.

I would like to explain to the House that over the last two years CIDA's operating expenses have reduced from 10.1% to 8.3%. In fact, its operating budget has declined in absolute terms despite a significant increase in its budget.

Let me remind the House that the government has increased our budget by 8% and has committed to doubling it by 2010. Therefore, our budget is rising and our costs are going down. It is a success story.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker]

Order, please. I wish to draw the attention of members to the presence in the gallery of Mr. Eric Woerth, Minister of State for Administrative Reform of the Republic of France.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Speaker]

It being Thursday, we will now have a question from the hon. opposition House leader.

Business of the House

[John Reynolds, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister made a promise to tell us when we would have a bill on MPs' salaries. We still have not heard when that bill will be before the House. My party and I would like to know, and I am sure every MP would like to know when we are going to see that bill. We would also like to know what the business is for the rest of this week and next week before we take the break and go home for Remembrance Day.

[Tony Valeri, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon we will continue with the allotted day.

Tomorrow and the first part of next week, the order of legislation will be second reading of Bill C-14, the Tlicho governance agreement, and reference before second reading of Bill C-13, the DNA data bank bill.

We will then proceed to the reference before second reading of Bill C-15, respecting the convention on migratory birds and second reading of Bill C-9, respecting a regional development agency in Quebec.

We would then turn to the reference before second reading of bills to be introduced early next week dealing with the Competition Act, first nations fiscal institutions, Telefilm, certain controlled substances, and an amendment to the Criminal Code with respect to impaired driving.

I will be discussing with the other parties the exact order of these bills. We would hope, by the end of the week, that we would be in a position to deal with report stage and third reading of Bill C-4, respecting aircraft equipment.

Next Thursday will be an allotted day.

On Tuesday evening there will be a take note debate on the compensation for victims of hepatitis C.

With respect to the specific question asked by the hon. member across the way, certainly it will be very forthcoming in the near future and I am sure we will also have a discussion among House leaders.

The House resumed consideration of the motion.