Hon. Herb Gray (Windsor West):

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Finance, as the minister responsible to parliament for the National Commission on Inflation, regarding recent increases in the retail price of bread.

March 22, 1979

Will the minister ensure that this new commission will investigate immediately these increases to determine their causes and whether they are justified in light of the facts? If they are not, will the commission immediately enter into discussions with any level of distribution found responsible, with a view to having them reduce these prices to a more appropriate level?

Mr. Broadbent:

A good idea, Herb.

Hear, hear!

Hon. Jean Chretien (Minister of Finance):

Mr. Speaker, I shall communicate with the chairman of the commission and advise him of the hon. member's representations.

Mr. Allan B. McKinnon (Victoria):

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of National Revenue. In the matter of the Boeing Corporation's admitted double payments to a Canadian agent or agents, can the minister tell the House if the special investigations section of his compliance directorate, or any other section of his department, has done or is now doing an investigation to determine if there has been income tax evasion?

Hon. A. C. Abbott (Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Small Business)):

No, Mr. Speaker, I cannot provide the hon. member with that information.

Mr. McKinnon:

Mr. Speaker, I am not asking the minister to divulge the name of anyone, but surely Canadians have a right to know if taxation department sleuths are investigating this case or, alternatively, if the minister s department is doing nothing or, worse yet, if the case is embarrassing to the government and they are stonewalling it deliberately.

Mr. Abbott:

Mr. Speaker, it might well be that some unethical payment has been made by a company to someone. Obviously, the income tax department would be concerned if that recipient was failing to report the income. But if the hon. member is suggesting that Revenue Canada is conducting an examination of a specific citizen or corporation, and that I should be disclosing it in the House, then I think he should consult the law, because he is wrong.

Oral Questions CONSUMER AFFAIRS

Mr. S. J. Korchinski (Mackenzie):

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. Do officials of his department expect struggling retailers, who are not processors and who are not responsible for the size, grade and weight of packages, to remove, regrade and repack at their expense such items as raisins, eggs, potatoes, etc., where they do not meet certain standards? Must retailers be subjected to such harassment, rather than getting at the source of the problem which is the processor?

Hon. Warren Allmand (Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs):

Mr. Speaker, the principal area of enforcement is with the processors and the manufacturers, but the inspectors in my department have the right and responsibility to enforce the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, and other legislation under our department, anywhere in Canada, including the retail level. But we try to concentrate on the processing and manufacturing level.

Mr. Korchinski:

Mr. Speaker, I direct my supplementary question to the Minister of State (Small Business). Trying to get at the problem is like trying to collect the proverbial feathers which have been scattered to the four winds.

Would the minister tell the House if his department has had any input into that particular program to avoid the build-up of a huge bureaucracy, which seems evident to the people in the country-a system which might be popular with the NDP or a country where the state is supreme? Has his department had any input into this particular program and, if not, who speaks for small business?

Hon. A. C. Abbott (Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Small Business)):

Mr. Speaker, with all those feathers flying around, I am not quite sure what it is that the hon. member is driving at. The hon. member should know that the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs has the responsibility of enforcing the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act.

Mr. P. B. Rynard (Simcoe North):

Mr. Speaker, I would like to address a question to the minister responsible for the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission.

In view of the fact that many young people who are being encouraged to upgrade their skills through Manpower training courses in community colleges for a particular type of employment are finding it very difficult to obtain a position because

March 22, 1979

Oral Questions

they lack the necessary practical experience, I would like to ask the minister if he is aware of this and, if so, what plans does he have to overcome this problem?

Hon. Bud Cullen (Minister of Employment and Immigration):

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member, in his usual courteous manner, was kind enough to give me notice of this question. The fact of the matter is that we were concerned about young people taking training and then finding no job opportunities at the end of the training or, having taken the training and jobs being available, having no experience.

With respect to the latter part of the question, we embarked upon a co-operative education program with the provinces where funding, although it is on a very small basis at the present time, is taking place to give young people the opportunity to move into the work force while taking the training. With the second aspect we are very carefully monitoring, together with the provinces, the jobs that might be available at the end of training programs to see that people are not wasting time in training for jobs that do not or will not exist in the near future.

Mr. Don Mazankowski (Vegreville):

Mr. Speaker, is the Minister of Transport in a position to make a categorical statement to the House relative to the conditional suspension of the Air Canada air fare proposal which has been objected to by the United States authorities?

Can the minister now assure the House that the conditional suspension has been lifted, and can he assure Canadian passengers who have subscribed to this lower air fare package that they will be able, in fact, to fly at the low rate effective next Tuesday?