Steve Mahoney

[Supply, May 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I think we should stand to congratulate the member for Waterloo—Wellington for those wonderful words.

On a serious note, though, I want to share with the House what actually takes place. It is important that Canadians understand that the motion was drafted with some political intent. All GMO foods must be submitted to Health Canada for a strict safety evaluation by an expert team of toxicologists, biologists, environmental scientists, chemists and nutritionists to determine if the food is as safe and nutritious as food already in the Canadian marketplace. I do not know if I want to eat it after they have all had a hand in it.

The team considers how the crop was developed, including the molecular biological data which characterize the genetic change, the composition of the food compared to its traditional counterpart food, the nutritional information compared to non-modified counterparts, and the potential for introducing new allergens and toxins.

We are on this file as a government. We are doing the job. To the question asked by the hon. member on whether Canadians can feel safe with the quality of food I say absolutely, with the systems we have in place.

[Supply, May 2nd, 2000]

I do not need to sit down because you do not happen to agree. Voluntary labelling is a totally different issue. It is like Bloc members to sit there and say “sit down” when they do not like the message, when they do not like the truth that comes from this side of the House.

[Supply, May 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I am curious about the question. By the way, I could not resist poking a bit of fun at the genetically modified political party. There is nothing wrong with having a bit of that mixed in with what I perceive to be a very serious topic, but let me answer the gentleman.

No, I have not done an analysis of the cost. This is where I have some concern. The question was about why we are not in favour of voluntary labelling. Those were the member's words through the translator, and I am assuming they were translated correctly. We are. We already have voluntary labelling. We have encouraged the development of standards for the voluntary labelling of new foods including what might be called designer foods. This project was launched by the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors and the Canadian General Standards Board.

Let me just add, in answer to the hon. member, that the government has asked the Canadian General Standards Board to develop a Canadian standard for voluntary labelling in consultation with consumer groups, producer groups, interest groups and other governments. If the member is saying we should have voluntary labelling, I think Bloc members should stand to clarify their position.

To make labelling mandatory when we already have an extremely successful inspection system in place to ensure both quality and safety in terms of the products that hit the kitchen table is nothing more than asking to extend the long arm of government and bureaucracy. Although I have not done the cost analysis, I assume it would cost a tremendous amount of money to the industry and would be a price that need not be paid.

[Supply, May 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I was earlier pointing out some interesting anomalies in the political structure and relating them to this issue. I do not want to go back there because I think I made the point that we have a genetically modified political party in our midst. I will let people think about that.

The point I want to stress is why an opposition party would feel the need to put forward a motion that would require tremendous regulatory efforts by the government to mandate labels on products that are clearly tested and go through a very stringent safety program. Perhaps we could deal with the facts instead of the fearmongering that we see around this issue.

I am sure it is confusing, if not boring to most Canadians when they hear the issues around modifying food genetically. I am sure it is extremely important, however, to the agriculture producers, to the industry, and to all of the different associations and groups that work in the industry. That is why this government has attempted to work with all of those groups to ensure there is a process in place which will provide the safety mechanisms and checks for food that will be sold to the consumer.

Some comments were made that perhaps the government was not taking this motion seriously enough. There may be a reason for that suggestion or that feeling. The reason is that it smells a little more like pure politics rather than dealing with the facts. I want to take a moment, if I may, to share some of the facts, the background and the research that we have done on this issue.

The government is looking for a solution to the problem which will provide a level of confidence to the Canadian consumer while at the same time allowing producers to access the new science and technology that is available. In virtually every walk of life science and technology grows in leaps and bounds. There are tremendous advances, virtually on a daily basis. We have to make sure that we stay abreast of all of them and not simply scare people into thinking there are problems.

In that regard we invested $90 million in the last budget, not only to ensure that we stay on top and on the cutting edge of this biotechnology, but also to ensure that our food inspection and regulatory system remains first class.

In that area I want to say once again that Canada has a reputation for having the finest safety system for food inspection in the world. It is not just standing and beating our chests or doing a beer commercial and saying “I am Canadian”, it is a fact.

Health Canada works very closely with all different agencies to ensure that the Canadian people can trust the products that go on the shelves of their grocery stores. It works very diligently with the pharmaceutical industry to ensure that there is safety in the drugs that are produced. It works very closely the companies which produce health products to ensure that what is being put on the shelves is safe.

I talked about many of those different products that have burst on to the scene in recent years, which hopefully will help to prevent illness and make Canadians more healthy, with the idea that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Health Canada is very diligent about ensuring that all of the products which are available to the consumer are safe. I would suggest that is true in the case of GMOs just as much as it is in health products and drugs.

It is extremely important that we realize what we as parliamentarians, as a government and indeed as members of the opposition should be saying to the Canadian people. We should be saying that we are prepared to ensure that the new sciences, the new biotechnological efforts that are being put into modifying food for the purpose of increasing production and making more food available to Canadians, will ensure that the food is nutritious and will fit into the Canadian diet without causing any form of illness. We should stop the fearmongering that this motion is attempting to bring about.

[Gun Control, May 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon in the city of Toronto representatives of the provincial weapons enforcement unit of Ontario, the Toronto police area firearms office, and the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms announced the uncovering of a major international firearms smuggling operation.

Could the Minister of Justice inform the House of what her department's role was and, most important, the role of the Canadian firearms registration system in this operation?

[Supply, May 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I think the member should show a little patience because the point of what I am attempting to put across is simply that there are five parties in this place. Actually we are not sure how many parties there are any more. We know the position of the Bloc. I am trying to determine what will be the position of the official opposition or in fact whomever it is.

If the member wants me to be a little more serious about the issue, as he said, why would the Bloc put forth a motion to force mandatory regulation, to force the machinery of government into an industry that already has the safest testing methods in the world? I made that point earlier and I was being quite serious about it.

Is the Bloc doing this because it is concerned about the safety and quality of food or because it is one of those bugbears? This is one of those issues with which we can whip people into a frenzy: that if it is genetically modified it will cause an illness, will cause cancer, will lead to blindness or will do who knows what. We can fearmonger with any issue we want.

The member knows that the government led the way. We have been working with consumer groups. We have been working with agricultural groups. Health Canada continues to monitor the safety of food. If there were any doubt in that regard, perhaps the suggestion would make some sense.

We also chair an international body that develops food safety standards called the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Labelling. We are doing work in this area. If the member wants to say that somehow we should eliminate this science, I would question that.

We are looking at the fact that in 2000 and the years to come there will be ways of increasing the productivity of agricultural food producers in this country and around the world. Lord knows, we have a serious problem in many parts of the world where this would be a major asset, perhaps allowing Canada to extend more of the already very generous foreign help that we offer throughout the world. In areas where there is famine and terrible tragedies, why should we not look at this? Instead of focusing on what may be politically exciting, why not focus on how we can improve science in this area?

I give the example of health products. We all know that there was quite a controversy. I recall going with the Minister of Health into an area of downtown Toronto where health products were being sold, all these different products that are for sale in drug stores now. Many of us take them on a regular basis in the belief that they are doing something for our systems. They are not based on prescription drugs but rather on natural products coming from the earth.

I believe they have an impact. I have no scientific proof of that. I am not a scientist or a doctor. I am not trained medically to make that decision, but I believe that they improve diet and health. Hopefully they will keep people out of hospital and out of the medical system.

The big fear about them and the reason there was a big question about whether or not they should be required to be regulated and licensed in the same way, prescribed by a doctor, kept behind the counter and away from the public, was some imaginary safety problem. The research was done by Health Canada. Our Minister of Health went out to that community and determined that they were safe products.

We have to ensure that the Canadian public has the confidence that the investigatory and regulatory bodies of this government and provincial governments where appropriate have done their homework. Because of that we have to know the various positions of those who would purport or wish to govern in any particular legislature or parliament. That is why I raise the issue of the flip-flops and concerns about the Canadian Alliance.

[Supply, May 2nd, 2000]

I am not worried. What I am really curious about is what this group will do in relation to the particular motion.

[Supply, May 2nd, 2000]

It is a mess in a political process.

[Supply, May 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I was interested in the motion put forward by our colleagues in the Bloc. On the surface, when we first read it, it seemed to have merit. Why would we object to labelling on these foods so that the Canadian people can be sure that what they are getting when they go to the grocery store is safe and has passed all the appropriate tests? Who would object to that? It is an interesting concept.

When we look at what has happened in the area of GMOs, genetically modified foods, on the surface for the Canadian public it is a little frightening. We hear of huge cucumbers. They tried growing them in Newfoundland. Actually, they were sprung cucumbers. They sprung a leak and never got off the ground. They tried doing it many years ago. This is not new. This is rather old stuff. It did not work. The market was not there. People looked at these things and said “My God, what are they?” They did not feel comfortable with them. Even though genetically they had been altered, they were safe and there was no question of consumption or safety issues involved. However, it did not fly in the marketplace.

What is the issue around modifying food genetically and why would we be concerned about telling people on a label exactly what it is they are getting?

Unlike my colleague, I was not born on a farm, have not lived on a farm and do not live on a farm at the moment, but, as you can tell, Mr. Speaker, I enjoy food, as we all do.

On a serious note, if they are improving the crop, if they are improving the yield, if they are improving the quality of the product, is this not something that we should perhaps investigate to determine whether or not it is safe? I think we should.

Through motions like the one before us today and debates by some members in this place we create a sense of fear that we should not eat something because it will ruin our liver or whatever. In any event, we understand that it is creating an atmosphere of fear. The purpose of the motion is not to say that genetically modified foods are safe. It is to somehow try to paint the government into a position of being embarrassed because it does not want to share the information with people. That is not true. That is one of the fundamental flaws of a motion like this one.

Members opposite know that Canada leads the world in food safety. People come from all over the world to visit Health Canada and our other regulatory bodies so they can see what procedures we have in place to determine whether or not food is safe.

On one hand I say to Bloc members that I would like to think the intent of what they want to do is good. We want ensure the food that goes on our tables for our children is safe every day. On the other hand, I wonder if there is not a hidden agenda, particularly when funds, such as the $37 million my hon. colleague mentioned, are transferred to the provincial government only to disappear somehow magically.

They may show up as Premier Bouchard, the new reborn Mike Harris of the province of Quebec, finds a way to suddenly become a revolutionary and bring forth budgetary cuts and tax cuts. Maybe the money that was given to Quebec for the specific purpose of dealing with food safety will show up in some mysterious way in a tax cut. It would not surprise me. We have seen it before.

We have seen what Mr. Harris has done in that regard by simply borrowing money, increasing the total debt of the province of Ontario by $21 billion while somehow trumpeting the fact that he is giving a tax break. We all know that he is giving a tax break to his rich friends and not helping the people who need help. I digress somewhat from the issue but it will probably occur from time to time.

I have not had the opportunity in this place of listening to the position of the Canadian Alliance Party. It occurred to me that this would be a perfect motion for that party to debate because what we are seeing is a genetically modified political party. It is trying to turn itself inside out.

We all know that when we genetically modify a lemon we get a lemon. It might be bigger. It might be more yellow. It might be sweeter, but we still get a lemon. When a political party like the Reform Party is genetically modified we get a lemon again. I do not think there is any question about it. I have not heard its position. A little bird told me that it will support the government on this issue. Every time that happens I say to myself that maybe we are wrong, maybe we should revisit it. I heard someone else say that it would not support the government on this issue. Frankly that party has been all over the map.

I want to share a couple of quotes. I took a look at the new book of the genetically modified political party and I tried to see if there were any differences. It is pretty much the same old gang that cannot shoot straight. I do not know why this gentleman constantly gets quoted, but the member for Yorkton—Melville said in a local paper about his party that the principles and policies of Reform are in there.

My dear friend, the member for Wild Rose, said in a newspaper in his riding that he would always be a Reformer. He had his hat and boots on. He said that he would always be a Reformer and that this new party was based on Reform Party principles and platforms.

Where will that party go with genetically modified food? Will it change its position? We have seen more flip-flops on this issue, but it is still sticking by the old principles, and I know it is an oxymoron, of the former Reform Party.

The member for Lakeland said that they would stand for the same things that they were elected on. Will that be the case for GMOs? Will that mean they will line up and vote with the Bloc on this issue? Will they line up and vote here? It is truly a mystery. We can watch the process unfold. We can watch the fact that many members are busy working on various campaigns and trying to bring in members of the Conservative Party of Ontario that do not want to come. It is an absolutely amazing sight.

[Immigration And Refugee Protection Act, May 1st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her very thoughtful question.

The member made two points. The first was the issue of the best interests of the child. This is something we wrestled with at committee, because it can be difficult to define. In whose definition are the interests determined to be the best interests of the child?

I think it is internationally accepted, in the Geneva convention and other statutes, that the best interests of the child can indeed be defined. In the case of a disabled child, I believe that the intent is to prevent abuse. The abuse might be that the only reason for someone wanting to come to Canada would be to seek free health care of some type.

However, in the case of family reunification, if we are talking about bringing a new family to Canada, if a child has a disability, frankly, I am absolutely confident, having met the men and women who work in citizenship and immigration, that we would take all of that into account and we would not allow it to stand in the way.

I have seen situations in my own riding where people were trying to get their elderly parents to come to Canada because they could get better health care. We have to be understanding and fair. We do not want to abuse the system, drive up costs and suddenly become a home to anyone who is sick so they can simply come here and get free health care. It requires compassion. It will be in the delivery. It will be in the way the system is carried out.

The member might be interested to know that I have been actively involved with community living in my own community. I am very much convinced that we have an obligation to reach out to all citizens in the world who are in need of help in coming to Canada. I believe we will do that. I believe the bill sets in place the format that will give our staff the confidence and the ability to approve a person for entry into Canada as the member has described.