CANADA VOLUME 135 S NUMBER 202A S 1st SESSION S 36th PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Tuesday, March 23, 1999 Speaker: The Honourable Gilbert Parent 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 13265 HOUSE OF COMMONS Tuesday, March 23, 1999 The House met at 10 a.m. Some hon. members: Agreed. _______________ _____________________________________________ Prayers _______________ GOVERNMENT ORDERS D (1005) [Translation] [English] CANADIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION The Deputy Speaker: I have the honour to lay upon the table the GOVERNMENT SERVICES ACT, 1999 1998 report of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. MOTION THAT DEBATE BE NOT FURTHER ADJOURNED _____________________________________________ Hon. Don Boudria (Leader of the Government in the House ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS of Commons, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 57, I move: [Translation] With respect to Government Order, Government Business No. 21, that debate GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO PETITIONS shall not be further adjourned. Mr. Peter Adams (Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the The Deputy Speaker: Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, motion? pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government’s response to five peti- Some hon. members: Agreed. tions. Some hon. members: No. * * * [English] The Deputy Speaker: All those in favour of the motion will please say yea. INTERPARLIAMENTARY DELEGATIONS Some hon. members: Yea. Mr. George Proud (Hillsborough, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, The Deputy Speaker: All those opposed will please say nay. in both official languages, the eighth report of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association which represented Canada at the joint Some hon. members: Nay. committee meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly of defence and security, economic and political committees held in The Deputy Speaker: In my opinion the nays have it. Brussels, Belgium, February 14 and 15, 1999. And more than five members having risen: * * * [Translation] The Deputy Speaker: Call in the members. QUESTIONS ON THE ORDER PAPER D (1055) Mr. Peter Adams (Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the [Translation] Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand. (The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the The Deputy Speaker: Is that agreed? following division:) 13266 COMMONS DEBATES March 23, 1999 Government Orders (Division No. 354) Cadman Cardin Casey Casson Chatters Crête Cummins Dalphond-Guiral YEAS Desjarlais Doyle Dubé (Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière) Dubé (Madawaska—Restigouche) Members Duceppe Dumas Duncan Earle Adams Alcock Epp Forseth Assad Augustine Gagnon Gauthier Axworthy (Winnipeg South Centre) Baker Gilmour Girard-Bujold Bakopanos Barnes Godin (Acadie—Bathurst) Gouk Beaumier Bélair Grewal Grey (Edmonton North) Bélanger Bellemare Guimond Hanger Bennett Bertrand Hardy Harris Bevilacqua Blondin-Andrew Hart Harvey Bonin Bonwick Herron Hill (Macleod) Boudria Bradshaw Hill (Prince George—Peace River) Hilstrom Brown Bryden Hoeppner Jaffer Caccia Calder Johnston Jones Cannis Caplan Kenney (Calgary Southeast) Konrad Carroll Catterall Lalonde Laurin Cauchon Chamberlain Lebel Lowther Chan Chrétien (Saint-Maurice) Lunn MacKay (Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough) Clouthier Coderre Mancini Marceau Collenette Cullen Marchand Martin (Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca) DeVillers Dhaliwal Martin (Winnipeg Centre) Mayfield Dion Discepola McNally Mercier Dromisky Drouin Meredith Mills (Red Deer) Duhamel Easter Morrison Muise Eggleton Finestone Nystrom Picard (Drummond) Finlay Fontana Power Proctor Fry Gagliano Ramsay Reynolds Gallaway Godfrey Riis Ritz Goodale Gray (Windsor West) Robinson Rocheleau Grose Guarnieri Schmidt Scott (Skeena) Harb Harvard Solberg Solomon Hubbard Ianno St-Hilaire St-Jacques Iftody Jackson Stoffer Strahl Jennings Jordan Thompson (New Brunswick Southwest) Thompson (Wild Rose) Karetak-Lindell Keyes Vautour Vellacott Kilger (Stormont—Dundas—Charlottenburgh) Kilgour (Edmonton Southeast) Wasylycia-Leis White (Langley—Abbotsford) Knutson Kraft Sloan White (North Vancouver) Williams—99 Lastewka Lavigne Lee Leung Lincoln MacAulay Mahoney Malhi Maloney Manley PAIRED MEMBERS Marchi Marleau Martin (LaSalle—Émard) Massé McCormick McGuire McKay (Scarborough East) McLellan (Edmonton West) McTeague McWhinney Anderson Assadourian Mifflin Minna Bulte de Savoye Mitchell Murray Debien Desrochers Myers Nault Folco Fournier Normand O’Brien (London—Fanshawe) Graham Guay O’Reilly Pagtakhan Longfield Mills (Broadview—Greenwood) Paradis Parrish Patry Perron Peric Peterson Pratt Sauvageau Pettigrew Phinney Speller Tremblay (Rimouski—Mitis) Pickard (Chatham—Kent Essex) Pillitteri Turp Venne Proud Provenzano Redman Reed Richardson Robillard Rock Saada The Deputy Speaker: I declare the motion carried. Scott (Fredericton) Sekora Serré Shepherd St. Denis Steckle Stewart (Brant) Stewart (Northumberland) St-Julien Szabo GOVERNMENT BUSINESS NO. 21 Telegdi Thibeault Torsney Ur Valeri Vanclief Volpe Wappel Whelan Wilfert The House resumed from March 22 consideration of the motion. Wood—137 NAYS Mr. Claude Bachand (Saint-Jean, BQ): Mr. Speaker, yesterday I had two minutes left in my speech and I really wanted to come Members back today and take all the time available to me to explain the Ablonczy Alarie Asselin Bachand (Saint-Jean) scope of the bill that is now before us. Bailey Bellehumeur Bergeron Bernier (Bonaventure—Gaspé— Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Pabok) Bernier (Tobique—Mactaquac) In these two minutes, I should summarize yesterday’s remarks Bigras Blaikie Borotsik Brison for the benefit of those members who were not here, and perhaps March 23, 1999 COMMONS DEBATES 13267 Government Orders also for those listeners who are just joining us on the parliamentary The Acting Speaker (Ms. Thibeault): In response to the hon. channel today. member, when Standing Order 57 is invoked as has just been done, there are no more comments or questions. Yesterday, I accused the Liberal government of being anti-work- er and anti-union. I accused it of being unfair, cynical and [English] Machiavellian, for several reasons which, unfortunately, I will not have time to repeat. I will deal with the essential. Mr. Dale Johnston: Madam Speaker, as I was saying, we have done this before. I do not see this as a resolution. I do not see Back to work legislation is a prime example; it is not the first anything being resolved. In most situations somebody should gain time that this government prepares and introduces this kind of something. There should be some winners. When I look at this legislation. Canada Post workers were hit by such a measure, and situation I am hard pressed to find a winner. so were railway workers. Now, the government is targeting 14,000 low income federal public servants. What we have now is legislation before us that will put people Yesterday, among the examples I gave to show that this govern- grudgingly back to work. It will do absolutely nothing to improve ment is anti-worker and anti-union, I mentioned how slow it has the relationship that the employer, the Government of Canada, has been, and still is, in settling the pay equity issue, and how quick it with its employees. We have done this over and over again. is to grab the surplus in the federal public service employees pension fund. The last time we legislated people back to work was over 16 months ago, in 1997 before Christmas, when we legislated the post D (1100) office people back to work. Those people are still without a contract. As of today they are without a contract. What have we I used the example of the Singer employees, who were probably gained? We got the mail moving all right, but we somehow got the the first victims of this government’s refusal to assume its respon- government out of its obligation to bargain with and come to sibility as trustee, because it was already planning to grab the settlement with its employees. If that is the kind of situation the surplus in the federal public service employees pension fund. government wants, why does it not put it in its policies? These examples show that this government is clearly anti-worker When we had the labour code up for amendment a year ago, the and anti-union. government said that it would be seeking a balance. That was the framework on which the amendments to part I of the labour code I call on the Liberal party to use common sense. It is not too late. were based. This does not seem to be a balance. I am asking government members to withdraw this bill so that bargaining can continue until a collective agreement is signed by The bill covers some 14,000 blue collar workers in Canada, the parties involved. some of whom are not on strike and some of whom will not be eligible for a strike position until this coming Friday. The govern- [English] ment has some obligation to come to an agreement with its employees. Mr. Dale Johnston (Wetaskiwin, Ref.): Madam Speaker, I know it is not summer but suddenly the reruns are here. It seems D that we have been in this place before doing exactly the same thing, (1105 ) legislating some group of people back to work. This is certainly a heavy handed approach to take. It does not solve anything. We have now experienced closure or at least the limiting of debate in the House 50 times. While I agree that we have an [Translation] emergency on the business of getting the grain moving again in western Canada, I do not think there was any need for the Mr. Michel Guimond: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of government to drag its feet to the point where it suddenly feels its order. back is against the wall with a two week break coming up. It is now in a position where it wants us to agree to put the legislation I do not wish to be impolite in regard to your predecessor, but at through the House in all stages in one day.