Bill Graham

[Supply, June 8th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, let me come back to the member's point about surrendering the sovereignty of parliament to the courts. The member seems to be so upset about the fact that the courts are interpreting what the concept of discrimination is. Does he and his party believe that we should repeal the charter?

Is the member not aware that the Rosenberg decision is a decision by one of the highest courts of this land? The charter is the highest law of the land and rules over all other laws that we pass in this House. If the laws are inconsistent with the provisions of that charter, if they discriminate against people and if he and his party were to come into power and wanted to pass laws which would single out groups for discrimination, would he be in favour of repealing the charter? Is that what he believes? Does he not believe that we have courts in this land whose very job is to ensure that we in this House act in terms of the principles of non-discrimination and tolerance which govern our society?

[Calgary Declaration, May 27th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to say that yesterday Ontario became the eighth province to adopt the Calgary Declaration.

The Bloc Quebecois, however, is trying to make us believe that few Canadians support the declaration.

My question is to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. What is the significance of this declaration, this vote in favour of the declaration and the message it sends to all Canadians?

[Committees Of The House, May 7th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade regarding Canadian military personnel captured in Hong Kong during World War II.

[Canada Student Loans, May 5th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I too rise on the question of the multilateral investment agreement.

I agree with the member from Halifax that the agreement raises important issues, but I certainly do not see them in the light that he raised them. I agree with the parliamentary secretary when he says he appears to be working somewhere about a year out of date and with a lot of rhetoric that is not borne out.

We had a very interesting meeting in my riding recently in conjunction with the member for St. Paul's. It brought a great deal of intense discussion and a lot of interested citizens to this issue because it raises very important issues of global governance. I think these are issues that the government is seeking to address in a way that is important. I think it behoves us as members to look at it seriously. It raises very important issues. That is why the constituents of my riding and the member for St. Paul's riding came. We discussed this and heard issues.

We have to bear in mind two points. The first is that the minister addressed this issue when he asked the subcommittee of the committee on trade to look at the issue. The committee on trade came back to the minister and said that foreign investment agreements could be very useful to Canada and Canadians because they could further our investments abroad and at the same further job creation here.

However they must be looked at in a certain light. It must be guaranteed that we protect our culture. We must ensure that our environment is protected, that measures are not to be restrained in protecting our environment. We would like to see core ILO labour standards inserted in such an agreement.

That makes a lot of sense. Here is an opportunity not to dump on the agreement but an opportunity to make it better for Canadians and to make it better for labour standards as well as investment. What a wonderful opportunity. Let us not miss it.

The subcommittee also said health measures, educational and social services clearly must be exempt from any such agreement because they are not appropriate matters for foreign investment.

What did the minister do? He picked up this report by the committee and subsequently filed in the House a response to the report. In his response he states that specifically the government's response addresses in detail each recommendation made by the subcommittee and agrees with all of them.

The minister is to be congratulated. For the first time we saw an international agreement being negotiated brought before a parliamentary committee prior to the negotiations being completed. This was not for us to ratify after. This was something on which members of Parliament from all parties, including the party of the member for Halifax, had an opportunity to have some input, to the point where the minister has gone to the meetings. We know now from the newspaper reports what has taken place at those meetings.

Even Madam Barlow was quoted in the newspaper the other day as saying she was pleased that this government had stood up to what it said it would do. She was impressed by the fact that our negotiators had stuck to the instructions which were given to them to deal with this issue.

Given this and given the fact that this matter is now as we all know pushed off until the fall, I wonder if the parliamentary secretary could comment as to where he thinks it might go come the fall. Is there any likelihood as has been suggested by some that this might get involved in the discussions at the WTO as well, so that we have a comprehensive approach to this very important issue?

[Umugenzi For Refugees., April 30th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to bring to your attention an organization that provides invaluable experiences for refugees in my riding called Umugenzi for Refugees. Umugenzi when translated from Burundi means friends of refugees.

When refugees arrive in Toronto after fleeing war and persecution in their homeland they are faced with an overwhelming challenge to adjust to their new surroundings. Umugenzi for Refugees is a non-profit organization that provides role models, community contacts, volunteer work experiences and skills to new Canadians as they begin their new lives in Toronto.

Three years ago members of Umugenzi for Refugees launched the Rukundo project to provide volunteer opportunities for new Canadians. Rukundo when translated means helping someone in need.

The Rukundo project connects its participants with an agency in the community that will provide them with training and experience in their chosen field. It has reached some 400 seniors, 200 people living with mental illnesses and 500 refugees.

I wish to thank Umugenzi for Refugees for all its hard work with refugees in Toronto and its contribution to the vibrant multicultural society of our city.

[Bosnia, April 28th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, I have listened to the debate in the House this evening and it is very clear that the mood of the House is strongly in favour of extending the presence of our troops for a renewed mandate in Bosnia.

There is a great challenge to the world community taking place in Bosnia at this time. As we watch what is taking place in Kosovo we know how important it is for us to ensure that the mission in Bosnia is successful, that peace in eastern Europe depends upon it and that we Canadians are playing an important role in guaranteeing that peace, that security, that development of civic society that the Dayton Accords presage.

We listened to the NDP spokesman who said that the mandate which has been given our troops and the role that the government has provided is not clear. We heard a Conservative spokesperson say that the morale of our troops is low. We heard our Reform colleague just now say no to a commitment that would be too long.

I disagree with all of those opinions. I have had the honour of going to Bosnia and the honour of speaking to our troops there. They know what their role is. They have a high morale because the challenges they face each and every day are challenges which they have chosen to face. They have enormous responsibility, requiring military ability, but also human qualities, an ability to bring people together, to deal with sensitive political issues, to demine houses, to act at the staff level, to control movements and arrangements between some troops of some 23 nations which bring into play the best qualities of all Canadians: their bilingualism, their biculturalism, their multiculturalism, their tolerance, their ability to encourage people to act together and to work together.

What we are doing in Bosnia and the role of our troops in that process is extremely important. Let me just recall a few elements. In the first place there are the Bosnian elections. As members know the international community through OSCE has invested heavily in Bosnian elections as they are the instrument for the success of the entire peace process. Municipal elections held there in September 1997 were of great importance, given the extent to which power is decentralized in that area. Elections held in the Republic of Srpska on November 22 and 23 of 1997 established the first truly multi-ethnic government in Bosnia. In September of 1998, this year, general elections will take place, the second set to be held under the Dayton peace plan.

Canada's role in these elections has been important. We have assisted the OSCE with the technical preparations for the elections and we have committed over $6 million to this process. Our assistant chief electoral officer has participated along with other experts in forming groups necessary to assure the success of these elections. These elections will not be successful and indeed may not even take place if it is not for the presence of our troops and those of our allies in that area.

There is a second element. There are in the former Yugoslavia close de 3.2 million refugees and displaced persons as well as persons affected by the war who need help. Current conditions in Bosnia, both in terms of security and economy, make it difficult for refugees to return home.

Canada has been advocating a concerted effort to identify those who can and want to go home now so that they receive special attention and help on a priority basis. Our country provided close to $65 million during the war and in excess of $17 million in humanitarian assistance to the former Yugoslavia since the end of the conflict.

The presence of our troops is essential to the success of this operation.

There is a third element, which is the housing and the rebuilding of infrastructure in ex-Yugoslavia and in Bosnia. An estimated 50% of all housing units in Bosnia were damaged during the war and 6% were completely destroyed. Canada provides funding to the emergency shelter and materials fund of the United Nations and has provided emergency shelter throughout the former Yugoslavia. Under CIDA, Canada has established a special facility to assist Canadian construction firms active in the Bosnian and Croatian markets.

We have many NGOs which are active in ensuring housing there. Our troops not only ensure conditions of stability in which this rebuilding will take place, they also personally participate.

It was very exciting and interesting for us when we were there to see and talk to our troops. They have actually helped to clean up and repaint the hospitals and schools. They had worked on the hospital that we visited. The doctors were there when the hospital was re-opened. There was a sense of tremendous dedication on the part of the troops and a sense of tremendous gratitude on the part of that local community when they saw their hospital functioning again, thanks to the input of our troops and their ability to work on the side, in addition to their other heavy responsibilities, to achieve that and other goals.

The rebuilding and the infrastructure that needs to be replaced in Bosnia will be assured by virtue of the presence of our troops, not only by the security they provide, but by the personal efforts they make to ensure this happens.

A fourth aspect of their presence that is equally important is the aspect of the land mine clearance. According to initial predictions it could take some 70 years to clear the three million land mines left from the recent conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Canada has taken a lead in urging increased support for demining and for greater government and donor co-ordination to help work in this area.

We consider the removal of land mines a priority for humanitarian reasons, particularly to ensure the safety of children returning to school after years of conflict and to encourage the return of refugees. Mine clearance will also allow for the reconstruction of infrastructure necessary for economic renewal. We have contributed money and are contributing men and effort to this process.

The land mines convention is one of the great prides of our recent diplomatic efforts and the area of Bosnia is one place where its success, at least in the demining aspect, will be tested. The presence of our troops is essential, not only to ensure the stability necessary to achieve that, but to also help in the technical aspects of achieving that extremely important goal.

Finally, I will turn to the health sector. It is extremely important in a community ravaged by war to re-establish decent health. We again had the opportunity when we were there to visit hospitals. We visited the hospital in downtown Sarajevo which was shelled and in which people operated under incredible circumstances during the war.

We as Canadians are contributing to community based rehabilitation in Bosnia. Queen's University is there providing a self-sustaining program of physiotherapy to an estimated 40,000 people with war injuries and is training of some 200 health workers.

There are other rehabilitation programs which are too numerous for me to name. However, I want to share with the House one example of an important program, the MAP international project, which provided some $2 million worth of selected pharmaceuticals to Bosnia. Members of the committee were there when these were distributed. Some of them were given to the president of the Republic of Srpska to reward her and her government for the efforts they were making to ensure peace and co-operation with SFOR troops in her area.

All of these important elements, the return of refugees, the civil security, the return of decent government, assistance to the health sector, the rebuilding of schools and communities, depend on the presence of our troops, our young men and women who are there extending their helping hand, not only providing security, but also in a sensitive and an extraordinarily truly Canadian way working with people in these communities to ensure they can recover their lost and shattered lives.

Those troops deserve our support. I believe those troops want to stay. I believe those troops believe strongly that they want to be there to finish the job. We as members of the world community owe it not only to ourselves and to stability in Europe but also to our fine young men and women who have served and will continue to serve to ensure that they will do the job to guarantee peace and stability in a region that is very important to us all.

[Multilateral Agreement On Investment, March 18th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are proud of the uniquely bilingual and multicultural society we have created of this country. What assurance can the Minister for International Trade give this House that Canada's ability to protect that culture will be preserved in the present negotiations over the multilateral investment agreement?

[Petitions, March 13th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition involves the possible deportation of Mr. Suresh to Sri Lanka.

The Toronto Tamil community is very concerned that Mr. Suresh, if deported, will face danger to his life and freedom in Sri Lanka. They therefore urge the government to seriously review the potential threat to Mr. Suresh.

[Petitions, March 13th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to present two petitions with signatures gathered from concerned citizens throughout Toronto.

The first petition calls upon the federal government to proceed with caution when making any arrangements with the province of Ontario to assume administrative and funding responsibilities for social housing until consultation with co-op housing stakeholders has taken place.

[Responsible Government, March 11th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, today marks the 150th anniversary of responsible government in Canada.

In marking it, we must remind ourselves that our role in this House, our ability to represent our constituents in this great democracy, has its roots in the work in 1848 of those who fought for the principles of representative government.

Today, it is our duty to salute the efforts of three men: Joseph Howe, of Nova Scotia, as well as Robert Baldwin and Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine, of the United Canada.

When we reflect on the achievements of these men it reminds us of our role as members of Parliament. And when we reflect on the efforts of Baldwin and Lafontaine, two friends united in their fight for democracy, we realize that this country was built through the joint, hard work of francophones and anglophones.

I respect their memory and I believe the best way to celebrate their democratic victory is to make sure the country they loved so much remains strong and united.