Joe Clark

[Health, April 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, regarding inbound passengers, yesterday the son of the member of Parliament for Dauphin--Swan River arrived in Vancouver on Air Canada flight 30 direct from Beijing. He and other passengers filled out a card in Beijing, but they were not screened either in Beijing or in Vancouver. They were not asked any questions about SARS. They were not given any information on what to do if they began to display symptoms. They just walked off the plane.

How does the Minister of Health explain that? Does Canada's safety depend on cards handed out in Beijing?

[Points of Order, April 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I of course accept the rulings of the Chair. I wonder why the Speaker said “at this stage”.

[Points of Order, April 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Health--if I can get her attention, she is not going to get a Tony award for this--accused me of a “fabrication”, which is a word that I believe to be unparliamentary. I wonder if after consideration she would do the appropriate thing and withdraw that word.

[Health, April 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, will the beleaguered Minister of Health acknowledge that the lifting of the World Health Organization travel advisory comes with a condition? Will she admit that the condition is enhanced screening of air passengers? Will she admit that it is precisely what she has repeatedly said was not necessary? And will Canada now accept that condition?

[Member for Hamilton East, April 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. Page 2 of the Prime Minister's own guide for ministers and secretaries of state says, and I quote: “Ministers cannot dissociate themselves from or repudiate the decisions of their Cabinet colleagues unless they resign from the Cabinet”. Has the minister of heritage resigned or do the cabinet guidelines mean nothing at all?

[Health, April 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, in January the minister of international development visited China. During that visit did she become aware of any information regarding the early stages of a new, unexplained, infectious disease in China? Did she, either during her trip or upon her return to Canada, discuss with her colleagues or her officials the potential implications for Canada of the new disease she had heard about in China?

[National Defence, April 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has pledged to take command of the defence forces in Kabul this summer. When that promise was made, the senior officer responsible for military planning resigned.

Our Hercules are grounded. How does the minister plan to get our troops and supplies to Afghanistan? Can the minister tell the House whether Canada is able to fulfill its commitment without asking NATO to do the heavy lifting?

[National Defence, April 28th, 2003]

Canada has pledged to take command of the defence forces in Kabul--

[National Defence, April 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, that might sell in the Dominican Republic, but it does not sell here.

[Health, April 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, on April 1 the Minister of Health told the House that the government had “been in constant contact with the WHO” regarding SARS. The minister knew that the World Health Organization believed her department's screening requirements for air passengers were inadequate. She knew that disagreement could cause a travel advisory against Toronto. She knew that only a direct intervention by the Prime Minister could have stopped the travel advisory before it was issued.

Since the government knew all of that, why did the Prime Minister do nothing until it was too late?