Art Eggleton

[Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, February 12th, 1997]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-81, an act to implement the Canada-Chile free trade agreement and related agreements.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

[Cultural Policy, February 10th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, if the member is trying to show some division between myself and the Minister of Canadian Heritage he is barking up the wrong tree.

Both the Minister of Canadian Heritage and myself are strong supporters of the Canadian cultural sector. We want to see it grow. We want to see it prosper. That is what the government is solidly behind.

We all recognize that these are changing times. There are changing technologies and we need to keep our policies and our programs on the leading edge. We have faced those kinds of challenges before. The government is solidly behind the Canadian cultural sector.

[Culture, February 5th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, there has been no change in government policy. Certainly the government wants to continue to promote Canadian culture both in the domestic sense and on the international stage. In fact, over the last few years Canada's exports in terms of its cultural sector have grown enormously. It is now a $3 billion industry.

Times have changed, and so I have raised some questions with respect to how we go about continuing in our promotion of culture, particularly in the context of trade and globalization.

Certainly the Minister of Canadian Heritage and I are working together to ensure that the government continues to promote the cultural product of this country, of all parts of this country.

[Excise Tax Act, December 2nd, 1996]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-70, an act to amend the Excise Tax Act, the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, the Income Tax Act, the Debt Servicing and Reduction Account Act and related Acts.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

[Asbestos Industry, December 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, we are watching the WTO situation very carefully. As I indicated to the people who are employed in the industry, if there is a case that we can pursue with the WTO, we are quite prepared to do that.

However, we have to await the next moves that occur in terms of the French government as to substitute products. That will give us the kind of information we need in order to decide if we should proceed to the WTO.

With respect to the European Union, it recently held a vote and the efforts by those who wanted to ban it Europe wide failed. Our efforts are already paying off in that regard. Our expert team which went to France to speak with the European commission has been successful in holding off any attempt to ban this on a European basis.

We know it is still an uphill battle. We are going to continue to fight it as best we can. We want to do everything possible to preserve that industry and those jobs with respect to the safe uses of that product.

[Asbestos Industry, December 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I was recently in Thetford Mines and engaged in a consultation with the people of that community with respect to this matter. I assured them that the federal government will be doing everything it possibly can to preserve the jobs and those communities that depend upon the asbestos industry.

The representations we have made to the French government are not stopping. Yes, they have made a political decision that they want to ban the product, but they also have a review mechanism. Every year they have to look at the question of substitute products. It is our hope and expectation that they will look at the safe uses of asbestos products, particularly in cement piping, as something that will be acceptable. We will continue to press that case.

Meanwhile, we will continue to press that this does not spread into other parts of the European Community or other parts of the world. We are fully committed as a government to working with the people of Thetford Mines and the people in the industry in Canada to preserve those jobs in Quebec and the rest of Canada.

[Trade, December 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the Asia-Pacific is the most dynamic economic region in the world. It is a great opportunity for Canada as one of the 18 members of APEC and the incoming chair of APEC to advance our opportunities in the Asia-Pacific.

Next year we will have the opportunity to host APEC. From coast to coast there will be a wide variety of activities which will fully engage the business community so that we can help to advance our export and investment opportunities. As I have said before, that means jobs and economic growth here in Canada.

[Trade, November 18th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, this morning President Frei of Chile and our Prime Minister signed a protocol on a free trade agreement that will bring about tremendous new momentum in terms of trade and investment between our two countries. That will lead to jobs and economic growth for both Chile and Canada.

Immediately, Canadian exporters will no longer face an 11 per cent duty when their goods and services go over the border. This will give them a considerable cost advantage. More secure investment can now be obtained in Chile for Canadians.

All of this will be in advance of when Chile comes into the NAFTA, giving Canada a head start on our friends in the United States who hopefully will now come to the table to bring Chile into the NAFTA and complete the arrangement the Prime Minister was a part of just four years ago. This will lead to hemispheric free trade and again, more jobs and economic productivity.

[China, November 8th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, we have greatly protected the environment by putting this act into effect. It was never intended to apply to foreign projects funded by the Export Development Corporation.

We have said that when there is an international environmental agreement with respect to standards, yes, we would want to be a part of that and we have promoted that very thing. We are not going to in an extraterritorial way, like some countries do, apply our law against another country. We continue to do all we can to protect the environment and have the most environmentally friendly products in terms of other countries, and that is what this CANDU-6 reactor is.

[China, November 8th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, we are not providing any interest free loan. This is a regular commercial operation. In fact, AECL is expected to make money on it. One hundred Canadian companies will profit from this. It will mean some 27,000 person years in employment.

With respect to the environment there is absolutely no diminishing of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. That act was never intended to apply to the Export Development Corporation's commercial financing operations in foreign countries, and so it does not apply.

Over the years that AECL has produced the CANDU-6 reactor, it has done a great deal of environmental work on it and in fact it is the safest, most reliable, most environmentally efficient nuclear reactor in the world.