Deepak Obhrai

[Judges Act, March 22nd, 2001]

Madam Speaker, I am sure the people in the gallery, who have taken the time to come here, and those who are listening, would like to hear what I have to say. If those members on that side of the House do not want to listen, they are welcome to go out and do something productive.

Backbenchers and serious members of parliament are here to discuss issues that are important, issues that our constituents want to discuss. If all hon. members had town hall meetings they would find out what the people want, what is important to them and what issues they want brought before the House of Commons. We were elected to do that, not to heckle and create all this nonsense.

Let us talk for a second about the Young Offenders Act which has again not been brought into the House of Commons. It has been discussed and discussed, petition after petition has been presented to the House and Canadians have been talking about it, but the government has not brought it in because it has not had the courage to do so.

[Judges Act, March 22nd, 2001]

I disagree with the hon. Liberal member when he says “so do we”.

However, the judges have used the reasoning that they will be subject to undue influence if they do not receive higher compensation. That was the reasoning for the 23%. In both cases, as the holders of the public purse, the government of Alberta and the Government of Canada at one time had tremendous difficulty agreeing to that level.

What this bill states is that one segment of our society feels that judges need to elevated to a level where there is no undue influence.

I believe almost all judges, especially the ones I know and have met, are people of high calibre and have high moral values, and people look to them to make fair judgments. However, when they say that their compensation should be at such a level that they will not be under undue influence, I think that is a contradiction. We put them there because of their high values. I hope we never have a situation in this country where a judge falls under undue influence just because there was no compensation. The compensation seems to be fairly adequate here.

The Alliance agrees that the compensation should be in line with the private sector. Even judges should get fair compensation, and nobody is saying they should not, but it should be done by an independent body, and this is not by an independent body.

That raises questions in the minds of Canadians. They look to the judges for respect, but when those kinds of arguments come forward, there is a slight loss of respect. Canadians are the ones who will end up in the courts to hear judgments. This issue is not the general trend in the economy nor is it the general trend in the community.

This raises the other questions of what is happening and what we should be debating here. Having said that, I think there are more important issues that need to be debated in the House than this bill.

I had a town hall meeting about a month ago in my riding. Close to 40 grandparents came to the town hall meeting to discuss an issue that was hurting them the most, the issue of grandparents' rights. As our society has moved forward, and tugs and pulls take place, marriages break down. At the end of the day, who pays? It is the grandparents who pay. They need attention. We need to address those kinds of issues, not this issue of judges' salaries.

For over six and a half years the government could not produce a Young Offenders Act. It keeps going on and on despite the hue and cry from the public. Every member over here has put forward petitions.

[Judges Act, March 22nd, 2001]

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise on behalf of my constituents of Calgary East to talk to Bill C-12, the Judges Act.

I share my colleague's view. This is the second time that I have risen in the House to talk about the Judges Act, an act that only talks about raising the salaries and benefits of judges. We have heard over a period of time, both in Alberta and here, that independent commissions have been set up. We have also heard the judges say that they need more compensation so they can be independent and not fall under pressure.

[Judges Act, March 22nd, 2001]

Madam Speaker, my hon. friend from Wild Rose was quite upset and quite rightly pointed out the important issues that the Chamber should be addressing. I know he has spent enormous time travelling to reserves. He has reserves in his riding that require attention.

Since we are talking about judges today, I would like to ask my hon. friend, from his experience in visiting the reserves, would he not think it more appropriate in the Chamber to address the issues that he has seen firsthand? Perhaps he could tell us as well of the judicial systems on the reserves that he thinks require reform.

[Member For Calgary Southwest, March 22nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I want to share with the House and the nation my thoughts on an outstanding Canadian who changed my life.

Years ago I heard the hon. member for Calgary Southwest talk about how we are all Canadians. No matter where we came from or how long we had been here, to him we were all Canadians. It was then that I became a member of the Reform Party of Canada. Later I won the nomination as a candidate for the party, and finally in the 1997 general election I was elected to this House.

Many of my colleagues here today and I still carry on the work of this courageous and highly principled Canadian. I only wish that House protocol would permit me to name Preston Manning as the man of whom I speak in the Chamber today—

[Supply, March 19th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to rise on behalf of the constituents of Calgary East to speak on today's supply day motion sponsored by the Canadian Alliance. I thank my colleague for Nanaimo—Cowichan for his excellent work in bringing this motion forward for debate.

Perhaps it is worthwhile to restate the motion before I begin my comments. The motion states:

That the government stipulate that in all Contribution Agreements between the Federal Government and individual Indians Bands, the use of any public funds be publicly reported and audited.

When Canadians look at what happening on reserves and what is happening with our brothers and sisters from the aboriginal communities, there is a kind of sadness and puzzlement. We have a huge amount of money being transferred to assist and to uplift the living standards of our brothers and sisters from the first nations.

When we look at what has gone on over the years, when we look at what is happening and when we look at the conditions on the reserves, we have to ask what is going on. Something is not right.

I commend the speaker who just spoke before me. She is from the first nations. I commend the efforts made by the first nations in working to bring their communities on par with the rest of the Canadians. I do not think anyone in the House would dispute what she said. I would like to be on the record of saying that I agree with what she said today. That is the essence of the debate is here today.

This motion is asking that all the public moneys that are transferred to the first nation bands be accounted for and be publicly reported and audited. The purpose is very simple. There has to be transparency and accountability. Without that we know there is a tendency to misuse funds. There is a tendency to maybe allocate funds to programs which may not be universally accessible to the communities or maybe even directed toward a smaller number. These are things that happen when there is no accountability and no transparency.

The motion in no way states that we, the Canadian Alliance members, do not have confidence in the first nations to run their affairs. We are very positive they have the confidence to do so. We are positive they can take destiny in their own hands, address these issues, move ahead and become part and parcel of the multicultural mosaic. We are rated the number one country in the world, yet when we look at what is happening on the reserves and with the first nations, we pause, we stand, we shake our heads and say that there is something wrong.

Speakers have highlighted ways and means that we can address these issues. It is time to address this issue. We cannot let this injustice carry on, not in Canada.

What is the the problem? The problem is not money, obviously. The total amount of money that is spent by the Indian affairs department on reserves is close to $20,000 for every individual.

The delivery of the programs and where the money has been spent is an issue. I do not think we are going to stand up and start accusing people about where this money is going or that it has been misused. The motion states that the funds should be publicly reported and audited. We are asking for accountability and transparency.

The leaders of the bands have a responsibility to be accountable and transparent. They cannot hide behind the fact that because they are leaders they are accountable to no one and that if the funds come to them they can go ahead and do whatever with them.

The first nations are people of Canada as well. The funds are going to help them. When we look at fellow Canadians living in conditions which are deplorable, then we absolutely have every right to ask why is this happening.

I have had the occasion to talk to many members of the first nations. A lot have stated that many in their reserves are doing very well. I commend those who are. I met many individuals from first nations who are extremely wealthy. They are are seizing the opportunities that are presented and are moving ahead. This makes us happy because they are our citizens. That is what we want. We want our brothers and sisters from first nations to share in the wealth, to share in the prosperity and to share in the future that I hope this nation collectively presents.

I heard the members across, who are from first nations, say that they are part and parcel of Canada. They are Canadian citizens. We should ask ourselves why can our follow citizens not grab the opportunities? Why are they not part and parcel of the same mosaic that everybody else is?

Therefore, we should start somewhere and this motion is a start. Asking for accountability does not mean that at the end of the day it will solve all the problems which are occurring. However, it is a start and we need to carry on. This is what we as parliamentarians are doing tonight. We have a voice and a say because these are public funds.

I neglected to say, Mr. Speaker, that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Skeena.

In conclusion, I am pleased to state that I am supporting this motion. I know, at the end of the day, it will help my my fellow Canadians get out of the deplorable situation which some of them are in. It will help them become equal partners.

[Statistics Act, March 16th, 2001]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-301, an act to amend the Statistics Act (ethnicity question).

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise on behalf of the constituents of Calgary East to introduce my private member's bill in the House today. The purpose of the bill is to ensure that no questions can be asked in the Statistics Canada population census to determine a person's ethnicity.

Ours is a great country that respects equal rights and equal opportunities for all Canadians. Laws, programs and services must be available for all. Our nation is blessed with people from all around the world. The one common thread that holds us all together is that we are all Canadians.

I hope my colleagues recognize the intent of the bill, which is to promote equality, because we are and will remain always Canadians.

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

[Right Of Landing Fee, March 2nd, 2001]

Madam Speaker, he can read Hansard to find out what he said.

I would like to congratulate my colleague from the NDP, whom I personally know. I know of his compassion for this issue. I would like to congratulate him for bringing forward this motion. He can count on my full support. He very eloquently stated his reasons for bringing forward the motion.

However, when I listened to the parliamentary secretary I started shaking my head. What he fails to realize is that I also happen to be an immigrant who came to this country, so I can relate to what he is trying to talk about.

Let me first make one thing very clear, one thing the parliamentary secretary neglected to say, and that is that every potential immigrant pays over $500 as a processing fee. The government is already charging every immigrant a processing fee of approximately $545, so when he says that this fee is for speeding up the system, he is wrong. It is not. It is a head tax. It is a tax that goes into general revenue.

Second, the parliamentary secretary said that this tax has not harmed people coming into this country. I would like to remind him of something. When a country has a law and a system that starts discriminating one way or another, is that right just because other people are taking advantage of it? It is not right.

Let me tell the House why I say the system discriminates against others. I will speak about a family of four who have to pay $975 each. That is close to over $3,000 for that family to immigrate to Canada. Add the $575 processing fee to that amount and each individual is paying approximately $1,500 to get into this country, and the parliamentary secretary wants to tell me that those who arrive with their family cannot afford to pay.

There are good people from all parts of world who want to immigrate to this country. Do they need to have money to be good people, to be skilled people? No, they do not. They can come from any part of the world, but if they do not have money, how will they come here?

The government of course says it has a loan program. Yahoo. So before people arrive here they are in debt. They can come to Canada but they will be in debt. The government will say it is giving them money. Perhaps the parliamentary secretary should tell us how much interest the government is charging and how much money it makes out of this.

When the government introduced the bill in 1995, I think, it was for everybody, including refugees. In 1997 I brought forward a private member's bill asking for this tax to be removed for refugees. Now the member stands up very proudly and says that the government removed the tax.

Let me tell members what compelled them to remove it, because I happened to be here in the House. The tax was removed because of the 5,000 Kosovo refugees who were brought to Canada. I am glad they were brought here. Five thousand refugees suddenly came into the country and suddenly the government knew this was the wrong system. The government could not charge 5,000 people who were refugee war victims the right of landing fee. All of a sudden a bright light went on, and the government said it couldn't charge it. That is when it was abolished. It was not abolished out of compassion but because the right of landing fee could not be implemented.

The parliamentary secretary has stated that the government has listened to Canadians. This surprises me. How has it listened? By a poll. What that means to me is that the government is run by polls. It is interesting how the government is run by polls. The government takes a poll and justifies its actions by saying that Canadians have said this, so it applies a fee.

The parliamentary secretary says the government is assisting immigrants. I would like to ask him a question based on my own experience when I came to this country and on the experience of thousands of others who have come here. How many people who come to this country actually use the so-called settlement services he is talking about? I did not when I came here and I can tell the House that the majority of immigrants who come to Canada do not use settlement services. Why is it, then, that the money is going into general revenues?

Something is wrong when the government wants to justify this by saying that this is a service provided to every immigrant. That is absolutely wrong. Does the parliamentary secretary have the figures? I would love to have figures from the department to see what percentage of the total number of immigrants uses the settlement services for which the government is justifying this right of landing fee.

The argument the government has made in justifying this does not hold water. Every immigrant group in the country has stated that this is a discriminatory tax. It is a head tax, despite what the government says. It is hated. The fact of the matter is that it is a tax because immigrants are already being charged a processing fee. We are not talking about a processing fee. We are talking about a head tax.

This head tax is wrong. It gives money to the government for general revenue. There are thousands of applications coming in and despite the member's claim that the government wants to improve and speed up the processing system with this extra money it is getting, that has not happened. I can tell the House that any member of parliament here who deals with immigration is seeing longer and longer delays. The government's argument for having this tax does not hold water.

In conclusion, I would like to thank my colleague in the NDP for bringing out this issue. Although this is non-votable, it has given us an opportunity to show the weakness of the government's argument as to why it has this head tax.

[Right Of Landing Fee, March 2nd, 2001]

Madam Speaker, excuse me. I am honestly laughing at the last remarks of the parliamentary secretary. He compares criminals, human smuggling, and says that is more expensive, and the $975 the government is charging is justifiable. I cannot believe he is tying these things together.

[Emancipation Day, March 1st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank all parties for supporting this initiative. This initiative recognizes a very important part of what has happened in the world history and the role that Canada and important people have played to take away suffering. I would like to thank those who have made speeches tonight and joined in the debate.

I would also like to join my colleague in saying that I feel extremely sad that the member on the other side took this opportunity to play politics. She could not understand that this was a private member's motion, an initiative. She is a descendant of slaves. She should have been out there supporting this. However, she closed her remarks with unfortunate partisan politics that has brought this debate down two notches.

I hope, and I join my colleague, that the importance of the motion remains, irrespective of what she said and irrespective of the government deputy House leader not trying to make this a votable bill, despite the fact that the government keeps talking about multiculturalism.

Let us stay focused on what the motion is all about which is the importance of the abolishment of slavery, basic rights of human beings.