Jim Pankiw

[Public Works and Government Services, January 29th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, there are credible allegations of patronage and conflict of interest. There is no legitimate reason the government should refuse a proper investigation.

The Liberals have a clear double standard, demanding integrity and ethics when in opposition but scandal and cover-up when in government.

When he was opposition critic the current minister of public works also advised that allegations of improper political interference should be referred to a parliamentary committee. Why is he now ignoring his own advice?

[Public Works and Government Services, January 29th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, when he was opposition critic the current minister of public works demanded that the RCMP investigate allegations of corruption, patronage and conflict of interest.

Similar allegations are now plaguing his government. Sweeping Alfonso out of cabinet and under the carpet does not hide the truth. Will the minister of public works take his own advice and request an RCMP investigation?

[Parliament of Canada Act, December 12th, 2001]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-421, an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act and the Canada Elections Act (fixed election dates).

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to introduce this bill entitled an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act and the Canada Elections Act (fixed election dates).

The purpose of the bill is to fix federal elections to take place on the third Monday of June every four years. If the bill is passed, the next federal election would be held on June 16, 2003. What this bill would do is bring consistency and accountability to the election process and prevent the current Liberal practice of manipulating election dates for crass political opportunistic reasons by timing them with major government spending announcements for example.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act, November 22nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I am not aware of any case of a complaint or refusal by another country to come to Canada because the delegates could not be exempt from our laws.

Just to indicate why we should not have the legislation and why we should not grant blanket immunity, any country that looked at our criminal code and said unless it would be exempt from the law its people would not be prepared to come, is not a country whose people we would want here. Common sense is sorely lacking on the Liberal benches.

[Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act, November 22nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I want to address a couple of the member's remarks.

He mentioned the G-20 summit recently held in Ottawa and the violent protesters. This is a dangerous trend we see developing. Quite frankly it is mostly a group of bad actors who are travelling to these things just for the sake of the thrill. They must find it thrilling. They are not achieving any political goal. They might claim to be making some kind of statement but the best political demonstration is a peaceful one. Those who vandalize property are nothing more than common thugs. That is what the demonstrators are.

I find it very disturbing. It is a good thing that the role of the RCMP is being clarified for the handling of that type of demonstrator. Anybody who wilfully damages property as an act of thuggery under the context of some type of political demonstration should be dealt with by a heavy hand because it is entirely inappropriate behaviour. A clear message should be sent to the demonstrators not only in Canada but elsewhere that they will not be tolerated.

We have a democracy. There are systems and processes in place of free speech and political activism. Resorting to violence is not acceptable.

The member also mentioned Canada becoming a safe haven for terrorists and terrorist organizations to conduct staging activities and fundraising. He used the words rightly or wrongly. I want to say that is rightly. A 1996 CSIS report warned the government of just that fact, that the loopholes in our immigration and refugee system allow criminals and terrorists to exploit our laws and abuse our country for evil purposes.

The Prime Minister's response shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks was that we are responsible for people who come into our country and the Americans are responsible for those who go into theirs. In other words, if the Americans do not want terrorists who enter Canada to use it as a staging ground to attack the United States, they should be stopped at the Canada-U.S. border. It was an absolutely ridiculous, irresponsible statement that he made. It sends a very dangerous economic message to the congressmen in the United States because they are talking about increasing border security and controls at the Canada-U.S. border. It is our shores that we need to protect from criminals and terrorists, not a common border with the United States. That is crazy.

We should be looking at ways to free the border and to protect our common shores. I wanted to put that on the record in response to the member's statement.

With respect to the specific question about reciprocal agreements, as my hon. colleague rightly indicated, the legislation is setting a dangerous precedent. Reciprocal agreements would head in the same direction.

It would be irresponsible for Canada, as he said, to grant blanket immunity, to invite people here to essentially break the law and even exempt them from taxes on alcohol. There would be no need for Canadians to seek this immunity elsewhere. Reciprocal agreements would be a move in the wrong direction.

[Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act, November 22nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak to Bill C-35 entitled an act to amend the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act.

The title of the bill of course does not very clearly delineate the purpose of the bill which essentially can be broken down into two parts. The first one relates to more clearly delineating the role of the RCMP in providing security measures when Canada hosts international events and conferences.

The problem with the bill is the aspect of it with regard to diplomatic immunity. Diplomatic immunity extends from the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations and it grants privileges and immunities to foreign representatives and members of international organizations. The bill would expand that immunity needlessly. It would expand it to delegates, to family members of officials and to staff. These would be people visiting our country for a few days to attend an international conference and they would have a licence to break whatever Canadian law they want while they are here. It makes no sense to expand that type of immunity to people who are temporary visitors to the country. Not only is there no need for it, there is no public interest in it. There has not even been a request from any foreign country or organization to expand the privileges of diplomatic immunity.

This really begs the question: Why is the government embarking on this venture when there is no appetite for it by the public? In fact, it is a cause for concern, especially in light of increased awareness and the need to clamp down on terrorists and criminals. Why would we be opening our doors to trouble? What this is, is an invitation to trouble.

The process that is set out in the bill would extend to the entire delegation that is coming from a given country to attend an international conference, so there is improper individual scrutiny. Individuals who would otherwise be barred from entering Canada could be given a special visa to enter our country and be exempt from our laws. Those special visitor visas would supercede the immigration minister's power to disallow potential visitors with criminal pasts from entering Canada.

The other inherent problem is that the bureaucrats in the Department of Foreign Affairs would be the ones making these decisions. Not only is the bill needlessly and irresponsibly empowering foreign affairs bureaucrats but it is potentially putting them in a conflict of interest. As the organizers of the event, they may have reasons for wanting specific individuals or groups to attend an international conference without regard to whether they have had a criminal past. I think it is very irresponsible to put that kind of power into the hands of those bureaucrats.

Furthermore, rather than expanding diplomatic immunity and creating a potential for trouble, the government should be focusing on the current loopholes in the immigration and refugee system that have been exploited by people with criminal pasts. In fact, in a five year period, I think 1993-98, 25,000 people who were issued deportation orders in Canada did not show up for their hearings and are on the loose in Canada. That is a great cause of concern. In light of that, why would the government be opening the door to further abuses of our laws by people who will be here for a very temporary period of time?

Over the past five years there have been 90 incidents of criminal misconduct by diplomats and their staff in Canada. We already have a problem. The government should be focusing on that instead of expanding the opportunity for more trouble.

The hon. member for Cumberland--Colchester, in the clause by clause stage at committee, proposed an amendment to the bill that would have required the annual reporting of anyone who claimed diplomatic immunity to be built into the legislation but the Liberal government voted against it. The member tried to reintroduce it in the House but was denied the opportunity to do so. What is even more disturbing is that this is yet another example of the Liberal government's tendency to hide information or not be as forthcoming as possible.

What possible harm could be done? The amendment proposed by the member for Cumberland--Colchester made good common sense. It would have given the House of Parliament and the Canadian public the right to know who had claimed diplomatic immunity. Not only was it common sense, it was responsible. It would have been a preventive measure, a method of monitoring warning signs so we could then bring pressure to bear on the embassy responsible for the individuals perpetrating the crimes. If this had been done perhaps the tragedy that occurred last January could have been prevented.

I am sure members are aware of the Russian diplomat who, by driving recklessly, killed a pedestrian. This caused a lot of public outrage. Even worse, that particular diplomat had a previous history of a series of criminal infractions. Had there been annual reporting of incidents of people who claimed diplomatic immunity, perhaps a tragedy like that could have been prevented.

This raises the point that when criminal acts are committed, there is usually a victim. We ought to be much more conscious and sympathetic to that. While there is a role for diplomatic immunity to be in place for foreign diplomats, it does not make any sense to extend that to delegates to a weekend convention or conference.

The Liberal government is actually enacting a double standard. On Bill C-36, the anti-terrorism bill, the committee passed an amendment for the annual reporting of incidents of preventive arrest and investigative hearings. If the solicitor general and the justice minister see the need for implementing a system of annual reporting of incidents within their legislation, why does the Minister of Foreign Affairs not see the benefit? It is a clear and obvious double standard.

My point is that there is a role for diplomatic immunity. However, as evidenced by these 90 incidents of criminal acts in the past five years by existing diplomats, we should be focusing on that. A system of annual reporting is one way to accomplish that. Perhaps there are other ways we could tighten this. The concept of diplomatic immunity, if anything, should perhaps be scaled back, re-examined or made more accountable. It certainly should not be expanded in such an irresponsible manner.

As I previously mentioned, there is a good aspect to the bill, which is to provide clear authority for the RCMP to fulfill their security requirements at international conferences. Following the APEC incident, it is obvious that there is a need for greater clarity in the role of the RCMP to provide security measures and to be independent from political interference from the Prime Minister's Office. The clear parameters for the RCMP is one good aspect of the bill but it is overshadowed by the very flawed and irresponsible concept of expanding diplomatic immunity to delegates, officials, staff and families who attend weekend international conferences in our country.

We do recognize the importance of the concept of immunity for diplomats in carrying out their work in countries around the world, particularly in countries that do not have the same degree of respect for democracy and human rights that Canada has. While there is a role for it, if we think about Canada and the degree of our democracy and of our legal code and our criminal code, why would we need to extend diplomatic immunity to people who are coming to our country to attend a conference?

The same would go for Canadians visiting other highly developed countries. If a Canadian delegate to a conference goes to England or to the United States, what would be the need for them to be granted diplomatic immunity while they were there? It would be nothing more than a licence or an invitation to break the laws of that country which are fair, reasonable laws.

The use of diplomatic immunity in the bill is becoming distorted by the Liberal government. The concept of diplomatic immunity is intended to protect foreign representatives from arbitrary harassment in the legal conduct of their affairs but not to be an invitation to commit crimes. The bill is even out of step with the government's own agenda. On the one hand the government has Bill C-36 which is seeking to improve security measures and increase police powers. At the same time it has Bill C-35 which is a complete contradiction of increasing security and an invitation to more criminal acts, inviting people and granting them diplomatic immunity if in other circumstances they would not even be allowed to enter our country. It does not make any sense.

It certainly once again raises the issue of priorities of the government. We have a health care system that is very dysfunctional right now. Waiting lists are unacceptably long for surgery and for seeing specialists; and the equipment, it is an underfunded system. Yet the government went ahead with its firearms registry. It has been willing to pump $500 million so far, and that number is climbing every day, into a system to make hunters and farmers register their rifles but it is not willing to put that money into health care. While perhaps we do need to examine our transportation security measures, and the government is moving in that direction, at the same time it has this contradictory desire to expand diplomatic immunity to people who are not justified in having it.

Our country is faced with a $579 billion national debt. The interest on servicing that debt is $42 billion a year. This is highly irresponsible fiscal management. There is a complete lack of accountability on monitoring the expenditures of government departments. There are annual increases in taxes. And the government is bringing in a bill to expand diplomatic immunity.

There are all these problems. We have a crime problem. There is the fiscal situation in Canada with the low dollar and our struggling economy. Yet the priority of the government is to expand immunity to delegates to international conferences. It does not make any sense. It is contradictory to the government's own legislative agenda vis-à-vis the transportation security measures and the anti-terrorism measures. It is simply irresponsible.

I speak today in the most definitive terms in speaking against this legislation. The Minister of Foreign Affairs should take the bill, shred it and forget about it.

[Business of Supply, November 21st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin the debate today by commending the hon. member for St. Albert for bringing forward the motion, which is a motion to adopt an 80-page report done in the 35th parliament. He actually co-authored the report with the current whip for the government, the member for Ottawa West--Nepean. The committee they were on was the procedure and House affairs committee. It should also be noted that the Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific was also on that committee and was obviously a contributing member.

The report has a number of recommendations centred around creating a special estimates committee that would investigate government spending in all departments. The recommendations of the report are outstanding and I will get to them in a minute. However, I want to preface my statements by stating a few facts for the record in the House.

First, the annual expenditures of the Government of Canada, according to the 2001-02 main estimates, were $166 billion. The previous year, according to the 2000-01 main estimates, they were $158 billion. We saw an increase in government spending of $8 billion over a one year period. The reason I bring up this point is that the government does not have a taxation revenue problem, it has a spending problem. The Liberals are fixated on big government programs and on continually increasing taxes. The problem is that there is no proper scrutiny of or accountability for how that money is being spent. The motion of the hon. member for St. Albert to adopt the report and the recommendations contained therein would bring the necessary accountability to this spending.

Perhaps if a special committee for scrutinizing the estimates had been in place over the past number of decades the country would not be in the fiscal mess it is currently. The projected national debt for 2001-02 is $579 billion. That is an absolutely outrageous burden. In fact, the result of carrying such a massive debt is that our annual interest payments alone are $42 billion each year. I think the significance of those numbers speaks for itself. Clearly we need greater fiscal responsibility. Clearly we need better ways to examine the estimates and to scrutinize government spending, and clearly we need a better analysis of the performance of the bureaucracy. All these are addressed in the recommendations contained in the report.

The co-author of the report clearly will be supporting it because she co-authored it, as will the secretary of state, as I previously mentioned. I am a little disturbed by the previous Liberal speaker who indicated he would not be supporting procedures to increase accountability and to bring more into the domain of parliament the scrutinizing of government spending of our tax money. I certainly hope other Liberal members are not taking that same view of improving accountability.

With respect to the recommendations in the report, they are many and I will not cover all of them. However, I would like to touch on a few of them. First, the standing orders would be amended to create the standing committee on estimates, the mandate of which would be to monitor and review the estimates and supply process. That committee specifically would be empowered to report to the House of Commons on an annual basis. The standing committee on the estimates would co-ordinate its activities with the Standing Committee on Finance and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and from time to time when appropriate would sit jointly with either or both of those committees to examine such broad issues as government wide expenditure and revenue generation.

The recommendations include giving that committee a permanent mandate to televise its proceedings so that the public could be more engaged in the spending practices of the government and as well, of course, providing that committee with a small, permanent, dedicated research staff to facilitate its work. As well, as part of its prebudget consultations the Standing Committee on Finance would give priority to inviting chairs of standing committees and the chair of the new standing committee on estimates in particular to appear before it as witnesses to present views contained in committee reports on departmental plans. Also, the Minister of Finance would include a response to standing committee reports on departmental plans in the supporting documents that accompany the budget. Furthermore, as part of their plans and performance documents, departments and agencies would regularly include a reference to previous committee reports on past plans and performance or to any committee report to parliament, with specific attention devoted to steps taken in response to the views of members of parliament as expressed in standing committees.

Another recommendation is that departments and agencies include in their plans and performance documents specific references to outstanding issues contained in the reports and audits of their activities conducted by the Auditor General of Canada. These references would include a list of the recommendations made by the auditor general, a list of recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, when appropriate, and a brief but detailed discussion of the actions taken in response as well as the results achieved as a consequence.

It is also recommended that the Treasury Board Secretariat prepare for the use of members, in consultation with members of parliament and chairs of standing committees, a concise, comprehensive information package on the estimates and supply process and on government financial management generally. As well, the government would establish a schedule for the review, preferably over the next 10 years, of all existing underlying statutes that affect the size of statutory expenditures.

Another recommendation is that the government would take all possible measures to improve the quality of program evaluations conducted in areas involving major statutory expenditure and would ensure that these evaluations are provided in a timely manner to committees reviewing statutory programs. In particular, evaluations would articulate the public policy objectives and address the questions of whether or not these objectives are being met, whether the program is being efficiently managed and whether there are alternative means of meeting the same policy objectives.

As well, it is recommended that all legislation for new statutory programs contain a provision for parliamentary review at a minimum of five years following their introduction and on a cyclical basis thereafter. Also, there would be a thorough review, on a schedule established by government and conducted on a periodic basis thereafter, of all tax expenditures, focusing on whether they are meeting the public policy objectives that have been established for them, whether they are being efficiently managed and whether there are alternative means of meeting those policy objectives.

Lastly, it is recommended that departments and agencies authorized to provide loan guarantees include in their estimates summary information on the status of all their outstanding loan guarantees, the potential liabilities they represent, explicit statements of the policy goals such loans are meant to achieve and whether there are alternative means of meeting these policy objectives.

As we can see, these recommendations are outstanding. They would bring about a much greater degree of accountability in the bureaucracy and in government departments.

I will conclude by once again commending the hon. member for St. Albert for introducing the motion. I would like to commend the government whip for co-authoring the report.

I urge all members of the House to vote in support of the motion because of the great degree of increased accountability and scrutiny of the expenditure of tax dollars that would result.

[*Question No. 66, November 9th, 2001]

With respect to the Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance program (AIDA), what has the government determined to be since its inception: ( a ) the total amount paid out to farmers in each year by province; and ( b ) the total administration cost associated with the program in each year?

[Public Works, November 9th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the responsibility for Canada Post and CMHC followed in the purview of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services.

The minister's friend, Maurizio Creuso, has been given lucrative contracts with both CMHC and Canada Post.

Uncovering this fact has tainted the reputation of the minister. Why does he not clear his name by ordering a review of the circumstances under which his friend was given those contracts?

[Saskatoon--Humboldt, November 8th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to highlight the accomplishments of some extraordinary youth in the riding of Saskatoon--Humboldt. Rachel McCormick is in Ottawa today and is one of 11 finalists for the “If I were Prime Minister” award given out by the Magna for Canada scholarship fund. We offer Rachel our congratulations.

Next week 11 year Graham Epp of St. Phillips Elementary School will be receiving the Governor General's medal for meritorious conduct. Three years ago Graham saved the life of his father who lost consciousness in a swimming pool and nearly drowned. Graham showed maturity beyond his years when he took quick and decisive action to save the life of his dad.

I also wish to acknowledge the birth of Sebastian Otto Bundrock who came into the world on October 30 weighing in at 9 pounds, 13 ounces. Sebastian's mother Tiina and father Patrick, who is also my executive assistant, are proud new parents. On behalf of parliament I extend them sincere and heartfelt congratulations.