Sheila Copps

[Cigarette Taxes, February 11th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, he did not do an about-face. What he said is that with the four-part anti-smoking program announced by this government, we will solve the revenue loss problem within a year. We already know that within a few days the Minister of Finance will be faced with a budget where the federal government is already losing up to $1 billion because of smuggling.

What the Prime Minister said here in the House, and it was reinforced in the interview, was that with our four-part program, we will solve the smuggling problem and at the same time bring back revenue to the national treasury to pay for health programs, which cost Canadians quite a lot.

[Cigarette Taxes, February 11th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have read the Prime Minister's interview, and what he said is that within a year, he expects the lost revenue, which now totals almost $1 billion, to be recovered because the government will control the cigarette smuggling problem. That is what he said. It was also reflected in the health minister's comments. Of course, the Prime Minister's remarks are part of our strategy to end the revenue loss caused by cigarette smuggling.

[Supply, February 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, as an evidence of openness, it is I, first of all, who informed the member for Frontenac about the Irving Whale problem.

The first thing I did as a minister was to tell all the critics from all the political parties what my priorities were. It is I who informed the member opposite that, 20 years ago, the Irving Whale cracked and that I was trying to make it a priority of refloating the boat.

We must compare this action with the one that was taken by the leader of the opposition, who was himself the minister of Environment for almost two years. I come here and after only 100 days, I have the plan ready to start, not because we had movements from the Opposition, but because the member for Îles-de-la-Madeleine, directly, and the member of Prince Edward Island worked in consultation and in conjunction with myself, the minister.

I take my responsibilities seriously.

The hon. member talks about transparency and openness. His own leader was Minister of the Environment for almost two years and did not even answer the letters of the fishermen who wrote to him from Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

The fishermen, seeing a time bomb, wrote to him. He did not care to reply to their letter.

I think that we have a plan. We are working very hard and there were even meetings last Monday. Meetings are planned in the riding. The member of Parliament in the riding is the one who has the real power. He already had access to the meetings that will take place on March 2 and 3, both in Prince Edward Island and Îles-de-la-Madeleine and, after that, you will see that we will get results. In 100 days, the Liberal government can solve a problem that has been dragging on for 20 years. That is real power.

[The Environment, February 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, in light of the status report on global warming the Canadian government, and in particular the Ministry of the Environment, is going to accelerate its action in getting rid of sulphur dioxide emissions. It is very clear there may be a role for ethanol to play in that area.

I am very pleased that through the initiative of members of the House, in particular the new member for Lambton-Middlesex and the member for Halton-Peel and other members, it will be the first order of business of the committee on the environment

to look at how we can make ethanol work for Canadians in an environmentally friendly way.

[Child Care Services, February 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, let me start by saying that we recognize the results of the survey. We also recognize that the people of Quebec have always been leaders on the issue of child care.

Having said that, in the Liberal Party's red book we stated that first and foremost we must see a three per cent growth in the economy. We want the economy to grow another three per cent before putting into place a system to triple the number of day care spaces made available every year. So, 50,000 spaces will be created in each year once the economy starts to grow at a rate of three per cent, and we will thus obtain 150,000 spaces over three years.

[The Environment, February 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I did indicate to the hon. member that in implementing the recommendations of the public review panel on tanker safety and marine spills response capacity, one of the issues was double hulling. The federal government has set aside $100 million specifically to try and accelerate the implementation of some of these issues.

If the hon. member and his colleagues are prepared to yield more money from the public treasury, we would be very happy to move in quicker fashion on these important issues.

[The Environment, February 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for advance notice of his question. Living as he does in Saanich-Gulf Islands, obviously his constituency is very concerned about this issue.

We are very concerned about it also. That is why on April 1 of this year we will be implementing legislation to include a federal contribution of $100 million in funding to ensure that we have quick response when spills do occur. We are also looking at private sector funding of between $80 million and $100 million

to ensure that those ships involved in oil spills are paying for the pollution they cause.

We are looking for co-operation with the provincial government of British Columbia to make sure that the coast line is clear. I know that my colleague the Minister of Transport has been working very hard on this issue. I intend to meet very shortly with the provincial minister of the environment for British Columbia to ensure we have a joint federal-provincial response on an issue that is of crucial concern to British Columbia.

[Use Of Tobacco Products, February 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly why the plan we have tabled today contains specific measures with regard to teenage smoking. For instance, for the first time, those who sell tobacco products to young people under 18 years of age will be fined up to $50,000. We will also take action to ban the sale of so-called "kiddie packs" to young buyers. And we have other specific measures to combat smoking among the young. This is all part of the health component of our plan, to prevent smoking from causing more harm to our young people.

[Health, February 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada recognizes the fact that almost 40,000 Canadians die every year from smoking.

The Government of Canada also recognizes the fact that for the first time last year cigarette smoking in Canada increased as opposed to decreased.

The Government of Canada also recognizes the unfortunate fact that young women in particular have continued to smoke despite the general decline in smoking of the population. That is why the Government of Canada is introducing a four-pronged strategy to make sure that we have a strategy that encourages every single Canadian to stop smoking by ensuring that the base price level for cigarettes is at a level that is out of reach of young Canadians and hopefully very soon out of the wish of most Canadians.

[Health, February 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, obviously it is the position of the Government of Canada to help stop young people from smoking.

Smoking is a killer. It is a killer of young people and it is a killer of all Canadians.

Right now there are two million Canadians smoking smuggled cigarettes. To extrapolate the statistics of the Cancer Society, between 600,000 and one million of those Canadians smoking smuggled cigarettes can expect to die from cancer.

It is our intention to cut down on smoking by making sure that every effort is taken including the abolition of kiddie packs, including raising the age of smokers, including charging fines of up to $50,000 for retail outlets that sell to minors.

We have an attack and a plan that is going to safeguard the health of Canadians, not a plan that will hide its head in the sand by doing nothing when two million Canadians right now are smoking smuggled cigarettes.