Debates of May 19th, 2006

Michael Savage Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS

Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure of presenting again a petition on the issue of child care. People in my community are very concerned about the government's plan to kill the national child care plan.

I want to thank the Edward Jost Children's Centre for compiling these and sending them in. The petitioners of Nova Scotia call upon the Prime Minister to honour the early learning and child care agreement in principle and to commit to fund it for a full five years. I thank them for their help.

Mario Silva Davenport, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to submit a petition signed by many people across the country. The petitioners call upon Parliament and the government to immediately halt the deportation of undocumented workers and to find a humane and logical solution to their situation.

Ed Komarnicki Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present to the House.

The first petition is from my constituents in Kennedy, Langbank and Wawota area calling upon Parliament to retain section 241 of the Criminal Code without changes, in order that Parliament not sanction or allow the counselling, aiding or abetting of suicide, whether by personal action or the Internet.

Ed Komarnicki Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

Mr. Speaker, I have another series of petitions from Estevan and area, asking Parliament to take all measures necessary to immediately raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 years of age.

Tom Lukiwski Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform

Mr. Speaker, in what I am sure will be a complete thrill for all of us, Question No. 3 will be answered today.

Wayne Easter Malpeque, PE

With regard to any and all contracts awarded by the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food and any other federal department to the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI), in the years 2004 and 2005: (a) what were the amounts of the contracts, identified by specific contract and amount of contract; (b) what were the terms of the contracts; and (c) what papers, presentations and submissions were submitted by CAPI to the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food or any other federal department as a result of any contract?

Chuck Strahl Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board

Mr. Speaker, the answer is as follows:

a) Contracts for CAPI: There were no contracts awarded to the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, CAPI, by the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food or any other federal department in 2004 and 2005. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, AAFC, funded CAPI activities with grants and contributions through the Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri Food, ACAAF, and Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development, CARD, programs.

b) Terms of the grants and contributions to CAPI: In April 2004, to facilitate the establishment of the institute, the department provided a $2 million grant from the CARD program for setup and operating costs.

In January 2005, CAPI applied for and received a $676,000 contribution from the ACAAF program to conduct independent research and assessment of the causes of the rapid decline in farm income in Canada and to present the findings at a national forum to a broad range of industry stakeholders and policy researchers.

CAPI received an ACAAF grant of $400,000 to host a national conference entitled “Working Towards a New Direction for the Agri-Food Sector” in an effort to identify strategic future directions for the sector. The forum was held February 13-14, 2006

c) Papers, presentations and submissions: CAPI did not receive any other funding from other federal departments. As per the terms and conditions of the contribution agreement, the institute was not required to deliver or seek approval for the publication of the reports from AAFC or any other government department and these reports are publicly available on their own website: www.capi-icpa.ca.

Recipients of ACAAF funding are obliged to use funds as per their funding agreement. CAPI fulfilled its objectives through the following activities:

Under the project funded in January 2005, entitled “Understanding Factors Affecting Current and Future Farm Income Prospects”, CAPI produced a series of independent commissioned research papers that sought to develop a “fuller understanding of the factors affecting the competitiveness of Canada’s agriculture and agri-food supply chain”. In addition, a farm income forum was held in June 2005 to share the findings of these papers with a broad group of stakeholders with a view to start discussions on longer term approaches to farm income problems.

The conference on “New Directions” was held in February 2006 and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food participated as a speaker. CAPI has made the papers and presentations of this conference available on their website.

Tom Lukiwski Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK

Mr. Speaker, I ask that the remaining questions be allowed to stand.

Gary Goodyear Cambridge, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. If the House agrees I would ask that the House revert to motions for just a moment so I can ask for concurrence once again on my motion.

The Acting Speaker Royal Galipeau

Is there such agreement?