John Reynolds

[Softwood Lumber, February 7th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, we have been getting that same answer for six months and Canadian families are going hungry because of the ineffectiveness of this government. There are 20,000 people in my province out of work and their families are suffering.

The federal bond program is so poorly designed that not a single Canadian forest company has been able to use the program.

Now that it looks like this lengthy dispute is going to drag on for months and months to get to the WTO, what is the government prepared to do to support softwood lumber producers and the laid off forestry workers in my province?

[Softwood Lumber, February 7th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister, the foreign affairs minister and the Prime Minister's foreign affairs adviser have been burning up the phone lines with their American counterparts to ask the U.S. to set up tribunals for prisoners in Afghanistan, but on our number one, cross the border economic file we are content with slow paced talks between junior level officials.

Why is this government spending more time and effort fighting for the rights of the al-Qaeda terrorists than for the 20,000 softwood lumber workers and their families laid off because of this U.S. protectionism?

[Softwood Lumber, February 7th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the government has cancelled talks on the softwood lumber dispute because the U.S. will not come to the table with a serious proposal.

The government has been talking for over six months and has come up with nothing. When will the Prime Minister intervene personally on this file and directly deal with the U.S. administration?

[Infrastructure Program, February 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the government about its change in infrastructure grants.

Last fall, the Prime Minister's Office said that the Prime Minister, not the Minister of Finance, was writing the budget. It looks like the Prime Minister still has not stopped writing the budget.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. If an independent, arm's length foundation was a great idea on December 10, why is it not a good idea on February 6?

[Minister of National Defence, February 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the principle of ministerial accountability means that the ministers are responsible for the actions of their staff and departments.

If the minister of defence did not inform the Prime Minister, then he is at fault. However if the Prime Minister's staff and the department did not inform the Prime Minister, then the Prime Minister is responsible for misleading Canadians as well.

Once again, did anybody in the PMO or the PCO know about the capture and handover of terrorists before last Tuesday?

[Minister of National Defence, February 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the Prime Minister back from his flu bug. It is nice to see him in the House.

For the past week, the House has been debating what the minister of defence told the Prime Minister and when. Now we can hear the Prime Minister's side of the story.

Could the Prime Minister assure the House that for a full week after Canadian soldiers turned al-Qaeda terrorists over to the United States neither he, his office nor the privy council were informed of this incident?

[Foreign Affairs, February 5th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Deputy Prime Minister said that we should not be on a witch hunt for civil servants, and we agree. The Prime Minister himself must be accountable for his staff and his department.

Will the Prime Minister stand in his place and tell us that for a full week after the prisoners were handed over to the United States nobody in his office or the Privy Council had been informed?

[Foreign Affairs, February 5th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the government's camouflage for the Prime Minister is not forest green or desert sand, but a little more grey fog.

Last Monday, a full week after the minister of defence was informed about the handover of al-Qaeda terrorists to the U.S., the Prime Minister called the issue hypothetical. How could a week have gone by with the entire apparatus of the PMO, the PCO and foreign affairs not knowing about this significant international incident?

[Foreign Affairs, February 5th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the government did not give proper camouflage uniforms to our troops in Afghanistan but it has lots of camouflage for the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defence.

The committee investigating the minister's statements must find out when the Prime Minister was told about the capture of al-Qaeda agents and their handover to the United States. Yesterday the government House leader said that the committee would not look into when the Prime Minister or his office were informed.

What do the Prime Minister and his staff know about the capture of al-Qaeda terrorists that they want to hide from the committee?

[Citizenship Act, February 4th, 2002]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-428, an act to amend the Citizenship Act.

Mr. Speaker, my private member's bill would correct a long-standing injustice in the Citizenship Act which has disallowed Canadian citizenship to certain individuals who seek and deserve this privilege.

My bill would be exclusive to those individuals who fall within the parameters of losing their citizenship through no fault of their own as a consequence of their parents taking out citizenship in another country.

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