Debates of Nov. 23rd, 2004

Canada Labour Code

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Labour recently announced the creation of a federal commission that would consider reforms to the Canada Labour Code.

On behalf of all the employees in the federal public service and those governed by the Canada Labour Code, I ask that the agenda of this commission include workplace psychological harassment. The Liberal government should amend the Canada Labour Code so that justice can be done for all those whose professional life is a kind of hell.

Quebec has leading edge legislation on this and the federal government should take action against this scourge as well.

It is estimated that some 30% of federal public servants are currently suffering from some form of psychological harassment. Therefore, I ask the minister to listen to them and to amend the Canada Labour Code to make psychological harassment a thing of the past. It is a matter of health and dignity.

Hiv-Aids

[Sarmite Bulte, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this government believes that all Canadians deserve respect and dignity, including those suffering from AIDS. Clearly, this is not the case with the alliance Conservatives who have once again shown their true colours.

Today we learn that the member for Okanagan—Coquihalla sent a note to his caucus colleagues implying that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's family and supporters did not deserve the expression of their sympathy because of allegations that he may have died of AIDS.

This is the latest in a long history of discrimination that the member has shown toward people suffering from AIDS. Previously, he has gone so far as to claim that AIDS was God's warning or punishment to homosexuals and demanded that the Alberta government spend--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker]

Order. The hon. member for Parkdale--High Park knows that we cannot use Standing Order 31 statements to attack other MPs. I am afraid that in going on the way she is, that is what is happening. I think we better ease that one up.

We will go to the hon. member for Okanagan—Coquihalla, who is next on the list.

Trans Fats

[Stockwell Day, Conservative, Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC]

Mr. Speaker, today NDP members are asking us to vote to protect Canadians, especially children.

Are they voting today to support our motion to protect children from exploitation of pedophiles by raising the age of consent from 14 to 16? No. Are they joining us to close Liberal loopholes in the kiddie porn law? No. Are they voting against Liberal legislation which makes marijuana more accessible? No. They figure marijuana is not bad for our health.

What evil would they ban? Why, it is none other than the malicious trans fats which presently lurk on Tim Hortons shelves, in cracker boxes in grocery stores, and in grandma's Christmas baking. Trans fats do affect cholesterol levels. But the NDP's usual approach to massive government intervention in our lives will assault the entire food industry, food costs, and all exports and imports. It is not a thoughtful way to address the issue.

Are they suggesting the system of labelling and education we have for riskier products, like tobacco and alcohol? No. Do they abstain from trans fats themselves? No. I watch them at coffee breaks, inhaling cookies and doughnuts faster than anyone. This is not the road to better health.

Children

[Eleni Bakopanos, Liberal, Ahuntsic, QC]

Mr. Speaker, November 20 marked Universal Children's Day.

This year's theme, “A Canada Fit for Children”, celebrated Canada's commitment to children. It highlighted the Canadian government's agenda and the national plan of action for children in Canada. It is a plan of action consisting of creating a Canada and a world fit for children, supporting families and strengthening communities, protecting the children and promoting education and learning.

I am pleased to mention today the Maison Buissonnière in my riding of Ahuntsic. This centre works with children and their parents every day. It is a place where children from birth to age 4, accompanied by an adult, learn through play to socialize, get to know other children and adults, and interact in a group.

We must never forget that children are our most precious treasure and that every child has the right to happiness.

My hope is that through the efforts of all members of this House we can meet our commitment to assure a better future for our children.

Ukraine

[Ed Broadbent, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the people of Ukraine are committed to a path of democratic reform.

However, we now have reports from neutral international monitors, including Canadians, stating that Sunday's election was neither fair nor transparent. The problems cited by observers include voter harassment, intimidation, biased television coverage by state owned stations, vote rigging and ballot box switching.

Despite this intimidation, exit polls show that opposition candidate Viktor Yuschenko was winning the election. However, the final so-called results placed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich as the winner.

Canada must condemn this election and join with the majority of the Ukrainian people in continuing to work for democratic reform in that country.

Prostate Cancer

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I had the opportunity to host a breakfast forum with the Canadian Prostate Cancer Research Initiative where the important issues of public awareness and prevention of prostate cancer were discussed. We were joined by a number of prostate cancer survivors, supporters and doctors, including Don Harron and Max Keeping, as well as members of this House committed to doing more in the area.

On average, four Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer every two hours and one will die from it. Over 19,000 men were diagnosed with this illness this year alone. Research is of critical importance in reducing mortality from this form of cancer. The most important preventive measure every man can take is to get a PSA blood test done and to follow a healthy diet.

I salute Darryl Ruston of Stellarton and Jack Brill of Halifax for their tremendous efforts in raising awareness of the need for prostate testing and increased research and resources. Sadly in 2004, Health Canada cut the funding saying that no more research in this area was necessary.

I ask all my male colleagues in the House to get tested. It could save their life. I ask my female colleagues to tell their loved ones to get tested as well.

Richard Desjardins

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, one of Quebec's artists from Abitibi—Témiscamingue, Richard Desjardins, recently received three Félix awards at the ADISQ gala.

Now the Académie Charles Cros, a French institution made up of experts in music, culture, media and sound recording, has just awarded him the Grand Prix de la Francophonie.

Richard Desjardins was selected for this award for his poetic texts and also for his tenderness, passion and heartfelt commitment.

Richard Desjardins is a talented musician, author, composer, singer songwriter and socially committed citizen active in defending the causes he believes in.

The Bloc Québécois congratulates this great poet from Abitibi—Témiscamingue on his successes.

Housing

[Jay Hill, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says he is not looking forward to another bitter winter in his cold, drafty home at 24 Sussex Drive. Well, welcome to the real world of our on base military families.

By introducing petitions signed by supportive Canadians from coast to coast, I have raised their deplorable living conditions 17 times in this Parliament to no avail. To draw an appropriate comparison, I would like to quote from a letter that appeared in Saturday's Ottawa Sun :

--perhaps Mrs. Martin would like to try doing dishes in my kitchen during the winter when you need socks, slippers and thermal underwear to protect yourself from the draft coming through the walls--

Or maybe she would like to have to de-ice her children's curtains or blinds before she opens them in the morning because somehow during the night they have iced themselves to the windows.

Now let's not forget the water-based paint which chips off the oil-based paint which chips off the lead-based paint--

The letter was signed by Michelle Edwards of Petawawa.

And I bet the Prime Minister's rent does not go up every year either. Oh, I forgot, he does not pay any rent.

Family Physicians

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this is family doctor week, during which the College of Family Physicians of Canada also celebrates its 50th anniversary. Therefore, it is with considerable emotion that I rise to pay tribute to a special group of physicians, the backbone of the medical profession: family doctors.

Family physicians are the first contact with most patients when they are ill, tying together multiple and often seemingly unrelated symptoms and signs to make a diagnosis. They are there from the moment of a patient's birth to the time of death and all that lies between, knowing that the milestones in a life are the chance foundations upon which illness or health is built.

A good family physician is a constant in a patient's life, counselling, preventing, treating, supporting, guarding the sacred trust of the relationship and considering first and always the well-being of the patient. As a family doctor for almost 23 years, my patients have allowed me to share their joys and pain, their disappointments and celebrations. Today, on behalf of all family physicians, I thank them for that great privilege.

The Senate

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday hundreds of thousands of Albertans went to the polls to exercise their democratic right to choose their own representatives, in this case for the Senate. They are tired of the Prime Minister's excuses. Even the member for Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont does not buy the Prime Minister's position on this issue.

Will Mr. Democratic Deficit finally agree to put Alberta's elected people in the Senate as he promised the Premier of Alberta?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has made it plain, as have others of us on the government side, that we are indeed committed to Senate reform. However, we are not going to accept piecemeal Senate reforms that ultimately would disadvantage provinces like mine, the province of Alberta.

The provinces have created a new body called the Council of the Federation. The Prime Minister and I have both suggested that the Council of the Federation might be a very useful vehicle for the provinces to begin shared work on the complete reform, meaningful reform, of the Senate.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this is a con job. Albertans see through it and more Canadians are going to see through it every day.

The immigration minister's indiscretions grow daily. Today we learn that she has been divulging confidential information on immigration files in order to save her career. In addition to information she has released in the House, she apparently has directed staff to discuss the stripper case with various members of this chamber.

This is completely improper. Will the minister do the honourable thing and resign?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, as I had the opportunity to say yesterday, this matter has been referred to the Ethics Commissioner. I think it is important to let the Ethics Commissioner do his work. The Ethics Commissioner will in fact report. The minister has agreed that the report will be made public.

I would ask the hon. members opposite not to prejudge the work of the Ethics Commissioner. He is after all an independent officer of the House. We should wait and permit him to do his work and to report.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Actually, Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister is wrong. This particular question that I just asked has not been raised with the Ethics Commissioner. It is that disclosing information files publicly is contrary to the Privacy Act.

Will the Deputy Prime Minister ask the minister to resign, or is the government incapable of acting while the Prime Minister trots around the globe?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, again members on that side of the House make assertions, make allegations and they have little regard, dare I say, for the truth or for people's reputations.

As I have said before, as the minister has said, the Ethics Commissioner is looking into many of the assertions and allegations made by that side of the House. In fact, it is the hon. member, the minister herself, who has asked the Ethics Commissioner to take up this review. It is the hon. member herself who has said that whatever he finds, whatever he reports, should be made public.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, that is not factually correct either. It was a request from the opposition that actually broadened the scope to allow the Ethics Commissioner to take a full view of this.

Under the direction of the minister, a case I had myself brought attention to in August was investigated. The minister now takes the liberty of disclosing confidential information relating to this file as well as to her own files. This is contrary to the Privacy Act.

If the minister did not obtain the prior consent of those concerned, she ought to resign on the spot. Will she?

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated yesterday, I have asked the Ethics Commissioner to look into this case. The opposition has asked the Ethics Commissioner to look into that case. I will clearly wait. Let us let him do his job. He is very competent. He is independent. Let him do his job. That is what he gets paid to do. I look forward to his results, and the sooner the better.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the real concern is how the minister has been doing her job. The minister's efforts now to deflect the attention away from her own actions have resulted in the release of information that was deemed confidential.

We now know that her staff had discussions with the hon. member for Winnipeg Centre and disclosed confidential information. In releasing this on immigration files for political cover, the minister may be breaching the Privacy Act and jeopardizing the applicant's privacy, so I ask her again. Will she resign before more immigration files are compromised by her actions?

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, let me assure the House that respect of the Privacy Act is very important. I do not believe that we should be throwing people's names, like the opposition has clearly done in the last week, throwing innocent people's names, former staff, and bandying them around as if they were nothing. Uninformed allegations should not be allowed to be thrown around unless one has some respect here and I intend to respect the issues of the Privacy Act and do my job.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec producers, and dairy producers in particular, are losing a great deal of money on their cull and are asking the federal government to cooperate with the Quebec government in setting a floor price for cull cows.

Why is the Minister of Agriculture reluctant to intervene in setting a floor price when this is a matter of interprovincial trade, which is his responsibility?

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

Mr. Speaker, the information contained in the question is incorrect. It is a policy of the Canadian government to assist producers in Quebec.

Quite frankly we are working very closely with the province of Quebec and with the producers in Quebec to find the necessary way of assisting them. There have been many suggestions about how to go about doing it and we are examining all of them.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the problem with the minister is that, while he is examining suggestions, for the past 18 months, the dairy producers in Quebec have been losing the shirts off their backs because the minister refuses to understand.

I am asking him today to set a floor price for cull cows. That is not demanding anything of him, except goodwill. Why is the minister reluctant to help producers in Quebec and to accede to the request of Quebec's agriculture minister? All it takes is a little goodwill.

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

Again, Mr. Speaker, the hon. member simply is not correct. We have provided over $366 million to producers in Quebec under our business risk management.

In addition to that, the essential difficulty is that there is not an opportunity for Quebec producers to sell their cull cows in a competitive environment. One of the things we did on September 10 was to provide an initiative that would allow for the creation of increased slaughter capacity, including in the province of Quebec. This is the long term, permanent solution to the issue facing producers.