Debates of June 16th, 2008

The Speaker Peter Milliken

Order, please. The right hon. Prime Minister has the floor. We will have some order so the member for Halifax West can hear the response.

Stephen Harper Calgary Southwest, AB

Mr. Speaker, first, we all know the former minister of justice is doing an excellent job as President of the Treasury Board.

Second, literally everything in that question is complete nonsense. It just shows to what degree the Liberal Party will go to avoid any discussion about the economy and its plans to impose a new tax on everything.

Navdeep Bains Mississauga—Brampton South, ON

Mr. Speaker, as John McCain prepares to come to Ottawa, we are reminded how the Conservative government refuses to answer questions surrounding an investigation of the NAFTA-gate leaks.

Frank Sensenbrenner, a Republican operative embedded inside the Canadian embassy, has been fingered as the potential source of the leaked memo, which has damaged both Barack Obama's campaign and Canada's international reputation.

Could the government tell us why Frank Sensenbrenner was never interviewed?

Peter Van Loan Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform

Mr. Speaker, this is a remarkable lineup that the Liberals have put up in question period. I do not know how many questions we have had and not a single question that touches on public policy.

We had a question that I thought for a moment might be about NAFTA and the importance of NAFTA to the Canadian economy. We know those members do not want to talk about a strong Canadian economy and they do not want to talk about their carbon tax. However, they should at least take the time to look at the report of the Clerk of the Privy Council on this, in which he has found there is no evidence that any classified information was disclosed by the Prime Minister's Office and that none of the concerns he raises repeatedly in the House on this matter have any basis. Not once has he apologized for his false allegations.

Navdeep Bains Mississauga—Brampton South, ON

Mr. Speaker, let me read from the report that the House leader is hiding behind. It says:

During the course of the investigation, the names of a few U.S. citizens who were not employed by the Government of Canada were raised as having been possibly in contact with Canadian officials with access to the report....interviewing these U.S. citizens was beyond the scope of this investigation...

How can we trust the results of an investigation that did not even interview the key suspects?

Peter Van Loan Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform

Mr. Speaker, the difficulty and the problem was the document was circulated by an official at foreign affairs to over 200 email addresses, many of which were outside the foreign affairs department.

What the report did was make very significant suggestions on how the processes could be improved, on how documents should have the appropriate classification and how circulation should be a little more tight.

None of that has anything to do with the false allegations he has continued to make. I call upon him to apologize to the Prime Minister's chief of staff for repeatedly making those false accusations. He has never once even acknowledged they were false.

Josée Verner Minister of Canadian Heritage

Mr. Speaker, after being here in Ottawa for 17 years, what has the Bloc been able to bring to the Quebec film industry? What has the Bloc been able to bring to Quebec's festivals? Nothing.

Our government is committed to film festivals and to our film industry, and will continue to be.

Pierre Paquette Joliette, QC

Mr. Speaker, after 141 years in this Parliament, the Conservatives have yet to do something for Quebec, and this continues to be the case today.

The whole Quebec's cultural community is condemning the Conservatives' abysmal ignorance of the Quebec film industry. The Conservative ideology is simply not in accord with Quebec's culture. In fact, as is the case with the issue of community organizations' economics, the Conservatives are totally disconnected from the Quebec reality and the Quebec nation.

Will the minister ensure that Telefilm Canada's funding criteria will not unduly penalize Quebec's film festivals?

Josée Verner Minister of Canadian Heritage

Mr. Speaker, once again, we are talking about 17 years of unfulfilled projects for the Bloc. This is the Bloc's anniversary, and empty hands is all that it has to show for it.

Last week, I was in Quebec City to inaugurate the airport. The Conservatives members of the Quebec City region had made a commitment in that regard, and they made good on their promise.

Marcel Proulx Hull—Aylmer, QC

Mr. Speaker, on October 26, 2005, this honourable House passed a motion recommending that the government erect a monument displaying the names of all firefighters killed in the line of duty. The contribution firefighters make to our communities should be honoured. These women and men face danger each time they fight a fire in order to save our possessions and often our life.

Will the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages agree to honour the firefighters who have died while serving our communities? Will she agree to erect a monument honouring firefighters killed in the line of duty?

John Baird Minister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, we cannot do enough to honour the great contribution of firefighters and emergency personnel from right across the country. They do a great job in our communities and this government is committed in doing anything we can to help honour the great work they do for Canadians each and every day.

Mike Wallace Burlington, ON

Mr. Speaker, our government is serious about cleaning up the air we breathe and improving the health of Canadians.

We brought forward tough new emission standards to reduce air pollution from cars, launched a national vehicle scrappage program to get smog producing cars off the road and put limits on smog producing chemicals in every day products.

Could the Minister of the Environment tell the House what other clean air initiatives the government has taken?