Lost his last election, in 2006, with 33% of the vote.
Environment December 1st, 1999
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of the Environment failed to take responsibility and show leadership in protecting Canada's water resources. The minister failed to reach an agreement with five of the provinces and these are the minister's own words when he conceded that our water resources are vulnerable as a result. Will he now do the responsible thing, the right thing, and enact a federal ban on all water exports?
Health And Safety November 30th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, in April a young man was killed on the job in Nova Scotia's offshore petroleum industry. The Nova Scotia department of labour recommended that the case be prosecuted, but jurisdiction fell to the federal-provincial, Canada-Nova Scotia offshore petroleum board, which failed to hold the company responsible. The board has no enforceable health and safety regulations and is charged as both the industry promoter and the safety regulator, which is a clear conflict and which conflicts with the recommendations of the Westray inquiry. The government has been asked by the province of Nova Scotia to deal with this.
When will it deal with the conflict—
Supply November 30th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the hon. member again that the privatization of the police force is not the way to go. We need professionally trained police officers with the benefits of good pay and good training to protect communities.
He is correct when he says that I am under pressure to spend more time in the province. He is under the same pressure sometimes himself.
Supply November 30th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, I welcome the question from my colleague. I am glad to entertain him whenever I can. On this issue he is correct. The ports police played an important role but not only by themselves. I think this is an important point. The customs officers who worked at the ports in Nova Scotia relied heavily on the partnership with the ports police to assist them in ensuring there was no importation of stolen items, whether they be automobiles, drugs or whatever.
My advice would be to reinstate the ports police. There was some interesting discussion the justice committee could look at in terms of a national police force which might incorporate some of the work the ports police did if they were not reinstated.
He talked about the vulnerability of the Atlantic region. It is true. The coastline is full of coves, full of areas where ships can land. We need additional protection in that part of the country. We used to be able to rely to some extent on a partnership between fishermen and the RCMP. There were programs where fishermen could report if they saw suspicious activity. Again, with the downsizing of the RCMP that becomes more and more difficult.
We are talking about the sea coast. I noticed in his remarks the solicitor general talked about funding for airports. Halifax is not one of the airports that has been mentioned. As the government enacts policies that cause rural areas to lose population and to congregate in large urban centres, we also lose the ability to protect those coasts as small villages and small towns lose their population.
I know the member will understand, coming from Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, that as Halifax becomes a concentrated centre, because that is where the government has decided economic activity will take place, we lose some of the resources along the coastline and in other communities that are assets in the fight against organized crime and make those communities more vulnerable.
Supply November 30th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, I too will be dividing my time and I too, like every member who has risen so far to address this resolution, want to congratulate the members of the Bloc Quebecois for bringing it forward. It is an important resolution and I can indicate that my party will be supporting it.
The only real concern I have is that unfortunately the government of the day does not always respond well to reports from committees, and we can name the committees to which the government has either watered down recommendations or dismissed them outright. I can think of recommendations from the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, both of which at different points in this government's lifetime brought forward important recommendations which were then diluted after consideration by cabinet.
It is my hope that the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights will take this issue as is recommended in the resolution, that it will investigate it, hear witnesses and bring forward the kind of report I know we can. I sit on the committee on justice. We have brought forward unanimous reports in terms of important measures for the House to consider. It is my hope that the government will then adopt those measures.
There has been some discussion here about frustration, about how long it has taken the government to recognize that organized crime is something that has to be dealt with in this country. I share that frustration.
Today is November 30, 1999. I have here my comments from almost a year ago when the solicitor general brought forward his statement on organized crime. My comments are dated December 3, 1998, almost a year ago to the day. At that time we were talking about the need to take action on organized crime in this country. Much of what we have heard from the government today was said at the same time almost 12 months earlier. It has taken an opposition party, the Bloc Quebecois, to bring forward this motion, and it will take the justice committee I suppose to get some action by this government.
Organized crime affects every single ministry in this government and every single geographic part of the country. When I say that it touches on every ministry, it touches on transportation. I will go back. The member for Langley—Abbotsford began talking about the ports police. We are a nation bordered by three oceans and yet when I first came to parliament two years ago, the Minister of Transport was eliminating the ports police, one of the real safeguards against the importation of drugs, weapons and illegal contraband into this country.
It is no small irony that we stand here today debating organized crime at the same time as the talks are taking place at the World Trade Organization because there is a World Trade Organization. It trades in ammunition. The single greatest item that is traded and sold is arms from one nation to another, illegal arms. It is a billion dollar trade around the globe. My colleague has correctly called them implements of destruction, and we trade them in billions of dollars.
The second largest item traded is drugs. Although I do not have the figures, I would suspect the third is trade in humans, in immigrants, people who are seeking some kind of better life. If we look at what is being traded around the globe today we find that it is arms, drugs and humans. It is about time that we began to address the issue here.
One protection we had were the ports police. I argued in the House passionately with the Minister of Transport that we ought not to disband the ports police. The government went ahead and did it anyway and privatized the ports. It is in the process of privatizing airports. The role of government is diminished at the points of entry where illegal activity takes place.
I have said that it cuts across ministries. It is not the concern of a particular minister. I mentioned the fact that there is trade in human beings. Because of the situation in Vancouver with the boatloads of immigrants that arrived there, the general public is now aware of the snakeheads, the people who traffic in individuals seeking a better life.
It touches on health and justice. We know the cost of young people who are addicted to crack cocaine. We know the cost of people who take drugs. We know the cost to the country of prisons. We know the cost of trying to treat people who have been the victims of organized crime.
Organized crime touches on finance and international trade. Let us not forget white collar crime. When we talk about organized crime there is a temptation to think that everyone involved in it looks like a stereotypical biker. In reality many people in very expensive suits, shirts and ties are laundering money. They are shifting the proceeds of crime from one country to the other and are robbing us with a fountain pen. With one stroke they create criminal activity.
It touches on finance. It touches on international trade. It touches on Canada customs. It also touches on defence because in many cases we rely on the men and women who serve the country in the military to fill the void created because of cutbacks to the RCMP and because of the elimination of the ports police.
The issue of organized crime is the responsibility of every member of cabinet. The fact that there has been little or no action taken on it is a shame shared by every member of cabinet. There are no geographical boundaries in terms of organized crime. No one area of the country suffers more than another. In small towns across Canada there are concerns about organized crime.
In Halifax, Nova Scotia, we have a sad spectacle of two rival gangs, the Hell's Angels and another gang. One is located in Dartmouth and the other is located in Halifax. The people in that community live under the ever present threat that maybe the situation will turn into the same situation that has been complained about and highlighted by my colleagues in the Bloc Quebecois as happening in the province of Quebec.
In cities in Ontario there is a real danger and fear of trafficking in everything from tobacco and alcohol to drugs across the border. In cities like Winnipeg there are real concerns. The new government in Manitoba is beginning to take real action against inner city crime and inner city organized crime.
British Columbia, as my colleagues have highlighted, has seen a dramatic increase in drug trade. To the people who live in those communities it appears that the government is powerless to stop it because of the funding cuts to the RCMP. It is also an issue that requires international co-operation.
I will end on perhaps a more positive note. I congratulate the government on taking some steps to work with the international community. It was my pleasure and privilege to accompany the minister to the United Nations in New York where we shared some ideas with attorneys general from other countries on how to fight organized crime.
I congratulate members of the Bloc for bringing forward this motion and will support it.
Supply November 30th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, it is not often that the previous speaker and I agree on many things, but he raised some interesting points today and I applaud some of them.
I am particularly interested in his discussion about the building of a new facility in Prince Edward Island to study the effects of drugs in jails. He said that there are existing facilities that might be used. I think of that because my own riding, and he mentioned Sydney in his comments, has a severe unemployment crisis because of the closure of some of the traditional industries. I am wondering if he would like to take that a little further and support the establishment of that kind of centre in areas in the country which suffer a high unemployment rate. If the government is going to establish this kind of facility and there is no need to build a new building and spend government revenue—and I will not confine it to my riding—would that not be a more sensible kind of decentralization of government offices that would enhance those communities and provide some revenue generation?
Municipal Grants Act November 16th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment my colleague on his excellent speech. As usual, he has made some very interesting points. He and I have had many discussions on various issues. I always welcome his comments.
The previous speaker has been in the House longer than I have so I will ask him for his comments on this. One of the things I noticed after I was elected was that municipal councillors wanted to meet with me regardless of their political affiliation. One of the things that I have always respected about politics at the municipal level, at least where I come from, is that although there may be a political affiliation in terms of working for the greater good of the community, those tend to be put aside.
I have worked with Conservative members of the city council, Liberal members of the city council and New Democrat members of the city council. There are no Reform members on city council in my part of the world yet. I know Reformers may work on that. I have been impressed with the ability to put aside partisan politics in the interest of particular projects.
I think that perhaps we in the House might do well at times to emulate what municipal councillors are able to do. That was my experience with municipal councils. I do not know if that was echoed by the previous speaker, but I would be interested in hearing his thoughts on that.
Nuclear Waste November 16th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, the people of Ontario and Quebec have made it abundantly clear that they do not want MOx plutonium shipped through their communities.
Ontario Power Generation made it clear that it does not intend to burn it. The Russians will require significant compensation for shipping MOx through Canada and the Americans are going to burn their own.
Why is the Canadian government pursuing a costly and potentially dangerous course of action?
Supply November 16th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, no, there does not appear to be any sense of federal-provincial co-operation when two sitting premiers go back and are critical. These two premiers arrived with all good intentions and were prepared to negotiate knowing the ins and outs of negotiation. They are two experienced representatives of the people who went back to their provinces discounting the federal government. No, I do not think it says much for federal-provincial co-operation.
Supply November 16th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, I know that when the Royal Bank speaks the government listens. I do hope that it listens equally to the Farm Credit Corporation. I noticed that there was a great deal of quoting in the question from the Royal Bank of Canada. As I have said, I know that the shareholders in the Royal Bank of Canada carry a fair amount of sway with the Liberal government and that if the Royal Bank is happy with the program, then of course the Liberal government will continue with the program.
I would suggest that perhaps the government might want to listen to some of the elected representatives of the farmers, and instead of listening to the people who are lending the money it listen perhaps to the people who are borrowing the money.
I am going to read what the premier of Saskatchewan had to say about the last federal government announcement. Premier Roy Romanow said:
—federal response to the farm income crisis in Saskatchewan completely misses the mark.
Today's announcement amounts to some technical changes and a very small top-up to AIDA. Our farmers have told us—
It was not the Royal Bank.
—clearly that AIDA does not work. AIDA didn't work before this announcement and won't work after it.
I regret to say I can come to no other conclusion. Ottawa has completely missed the mark.
If it comes to a choice for me of deciding whether I am going to listen to the Royal Bank or the premier of Saskatchewan, I will choose the elected representative any time.