David Collenette

[Transport, October 30th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know where my hon. friend has been for the last couple of years. We just passed Bill C-9 which establishes Canada port authorities across the country with one federal nominee, one provincial nominee and one municipal nominee along with four nominees selected in consultation with users. The hon. member is trying to change a law passed earlier this year by the House.

The Halifax port authority will be treated like all other port authorities. Consultation has been going on. We have formed an advisory group representative of some of the interests he raised. It is representative through a selection of nominees that reflects user concerns.

[Media Concentration, October 30th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the New Democratic Party is putting forward a highly subjective view of democracy in trying to say that parliament should legislate editorial content.

The NDP is the party that supposedly speaks for individual Canadians and is reflective of the popular will. Yet it is asking us to impose, or to put a set of rules in place to impose editorial content on newspapers.

The Competition Act is a valid act. It is there. It will be used in this case as with other cases. I believe we will address the issues.

[Media Concentration, October 30th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, it was the Liberal government that established the rules dealing with media concentration under the Competition Act. There is a process in place right now that will be followed.

The director of investigations will be looking at this takeover, if it goes ahead, to ensure that all aspects of the deal reflect the statute, that is whether there is undue concentration, whether there is freedom of expression, whether there is too much market penetration. All of these matters will be looked at and are provided for under the existing statute.

[Transportation, October 27th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the government has used its constitutional authority on putting forward an agreement on internal trade. None of what has occurred on the east coast contravenes the transportation provisions of that agreement.

If one of those provinces feels aggrieved, it has the right to resort to conciliation and then a panel to resolve it. We prefer to use the agreement we have put together to resolve these issues in an amicable way.

[Canada Customs And Revenue Agency, October 23rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is referring to Aéroports de Montréal and other corporations throughout the country.

A bill was passed here in the House of Commons creating a non-profit corporation to run airports. This corporation is subject to an act of Parliament. I therefore think there is accountability in this case.

[Transport, October 23rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows there is an agreement on internal trade that has been reached between the federal government and the provincial governments. My interpretation of the transportation provisions of that particular agreement is that what is happening on the east coast is fully within the ambit of that agreement.

Is the Conservative Party asking the Government of Canada to walk away from that agreement on internal trade and use its constitutional powers, which would cause quite a fuss across the country? Is the Tory party asking us to do that?

[Transport, October 23rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the member should know, and I am sure he does, that the designing, building, financing and operating of highways is within the provincial jurisdiction.

It is true that federal-provincial highway agreements have not contemplated the use of tolls. The hon. member has raised this in the House a number of times before and I have said that he raised a good public policy question that should be examined. Perhaps the Standing Committee on Transport could examine it. It is being examined by a council of deputy ministers from across the country and their report should be made public very soon.

We are sorry about the dispute in Atlantic Canada, but hopefully it can be resolved in an amicable way.

[Transport, October 21st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, we do not have to appoint a committee to deal specifically with this. We have working committees at Transport Canada engaged in all facets of airline safety, every day, every week of the year.

Safety is the number one priority for Transport Canada. We are trying to ensure that all the planes that fly meet the safety standards. We believe that they do. That does not mean to say there cannot be new methods of insulation, or new wiring that would be better in newer aircraft.

All the commercial aircraft that are flying in Canada today have been certified by Transport Canada, the FAA or other regulatory agencies. They are certainly safe to fly in.

[Transport, October 21st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, this is an issue that is concerning a lot of people in the wake of the Swissair accident.

The FAA last week made some comments and quoted some proposals about better quality of insulation in the interior of planes.

Transport Canada as a regulator in Canada is working with the FAA in developing new standards. That work is not yet completed. It would be premature to enact new standards or put new standards in place until we are absolutely satisfied that we have all of the information available.

We hope to be able to have some recognition of this work in the coming months.

[Employment, October 21st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I am quite affronted. The hon. member talks about treachery when he knows he is talking about a decision democratically taken by members of the House of Commons to privatize Canadian National Railways. I think he should withdraw that slight of CN and members of the House.

As the Minister of Finance has said recently there are some troubled waters. There are ups and downs in the economy and what CN is doing is reflecting a downturn in revenues.

Let us hope that this will only be temporary and that those people will be rehired at a later date.