Lee Morrison

[Petitions, March 10th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition with signatures of Canadians collected at a filling station on the Trans-Canada highway in my riding.

The petitioners draw attention to the fact that 38 per cent of the national highway system has fallen below accepted standards, that Mexico and the United States are upgrading their national highway systems, and that the national highway policy study identified job creation, economic development, saving lives, avoiding injuries, lower congestion, lower vehicle operating costs and better international competitiveness as benefits of the proposed national highway upgrading program.

Therefore the petitioners call on Parliament to urge the federal government to join with provincial governments to make the national highway system upgrading possible in 1997.

[Supply, March 10th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I wish the hon. member for Berthier-Montcalm would pay a little more attention to Reform members when they are speaking. Had he been paying attention he would have noticed that of the two Reformers who have spoken so far this morning one wishes the reinstatement of the death penalty. The other one wants its continued abolition. This is a 50:50 split between the two speakers. However they both agree strongly, and I agree, that section 745.6 is an abomination. It is unfit to serve the criminal law of a country that values decency.

The hon. member seems to have missed the point of the motion. We have debated the issue on two occasions in the House. We have debated it when a private member's bill came forward to abolish section 745. We debated it again in conjunction with Bill C-45. In both those cases arguments were very wide ranging. Reference was made to dozens and dozens of specific cases where section 745 allowed the most despicable of individuals to apply for parole and ultimately get it.

Of the 43 who applied prior to 1994, 15 were granted immediate parole after application. Let us not hear this nonsense about it being a faint hope clause. It is a pretty good piece of hope if anyone asks me.

What we are debating today refers specifically to the Clifford Olson case. We are debating it from the point of view of the families of that monster's 11 victims that are being dragged through all this muck and mire again for no good purpose.

We know the man will not get out of jail, but why does the system allow him to make the application? Why can he twist the justice system to his own ends and get a bit of publicity? Apparently he has an ego as big as a house. At the same time the unfortunate family members have to relive the horror again. If he does not get a review this time he will be able to appeal regardless of what the solicitor general said.

There has already been an instance of a murderer who applied for a review that was refused. He was allowed to appeal. We are not talking about oddities. We are talking about real people and real things that happen to real people.

[Correctional Service Canada, February 17th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I have received several complaints about apparent overstaffing at corrections Canada's Okimaw Ochi Healing Lodge near Maple Creek, Saskatchewan.

For example, a certified day care worker was recently hired for the one toddler at the institution. I am told that there will soon be two toddlers. The lodge has a good working arrangement for foster care on the nearby Nikaneet Reserve, so that solitary child is at the lodge only half time.

There are two nurses on staff for the 20 inmates, whereas neighbouring taxpaying farmers and ranchers who have never

committed a crime still have to travel 30 or 40 kilometres to obtain basic medical services. Is this fair?

This small institution has four clerical employees. I do not doubt that they are busy, but why is there so much paper to shuffle?

My diagnosis is that corrections Canada suffers from chronic bureaucratic bloat.

[Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, February 14th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, my party has agreed to this truncated form of debate because, like the government, we would like to see

this bill get into committee where it can be properly dealt with. We do support it in principle. There are a couple of stickers in it that are worthy of further discussion. We will get to them in committee and at third reading.

As everyone here knows, the origins of this treaty were at the summit of the Americas in Miami in 1994 where the leaders of Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Chile announced their intention to pursue Chilean ascension to NAFTA.

Chile looked rather briefly at this possibility however, since the Clinton administration was unable to convince the U.S. Congress to fast track a treaty to a pass or fail vote without amendment. Chile therefore backed away from the risk of entering into an agreement that could be further modified after it was signed.

This treaty as everyone knows, although it will have bilateral advantages to Canada and to Chile, certainly is mostly about what the Department of Foreign Affairs likes to refer to as building bridges. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade sometimes calls the Canada-Chile FTA an interim bilateral free trade agreement because it is hoped that the agreement will ultimately lead to incorporating Chile into NAFTA, or FTAA as it is sometimes called now, a free trade agreement for the Americas.

It appears that the U.S. Congress' stubborn refusal to fast track Chile's entry into NAFTA will be to our gain. Mexico already has an FTA with Chile and the Americans will eventually have to get on board through the free trade agreement for the Americas initiative.

One of the advantages of leading by example is that we do get a head start. Chile has strong trade links throughout the southern hemisphere, in particular through its association with Mercosur, the common market between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Chile is not a full member of that trading bloc. Therefore even though it has this easy access, it was able to give us certain considerations which are a little better than it is giving to its neighbours.

For example our agricultural products will get much better treatment. Many Canadian companies are already finding that Chile is an excellent gateway or an open door to the other markets in Latin America.

The deal in its immediate consequences provides Canadian exporters with significantly improved access to the Chilean market through the elimination of the 11 per cent duty on about 75 per cent of the goods which we ship into Chile. Since 80 per cent of Chilean exports into Canada are already duty free, it is reasonable to expect that the adjustment phase for the Canadian market will be very moderate.

In the agricultural sector which is of particular concern to me Canadian durum wheat which accounts for 35 per cent of Canadian agricultural exports to Chile will benefit from an immediate removal of the 11 per cent duty currently imposed. There is similar treatment slated for barley and pulse seeds.

Duties on Canadian exports of a variety of processed agricultural products will be reduced to zero over five years. The exception for a long phase out period is for Chile's most sensitive product, milling wheat, but in 17 years that will be duty free as well. On the Canadian side we will phase out a limited number of tariffs over six years primarily for horticultural products. Canada's over quota most favoured nation tariffs for dairy, poultry and eggs are excluded from tariff elimination and will continue to be protected.

However it is not all wine and roses. Some Canadian producers are afraid of the Chilean $15 a day average farm wage, cheap land and flexible government regulations, all of which lower the cost of production for Chilean agricultural goods. Fortunately most Canadian horticultural produce will be available during our summer and fall and Chilean produce will fill in the winter-spring gap of our growing season. So Canadian and Chilean producers will mostly complement each other rather than compete head to head.

Apples however are another story. This is a very significant worry. B.C. fruit growers have expressed concerns about the six year phase out period of the FTA's anti-dumping regulations. Chilean apples have been entering Canada duty free for years with no problems apparent. However Canadian orchardists are uneasy over the precedent that the agreement sets when Chile eventually gets into the general NAFTA agreement for this reason: A few years back the price for red delicious apples was driven below the cost of production when Washington state growers dumped their product in the B.C. market. The Okanagan apple producers eventually won damages under the anti-dumping laws in the Canada-U.S. FTA.

Should Chile eventually be admitted to NAFTA and the phasing out of anti-dumping regulations be extended to all NAFTA partners, Washington producers could dump their apples in Canada again and drive down domestic prices. So it is not Chile they are afraid of, it is the U.S.A. which is sitting in the wings watching this.

We must be cautious. I hope that this will be addressed in committee. The only remaining recourse for Canadian growers in the scenario that I have outlined would be an appeal to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, a safeguard action. The CITT could apply immediate tariffs on a temporary basis and probably for one season. It would be a mirror image of our never ending softwood lumber dispute, only in this case the plaintiffs would be north of the border instead of south of it.

Let us proceed with a moderate degree of caution. In general, this treaty is a good deal for both Chile and Canada but like all

treaties, it is not perfect and I would not want to see British Columbia apple growers sacrificed for the general benefit of our trade relations.

[Supply, February 13th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry, but the railways are not paying any penalty. That is the problem. They have a captive market. They can haul grain at their leisure, whenever they please. They are not going to lose a dime. If that grain does not get hauled until the next crop year, which is a possibility, they will still get their full tariff. The farmers will lose not only through demurrage charges, but also because they will have declining markets as they get into the new crop year. They will lose about $50 million in revenue as well.

If there were contractual arrangements which obliged the railways to move the grain according to a specified time, then there probably would not be a problem. That would be an incentive for them to get their act together.

It is a regulated industry. We say it is deregulated, but there is a freight cap. It is a semi-deregulated industry.

[Supply, February 13th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad he asked that question. If he would read the fresh start program he would see where we would cut $15 billion of unnecessary government spending.

To cover the $292 million by a multiple of three, I will give him two highly desirable cuts. One would be to stop giving money away to Liberal friends like Bombardier. That would amount to $87 million. The other one would be to privatize the TV portion of the CBC. That would amount to at least $700 million. We are already over the threshold, so I do not need to get into the entire $15 billion.

As far as me being a defender of the NDP, I am a defender of my province, unlike the hon. member opposite who is also from Saskatchewan but because he is a member of the Liberal government has forgotten it.

[Supply, February 13th, 1997]

My hon. friend says there is no intention, they do not have a plan.

I would like to shift gears to another problem in my riding and that is the deterioration of the national highway system. Members opposite beat their breasts about our national obligations to bind this nation together. However, when we start talking about the national highway system, they retreat behind spurious claims that highways are solely a provincial responsibility. That is a red herring. Most highways are provincial responsibilities but the national highway system is a joint federal-provincial responsibility. It is national and I will provide a dictionary for any Liberal member who does not know what a national highway system is.

In my riding of Swift Current-Maple Creek-Assiniboia, a 113 kilometre stretch of the wonderful Trans-Canada highway from Gull Lake to the Alberta border is winding and hilly. It has not been twinned. Since 1979 that short stretch of road has claimed 31 lives. There has not been a year when someone has not been killed on that little stretch of road. There have been more than 350 personal injuries.

I live very close to that highway. I never, unless I have no choice in the matter whatsoever, drive it in bad weather or at night because it is a death trap.

This morning the minister of agriculture made reference to his claim that the province of Saskatchewan has never asked to have that particular piece of highway twinned. I presume he also meant the section from Indian Head to the Manitoba border. That is nonsense.

In the fall of 1994 the department of highways of Saskatchewan had its money on the table to pay its share of the $35 million cost of twinning that one little section of highway in my riding and the federal government, after saying it would do it, reneged on its promise. What else is new?

Then the minister of agriculture decided that we should debate Saskatchewan highway conditions, not the national system, but Saskatchewan. He said that no highway work had been done in Saskatchewan since the Liberal government of Ross Thatcher 25 years ago. I wonder if he ever heard the expression, Thatcher's patchers, which is how they referred to the Saskatchewan department of highways 25 years ago.

Yesterday's committee report confirmed what Canadians already know: the Trans-Canada highway system is substandard. The government collects billions of dollars in fuel taxes and yet last year it could only find $292 million for the entire national highway system from sea yea unto shining sea. This is chippy. This is unacceptable.

[Supply, February 13th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I will be dividing my time with the member for Comox-Alberni. Unfortunately that will only give me 10 minutes to discuss a national transportation system in shambles. I will not bother to get into the question of the Pearson airport mega-mess or the St. Lawrence pilotage rip-off. Instead I will deal with two problems which are of immediate interest in my specific riding, Swift Current-Maple Creek-Assiniboia.

The most pressing is the sudden, unexpected shutdown of most of our branch railway lines. Early this month the two railways announced that service would be suspended on almost all branch subdivisions in western Canada, including nine in my riding with 600 miles of track. Actually this was a bit anticlimactic. They said that there would be no service for three weeks, with those three weeks to expire some time around the end of this month, but service had been de facto abandoned on several of these lines for three weeks before they had even made the announcement. We have rarely seen a train since Christmas time.

Right now west coast grain shipments are at their lowest level in over a decade. Forty-six ships are sitting at the west coast waiting for grain. They are rolling up huge demurrage charges. Some of them have actually been there for a month. It is the farmers, the producers of the grain, who are going to have to pay for all those demurrage charges which at this point have already reached about $15 million.

This morning the minister of agriculture admitted that it is unfair that farmers have to carry the entire demurrage burden. Unfortunately, as is his habit, he did not offer any solution to the problem which he had identified. He always gets half way there. He says: "Yes, there is a problem. Yes, we will deal with it", but when an interested party says: "But Mr. Minister, will you please tell us how," he suddenly loses his renowned eloquence.

The minister of agriculture loves meetings and he loves reports which he can ignore if he so chooses but he has little taste for constructive action. He is having another soiree tonight in Calgary. This will probably result in yet one more stillbirth.

What it the problem? That is probably what they are going to try to figure out at this meeting tonight. According to the railways the problem is that they are short of locomotives. If this is true, I would suggest that perhaps usurious provincial and federal taxes and silly requirements for locomotives to be depreciated over a 21 year period could have something to do with it.

However, locomotives can be rented. I understand the CPR has rented some. But it was poor planning on the part of both the railways and the Canadian Wheat Board that got them into the bind that they are in right now. We cannot blame it on the weather. Yes, it has been a hard winter. We have a lot of hard winters. They should have had their act together months ago and they should be sitting panting at the bar ready to go again. But they have completely mismanaged the system. That is why 46 ships are sitting in Vancouver harbour.

It is not just demurrage that the producers are going to lose. They are also going to lose about $50 million because of the falling markets that they are going to get into by being unable to ship right now.

A lot of this is due to historic inefficiency. We know that. But these historic inefficiencies are not addressed in the new amendments to the Railway Act, Bill C-14. There is nothing there to prevent this sort of thing. There is no pain or penalty to the railways if they do not organize their business and get the grain out when the ships are sitting there waiting for it. They get their money regardless of when they ship. They could haul that grain a year from now and they would still get the full freight rate on it. There is no pain, no penalty.

The Minister of Transport and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food have referred to short line railways. There is only one short line in Saskatchewan and that is in my riding. It is operated as co-op. It does a good job because the producers run the thing themselves. They are not stuck with the costs of picking up union successor rights from previous operators. But thanks to the successor rights it would be difficult, if not impossible, for small

corporations specializing in the business to operate these subdivisions which are now at risk.

A few minutes ago when I asked the Minister of Transport about this issue he neatly ducked and dodged and did not reply so to date I have not had an answer. I do not know what the intention is.

[Supply, February 13th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the minister in his remarks made reference to Bill C-14 as having made it easier to develop short line railways. We know quite a number of grain dependent subdivisions in western Canada that would make great short lines. However, all that Bill C-14 has done is it has expedited the ease with which railways can do an abandonment.

I do not see where it has helped with the creation of the short line. I would like him to elaborate a little on how short lines will be created, how Bill C-14 helps. In particular, could he elaborate on how potential buyers of short lines are going to be able to deal with the question of successor rights which, right now, is the really big stumbling block?

[Supply, February 13th, 1997]

Absolute bull.