Sophia Leung

[Health, April 15th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health. Last week he announced that he accepted all 53 recommendations of the Standing Committee on Health in its report on natural health products.

Many Canadians rely on alternative medicine. Could the minister please inform the House of his plan to ensure safety, access and choice for consumers?

[Western Economic Diversification, April 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Secretary of State for Western Economic Diversification.

Today the official opposition has accused the federal government of alienating the west. Clearly women play a major role in the development of the western economy. What is the secretary of state doing to help women entrepreneurs in western Canada?

[Grain Industry, March 23rd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the official opposition party has been blocking the back to work legislation for PSAC workers. As a member from the west, I am extremely concerned about the negative impact of the delays in resolving the PSAC strike.

Could the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food tell us how those costly delays are affecting Canadian farmers and the Vancouver harbour?

[Young Offenders Act, March 19th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to join the debate. As a member from British Columbia I commend the hon. member for Surrey North who has worked hard to introduce Bill C-260, an act to amend the Young Offenders Act. In many ways this is a timely proposal.

The government's strategy involves replacing the Young Offenders Act with new youth justice legislation which has proposed significant improvements to the youth justice system. The strategy focuses on three key areas: preventing youth crime, ensuring meaningful consequences for offences committed by youth, and improving rehabilitation and reintegration for young offenders.

The government's strategy for the renewal of youth justice launched on May 12, 1998 sets out a vision for responding to Canadians' concerns about youth crime. Clearly, Canadians want a youth justice system that protects society.

It is in the context of addressing problems with the current youth justice system through new youth justice legislation that Bill C-260 has been considered. The bill, sponsored by the hon. member for Surrey North, proposes making the offences of wilfully failing to comply with an undertaking made in connection with a young person's release from pretrial detention a hybrid rather than a summary conviction offence.

One of the weaknesses of the existing system relates to pretrial detention and judicial interim release. There is a failure to distinguish adequately between those who should be detained in custody prior to their trials and those who need not be. This situation should be addressed through greater clarity on the criteria for pretrial detention and enhanced program support to ensure there are alternatives for those who do not need to be in jail prior to trial. The hon. member for Surrey North's concern relates to those who are released and improperly supervised.

The provision of the Young Offenders Act that is the subject of Bill C-260 takes effect after the bail criteria have been applied and the youth has been found to be ineligible for judicial interim release. In such cases the current provisions of the Young Offenders Act permit youth to be placed in the care of a responsible adult instead of being detained in custody.

I thank the hon. member for Surrey North for bringing Bill C-260 forward and I assure him that it has been given every consideration during the development of the new youth justice legislation.

The new legislation will soon be introduced. It is an important component of our broad, comprehensive strategy to address youth crime.

[Movement Of Grain, March 18th, 1999]

Madam Speaker, I am delighted to join the debate. I will share my time with my colleague, the hon. member for Wentworth—Burlington.

I wish to discuss the impact of the strike on grain shipment. It is very unfortunate that a very small number of PSAC members can hold the Canadian grain industry hostage and cause economic hardship to Canadian grain producers who are already feeling the effects of reduced grain prices on the world market. We are nearing the end of the ninth week of the strike by the federal blue collar workers.

For the first few weeks the grain weighers in British Columbia and the lower St. Lawrence River in Quebec exercised their right to strike by withdrawing their services. They have from time to time stopped grain shipments out of Vancouver, but this was on a rotational basis and they did not prevent longshoremen and private grain elevator employees from reporting for work. This caused some delays but allowed the loading of ships.

It has only been in the last week that they have escalated their activities by resorting to around the clock picketing. Because of union solidarity, longshoremen and grain elevator employees have refused to cross the picket lines and have paralyzed grain shipments out of Vancouver. I am from Vancouver and it has caused a lot of concern for us.

The impact of the strike by about 70 grain weighers is being felt throughout the whole system. An increasing number of ships are anchored in Vancouver. This weekend we will have over 20 ships waiting to load grain to transport to Asia. Thousands of loaded grain cars are backed up on the railway all the way to Manitoba.

Farmers are not getting paid for grain that cannot be delivered. Our clients are starting to express concerns about the reputation of Canadian grain exports. Grain shipments out of the port of Vancouver are worth about $60 million per week. The cost keeps mounting for every day the system is shut down.

We are having this emergency debate tonight because of the action of the Public Service Alliance of Canada and its members. They have turned down all the offers made to them by the government. Just this morning it was announced that Ontario public servants have accepted a deal that provides for a salary increase of 4.2% over three years. In comparison, the last offer made by the federal government when the talks ended Friday, March 12 was for salary increases of just less than 5% over two years.

It might not be appropriate to compare the salary offer made last week to federal blue collar workers to that of the Ontario government because the working conditions and other benefits might not be the same. On the other hand, the offer turned down by the PSAC bargaining team was very similar to what has already been offered and accepted by 87% of unionized federal public servants, but the bargaining team for blue collar workers maintains that it is not enough. I find it very difficult to understand why the union would turn down a fair wage offer.

For the sake of the future of the grain industry, Canadian exports, Canadian farmers and all Canadians, we must reach a settlement as soon as possible to avoid further job losses and financial disaster. I urge the PSAC members to reach a settlement soon.

[Youth, March 18th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, it was my pleasure recently to visit high school students in my riding. I had the opportunity to speak to students at Charles Tupper Secondary School with the Deputy Speaker.

We discussed the policy making process and the role of parliamentarians in Ottawa. I believe it is important to encourage young people to participate in public affairs.

I thank the Deputy Speaker for taking the time to meet with those bright young citizens.

[Public Service Of Canada, March 15th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of National Revenue.

How is he responding to the growing labour unrest and work disruptions among federal employees at the Revenue Canada tax centres and buildings, and will this delay Canadians' income tax returns?

[Employment, March 12th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to share with members of the House the recent Statistics Canada figures for employment.

In October 1993, when the Liberals formed the government, the unemployment rate in my province of B.C. was 9.4%. It is now 8.1%, a reduction of 1.3%. It is clear that job creation is a priority for this government.

Statistics Canada has reported that national unemployment is only 7.8%, which is an all-time low since 1990. This is good news for Canada and for British Columbia.

[Supply, March 4th, 1999]

Madam Speaker, if the member wants to hear the answer he should not walk away. That is the coward's way.

If the hon. member wishes to listen to my answer he should stay. This is the place to listen, to have a good debate. I welcome that. As a matter of fact, I did not know I was a millionaire. Where did the member get that idea? If I was a millionaire I would not have to work here.

[Supply, March 4th, 1999]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for reminding me that we did make the promise. We are willing to help working mothers by subsidizing day care. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to work with different provinces, especially when some provinces do not wish to co-operate to work out combined support for a day care program.