Debates of Oct. 30th, 2006

Government Legislation

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, as the right hon. Prime Minister well knows, it took his unelected senators to pass 42 amendments because he could not do them properly in the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, we have offered to pass all six pieces of anti-crime legislation right away. The Prime Minister's response was, first, to take a cheap shot at the opposition, in front of the President of Mexico, which must have really impressed him, then to pretend the opposition would not pass his crime legislation.

When will the Prime Minister end his government's counterproductive arrogance and overly partisan approach and start seeking ways to make this minority Parliament work the way members on this side of the House would?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again the Leader of the Opposition keeps misrepresenting the facts. In fact, when we were debating mandatory prison sentences for gun crimes this spring, most of the members of the party opposite voted against that measure.

If I could clarify, if the Leader of the Opposition is now prepared to give consent to that bill, are those members prepared to reverse their position and support mandatory prison sentences for gun crimes? That is what Canadians voted for.

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the Prime Minister that two years ago, he said that the official opposition's responsibility was not to support the government's entire program. It is interesting to see just how much this Prime Minister has been changed by power. He promised consultation and cooperation; now he prefers threats and confrontation.

Two out of three Canadians voted for the opposition parties. If he really wants to move things forward, why has the Prime Minister not once tried to consult the three opposition leaders on a bill?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the people of this country voted for accountability. The people voted for a more effective criminal justice system that is tougher on real criminals. They did not vote for the Liberal government's record of corruption or for management of this Parliament by an unelected Senate.

Justice

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice still have not learned that leading a minority government takes more than partisan slogans and ideological obstinance. The government not only has to make decisions based in fact, it also has to consult. The Liberal opposition has offered to pass six justice bills immediately.

When will the Prime Minister agree to put public safety ahead of his own partisan interests?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, we welcome the fact that they are willing to pass at least five of those bills, and they should do it immediately.

In respect of the sixth, what they did was gut the bill and allowed arsonists, break and enter artists and auto thieves to go back on house arrest. Canadians find that simply unacceptable. If they restore Bill C-9, we will pass all six.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minority government seems to want to ignore the facts and cling to its American ideology of law and order.

Statistics Canada reported that the average number of young people in detention and on probation has continued to decline. Yet the government is again opening the door to prosecuting more and more young people and incarcerating them for longer terms.

Why does the government have no program to help vulnerable young people and support families?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, what I do know is that Canadians are tired of the crime on the streets. They are tired of people stealing their cars over and over again and going home under house arrest.

Canadians want to see change. They do not think that arsonists should be under house arrest. They do not think that people who break into their homes should be under house arrest.

I ask the members opposite to support the initiatives, not because we want them but because Canadians want them.

The Environment

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a report written by a former chief economist of the World Bank, Nicholas Stern, indicates that climate change will cost us, on a global scale, $7,000 billion. British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed his concerns and said the report was a wake-up call for immediate action against climate change.

Since the Prime Minister does not seem to accord any credibility to what environmentalists are saying, will he accord some credibility to Prime Minister Blair's statements and introduce real measures to reach the Kyoto objectives?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am told that, in his report, the author often criticizes the Kyoto protocol. Progress is crucial, which is why we introduced the clean air act in this House. That act will reduce pollution and greenhouse gases. I hope to have the Bloc Québécois' support for a mandatory greenhouse gas reduction program.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is not listening to environmentalists or economists, or even Tony Blair. Perhaps he will listen to the military experts whom he usually trusts. According to these experts, because of global warming, which is causing accelerated melting of ice in the Arctic, the Northwest Passage will be navigable beginning in 2015, less than 10 years from now.

Will the Prime Minister finally make up his mind to introduce measures to immediately and quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are responsible for climate change?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, we are in the process of developing a made in Canada plan. I know the leader of the Bloc wants to use the American dollar. Now he wants British environmental policies. However, we intend to create policies that work for Canada.

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government refuses to give the Government of Quebec the $328 million needed to implement its environmental plan to achieve the Kyoto protocol objectives. To justify the fact that it is penalizing Quebec, the government is blaming the Liberals.

How can the government deprive Quebec of $328 million for the environment and blame it on others? What is stopping the government from immediately giving Quebec the $328 million it needs?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, although we recognize that Quebec has a good environmental plan, our government is concerned about the Government of Quebec's approach, which promotes voluntary agreements with industry. This is not acceptable to us or to Canadians or Quebeckers. We need to adopt a strict national regulatory framework for all industries.

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House are concerned about the federal government. The federal government will give more than $500 million to Ontario, which does not have a plan for implementing the Kyoto protocol, but it refuses to give $328 million to Quebec, which does have an implementation plan.

Will the government admit that this is precisely what it would do if it were setting out to prevent Quebec from achieving the Kyoto protocol objectives?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, even Mr. Boisclair and his supporters agree with our government's approach. We have been saying for a long time now that the health of Canadians and Quebeckers is linked to air quality. The PQ has just taken a political position on the air quality bill.

I have the following question for the Bloc: does it have permission from the real leader to speak now?

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's clean air act is dead in the water. We have watched for 13 years as the Liberals and the Conservatives dither and bicker over climate change while the air that Canadians breathe gets dirtier and dirtier.

Climate change is the number one threat to Canadians and to the planet, yet we have a government that has no workable plan to get things done. It is not acceptable. We have to do better than this.

Is the Prime Minister ready to meet with the NDP in the next 24 hours to construct a plan to deal with climate change that will pass in the House?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

I would not do it in a hotel room in Toronto, Mr. Speaker.

The leader of the NDP began this Parliament by saying that the number one air quality concern of Canadians was smog. Now he says that it is greenhouse gases. We believe it is both, which is why the clean air act covers both.

The government is determined to move ahead with a long term plan to reduce emissions of both these gases. If the NDP wants to sit down and discuss how we could do that better, I am certainly willing to do that with him.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I hope the Prime Minister is serious, because there is an urgent need for action. The Stern report on the impact of climate change is proof.

Is the Prime Minister ready to work with the NDP to establish a comprehensive and effective plan that can be adopted by this Parliament?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am always serious. In fact, the media seem to think that is one of my problems.

Nevertheless, I am always ready to meet with the leader of the NDP to hear his ideas.

Government Accountability

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Mr. Speaker, another Conservative promise made, another Conservative promise broken.

From the first day the accountability act was introduced in the House, the Prime Minister pretended his party would follow its own rules. It did not.

We now know that the very day the Conservatives tabled the bill, they were raking in tens of thousands of dollars in cash, all exceeding donation limits they had just promised to keep. Once again, the government thinks it can say one thing and do another.

Why should Canadians believe one word of the government's accountability rhetoric when it clearly does not even follow its own rules?

[John Baird, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I am always pleased to get questions from the member for Hotel California. When he is not here in Ottawa, he is consulting with senior Republican officials south of the border.

Since April 11, when we brought in the federal accountability act, the Conservative Party of Canada has been voluntarily complying with that act. It is very different from the Liberal Party of Canada that continues to rake in big corporate cash and big cheques. What the Liberals are doing is trying to delay the federal accountability act from applying to them. That is acting in the political interest and not in the best interest of Canadians.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Mr. Speaker, maybe the minister, who is supposed to be responsible for accountability, could actually show some and finally answer a question.

Let us be clear. The Prime Minister made a commitment to follow the rules of the accountability act from day one. From the first day it was introduced and afterwards, the Conservatives did not. He made a promise and he broke it. He upheld a principle and he broke it to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. The Conservatives made a joke of their commitments and tried to mislead Canadians.

There is a fundamental issue at stake here. If the Prime Minister broke his word on this, how can he be trusted? Why did he mislead Canadians and why did he make a promise he had no intention--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, very simply, the Conservative Fund Canada has voluntarily adhered to the guidelines in the federal accountability act since April, an act that the Liberal Party is holding up in the Senate.

Does the Liberal Party favour these donations or not? It is time the members stopped sucking and blowing at the same time.