Maria Minna

[Hiv/Aids, May 31st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow we, along with the partners that CIDA works with all over the world, will begin to look at the best practices on the ground that we use.

We will try to approach the problem in a more collective way and in a more aggressive way. As well we will look at new therapies such as mother to child transmission, one of the major problems; access to medication, another major problem; and how we begin to address the millions of orphans who are being left behind by this horrible pandemic.

[Cultural Heritage, May 31st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, yes, I do want to answer because neither I nor the Minister of Finance attended a Tamil Tiger event. We attended a cultural event of the Tamil community of Toronto.

I lived for decades under the accusation that the Italian Canadian community was Mafiosi and part of the Mafia. I will not tar the whole of the Tamil community in the same manner.

[International Co-Operation, May 29th, 2000]

Yes, that is what he said. Mr. Speaker, it is pure racism.

We attended a cultural event with Canadian born citizens who were celebrating a cultural event. I resent the kind of connotation and the amalgamation the hon. member is putting together. The Tigers are not—

[International Co-Operation, May 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the premise of the member's question is an event that the Minister of Finance and I attended. The fact that he is equating the Tigers with the whole of the Tamil community including the young woman that was thrown—

[International Co-Operation, May 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and I are co-sponsoring an international conference on war affected children in the fall. UNICEF has agreed to cohost a meeting of world experts at the conference for us and that is what this morning's announcement was about.

As hon. members know, children are affected by war in many different ways. In Sierra Leone and many other places of conflict there are child soldiers and young girls who are abducted and turned into sex slaves. There are also the children who are displaced or who end up being heads of households as a result of conflict, as we have seen in Rwanda. This conference intends to bring together world experts.

[Cida, May 8th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I find this very offensive. I had dinner with 600 law-abiding citizens and residents of Toronto. In my speech that evening I said that I supported the Government of Sri Lanka in negotiating a peaceful resolution to the conflict. I said that I supported the Norway attempt at finding a peaceful resolution, and I got a standing ovation.

The people who were in that room want peace to be negotiated in their homeland. They were not there for any other reason.

[Foreign Affairs, May 4th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, first, I am very proud of the lead role that Canada played at the forum, including the drafting of the final strategy which calls for action on the ground.

One of the first things we are doing is calling for all the developing countries to make education one of their major priorities, including transparency in their budgets. Canada is committed to working with any country that makes education one of its major priorities.

I announced several projects while I was there. One of them was for $50 million to Senegal which has made a major commitment to education for all children, especially girls.

[Vietnam, May 3rd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, the actions of the Vietnamese government have been abhorrent to us and I have indefinitely postponed all discussions on existing and future programming. The only programs we are running in Vietnam are poverty reduction programs.

I will be meeting with my colleague the Minister of Foreign Affairs when he gets back to Canada. We will be looking at further action.

At this point, I have no plans to resume consultations with the Government of Vietnam.

[Foreign Affairs, May 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, it is evident that not only Canada but the World Bank and many other organizations were working with Vietnam to assist it to become a modern, democratic, moral society.

Obviously what has happened in the last number of days has been absolutely unacceptable. It is why, as I already said to the hon. member, I have stopped all consultations on future programming for Vietnam at this point.

[Foreign Affairs, May 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, first I want to say that our bilateral program is $16 million. As a result of the horrendous behaviour of the Vietnamese government, I have postponed indefinitely all consultations on future programming in Vietnam.