Debates of March 17th, 2010

Christiane Gagnon Québec, QC

Mr. Speaker, a Quebec woman suffering from cancer is trying to bring her half-sister from Haiti to Canada.

The immigration minister turned down her visa application twice because the woman does not own any real property. As a result of the earthquake, the only real property she has to offer is a block of cement.

According to the Conservative member for Beauport—Limoilou, the matter is in the hands of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

Now that the minister is able to speak publicly about this case and is involved in the matter, will he take action?

Jason Kenney Minister of Citizenship

Mr. Speaker, although not exactly new to this place, the member may not know that public servants, not the minister, make decisions about visa applications. They make more than 800,000 such decisions every year.

I am confident that our public servants and our visa officers do a good job. In this case, it was not at all clear whether or not the applicant intended to work in Canada, and the form was not filled out properly.

Robert Bouchard Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC

Mr. Speaker, on March 31, in New York, the UN will hold a major conference about reconstruction in Haiti. A couple of weeks ago, Quebec's forestry industry proposed to the Prime Minister that 2,000 wood houses be built for Haiti. A number of partners have already offered their support.

Does the Minister of Foreign Affairs plan to promote this proposal while at the meeting in New York?

Lawrence Cannon Minister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased about the initiatives undertaken to help Haiti. I am very pleased about the initiatives that the Government of Canada and Canadians have created to help Haitians.

Another meeting will take place at the end of the month in New York to help us align the needs identified by the Haitian government and other institutions with the real needs of the people. We will also find out more about financing.

My colleague, the Minister of—

The Speaker Peter Milliken

Order.

The hon. member for Madawaska—Restigouche.

Jean-Claude D'Amours Madawaska—Restigouche, NB

Mr. Speaker, with budget 2010, the Conservative government has shown that it hopes to eliminate economic development agencies, including ACOA.

Under the previous Liberal government, two programs were created: an innovation fund and a communities fund.

Last year, $113 million was available for those two separate programs. Today it was announced that only $19 million would be available.

Now that the Conservatives have announced a $94 million funding cut for this year, can the minister explain to us why he has abandoned the people of Atlantic Canada?

Ted Menzies Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure why the member would think that we have let down any part of this country. We do support all regions of this country.

We put in place year two of Canada's economic action plan, which reaches across all parts of this country equally and equitably. We had a little trouble getting it passed through this House but we managed. Now that it has passed, let us support it and make sure that all Canadians benefit from it.

Jean-Claude D'Amours Madawaska—Restigouche, NB

Mr. Speaker, my question was for the Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

The two ACOA programs were for a five-year period ending March 31, 2010, with a total investment of over $475 million. Now those funds have run out, and the Conservatives are offering a mere $19 million a year to replace them.

The Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency should do as his colleague, the Minister of Industry, did: apologize for the cuts and restore the programs with 2009-level funding.

When will the minister take action for the people of Atlantic Canada?

Keith Ashfield Minister of National Revenue

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite actually read the budget, he would realize it is a $19 million a year ongoing budget, a base budget. It is an improvement over what was there before and certainly not part of the five year programming.

Also, there is $11 million per year for the community futures program, another addition to the ACOA funding.

I am very proud to represent ACOA. Believe me, there are no cuts in our budgets.

Jack Harris St. John's East, NL

Mr. Speaker, we have yet another revelation today that Afghan officials asked the government to build a prison where detainees could be held without the risk of torture. In response, the government made repeated false promises to the Afghans that a prison was coming while the government told this House that a new prison was a bad idea.

By failing to work with our NATO allies to ensure proper treatment of detainees, the government has ignored our legal obligation to protect human rights and has tainted Canada's international reputation.

Will the Prime Minister finally call a public inquiry?

Peter MacKay Minister of National Defence

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about events that happened a number of years ago. It is interesting to note that in fact the issue around NATO prisons circulated years ago, but in November 2007 General Ray Henault, a Canadian, then the chair of NATO's military committee, publicly ruled out the creation of NATO prisons.

We are there not to build prisons for Afghans; we are there to help them build capacity to do these things for themselves. We will continue to do so.

As the Minister of Foreign Affairs indicated, we have invested in Afghan prisons. We continue to monitor prisoners transferred by our forces. We will continue to work to build that capacity.

Jack Harris St. John's East, NL

Mr. Speaker, day after day there are new stories about the government's mishandling of the transfer of Afghan detainees.

Included in today's revelations was the fact that last year when the National Directorate of Security complained about detainee inspections creating problems, the Conservative government agreed to limit them to once a month at the most and to give plenty of advance notice. The government has abandoned our legal obligation to uphold human rights, this time to appease the dreaded NDS.

How many more of these stories need to be published before we get a public inquiry?

Lawrence Cannon Minister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member would take the time to read the new transfer agreement, he would see that there have been over 210 visits by Canadian officials to Afghan detention facilities since the transfer agreement was signed.

The most recent unannounced visit by Canadian officials to Afghan detention facilities occurred within the last 10 days. These occur, have occurred and continue to occur on a regular basis. This is the nature of the transfer agreement that we put in place.