CANADA VOLUME 137 S NUMBER 057 S 1st SESSION S 37th PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Tuesday, May 8, 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 3701 HOUSE OF COMMONS Tuesday, May 8, 2001 The House met at 10 a.m. have the honour to present the 13th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the member- _______________ ship of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Internation- al Trade, and I would like to move concurrence at this time. Prayers _______________ (Motion agreed to) D (1005) * * * [Translation] POINT OF ORDER PETITIONS TABLING OF DOCUMENTS POISON CONTROL Mr. Stéphane Bergeron (Verchères—Les-Patriotes, BQ): Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Mr. Maurice Vellacott (Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, Canadian I like to think that the government has nothing at all against Alliance): Madam Speaker, I have a petition with the names of transparency or truth, so I am amazed that day after day it is farmers from across Saskatchewan wanting the government to give refusing consent to the tabling of the proof specifically requested them the necessary tools to fight a severe infestation of gophers. by the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, the one linking the Auberge Grand-Mère with the Grand-Mère golf club. They are calling on the federal government to amend regulations to permit the sale of concentrated liquid strychnine to registered Once again, I ask for unanimous consent to table this document. farmers until an effective alternative can be found. Gophers are The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bakopanos): Does the hon. member destroying hundreds of acres of pasture and grain land every year have the unanimous consent of the House to table this document? and to a great extent the farmers are powerless to stop them. Some hon. members: Agreed. The petitioners hope their petition will convince the federal Some hon. members: No. government to relax the restrictions on strychnine poison so that farmers can get the gopher problem under control. We appreciate _____________________________________________ the opportunity to bring this grave and serious problem to the attention of the House. ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS * * * [English] GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO PETITIONS D (1010 ) Mr. Derek Lee (Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Madam Speaker, QUESTIONS ON THE ORDER PAPER pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government’s response to two petitions. Mr. Derek Lee (Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Madam Speaker, I * * * ask that all questions be allowed to stand. COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE Mr. Greg Thompson (New Brunswick Southwest, PC): Mad- PROCEDURE AND HOUSE AFFAIRS am Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I have a number of questions that have been on the order paper in excess of 60 days. I should not Mr. Derek Lee (Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the have to remind the House that the answers to those questions are Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Madam Speaker, I very important to individual members of parliament. 3702 COMMONS DEBATES May 8, 2001 Supply Under Standing Order 39 we are allowed to put four questions on GOVERNMENT ORDERS the order paper. The questions I have on the order paper, which the government has been very slow and reluctant to answer, are questions that have to do with HRDC. D (1015) I have been on my feet on numerous occasions but it basically [English] boils down to the fact that if the government fails to answer those questions, it restricts my ability to do my job. It is as simple as that. I would like the government to recognize the problem and do SUPPLY something about it. ALLOTTED DAY—NATIONAL DRINKING WATER STANDARDS The point I made last week was that if a cabinet minister wanted those same questions answered, they would be answered within 24 hours. I and everyone in the House knows that the full resources of Mr. John Herron (Fundy—Royal, PC) moved: the government would kick into action to get answers to very That, in the opinion of this House, the government should act with the provinces important questions. However, when it is on this side of the House, and territories to establish enforceable national drinking water standards that would nothing happens. be enshrined in a Safe Water Act. He said: Madam Speaker, before I begin my remarks I want to Madam Speaker, I would request that you, just out of curiosity, inform the House that I will have the privilege of sharing my time examine the record. Many members of parliament are not using in this 20 minute spot with the right hon. member for Calgary questions on the order paper. The reason is that they get frustrated Centre. and just simply give up waiting for the government to answer those questions. Essentially what the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada is advocating is that we pull out one plank of the election platform The point of this is simply that it restricts our ability to do our we presented to Canadians in the election campaign of this past jobs in the House when the government fails to co-operate with November, and that was to enshrine into law national drinking opposition members of parliament. water standards. What we would be doing is sending a signal that wherever one resides in this country, the quality of drinking water Madam Speaker, please do what you can to ensure that the to be consumed would be the same whether one is in St. John’s, government responds to those questions on the order paper. Newfoundland, St-Jean, Quebec, Fort St. John, British Columbia or even here in the House of Commons. Mr. Derek Lee: Madam Speaker, one would not be critical at all of the hon. member for urging a prompt reply to his questions. I would like to read the motion into the record: However, he is a frequent intervener on this subject and we might That, in the opinion of this House, the government should act with the provinces as well use the time, in reply to his intervention, to point out again and territories to establish enforceable national drinking water standards that would to him the provisions of Standing Order 39(5)(b) which states very be enshrined in a Safe Water Act. clearly that if the answer to a member’s question has taken more than 45 days, he or she has the right and ability to transfer the Water is a finite resource. There is no substitute for it. Yet until matter for debate at adjournment proceedings. That is a remedy of recently, this precious necessity did not share the same level of which the hon. member may wish to avail himself. public importance as other limited resources. If he does not do that, I assure him that the government is doing Tragic events in Walkerton, Ontario and more recently in North everything in reasonably prompt fashion to obtain answers to the Battleford, Saskatchewan have highlighted the consequences of questions that he put in writing. My records show that there are 10 taking this critical resource for granted. questions out of approximately 50 where the reply has exceeded the 45 day window and his 1 or 2 questions are among those 10. The public confidence of Canadians has been shaken. We have learned the hard lesson that water is the simplest tool for distribut- ing infection and can create massive deadly epidemics. Yet today, a I acknowledge that the reply has taken more than 45 days but I year after the Walkerton tragedy unfolded, there are no new federal do not accept the motive alleged by the hon. member that the laws enforcing minimum water quality standards in Canada. government just does not care about providing answers. It does and we will. In 1990 the former minister of the environment, the hon. Lucien Bouchard, launched Canada’s green plan, an ambitious framework The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bakopanos): Shall all questions to help make Canada an environmentally friendly country. In the stand? ensuing framework for discussion on the environment document that was produced from that green plan, the Progressive Conserva- Some hon. members: Agreed. tive government identified three gaps in Canadian environmental May 8, 2001 COMMONS DEBATES 3703 Supply protection that needed to be addressed. Canada was weak in its The Government of Canada is now saying it would not want to ability to protect species at risk or wildlife and there was a need to make a foray into what it considers to be perhaps provincial upgrade our existing pesticide legislation, which is still over 30 jurisdiction. The Progressive Conservative Party has always been years old, and to provide a safe drinking water supply for all very respectful of the jurisdictional boundaries that actually exist Canadians. I point out that all three of these issues have yet to be in this magical country we call Canada, but it is very revisionist to addressed despite eight years of Liberal government. actually take that perspective in light of what was said only a few years back. In contrast, when we look at the record of activities of the Progressive Conservative government, which introduced the green We know that the hallmark of the Liberal Party of Canada is plan I just spoke of, it was the Progressive Conservative govern- revision. That is characterized by the issue of free trade.