Anne McLellan

[Terrorism, February 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has rightly outlined how seriously this government and the Prime Minister take the safety and security of Canadians. That is why he created a new department of public safety and security and why in fact we have a new border agency. We are working very closely with our American counterparts and our allies around the world to ensure that we are collecting the information and we are sharing the information where it is appropriate.

Let me reassure the hon. member that we are very much aware of both our domestic and our global responsibilities in the collection of data and the appropriate sharing of that data.

[Maher Arar Inquiry, February 3rd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, we have made it absolutely plain that the terms of reference for this inquiry are being discussed between Mr. Justice O'Connor and government officials at this time.

We have also made it absolutely plain, and of course Mr. Justice O'Connor would expect, that he would have access to all information that bears upon the mandate of this inquiry, which is to look into the actions of Canadian officials around the deportation and detention of Maher Arar.

[Maher Arar Inquiry, February 3rd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is probably aware that the terms of reference of the Arar inquiry are presently being worked out between government officials and Mr. Justice O'Connor. As soon as those terms of reference have been finalized, they will be made public for all to see.

[Health, November 7th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, obviously we expect all premiers to live up to the commitment that they made in the health accord of February 2003.

My officials continue to work very closely with the officials in all provinces and territories. We are in the process of determining who will chair this new body. We are in the process of determining our own federal government representatives on this body, and a number of the provinces are working to determine their representatives.

Within the next few weeks I obviously would like to see the health council up and running.

[Official Languages, November 6th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and all the members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages for this report. I will examine this report and the recommendations with interest.

Let me say that I am willing to include the issue of minority language access to health care services on the agenda for the next formal meeting of federal-provincial-territorial health ministers.

Health Canada will continue to work with minority language communities as well as the provinces to ensure enhanced access to health services for all Canadians.

The 2003 budget allocated over $89 million to improve access to health services and to health care professionals--

[Health, November 6th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we did not renege on that commitment. I was very clear. We wish to bring the Costa Rican resolution to a vote, and we would have supported that resolution, which was a prohibition, a complete ban on all forms of cloning.

We did not in fact support the Organization of Islamic States in its attempt to defer this for two years.

[Health, November 6th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the resolution that the government indicated we would support, the Costa Rican resolution, unfortunately never made it to a vote yesterday at the United Nations.

It did not make it to a vote because the Organization of Islamic States decided to put forward a motion that called for a hoisting or deferral of the issue for two years because the Organization of Islamic States believed that there was no consensus and therefore no agreement could be reached.

Unfortunately, because of that motion, we were unable to reach the vote on the substance of the Costa Rican motion.

[Health, November 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the government spends a significant amount of money on all forms of health and medical research. The allocation of those dollars obviously is done in consultation with those in my department and key stakeholders who perform that research.

I am sorry if the hon. member does not think that amount is enough. If he would like to talk to me about it, I would be more than willing to listen to his concerns.

[Health, November 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, this government, in the health accord of February of this year, put $34.8 billion in new dollars into our publicly funded health care system. In fact, if the hon. member read the health accord of February 2003, he would see that all the major structural reforms called for by Mr. Romanow are in fact included in one way or another in that very important document.

I can in fact reassure the hon. member that all health ministers, provincial, territorial and federal, are working very hard to ensure that we have a publicly funded, high quality, sustainable health care system for the future.

[Health, November 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we did not change our mind. Hon. members may recall that we indicated supporting a total ban on cloning. Unfortunately, it appeared in late September that we would not be able to get sufficient support at the United Nations to move that resolution forward.

However, because of work that has taken place over the past number of weeks, I understand Costa Rica is currently proposing a comprehensive mandate to negotiate a convention that would ban human cloning. It is my understanding that we will be supporting Costa Rica.