Julian Reed

[Asbestos Industry, April 27th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I should point out to the hon. member that the Council of Europe has no legislative power to ban anything.

Canada continues to work with Quebec and with France to achieve a positive result. We have been asked if we are willing to take this to the World Trade Organization. At the appropriate time we will, but this is not the appropriate time.

We will continue to work through the channels we have started in order to obtain a positive result.

[Nunavut Act, April 20th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, I am always amazed that the NDP of all groups would be so opposed to advancing the state of our nation forward.

I would really like to ask my hon. friend, and I realize he cannot answer it in this debate, what his information base is for the kinds of bizarre statements that have been made over the last year. And they are bizarre. They are being taken from a draft. They are not being taken from the text of any agreement. They are being taken from a draft.

My hon. friend has had more experience in Parliament than I have had. He should know very well that when a number of nations get together, a draft is a compilation of a wish list of all of those nations.

What has been ignored all through these months is the fact that a set of reservations has been put in place for Canada, a very large list of reservations I might add. The minister has made it very clear that many of those reservations are make or break deals.

When the hon. member comes along and plays Chicken Little, as the NDP has been doing for months now, the sky is falling and disaster is upon us, I would ask him to remember one thing. Canada now has 54 investment agreements which are bilateral. We have one trilateral agreement. Since the 1950s when the first one was signed, no company has dictated policy in Canada. No health care has been put in jeopardy. No education has been put in jeopardy. Our treatment of native peoples has not been threatened in any way.

I ask the hon. member to consider the fact that history does not bear him out. History shows that Canada works better with rules than it does without rules. We intend—

[Internships, March 31st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is referring to that part of the national youth employment strategy which was referred to by the hon. Minister of Human Resources Development a few minutes ago.

There are 12 projects that are international in scope and they are necessary to give practical skills to young people to compete in an international market. We are currently conducting an evaluation of that program which is one year old. We find that 60% to 70% of the interns—

[Multilateral Agreement On Investment, March 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, there is an ancient Chinese saying which says that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

We began with international investment agreements through NAFTA and we have that in existence at the present time. Right now we are trying to get 29 countries to sing out of the same hymn book. Once we do that, we will take it to the WTO where over 100 countries will be able to participate in the same agreement.

[Multilateral Agreement On Investment, March 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as far back as February 19, the federal and provincial trade ministers met for a third discussion of Canada's objectives and the bottom lines for the MAI. The positions advanced by Canada in the MAI negotiations reflect the discussions that took place at that time.

[Multilateral Agreement On Investment, March 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as my hon. friend knows, the negotiators are constantly in touch with every province apprising them each time a set of negotiations takes place. The province of Quebec has equal access to all the information, as does every other province in Canada.

I understand that a statement was made in Quebec today. We are not yet in possession of the text. When we are, we will be able to comment on it more fully.

[Income Tax Amendments Act, 1997, March 23rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the objective of the Government of Canada in partnership with Quebec, the industry, unions and local communities is to maintain market access for asbestos. The Prime Minister raised this issue last fall with his counterparts from the U.K. and France.

The issue was also raised on a number of occasions between senior Canadian officials and their counterparts. Our officials held exploratory discussions on WTO options with interested partners as early as September 1997. On November 26 and again on January 28 the deputy minister for international trade held subsequent consultations with these same partners. On February 10 the deputy minister also held a conference call with stakeholders to discuss the next steps on this file.

It was made clear that the Canadian government would prefer to seek a resolution of this issue through diplomatic means as opposed to moving right now to the WTO. We are prepared to go to the WTO at the right time but we prefer to continue our crucial dialogue with the French government.

We organized gatherings of producers in London in December and in Brussels in January and February to work on a common strategy for the defence of chyrsotile asbestos. We believe that scientific data favour a controlled approach. A recent European technical paper raises questions about the growing use of asbestos bans in Europe as a means of protecting public health.

Canada attaches the highest priority to protecting export markets for chyrsotile asbestos and we will pursue every option available.

[Multilateral Agreement On Investment, March 18th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to inform my colleague that the minister has set out a series of guidelines for the negotiators which they are standing absolutely firm on. We will negotiate nothing that will jeopardize those positions in any way whatsoever. My colleague can rest comfortably that Canada will only sign an agreement that is good for Canada.

[Multilateral Agreement On Investment, March 17th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, through our committee we have already heard from every part of the country. We have heard expressions repeated on just about every issue of concern that there could possibly be over the MAI.

My hon. friend suggests that we should back out of negotiations, turn tail and run. Canada will stay in negotiations right to the very end. We will sign a deal only if it is a good deal for Canadians.

[Multilateral Agreement On Investment, March 17th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the process is simply that parliamentarians who are elected to the House have all the input it is possible to have to the negotiating team. The negotiating team listens to all the parties that participate on that committee.

I assure my hon. friend that with her participation on the committee her points of view and the points of view of her constituents will be passed—