CANADA House of Commons Debates VOLUME 137 Ï NUMBER 124 Ï 1st SESSION Ï 37th PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Tuesday, December 4, 2001 Speaker: The Honourable Peter Milliken CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) All parliamentary publications are available on the ``Parliamentary Internet Parlementaire´´ at the following address: http://www.parl.gc.ca 7797 HOUSE OF COMMONS Tuesday, December 4, 2001 The House met at 10 a.m. He said: Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for FundyRoyal for supporting the private member's bill, an act respecting Canadian citizenship. Prayers The PC/DR coalition bill is about Canadian citizenship. It speaks to and unites all Canadians, Canadians by birth and Canadians by Ï (1000) choice. The bill would ensure there is only one class of citizenship in [English] Canada, unlike the last Liberal bill, Bill C-31, which promoted two classes of citizenship. BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Mr. Jason Kenney (Calgary Southeast, Canadian Alliance): It is time for Canada to have a new citizenship bill, an act for all Mr. Speaker, under the business of supply today there is an Canadians. opposition motion in the name of the hon. Leader of the Opposition. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed) Due to circumstances beyond his control he is unable to be here this *** morning. I therefore seek unanimous consent to allow the supply motion to stand in my name. [Translation] Ï (1005) QUESTIONS ON THE ORDER PAPER The Speaker: Is there unanimous consent to proceed in this way? Mr. Geoff Regan (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I Some hon. members: Agreed. ask that the remaining questions be allowed to stand. The Speaker: Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed. ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS [English] GOVERNMENT ORDERS COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE [Translation] HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT AND THE STATUS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES SUPPLY Mrs. Judi Longfield (WhitbyAjax, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I have ALLOTTED DAYUPCOMING BUDGET OF MINISTER OF FINANCE the honour to present, in both official languages, the sixth report of Mr. Jason Kenney (Calgary Southeast, Canadian Alliance) the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the moved: Status of Persons with Disabilities entitled The Guaranteed Income That, in the opinion of this House, the upcoming budget should: Supplement: The Duty to Reach All. Pursuant to Standing Order (a) reallocate financial resources from low and falling priorities into higher need 109, your committee requests the government to table a compre- areas, such as national security; hensive response to the report. (b) reverse the unbudgeted spending increases to a maximum growth rate of inflation plus population; The report contains seven recommendations that strive to address (c) increase national security and defence spending by $3 billion; a longstanding problem that has adversely affected a sizeable (d) reduce Employment Insurance (EI) premiums by at least 15 cents for next year number of low income seniors for too many years. and continue reducing EI premiums to the break-even rate as soon as possible; (e) commit to enhancing job creation by eliminating the capital tax over a *** maximum of three years beginning with a minimum 25% cut this year; and (f) sell non-core government assets and use the proceeds to accelerate debt CODE OF CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP reduction. Mr. Inky Mark (DauphinSwan River, PC/DR) moved for The Speaker: Today being the last allotted day for the supply leave to introduce Bill C-417, an act respecting Canadian citizen- period ending December 10, 2001, the House will now proceed as ship. usual to the consideration and passage of a supply bill. 7798 COMMONS DEBATES December 4, 2001 Supply In view of recent practices, do hon. members agree that this bill be defence budget to come up to the average expenditure of our treaty now distributed? allies. Some hon. members: Agreed. Ï (1010) I do not have time to detail the sorry state of our equipment and [English] the fact that our personnel dropped from over 90,000 to some 56,000 Mr. Jason Kenney: Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with in the past few years. The government cut its defence budget more my colleague, the member for EdmontonStrathcona. This motion than any other departmental budget reflecting that defence was the is an effort on the part of the official opposition to allow parliament government's lowest priority. Now we find that the world has to express itself in advance of the federal budget expected six days changed. We have been mugged by reality and our holiday from from now. history is over. It is a budget which will come some 652 days since the last accounting to this place by the Minister of Finance. It will constitute The utopian Liberal notion that peace is a normal condition of the longest period without a budget being presented to parliament. humankind is no longer the case. We find ourselves part of an This is yet another example of the government's long and formidable international struggle against terrorism by moral and treaty record of contempt for this place and its conventions of democratic obligations. We must put adequate resources back into defence, accountability. the RCMP and CSIS. The latter two have fewer personnel and lower It is an important convention that allows the executive branch to budgets in real and nominal terms than they did when the present comprehensive accounts of the nation's fiscal and economic government came to office in 1993. health to this place. It is a convention which is at the heart of parliament and it is contemptuous for the government to have waited for over 652 days to satisfy that important tradition. Ï (1015) What exactly is going on with this budget exercise? The government is floating trial balloons about another budget coming We must invest more in customs and immigration services, down perhaps next February or March. We read stories about open technology and personnel. We must increase our ability to screen public cabinet fights over the content of the budget, a document would-be criminals and terrorists who seek entry into Canada. The normally produced with some internal coherence by the government. coast guard needs additional resources to allow it to more effectively The Minister of Industry is actively lobbying businesses to lobby the monitor incoming vessels along our enormous unguarded coastline. government to include his political agenda items in the budget. We need to do all these things. We hear the finance minister's acolytes publicly attacking the industry minister for so doing and suggesting, hopefully, that his $6 billion in requested pork will not find its way into the budget. On the The official opposition calls for an immediate injection of at least weekend a senior member of the Prime Minister's Office said: $2 billion of annual funding into the Department of National This budget will be written by one person. It happens to be the Prime Minister of Defence and further increases into that department so that eventually Canada, not the Minister of Finance. we could move toward achieving the NATO average. Clearly that What is going on? Who is minding the store? Who is in charge of cannot be achieved overnight. It ought to be our goal as it is our the nation's finances? Why is it that we cannot have normal regular obligation, both legal and moral. accounts to the nation on an annual basis in this place like we had for some 130 years? I simply do not understand. We need to spend immediately approximately $1 billion dollars to The budget will be a test for the government as to whether or not it increase the infrastructure and personnel for other non-military can get its priorities straight. Canadians have their priorities straight. security areas that I mentioned earlier. Together we are looking for a They understand that in the post-September 11 environment the top minimum of $3 billion in immediate annual funding. The priority of the government must be, as it always ought to have been government is talking about $3 billion in security funding spread and should have been for a federal government, the maintenance of over five years. That is not adequate. We are talking about a national security and the protection of citizens. That is the first downpayment on restoring security to Canada and Canadians. obligation of a federal government. That is an obligation which for too long has been sloughed off by the government. We will first be looking to see whether or not the government gets Let me say that $3 billion could be achieved notwithstanding the its priorities straight in terms of reallocating resources from low and zero sum mentality of the government without increasing overall falling priority areas to the urgently imperative priorities of national spending. We could achieve that by reallocating fiscal resources security and defence. Our defence capability and security services from low and falling priorities. One of the problems the government are sorely underfunded and underresourced. Canadians spend 1.1% has in fiscal management is that with all the various interest groups it of our gross domestic product on national defence. That is about half tries to satisfy it sees nothing as a low priority but everything as an of the NATO average of 2.2%. We would require a doubling of the equally high priority. December 4, 2001 COMMONS DEBATES 7799 Supply We have identified at least $6 billion in low priority and wasteful access to health care. It is ensuring that whether or not someone spending in areas like corporate welfare; regional development living in a rural or remote community has an opportunity by using schemes that do not work; grants and contributions to interest groups today's technology to have first class medical service.