Allan Rock

[Health, September 29th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member can use any words he chooses. The reality is he does not have the faintest idea of what he is talking about. Another example of all kinds of noise and fury.

Last Friday afternoon department officials explained why they had asked for the file in question.

As long as I am Minister of Health we will focus on the issues affecting the health system. We will not be involved in any smear campaigns. We are going to work to improve medicare in this country and make sure—

[Health, September 26th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I have already made it clear that we are going to do whatever is necessary to ensure that the health protection branch, which is an important service of government, is there to safeguard the health and safety of Canadians.

I encourage the hon. member to take part in the public consultation process we are going to go through over the coming months. We have frozen cuts. We are going to appoint people who know science to give us advice. I encourage the hon. member to contribute constructively to the process. I hope her involvement will go beyond wagging her finger in this House.

[Health, September 26th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the hon. member to the House. I want to work constructively with her in what I know is a shared objective of ensuring the health of Canadians but she is making it very difficult from the beginning.

I told the House earlier that I have asked officials to look into the news reports this morning. When the facts are known we will be in a position to discuss it.

As far as the health protection branch is concerned, this is the minister who put a freeze on those cuts, this is the minister who is going to appoint a science advisory board to give us independent advice on what scientists we need. And this is the minister who is going to involve the public and the health protection branch in an open and full discussion of its future.

[Health Protection Branch, September 26th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, one thing I have tried to make a habit is to get the facts before I jump to conclusions.

I caution the hon. member to get the facts before he characterizes conduct in that irresponsible way. The reality is I have asked officials to inquire into the news reports this morning. Let us get the facts first.

The third step I took was to prepare a consultation document to involve all Canadians, not just one or two in this discussion of the future of the health protection branch.

I do not have to be told by former employees or by anybody else what the role of the health protection branch is. I am firmly committed to making sure it does its job in the most effective way.

[Health Protection Branch, September 26th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the news reports this morning about a file being asked for by an official at Health Canada. I have asked officials to look into it and when the facts are known I will respond in detail.

The hon. member should acknowledge in his question, and I know he is aware of the fact, that for me and for this government the role of the health protection branch is extremely important. It protects the safety and the health of Canadians.

It is for that very reason that this week I took three important steps to ensure its continuing strength: first, a moratorium on future cuts; second, the appointment of an arm's length science advisory board; third—

[Health Care, September 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I know the hon. member is a better doctor than he is a mathematician. He knows full well that the cuts by this government were nowhere near 40 per cent.

What I said to my provincial partners is that we are going to work toward pharmacare as a long term goal because this government believes that in the long term the partners should work with us in creating a system where every citizen of this country should have access to the drugs they need and should not be kept from them because of price.

[Health Care, September 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the first and fundamental challenge we face with our health care system, and I know the hon. member is aware of this, is restoring the confidence of Canadians in the basic medicare which we have come to know and depend on.

The government is firmly committed to not only the five principles of the Canada Health Act but to working with our partners in the provinces, with providers and with other stakeholders in the system to restore the health system to the quality Canadians expect and deserve.

That is going to mean a lot of work. It is going to mean working with provinces and others to tackle issues such as waiting lists. It is going to mean dealing with—

[Criminal Code, April 21st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to thank all the members of this House, my colleagues from all parties, for agreeing to pass this bill today. The Reform Party, the Bloc Quebecois, all the parties have co-operated in allowing the government to pass this bill today.

It is a reflection of the importance all members of the House place on the effort to give police forces the important tools they need in combating organized crime.

The House has joined together today to clear the way for the adoption of legislation which I believe and contend is both valid and effective in helping the police achieve the objectives we all share.

Finally, we believe that all our proposals will help the police achieve their goal, which is to stop criminals.

We believe that these proposals to fight organized crime will help police put out of business those whose business is committing crime in this country.

We have proposed a new approach to fighting gang activity by criminalizing participation in a criminal organization and adding to the Criminal Code a new definition of criminal organization offence. But this new offence does not outlaw membership in a criminal organization. In fact, combined with the new definition, it provides the basis for the implementation of new investigative procedures and Criminal Code provisions.

We propose this new approach to fighting gang activity by creating the offence of participation in a criminal organization; not criminalizing mere membership, but rather creating a new framework by establishing a new category of crime, allowing police access in that category to exceptional methods of detection and investigation, providing for tougher penalties and sending the message that we are devoting specific efforts to battling organized crime.

We have proposed giving the police new powers to seize the proceeds of crime in relation to a criminal organization offence and, with prior judicial authorization, have access to tax information regarding the activities of criminal organizations.

We are adding to the Criminal Code new offences and new sentences regarding the use of explosives as part of a criminal organization's activities.

We are adding to the Criminal Code new sentencing provisions, especially with respect to parole eligibility as relates to certain criminal organization offences.

We will allow measures to be taken in support of police surveillance of gang activities.

Concerning criminal organization leaders, a new power is being given to sentencing tribunals to preserve peace by preventing them from engaging in their illicit activities.

To us, this is a first step in the right direction, and more will have to be done to put organized crime out of business and put an end to gang activities.

I want to emphasize that, although the pace has picked up these past four weeks at Justice Canada, these proposals were in fact nearly two years in the making. During this past year, the Solicitor General of Canada and myself had discussions with the police community and held a national forum on organized crime eight months ago. These proposals are the result of this thorough and systematic review.

I also want to say that, even though biker wars have been raging primarily in Quebec, this phenomenon is also a problem in other regions of the country. According to the RCMP, biker gangs are active everywhere in Canada.

I had long discussions with police chiefs from various Canadian cities, with officials from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, and with my colleagues, the provincial attorney generals. In my opinion, the proposals in Bill C-95 are an initial commitment to fight organized crime across the country, and not only in Quebec.

In my conversations with chiefs of police and attorneys general throughout the country in this past period and particularly while we have been drafting and preparing Bill C-95, I have been impressed at the unanimity among law enforcement officials throughout Canada about the need for specific legislation to deal with organized crime.

I spoke with the president of the Canadian Police Association who urged me to deal with this as a national issue requiring a national solution. I spoke with the chief of police in Vancouver who told me that there are motorcycle gangs active on the criminal side in that city. I spoke with the chiefs of police in Halifax, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Toronto, and to a person they have urged us to proceed with this legislation so that they may have these tools available to confront issues that arise in their own communities.

I have spoken with the mayor of Vancouver. I have spoken with the mayor of Winnipeg. I have spoken with the attorney general of British Columbia, the attorney general of Manitoba, the attorney general and the solicitor general of Ontario to discuss these measures with them. In each case I have found only enthusiastic encouragement for us to pursue this course.

This is not an issue that exists only in one province. Organized crime is a scourge that afflicts this country from coast to coast to coast. We must through legislative means as well as by all other means available see that we treat it with the seriousness that it merits.

Of course, improving the legislation is only one weapon in the arsenal that we must deploy to fight violence associated with criminal organizations and organized crime. All the provinces have a major role to play, since the Constitution provides that the administration of justice comes under their jurisdiction. The provinces must allocate adequate resources, so that police officers can do their job, and so that, when people are arrested, they are prosecuted by specialized crown prosecutors expressly mandated for that purpose.

At the federal level, there is a need to co-ordinate the fight led by police forces across the country. Organized crime is a national concern which requires national measures. That is why the solicitor general agreed to table in Parliament an annual progress report on the fight against organized crime, and on the situation across the country. The solicitor general also announced that he will set up a national committee and five regional co-ordination committees to address police concerns regarding the need to co-ordinate measures to enforce the act.

I must say that I am very much indebted to those who consulted and worked with us in the preparation of this legislation. I am speaking first of all about those mayors of municipalities in Quebec who met with me.

In the past three weeks, I met with the mayors of Quebec to listen to their concerns, discuss various approaches, and assure them that the federal government intends to take action.

I also met with Quebec's chiefs of police, who worked with us to identify concrete and efficient measures, which we included in Bill C-95. I also want to mention the Barreau du Québec, which co-operated with us by reviewing our bill and expressing its

concerns about certain clauses. We listened and we sometimes changed our approach in order to deal with these concerns.

I also want to thank officials from the Société des avocats de la défense de Montréal and, finally, my Quebec counterparts, Paul Bégin and Robert Perreault, the Minister of Public Security.

I truly enjoyed co-operating with the Quebec ministers and their officials. We worked constructively and we welcomed ideas and proposals. We accepted a number of them, but it was not possible to include every suggestion made by Mr. Bégin. However, the various levels of government worked together to make sure we have legislation that will help police forces do their work.

As I said earlier, the province has a responsibility to make sure adequate resources are provided to police officers and to crown prosecutors.

I have also to thank the Canadian Bar Association, representatives of the Criminal Lawyers' Association and representatives of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association who worked with us in our preparation of this legislation.

I do not pretend for a moment that we have addressed all the concerns that they have expressed. I know there are many among the groups that I have mentioned who have concerns about some of the aspects of this legislation. They were good enough to give us their commentary and to react to some of the proposals that we were considering. Because of their commentary and their reactions, our reference has to that extent been enriched. I am grateful to them for the time they took in that consultation.

I commend to the House this legislation which the government believes will improve the criminal law of Canada, will give the police the tools they need to fight a particular, a specific and a most difficult scourge, that is organized crime. Difficult to investigate, tough to prosecute, but one of the greatest challenges we face in the criminal justice system is to take on organized crime in a serious minded way. This legislation represents a good first start in that regard. I commend it to the House, expressing all the while my gratitude to colleagues for collaborating with the government in this effort.

[Criminal Code, April 21st, 1997]

moved that the bill be read the third time and passed.

[Criminal Code, April 21st, 1997]

moved that the bill, as amended, be concurred in.

(Motion agreed to.)