Mr. Jim Fulton (Skeena):

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of the Environment who said a few moments ago that the Government does not contact newspapers to get information, that that is not the general practice of Government. The Government knew, had some hint, of the movement of tainted toxic products across the Canada-U.S. border a month ago.

Would the Minister of the Environment explain why then under the jurisdiction of the Solicitor General yesterday morning after The Globe and Mail came out with the banner headline the Government through the RCMP contacted Jock Ferguson from The Globe and Mail to get information?

Hear, hear!

Hon. Lucien Bouchard (Minister of the Environment):

Mr. Speaker, I want the Hon. Member to read my lips. We did not receive specific allegations, nor any hint of illegal crossing of tainted fuel from the States.

I want to take advantage of this occasion to clear up some information I just gave. It was not one of my aides but a civil servant from my Department who received the general information from Mr. Green.

Mr. Jim Fulton (Skeena):

Mr. Speaker, could the Minister of the Environment be somewhat more clear with the House of Commons and the people of Canada? When exactly did the Minister know that there was a possibility of toxic materials coming across the border

May 9, 1989

Oral Questions

from the United States into Canada? When did he know and what precise steps were taken to test those tankers coming from the United States into Canada? Could the Minister be precise?

Hon. Lucien Bouchard (Minister of the Environment):

Mr. Speaker, I have always been straightforward with this House. I always will be, like any Member on this side of the House.

Hear, hear!

Oh, oh!

Mr. Bouchard (Lac-Saint-Jean):

The Hon. Member knows perfectly well that we were made aware yesterday of existing allegations of tainted fuel crossing the border. Only yesterday were there specific allegations of the crossing of tainted fuel from the States.

Mr. Jean-CIaude Malepart (Laurier-Sainte-Marie):

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of State for Transport, since the Minister of the Environment does not want to tell us the truth.

Order!

Mr. Malepart:

But Mr. Daniel Green, an official with the Society To Overcome Pollution, said that he told the Minister of State for Transport in Switzerland that PCBs mixed with gasoline and heating oil were being imported into Canada from the United States.

Can the Minister tell us when she passed on to the Minister of the Environment the information received by the Minister of State for Transport from Mr. Green?

Hon. Lucien Bouchard (Minister of the Environment):

Mr. Speaker, the facts are very simple. An international conference to sign an agreement on the transportation of dangerous goods was held in Basel, Switzerland. Canada was represented at that conference by a delegation. In that delegation was an Environment Department official who happened to meet Daniel Green, a well-known Quebec enviornmentalist, by chance-that is quite normal. Mr. Green told my departmental official, 'We are hearing stories, rumours, about illegal traffic in toxic substances between the United States and Canada'. Such information had already been going around-I believe there were even projects and plans for stricter inspection at the border.

When this official returned to Ottawa, the information he obtained made it possible to accelerate and intensify the police operation, which successfully accomplished its mission at the American border.

Mr. Malepart:

Mr. Speaker, what the Minister does not want to say is what Mr. Green told the Minister of State for Transport who was there. Mr. Green will tell the truth and he is confronted.

Mr. Jean-CIaude Malepart (Laurier-Sainte-Marie):

Mr. Speaker, my supplementary question is for the Minister responsible for National Health and Welfare.

I spoke to Mr. Tobin, the Health Department toxicology official, and he told me that the Health Department, which is also responsible for the environment, had not been informed and that he too knew that the Environment Department had previously been notified.

Can the Minister tell us how come his Department did not conduct a thorough study of the health consequences for people who may have used (contaminated) gasoline or heating oil, advising them of the potential dangers of cancer and liver disease?

Is the Minister of National Health and Welfare able to reassure the people on that?

Hon. Perrin Beatty (Minister of National Health and

Welfare): Mr. Speaker, my Department does regular samplings of foods from across the country to look for contaminants that may be in the food chain. Never at any time have we found excess amounts of PCBs, dioxins or furans in the last several years. In addition, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment has monitored some 60 water treatment plants for PCBs since 1987 and have found no excess PCBs in water around Ontario during that time.

Oh, oh!