Debates of Feb. 4th, 2004

Public Service

[Bill Casey, Progressive Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, it is not reasonable when they are looking for soldiers. There is no discrimination there. They will take anybody across Canada.

When it is a job in Ottawa, they restrict it to the minister's own area right around Ottawa. Here are four more jobs and it is the same story. Again there is discrimination by postal code. Only those people with postal codes around Ottawa can apply.

I would like the Minister of National Defence to answer this question. How does the minister face the families of the soldiers when he says that he is sending their kids to risk their lives in Afghanistan, but when they come back they are not wanted in Ottawa?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am not certain what the question is that the member is trying to ask.

Let me be clear about this. The policy is intended to put some bounds around the number of applications that are processed for a certain job simply because the cost of processing is enormous, and if we widen the net, simply, there are too many people involved.

If the member would like additional information, I would be more than willing to meet with him and go through the policy with him.

Veterans Affairs

[Rick Casson, Canadian Alliance, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, when he appointed his cabinet, the Prime Minister eliminated the position of parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs. Canadians expect their government to take care of the people who go out and lay their lives down for this country.

With all the issues facing Veterans Affairs, how can the Prime Minister justify this callous slap in the face?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, for the past 18 months it was a great honour for me to serve the brave men and women in the current military.

It is equally a privilege for me today to serve those equally brave Canadians who are retired members of the military.

I am absolutely delighted as well to take on board the member for Haliburton—Victoria—Brock, a man with great devotion to the veterans, who has agreed enthusiastically to accept the Prime Minister's invitation to work with me, for veterans, in a capacity very similar to that of a parliamentary secretary.

[Rick Casson, Canadian Alliance, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we have widows' pension issues, we have mustard gas victims, we have pension review appeals piling up, and these are just a few of the issues facing our veterans.

How can the Prime Minister justify three parliamentary secretaries to carry his coat around and not give one to Veterans Affairs?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I can think of no individual in this House who is more devoted to veterans, who has more experience in dealing with veterans, and who has more enthusiasm for taking on this job, than the member for Haliburton—Victoria—Brock, who has previously served as parliamentary secretary for defence and who has taken on this job with enormous enthusiasm.

Together, the two of us will work very hard to do what is right for the brave men and women who are Canada's veterans.

National Defence

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs maintained yesterday that action needed to be taken and that he was not waiting on studies before making decisions about the missile defence program.

Instead of letting a handful of public servants make such important decisions, if the Prime Minister is truly concerned about the role of elected representatives, as he says he is, will he commit not only to holding a debate on the missile defence program but also a free vote?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, our tradition has always been to hold a debate in the House on important issues concerning foreign and domestic affairs. We are continuing this policy. We will do so. As I indicated yesterday, the government has committed to a discussion with the United States on this issue. A decision has not yet been reached, but it will be based on our security needs, on the one hand, and maintaining our independence, on the other.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to remind the minister that the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade has already spoken out against the weaponization of space. The government is getting ready to launch its democratic reform a bit later this afternoon.

Is not the true test of democratic reform allowing a free vote, not just a debate, but a free vote—v-o-t-e—on the missile defence program here in the House, before the election?

[Jacques Saada, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister responsible for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, democratic reform is not about voting on questions of a hypothetical or speculative nature.

Taxation

[Gerald Keddy, Progressive Conservative, South Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, hurricane Juan has forced Nova Scotian woodlot owners to prematurely harvest tens of thousands of acres of blown down timber. This salvage operation will cause landowners to incur an extraordinary profit on their annual income.

Will the Minister of Finance help these landowners, by allowing income tax on this emergency profit to be deferred and paid at 10% per year for 10 years?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, when there are extraordinary circumstances that do not fit within the normal administration of taxation rules, there are from time to time provisions made to take those extraordinary circumstances into account. I will take the hon. gentleman's question as a representation. I will look into the idea and I will get back to him.

[Gerald Keddy, Progressive Conservative, South Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the minister recognizes that this is an important issue, but right now woodlot owners are racing against time before their product rots on the ground, and they are being forced to harvest their stumpage because of hurricane Juan.

Again, will the minister find a way to defer that income at 10% a year for 10 years?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I understand the urgency of the situation and I will get back to the hon. gentleman just as rapidly as I can.

Agriculture

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. I know the minister is working hard on the BSE file. I know that the Prime Minister made that issue a priority for his meeting with President Bush, but complications following the discovery of BSE in the United States have made farmers in my riding desperate.

I represent 1,000 beef, dairy, sheep, goat and buffalo farmers and their families. Can the minister give us some hope that there will be an end to the BSE crisis and give us an update on the U.S. investigation into BSE?

[Bob Speller, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his question and I also want to thank the members of my caucus who have pushed for a take note debate tonight on this very serious issue.

I want to assure him and all hon. members today that the Government of Canada takes this issue very seriously and that we will continue to work hard internationally to get the borders open to Canadian beef. I also want to thank the hon. member for bringing up the United States peer review report, which of course was announced today, and it is one that the government--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Portage--Lisgar.

Employment Insurance

[Brian Pallister, Canadian Alliance, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the HRDC minister made the incredible statement in the House that there is no $45 billion EI surplus. Over the last decade, this Prime Minister has misappropriated $7,000 from each and every working Canadian family in extra EI premiums. He has turned EI into a vast personal cash cow.

Can he explain what right he has to dupe low income, working Canadians on their taxes when he tries to avoid paying his own?

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

Mr. Speaker, I guess we engage in hyperbole for the simple reason that we do not want it to go into disuse, but the hon. member would know, of course, that the amount of money he is talking about has all gone back into the consolidated general revenue and has gone to programs that have helped Canadians, all Canadians, especially the ones to which he has made reference.

Because programs have gone to poor families to provide for sustenance, to provide for community building, as I said, as well as for programs for their children and programs for the elderly, those are moneys that have gone to enhance the quality of life--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Portage--Lisgar.

[Brian Pallister, Canadian Alliance, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister suggested earlier today that the Auditor General could vindicate his dealings with Canada Steamship Lines. The Auditor General has already commented unfavourably on his ethics in her 2003 public accounts report, when she concluded that the government is violating the intent of its own Employment Insurance Act with excessively high EI premiums.

The Prime Minister is wanting to invoke the counsel of the Auditor General on one issue but he chooses to totally ignore the counsel of the Auditor General on another. I would like him to explain to the House the total contradiction in that remark.

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

Mr. Speaker, I guess the hon. member ignores the fact that there has been a reduction in EI premiums every year for 10 years, both from employers and from employees. In fact, there is an additional reduction even this year. We are going on a constant path where we are reducing deductions and we are maintaining the appropriate level of benefits as required by the EI act.

Social Programs

[Marcel Gagnon, Bloc, Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the throne speech, the government claims to want to strengthen Canada’s social foundations by changing the way things work in government, particularly with respect to programs to provide seniors with income assistance and care when needed.

If the government is as concerned about the situation of seniors as it claims to be, what is it waiting for to provide full retroactivity on the guaranteed income supplement it owes seniors?

[Liza Frulla, Liberal, Minister of Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question.

First, I think it is worth repeating that the lives of seniors were greatly improved through the public pension plan which, I must add, was secured by the current Prime Minister when he was the Minister of Finance.

It should be pointed out, and the hon. member failed to do so, that between 1980 and 2000, the percentage of low income seniors dropped from 20.8% to 7.3%. Obviously, we are aiming for 0%; still, I think this is pretty good.

Foreign Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, Canada has strongly criticized the illegal and inflammatory wall built by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza. This provocative incursion beyond the 1967 borders makes the Palestinian people prisoners in their own towns.

To date Canada has taken no effective legal or political action in this matter. It is time for action, not just words. What specific action is Canada prepared to take to persuade Israel to tear down this illegal and inflammatory wall?