Lost her last election, in 2006, with 39% of the vote.
Wildlife March 25th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, in two weeks it is going to be National Wildlife Week and Canadians are saying that they are very concerned about the state of wildlife and its habitat.
Could the Minister of the Environment tell us what measures she is taking to protect wildlife?
Endangered Species March 23rd, 1999
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of the Environment.
Six hundred and thirty-one scientists have written to the Prime Minister protesting the scientific process surrounding the assessment of species at risk. They have contended that it has been and continues to be politicized and thus compromised.
What is the government doing right now to respond to the concerns of the scientists?
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation March 16th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have to speak up and decide if our public broadcaster has a future. Considering the billion dollar expenditure and the historical prominence of this institution, it does not reflect well on us to stand by and watch which limb of the pejoratively named corpse will succumb first.
Lawrence Martin in the Montreal Gazette asks why we are ready to go to the wall with Canadian magazines yet falter at supporting the CBC that tells more Canadian stories in a week than magazines do in a year.
Susan Riley in the Ottawa Citizen points out the debasement of American television news with its persistent scandal coverage and warns Canadians to beware privatizing the CBC or it too will fall victim to ratings and dollars. Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson wrote that CBC management failed to reshape the corporation after the cuts.
I concur with the Calgary Herald that the CBC must stay independent of whatever party happens to be running the government. The CBC is glue to this country.
Culture March 4th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, the United States is the most influential exporter of culture and attitudes in the world.
Historically, culture and commerce are linked. When Washington exalts free enterprise, the rights of the individual to do business can override government authority.
While this ethos is central to American culture and lifestyle, the widespread availability and eager incorporation of American values by other cultures can be destabilizing. Reaction against American cultural imperialism is building. UN sponsored conferences on preserving national cultures are proliferating.
Canada is not alone in standing its ground to protect our definition of cultural industries. France and Mexico are examples of nations initiating measures as well.
Amid the disorientation that can come with globalization, countries need cohesive national communities grounded in history and tradition. It is a recognition of this necessity—
Supply February 9th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, I agree with an emphasis the member has brought to the discussion on the need to be working with colleagues at the municipal level because they are perhaps most closely connected with the issues on a daily basis.
In that regard, I make reference again to Lake Simcoe, a very large and major lake in Ontario, one impacted tremendously by growth and development in the watershed from urbanization and from the agricultural and industrial base as well.
As he mentioned, it is imperative that in developing a freshwater strategy we work closely with our municipal partners as well as our provincial partners to contain and to deal with those issues they are encountering on a daily basis as a result of watershed problems.
We look to an overall freshwater strategy as one that has to encompass before us today, the export of bulk water and a moratorium on interbasin transfers but we look at a larger view. We will be looking to legislation that we know is in process with regard to a freshwater strategy from the federal perspective but again in partnership with our provincial colleagues.
Supply February 9th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, I welcome the hon. member's question and share with him a grave concern about the acute problem in Nova Scotia. It is one that I think will leave us with memories of the Love Canal for those of us who are old enough to remember.
As I have said, I endorse the motion before us for a moratorium on bulk water exports and interbasin transfers. I believe it is the beginning. It allows us for the time to move in a legislative manner in future.
It is ours to show the lead but it is ours also to continue the feeling, the spirit that has been engendered by our recent signing with the provinces on health and social policy, to continue that spirit as well in this very important endeavour.
Supply February 9th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, this is a major issue that we address today and one that relates very much to my riding of Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford, impacted as we are by the health of and the need to preserve one of Ontario's major lakes, Lake Simcoe.
Canada is a water rich nation. We are stewards of 9% of the world's renewal freshwater. But in the context of the motion under debate it is important that members realize that export is but one facet of how we manage this life giving resource.
While Canadians enjoy one of the highest standards of clean water in the world, pollution remains an important problem in some of our waters. In some areas people cannot swim or eat the fish they catch or drink the water without it going through extensive purification.
The quality of Canada's freshwater and marine areas is affected by three major water pollution problems, toxic substances, excess nutrients and sedimentation. Toxic substance from industrial, agricultural and domestic use form major pollutants in our water. These include trace elements of PCBs, mercury, dioxins, furans and some pesticides. Some of these substances accumulate through the food chain rather than breaking down in the environment.
These substances enter our water in a variety of ways, including industrial sources such as mining, steel production, accidents such as oil or chemical spills, and contaminated sites such as the Sydney tar ponds in Nova Scotia, municipal waste water effluents and atmospheric deposition from Mexico, the U.S. and Europe in Canada through rain and snow.
Excess nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous compounds come mainly from municipal sewage and farm run-off containing fertilizers and animal waste. These nutrients can cause excess growth of aquatic plants which then die and decay, depleting water of dissolved oxygen and killing fish.
Sedimentation which we have difficulty with in Lake Simcoe is an increase in the amount of solid particles in water caused primarily by human activities, coming from farming, from forestry and construction. When sediment settles it can smoother the feeding and spawning grounds of fish and kill aquatic organisms.
Water pollution affects our health, our environment and our economy. Some of the toxic substances in water have been found to cause cancer. Others pose a threat to reproductive and immune systems and have already been found in the milk of some mothers. The health of all Canadians is threatened, especially that of young children, seniors and natives in the north, who depend on local wildlife for their survival.
Pollution lowers the value in the eyes of industry and raises the household cost of this resource. The economic value of Canadian fresh water used in homes and industry is estimated to be between $15 million and $20 million annually.
Canada has made progress in reducing many important water pollution problems. For example, 30 years ago Lake Erie was largely considered to be dead due to excessive nutrients from municipal waste. Today several of the original wildlife species have returned and the lake supports a commercial fishery.
Recent improvements in water quality have resulted in a decline in levels of DDT detected in the breast milk of mothers in southern Ontario and in Quebec since the early 1970s.
Pulp mills have reduced dioxin and furan discharges since 1988 as a result of tougher federal and provincial regulations on pulp and paper effluents. Many B.C. shellfish and bottom fish harvesting areas which we closed because of these pollutants have now reopened. Ecosystem initiatives in several major watersheds have helped to improve water quality. Under the St. Lawrence action plan pollution from 50 priority industries has been reduced since 1988. Under the Great Lakes action plan the harbour in Collingwood, Ontario is restored. The Fraser River action plan has led to a 90% reduction in the release of toxic wood preservative chemicals.
Treatment of wastewater has also evolved. For example, municipal treatment systems process up to 75% of Canada's wastewater. Through its infrastructure program, the federal government has given communities $700 million to help them establish and improve their water and wastewater treatment infrastructures.
The Government of Canada is now addressing water quality concerns through various actions, including a renewed Canadian Environmental Protection Act, CEPA, and the development of a federal freshwater strategy.
The minister of the environment and the standing committee on the environment are engaged in the process of developing a new CEPA which must improve enforcement as well as control toxic pollutants and other wastes. The freshwater strategy is founded on the need to work co-operatively with provinces and territories in order to better integrate the environmental, economic and social dimensions of freshwater management.
Federal, provincial and territorial governments, industry and communities are also working together to take action on the worst toxics and the worst polluters, broaden the participation of Canadian businesses and establish Canadian-wide standards.
Canada has significantly reduced the flow of pollution into its waters, but the future continues to hold tremendous challenges as environmental issues become larger and more complex. Global demands for pesticides, manufactured chemical goods and products are rising. The number of substances known or strongly suspected to be toxic continues to grow.
The challenge for Canada is to continue to build international co-operation, in particular on heavy metals and persistent organic polluters. Domestically we must continue to build and encourage leadership and partners with communities, industry and provincial and territorial governments. But it is the federal body which must provide the leadership and initiative to provide the legislative framework which will ensure the protection of Canadian water.
It is this broad approach and not just a focus on water export alone that will provide Canadians with the clean water they need now and in the future. At this critical time I would agree with the motion before us that the government should in co-operation with the provinces and the territories place an immediate moratorium on interbasin transfers and the export of water.
Interbasin transfers can negatively impact the social and economic well-being of people who live in watershed areas. In my community around Lake Simcoe we are tremendously impacted by a watershed area. Indeed it is this major concern that we are debating here today.
This action should be a joint action taken in co-operation with provincial and territorial governments. I have promoted these policies with my colleagues and I stand in the House to do so today.
Work Stoppages November 27th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, there have been a number of strikes recently, including the Air Canada and Canada Post strikes. These have caused Canadians much inconvenience and many problems.
What is the Minister of Labour doing to help employees settle their differences and minimize work stoppages?
The Homeless November 26th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, as winter approaches the chronic problem of homelessness and the plight of the homeless escalate to an acute level.
The mayor of Toronto's homelessness action task force has issued interim findings which include the disturbing fact that 19% or 5,300 of the homeless people are children.
The task force is setting out guidelines for planning a strategy to break the cycle of homelessness. While programs such as Out of the Cold and shelters such as the Moss Park Armouries can offer band-aid solutions to this increasing problem, many indicators focus on the need for a co-ordinated effort involving all levels of government to attack the underlying causes of this problem.
The responsibilities of the federal, provincial and municipal governments for income, housing supply and health issues need to be clarified.
Although the problem is most acute in Toronto and other large cities, there are homeless people and caring community activists in my riding in Barrie and Bradford—
Poverty November 16th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I have spoken in the House and on other occasions about child poverty and the discrepancy between Canada's top rating by the United Nations and the growing gap between the rich and poor in our country.
Under treaty agreement Canada will be reviewed by UNESCO on its human rights protections. Social problems such as poverty, homelessness and shortage of affordable housing in our major cities are disturbing aspects of the Canadian landscape that will not show well under the UNESCO review.
We cannot proceed with an agenda that targets the middle and upper classes while thousands of human beings try to survive on the streets. The plight of Canadians who frequent food banks and hostels must become a major priority for the House. I urge that we take action before we loose more lives on the streets of our cities this winter and we loose our bragging rights in the international arena.