Lynne Yelich

[Citizenship and Immigration, October 4th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, we read in the media this morning that the minister welcomes Ontario's initiative to enforce deportation orders but in committee today her own colleague dismissed the idea as grandstanding.

We are left wondering what the government's real position is.

Will the minister commit unequivocally to working with Ontario and any other province that comes forward to pick up the slack in the deportation of people illegally in Canada?

[Points of Order, September 28th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration suggested in question period that I had pleaded on behalf of immigrants that exceptions to the Immigration Act be made for them. That is not true. However I was trying to point out that errors are made by the department in applying the law.

[Immigration, September 28th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, immigration officials are saying that the deportees would have a difficult time living in Canada without identification, yet we have seen reports this week about how easy it is to forge identification documents.

When will the security of Canadians be a priority for the minister?

[Immigration, September 28th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, immigration officials have lost track of 27,000 people who were supposed to be deported. It is almost the equivalent to the population of cities like Brandon or Charlottetown. It is the whole population of Nunavut.

When will the minister put the resources into enforcement so that we do not lose track of another 27,000 deportees?

[Agriculture, September 27th, 2001]

Mr. Chairman, I am going to talk about Saskatchewan. Only nine per cent of the earth's surface is suitable for the production of food. Saskatchewan has more than 65 million acres of agricultural land which consists of cultivated land and grazing land. This represents 39% of Canada's total. We produce 38% of the primary agricultural exports. It is important for people to realize that Saskatchewan is a major producer.

The member across the way talked about the wheat board and how he was among those who helped form the Canadian Wheat Board. He is from Ontario and I am very surprised. He made reference to being an elected official responsible to constituents. I see the wheat board more like a committee where there are eight Liberals and seven opposition members with all the powerful positions being in that area. The Canadian Wheat Board has 10 elected and five appointed members. It is dominated and it is more like a committee than like being responsible to constituents.

I did have a speech but I prefer to raise this issue and if I had the cheque here, I would table it. A farmer wanted to buy school clothes and supplies this fall. He took his 2,100 bushels of wheat to the elevator and the cheque he got had three zeros, it was for $0.00.

I am not going to get into numbers, but these are some of the costs that came off. He had to pay for weighing and inspection, CWB/FAF deductions, elevation, terminal cleaning, and rail freight which was $1,430.74. In Saskatchewan we pay a lot more for freight than most other provinces. Then there was an advance refund. It was really nice to see that our minister of agriculture gave him an advance in the spring, but it was taken off his first truckload of wheat to the elevator this fall. Was that done with the Bombardier loan guarantees? Is it taken off the first plane that goes out? The farmer also had to pay for coordinated trucking, accounts receivable, which the farmer owed for chemicals he used in the spring and charged to his account, and there was a deferred amount that is an accommodation for the farmer. He had 2,100 bushels of wheat and got a cheque for zero dollars.

As the member for Elk Island mentioned, one bushel of wheat is worth $3.18 and produces 42 pounds of flour, enough to make 68 or 72 loaves of bread. Imagine how many loaves of bread have been made with that 2,100 bushels of wheat. In Saskatchewan we have grown up to five billion, accounting for 47% of Saskatchewan's total exports. That is our contribution to agriculture. We are stuck with approximately $15,000 per year per farm operation for transportation. Revenue user fees have gone up as much as 300% over the past years.

Those things are real. It is not just about saving the family farm anymore. It is about saving an industry.

I have a friend who was widowed at 40 years of age with four children, from nine to 15 years of age. When her husband died they were in bad shape on their farm. They had just gone through the Trudeau years, during which farming really suffered. She almost lost the farm but she learned to drive the tractor, she took a course, her kids took up farming and they decided to save the farm.

However she was hit with kidney disease and needed a kidney transplant. Her boys have helped her by taking over the farm. They now have to work up north in the oil fields to help save the family farm. She saved it by going back and learning how to drive a tractor. These kids will save it by going up north. It is not just up north, it is where nobody wants to go.

I want to make the point that it is about more than saving the family farm. We are talking about an industry. Saskatchewan should be more respected. When I hear how Saskatchewan gets all of these numbers of dollars, I challenge the minister of agriculture to show me the money. We have not seen it yet.

[Citizenship and Immigration, September 26th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian immigration and refugee claimants are demanding the immediate implementation of a secure ID card. The minister says that she will fast track their deployment. How fast is the fast track?

Will the minister kindly tell Canadians by what date she will fully implement these cards?

[Terrorism, September 25th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, we are happy to hear that, for we know we do have serious problems with our immigration documentation. Our documents are way too easy to forge.

Again, will the minister please give Canadians a reassurance that the government will act immediately to put a secure identity system in place?

[Terrorism, September 25th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, for years the government has known that the immigration ID process has serious security problems.

September 11 makes all Canadians realize that a secure ID card is needed immediately to curb a terrorist threat.

Could the minister tell all Canadians why we should wait until 2003 for a secure ID process?

[Foreign Affairs, September 18th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Fast still has not been heard from. British, Japanese and American embassy officials are taking care of their nationals. Our government still has citizens unaccounted for.

Dr. Fast's family wants to know why the government has allowed this to happen to our citizens abroad.

[Foreign Affairs, September 18th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago the Canadian government sent Canadian teacher Dr. Raymond Fast to Pakistan. With tensions escalating in the region, western governments are now pulling their people out of the country.

The Canadian government first hesitated then advised Dr. Fast to leave immediately. At 2 o'clock this morning Dr. Fast, without a visa, had to rent a car and now is trying to get out. Dr. Fast and his family are wondering why the government is abandoning them.