Debates of April 11th, 2008

Deepak Obhrai Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and to the Minister of International Cooperation

Mr. Speaker, Canada expects China, as a member of the Human Rights Council, to live to the highest standards of cooperation with the UN human rights system. We call upon China to receive the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the earliest possible data.

Canada also reiterates and supports the call for unrestricted access by generalists, diplomats and independent experts to Tibet and nearby regions affected by the recent violence.

Pauline Picard Drummond, QC

Mr. Speaker, last December, the Bloc Québécois introduced a motion calling on the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia to release Franco-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt. That motion was adopted unanimously. My colleague from Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher has asked the Prime Minister to join us in calling publicly for Ingrid Betancourt's release.

Will the Prime Minister comply with that request?

Deepak Obhrai Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and to the Minister of International Cooperation

Mr. Speaker, this government's priority is human rights. As said by the Prime Minister, we are very much concerned about the hostage crisis in Colombia. We call upon the rebels to release the hostage as quickly as possible and also to accept the medical team that the French government was sending.

Lynne Yelich Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, that report was an indictment of the record of the previous Liberal government. It does not take into account that we have transferred $250 million, through the Canada transfer to the provinces, so they can create spaces for child care. This has allowed provinces to announce 45,000 child care spaces. This is more than Sheila Copps, the previous deputy leader of the Liberal government, had said. More than 45,000 spaces is what we—

The Deputy Speaker Bill Blaikie

The hon. member for Ajax—Pickering.

Mark Holland Ajax—Pickering, ON

Mr. Speaker, this is the Conservative record. The provinces have had their funding cut. Municipalities have cut back their plans. Thousands of spaces have been lost. A national early childhood learning strategy has been replaced by a gimmick.

When there is no quality of care, when we have grossly underpaid professionals, when we have no spaces, we have no choice.

When will the government reverse these cuts and offer families a real choice for the spaces and quality of care they so desperately need?

Lynne Yelich Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, $5.6 billion annually goes into child care. We are giving choice for parents in child care, in fact, $1,200 to each and every child under the age of six. The leader of that party has said he will take it away.

Yasmin Ratansi Don Valley East, ON

Mr. Speaker, there is new information out this morning that suggests the call for proposals under the enabling accessibility fund has been rigged by the Conservative government. The very complex nature of the application requirements and apparent advance notice to one particular applicant seems designed to favour people connected to the member for Whitby—Oshawa.

Could the minister explain to all disabled Canadians why the process is rigged to divert disability funding into the finance minister's riding?

Lynne Yelich Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, an initial call for proposals has been under way since April 1. Those will close on April 30. All projects have to meet the same conditions and terms, and that is, the program including community support, feasibility and sustainability.

I advise that member do as we did: go out and ask her constituents to get the proposals in.

Yasmin Ratansi Don Valley East, ON

Mr. Speaker, the minister still has not explained why the Canadian Association of Independent Living Centres is angry with his government for concocting “this entire program...as a means for pork-barrelling for the riding of Whitby”.

Will the minister admit that rigging the application in favour of an organization where his own wife and executive assistant are members of the board is just wrong? What does he have to say to all other disabled Canadians?

Lynne Yelich Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, again, budget 2007 proposed the creation of the enabling accessibility fund to contribute to the capital costs of construction and renovation projects to improve the accessibility of people with disabilities. The initial call for proposals has been under way. No determination has been made on grants.

Brian Storseth Westlock—St. Paul, AB

Mr. Speaker, the official opposition members seem to be incapable of asking substantive questions in the House. They focus on scandals that do not exist.

Meanwhile the NDP is trying to fill the vacuum. While at least the NDP members are using their time to ask questions of the health minister, they are still misrepresenting the facts when it comes the government's health initiatives.

Therefore, would the Parliamentary Secretary for Health please explain to the unofficial official opposition how our product safety legislation strengthens the prohibition of direct to consumer advertising?

Steven Fletcher Parliamentary Secretary for Health

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his great work on the health file.

The government opposes direct to consumer advertising and has not only done this in words, but we have taken action. We are fighting a court case to protect the prohibition on direct consumer advertising for pharmaceuticals. We are undergoing proposed legislation to enshrine this prohibition into the act itself and further reinforce it with tough targeted regulations, regulations that will employ full public consultations.

This is just another example of the NDP inventing controversy where there is none. The NDP—