Ralph Goodale

[Voisey's Bay, September 29th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the objective of the Government of Canada, as with all the other players in the potential Voisey's Bay development, is the development of an environmentally sound project whose benefits are shared in a responsible manner by all the key stakeholders. The Government of Canada has been working with all the other partners to facilitate the necessary agreements among all the players to allow the project to go forward in a proper manner.

The hon. gentleman will know that there are a number of players. The Government of Canada is only one of several that are participating.

[Agriculture, April 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the arrangements with respect to the phasing down of the dairy subsidy over a number of years is a matter that involves considerable technical consideration. It is not the sort of proposition that is just scribbled down on the back of an envelope.

Accordingly I have had lengthy discussions with the dairy industry. I am scheduled to meet with the dairy farmers of Canada again later this afternoon. There is a good spirit of positive co-operation in trying to find the appropriate mechanism that will accomplish the objective both dairy farmers and dairy processors have in mind.

May I say that I am sorry to hear the hon. member renege on his support for supply management.

[Agriculture, April 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the provision the hon. gentleman is referring to was contained in the 1996 budget. Since the budget has been in the public domain and subject to public discussion, dairy producers and dairy processors have made the argument, which has behind it some considerable force of logic, that it would be more convenient and more economically efficient in our dairy system to consider any appropriate price changes at the beginning of February, not on January 1 but on February 1 as opposed to August 1 which has been the tradition over a number of years.

The recommendation of both the processors and producers is under active consideration by the government. As soon as we are in a position to confirm the appropriate arrangements we will make them public.

Given the tenor and tone of the hon. gentlemen's question, I welcome his very strong endorsement of supply management.

[Grain, April 21st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman should know-he may have missed it in his dramatic search for hyperbole and overblown rhetoric-that I do not make these announcements. The Canadian Wheat Board makes these announcements in the ordinary course of events. As rapidly as the Canadian Wheat Board is in a position to do so and taking into account all relevant circumstances the announcement will be made, election or no election.

[Grain, April 21st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, as the Canadian Wheat Board indicated a short time ago, it has made certain recommendations with respect to initial payments. Those recommendations are in the normal course under consideration at the present time.

The hon. gentleman will know that under this government we have dramatically shortened the response time to that kind of recommendation from the Canadian Wheat Board. Under our predecessors recommendations sometimes took several months to be acted upon. In the case of this government we have shortened the time to a matter of a few days when the consideration is completed.

The Canadian Wheat Board will announce the result in the ordinary course taking into account the very important consideration that one would not want to put the guarantees in jeopardy, which is a matter of very significant concern to the Minister of Finance.

[Grain, April 17th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I sometimes wonder what part of the word no these people fail to understand. Let me be clear.

There is no gap. There is no limit. There is no agreement. There is no inclination on the part of Canada to move in that direction.

Our grain trade with the United States is fair. It is fully within the rules of the WTO and the NAFTA. It has been investigated three times by the United States. On every occasion Canadian grain trading practices have been vindicated and we shall continue to defend ourselves.

[Canada Marine Act, April 16th, 1997]

moved that Bill C-44, an act for making the system of Canadian ports competitive, efficient and commercially oriented, providing for the establishing of port authorities and the divesting of certain harbours and ports, for the commercialization of the St. Lawrence Seaway and ferry services and other matters related to maritime trade and transport and amending the Pilotage Act and amending and repealing other acts as a consequence, be read the third time and passed.

[Tariffs On Agricultural Products, April 15th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, we said in 1993 that we would fight very hard to defend the interests of Canadian farmers in the final round of the GATT negotiations, and we did that.

We said following 1993 that if the United States should challenge us under the NAFTA we would defend our supply management system, and we did that.

Farmers in Canada may rest assured that this government stands firmly behind them in every set of trade negotiations.

[Employment, April 11th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the last budget provided about $275 million in tax benefits to help all students and parents to defray the costs of post-secondary education.

Second, my department is developing a national agricultural scholarships program and is committing about $1 million over the next two years to provide 30 masters and doctoral awards per year in agricultural related fields.

Third, within the national system of internships, which is being supported by the government, there is a science horizons program to assist young Canadians interested in finding first jobs related to the agricultural sciences. That is a part of the internship strategy.

Finally, we have a summer fair program by which we will be providing Canada kiosks at some 164 rural locations across the country. They will be managed on a local level by 4-H members across the country.

[Agriculture, March 10th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, there are two aspects to that question. The latter point was about a change in the timing for the period during which the phase down of the dairy subsidy would occur.

That request was put to me a number of weeks ago by the dairy farmers of Canada, I understand with the support of the National Dairy Council. That request is under active consideration as we speak. I hope to be in a position to respond to the dairy industry within the next short while.

On the other point, the comparison between the Canadian situation and the American situation, I point out to the hon. member one fundamental distinction. In the United States there is essentially an open market system with respect to the dairy industry. In Canada we have a supply management system which was instituted by a Liberal government and not three months ago was thoroughly, totally and successfully defended by the government before the NAFTA commission.