Ralph Goodale

[Agriculture, December 3rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I was in Geneva in December 1993 in the final hours of the Uruguay round. I know of the dramatic impact on our supply managed farmers of relinquishing old article 11 under the old GATT in return for comprehensive tariffication under the new World Trade Organization.

We negotiated a solid economic environment for supply management under the WTO and we promised to defend that. We kept our promise. We succeeded in a very strong NAFTA panel ruling yesterday. That ruling says our tariff equivalents are consistent both with the WTO and the NAFTA and that it applies to ice cream and yogurt.

[Canadian Wheat Board Act, December 3rd, 1996]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-72, an act to amend the Canadian Wheat Board Act and to make consequential amendments to other acts.

Mr. Speaker, I simply wish to inform the House that in accordance with Standing Order 73(1), it is the intention of the government that this bill be referred to a committee before second reading.

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

[Agriculture, December 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, this program involved 242,000 applications. It covered 77.6 million acres of farm land, 720,000 different parcels which had to be adjusted for 924 distance factors and over a dozen different soil zones. This was the largest and most complicated program of its kind in Canadian history.

I am very pleased to note the auditor general's observations. He said in his report: "Nothing came to our attention in the course of our review to suggest that there were significant problems with these payments". Given the dour and taciturn nature of auditors, that is as close as we can come to high praise.

[Constitution Amendment, December 2nd, 1996]

moved:

WHEREAS section 43 of the Constitution Act, 1982 provides that an amendment to the Constitution of Canada may be made by proclamation issued by the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada where so authorized by resolutions of the Senate and House of Commons and of the legislative assembly of each province to which the amendment applies;

NOW THEREFORE the House of Commons resolves that an amendment to the Constitution of Canada be authorized to be made by proclamation issued by His Excellency the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada in accordance with the schedule hereto.

SCHEDULE

AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF CANADA

1. Term 17 of the Terms of Union of Newfoundland with Canada set out in the Schedule to the Newfoundland Act is repealed and the following substituted therefor:

"17. In lieu of section ninety-three of the Constitution Act 1867, the following shall apply in respect of the Province of Newfoundland:

In and for the Province of Newfoundland, the Legislature shall have exclusive authority to make laws in relation to education but a ) except as provided in paragraphs ( b ) and ( c ), schools established, maintained and operated with public funds shall be denominational schools, and any class of persons having rights under this Term as it read on January 1, 1995 shall continue to have the right to provide for religious education, activities and observances for the children of that class in those schools, and the group of classes that formed one integrated school system by agreement in 1969 may exercise the same rights under this Term as a single class of persons; b ) subject to provincial legislation that is uniformly applicable to all schools specifying conditions for the establishment or continued operation of schools,

(i) any class of persons referred to in paragraph ( a ) shall have the right to have a publicly funded denominational school established, maintained and operated especially for that class, and

(ii) the Legislature may approve the establishment, maintenance and operation of a publicly funded school, whether denominational or non-denominational; c ) where a school is established, maintained and operated pursuant to subparagraph ( b ) (i), the class of persons referred to in that subparagraph shall continue to have the right to provide for religious education, activities and observances and to direct the teaching of aspects of curriculum affecting religious beliefs, student admission policy and the assignment and dismissal of teachers in that school; d ) all schools referred to in paragraphs ( a ) and ( b ) shall receive their share of public funds in accordance with scales determined on a non-discriminatory basis from time to time by the Legislature; and e ) if the classes of persons having rights under this Term so desire, they shall have the right to elect in total not less than two thirds of the members of a school board, and any class so desiring shall have the right to elect the portion of that total that is proportionate to the population of that class in the area under the board's jurisdiction.''

Citation

1. This Amendment may be cited as the Constitution Amendment, year of proclamation (Newfoundland Act).

[Ways And Means, December 2nd, 1996]

moved that a ways and means motion to amend the Excise Tax Act, the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, the Income Tax Act, the Debt Servicing and Reduction Account Act and related acts, laid upon the table on Friday, November 29, be concurred in.

[Ways And Means, December 2nd, 1996]

moved that a ways a means motion to amend the Income Tax Act, the Income Tax Application Rules, the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Canada pension plan, the Children's Special Allowances Act, the Cultural Property Export and Import Act, the Customs Act, the Employment Insurance Act, the Excise Tax Act, the Old Age Security Act, the Tax Court of Canada Act, the Tax Rebate Discounting Act, the Unemployment Insurance Act, the Western Grain Transition Payments Act and certain acts related to the Income Tax Act, laid upon the table on Wednesday, November 20, be concurred in.

[Agriculture And Agri-Food Canada, November 27th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman raises a point which I will be happy to investigate further.

The critical issue that we must be very careful about is food safety. We had an issue arise a number of years ago with respect to surplus food being brought into Canada and used by certain British troops who were training at the Suffield station in Alberta. They brought their own rations with them. There were surplus rations. We were asked if we would allow those rations to be donated to a food bank. It seemed like a good idea. However, upon reflection we refused to give that permission because of the risk of contaminated food being transferred. As it turned out, that judgment in that case was absolutely correct because of the subsequent BST fiasco in the United Kingdom.

While I do not mean to link that case to the one referred to by the hon. gentleman, I use it as an example to illustrate the very high standards of food quality we maintain in Canada, not only in the commercial sector but also in the food bank sector.

[Chemical Product Industry, November 27th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman is touching upon an issue that he, this government and I regard to be very important.

That is the harmonization of our regulatory systems in relation to our trading partners around the world, and of course in the North American context most particularly with the United States and Mexico.

When I say harmonization, I want to make the point very clear that we are not in any way talking about lowering Canadian standards. Our standards are the best in the world. We will continue to ensure that Canada's food system is the safest and highest quality in the world.

There are ways in which we can make savings through harmonization. I would advise that those discussions with our NAFTA partners are already under way and are already making progress. We are developing a pilot project for the joint review of applications for new products in the future.

[Chemical Product Industry, November 27th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I presume the question refers to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency which is under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Health.

On the minister's behalf I want to assure the hon. gentleman that the government has been in very close dialogue with all of the stakeholders that may be potentially affected by the new Pest Management Regulatory Agency. Every effort is being made to incorporate their very helpful advice into the administration of the agency to make sure that it can be operated on the most economical basis possible. Provision is being made for an economic stakeholders advisory committee so that those stakeholders who will be affected by this regulatory system can have ongoing input into the future. The objective is to make this system efficient so that the cost savings can accrue back to the industry which would be subject to that regulation.

[Food Inspection Agency, November 7th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to say that this regulatory process does fall under the jurisdiction of the minister of agriculture.

I am happy to assure my hon. friend and the seafood industry that there will be no loss of expertise in the new Canadian food inspection agency. The current Department of Fisheries and Oceans inspection staff and all of their professional experience and expertise will be transferred to the agency to ensure that there are no gaps in service and no gaps in the quality of service.

The seafood industry will benefit from this process, from a broader base of support to food inspection in general and by better co-ordination of all of the government's inspection resources. We will of course have new flexibilities under the legislation in terms of financial and human resources to make the system better than it is today.