Michael John Savage

[Equalization Payments, October 29th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government has shown great leadership in bringing forward a new deal on equalization.

The provinces told us they wanted more stability in their payments and we listened. For this year we have guaranteed stability by ensuring that no province will receive less in equalization payments than was estimated at the time of the last federal budget.

The provinces told us they were concerned about the overall funding of equalization. This deal offers a floor of $10.9 billion by 2005-06, the highest level ever reached by the program. That amount will grow by 3.5% a year.

It is clear to see the deal announced by the Prime Minister on Tuesday will be instrumental in helping the equalization program to fulfill its constitutional obligation, ensuring that all Canadians, no matter which province they call home, can have access to high quality public services.

[Tlicho Land Claims and Self-Government Act, October 29th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, this agreement does state that Tlicho laws would be concurrent with federal and territorial legislation. However the Tlicho have agreed that any federal legislation would prevail over Tlicho laws. I assume that is the question the hon. member is asking. The agreement states, “There is no paramount authority over the federal Crown in relation to matters concerning the Tlicho”.

[Tlicho Land Claims and Self-Government Act, October 29th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the area of economic certainty applies to many places in Canada. It certainly applies to the part of Canada where I live, which is Atlantic Canada, where we have had not as dramatic but similar lacks in terms of access to venture capital and to resources that they have had in the north.

One of the great benefits in the Northwest Territories with this treaty is that it provides certainty and clarity with the ownership and management of land and resources. That is very key. How does this treaty make it easier for the first nations people in northern Canada, and in particular the Tlicho nation, to take advantage of the great resources that lie beneath them? I think this provides a lot of clarity around that, provides certainty about the ownership and management of land and resources, and will create a much more predictable decision making environment so that people who are looking to make investments can be certain about their returns.

[Tlicho Land Claims and Self-Government Act, October 29th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my hon. colleague from Esquimalt--Juan de Fuca.

It is a special honour for me to rise today and encourage my hon. colleagues to support Bill C-14, the Tlicho land claims and self-government act. The act would make possible boundless improvements in the lives of the Tlicho people. It would serve throughout Canada and around the world as an example of visionary advancement of the principles of ethical fairness, social encouragement, and legislative support for aboriginal communities. Moreover, it would most assuredly have a positive and sustained effect on Canada's economy as a whole.

In the modern age, the keys to the long term business success of a corporation and the keys to economic prosperity of a whole society are in many ways similar. The requisites are creativity, honesty, hard work, persistence, and now above all else, effective partnerships.

Buyers need sellers, retailers need wholesalers, distributors need manufacturers, and producers need suppliers of raw materials. In the development of social economic structures the pattern of interdependence is the same. Communities need support, individuals need encouragement, leaders need wise counsel and organizations need allies.

Before any of this can happen local communities need the full understanding and support of provincial and territorial authorities. All levels of government need the clarity of well considered legislation from which they can seek, build and sustain the partnerships that will lead to prosperity.

In my opinion, Bill C-14 would provide the Tlicho people with the tools they need to establish new and effective partnerships. The Tlicho have already demonstrated a remarkable ability to negotiate mutually beneficial agreements with private companies. Consider for example the resourceful approach the Tlicho took to two of the diamond mining projects now underway in the Northwest Territories. Before the projects went ahead impact benefit agreements were completed that guaranteed valuable benefits for Tlicho communities. These agreements made with Diavik and BHP Billiton respectively have generated jobs for the Tlicho people, service contracts for Tlicho owned companies, and post-secondary scholarships for Tlicho youth.

The Tlicho have recognized that most mines are productive only for a finite period and that once this time elapses many of the well negotiated jobs and contracts will then dry up. To maximize the potential long term benefits associated with diamond mines on their traditional territory, the Tlicho people sought the help of a business partner. Several years ago the Tlicho began an association with ATCO Frontec, a logistics firm that follows a unique and successful business model based on collaboration with aboriginal groups.

Beginning in the late 1980s, ATCO established a series of partnerships with aboriginal groups across the north. As an example, the Uqsuq Corporation, which stores and distributes fuel, is jointly owned with the Inuit Development Corporation of Nunavut.

The Inuit of Labrador are partners with ATCO in Torngait, a company that provides support services to a range of industries. In B.C., the Northwest Territories and Yukon, Northwest Tel operates and maintains microwave towers thanks to agreements ATCO has made with several aboriginal development corporations.

Each one of these partnerships with ATCO is based on a similar business model, one that stresses the building of capacity within aboriginal communities. While contacts may come and go, industrial and business capacity has an enduring market value that can be adapted to suit new opportunities.

This capacity based business model appealed to the Dogrib Treaty 11 Council which then partnered with ATCO Frontec to create Tli Cho Logistics. The business model is pretty simple. The Tlicho own 51% of Tli Cho Logistics and ATCO Frontec controls 49%. The company provides a range of services to the Diavik diamond mine and to the remediation project underway at the Colomac gold mine. Today more than 130 people work for Tli Cho Logistics, 50 of whom are members of the Dogrib Rae band.

When the company was founded five years ago ATCO handled nearly all the company's administrative and managerial work while the unskilled jobs went to the Tlicho people. During the past few years however ATCO has helped the Tlicho acquire the skills needed to manage and to administer that company.

This incremental transfer of technical skills is why the Tlicho were and continue to be keen to partner with companies like ATCO Frontec. Tlicho leaders recognize that management skills acquired on mining projects can be readily applied to other ventures as well. In other words, the Tlicho will be better able to initiate, to manage and to operate other projects as a result of experience gained from these diamond mines. This, my hon. colleagues, represents community capacity building in its purest form, and all Canadians stand to benefit from it and should be proud of it.

When Canadians want to do business they must make and seek investment. These days attracting investment is tricky. Investors everywhere have been burned. They look for security, for solidity and for mitigated risk. In short, they look now more for a secure return on investment rather than a large or perhaps uncertain quick return on investment. Managing risk is often now the act of avoiding it altogether.

Now look at the challenges facing the first nations, the Inuit, the Métis and northern communities attempting to attract the financing necessary to move a business ahead in their communities. These communities are often frozen in their progress by factors such as limited access to venture capital, a shortage of private sector partners and a lack of infrastructure. In this environment, what security can they offer investors? What factors must be addressed? What conditions must be changed to show investors that those who are in charge are ready, willing and able to make the kind of business decisions that generate results? This, I believe, is where Bill C-14 shines through.

Today land claims and self-government agreements are opening up the business environment by finally clarifying the ownership of resources. In the north, one of the world's greatest storehouses of natural resources, first nations, Inuit, Métis and northerners play a major role in growing the local and Canadian economies.

With such certainty affirmed by law, aboriginal groups, such as the Tlicho, can move resolutely, creating businesses. Instead of going cap in hand to investors, they can say, “Something big is about to happen, are you in or are you out?”.

I believe many Canadians have not yet appreciated the tremendous impact that first nations, Inuit, Métis and northerners will have on our national economy in the decades to come. Theirs is a community of communities where the population is rapidly growing, a sure sign of economic potential. The Conference Board of Canada has been warning Canadian corporations to “ignore the economic potential of aboriginal people at their own risk”.

With Bill C-14 we can give one group the certainty it needs to push ahead and to make its mark. This is a positive step in improving our nation's health. Our legislation must give people the tools they need to press ahead. The ability, the drive and the opportunity are there. With Bill C-14 and others like it, we can at last make sure that the certainty is there.

We have before us an opportunity to send a clear and powerful message to first nations, Inuit, Métis and northerners across our country, that the Government of Canada is ready to remove the remaining barriers to economic development in aboriginal communities. I urge my hon. colleagues to support Bill C-14.

[Public Works and Government Services, October 28th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Public Works and Government Services.

Last month the minister announced a new strategy for his department, a strategy that will see more efficient services in areas such as procurement and property management.

I and many of my constituents support that initiative, but we are concerned that this could lead to a centralization of services in Ottawa. It is my hope that this new strategy takes the needs of small communities and business in Atlantic Canada into account.

What assurances can the minister provide that this initiative will not result in a reduced federal presence in Atlantic Canada?

[Calvin Ruck, October 27th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honour a great Canadian, a true civil rights hero in Nova Scotia, who passed away last week. Calvin Ruck was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia in 1925. He led a remarkable life. He was a labourer at Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation. He worked for CN as a porter and was a small business owner.

Believing deeply in education, he returned to school in 1979 at the age of 54 and received a diploma from the Maritime School of Social Work. Each year the Maritime School of Social Work awards the Dr. Calvin Ruck Scholarship.

He received many honours, including the Order of Canada, the Governor General's Commemorative Medal, and the Harry Jerome Award. He was conferred two honorary degrees from both Dalhousie and King's University.

He was summoned in 1998 to the Senate, serving until his retirement in 2000, only the third African Canadian to enter the upper chamber. His son Martin told me last week that the most amazing thing about his father was his humility. This was a remarkably humble man who made the world better in so many ways.

I hope all members join me in sending our best wishes and condolences to the wife and family of Calvin Ruck.

[Supply, October 21st, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have a question from the hon. member opposite. We have had the chance to be on a panel together as new members in the chamber. I certainly appreciate the generous tone of her question; it seems to have continued.

I think we do an awful lot for our veterans. I have already indicated that I think we should do more for our military personnel and I think we should do more for veterans. I think the guaranteed income supplement and increasing that also help veterans. There are a lot of things we do that help veterans across the country.

We will all be paying our tribute on November 11. I personally had the opportunity, since the opening of the House three weeks ago, to lay two wreaths with many veterans to commemorate the lives lost. While I have the opportunity, I would also like to mention to the House--

[Supply, October 21st, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, in terms of specific numbers we have $300 million to help in the cost of deployed operations, $300 million for search and rescue aircraft, $3 billion for the maritime helicopter project, $700 million for the mobile gun system, and $2 billion for the joint supply ships, as well as putting in 5,000 new full time forces and the 3,000 reservists. So yes, I believe the numbers are there. I believe that we can back them up. I believe they make sense. I believe they make us stronger as a nation in the world.

[Supply, October 21st, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the sentiment the hon. member described and certainly the history of Canada's military personnel and the armed forces through the years, although there is perhaps a very big difference between the way I would see the role of our military and how some members opposite might see it.

I think one of the most important statements that we as a country have made in the last number of years was not to go to war in Iraq, to stand up for an independent Canadian foreign policy that is made here in Canada and that allows Canada to be independent in the world. It does not take anything away from the importance of the work our military people do. I stood at the dock in Halifax in 1991 when our ships went off to Desert Storm and I stood there proudly when they returned.

There is a role for Canada's military in the world and I think we can perform it. As I indicated in my speech, I believe we do need to put more money into defence, but I think we are perfectly capable of being a world player without going to war in Iraq.

[Supply, October 21st, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to this important motion put forth by the opposition. I come from an area of the country in Dartmouth—Cole Harbour which is still largely a military community and the death of Lieutenant Saunders had a profound impact on us all.

I speak to this issue, not simply as a bystander but as an individual who grew up in an area like others in my area where many of my best friends, and dare I say many of my campaign workers, come from the military. The military is of great importance to me. I also wanted to speak today on the issue because I believe very strongly in the work that it does.

I came to Ottawa to support the interests of my constituents, to advocate on their behalf, and to challenge, when necessary, our government to do more. I stand behind the members of our military. I know of their loyalty, hard work and dedication, courage, skills and determination to keep our ships and aircraft operational, sometimes under less than ideal circumstances.

I came to Ottawa to not only look out for the interests of my constituents, but as an MP I also believe I am here to protect and to support the national interest as well.

Let me say in the strongest terms possible that I will advocate and defend the interests of the military in my area of the country. I will do so because this issue goes well beyond local interests. Our military and its support is an issue that affects us all.

I came to this Chamber to discuss solutions to our problems, including this issue. I would like to do so in concert with all of my colleagues on all sides of the House.

I believe the Prime Minister will act and continue to support the men and women in our armed forces. He has proven to me that he is serious about addressing this issue. As an example, one of his first decisions was to replace the Sea King helicopters.

We face challenging times in our world. Global security is paramount. It is necessary that we be prepared and equipped as a military to undertake the defence of our country, and indeed to defend the interest of global security when called upon by the international community, when the cause is right and only when the cause is right.

It is clear that our military has some of the finest soldiers in the world and must continue to receive the necessary support, and indeed enhanced support to meet our obligations here and abroad.

In the October 5, 2004 Speech from the Throne, the Prime Minister committed to releasing a comprehensive international policy statement that reflects our government's intention to integrate our defence, diplomacy, development and trade efforts in order to assert our interests and to protect our values in a changing world.

The government is in the process of this review and upon completion the role of the Canadian Forces will be brought up to date and adequately funded as a result. I support the government in this regard. I urge, that in this process, that we be comprehensive and create an integrated policy that reflects our values as Canadians.

Some would argue that we have to earn our way in the world, and I agree with that. I am proud of our country because I know Canada is a respected country, a peaceful country. It is clear that ours will never be the biggest military force in the world, nor should it be.

It must be smart, strategic and focused with Canadian principles and values at its core, values that support diplomacy as the first and best solution to our global problems, values that speak to use of military as a last resort, not a first response, and only in circumstances that honour our principles and values.

The government is also committed to sound fiscal management and to ensuring that we invest in high priority areas, and there are many of those. Beginning with the 1999 budget, the Liberal government began investing new money in defence which by 2006-07 will amount to almost $11 billion. This demonstrates that we are serious about this issue.

Coming from a military area, I know and I hear of the strains placed on the Canadian Forces, and they are well-known. That is why I am pleased that the government is moving ahead to expand the size of the regular forces by 5,000 regular force members and 3,000 reservists. I hope and would support that we do more in years to come. Our election platform, the platform that I ran under and support, commits to providing new money to fund this initiative.

This increase will go a long way toward solving some of the problems associated with recent high operational demands, enhancing our ability to respond to domestic emergencies, and contributing to international operations.

I think it should be noted, and I suspect all members would agree, that the introduction of the tax exemptions of income earned by the military and police while serving in high risk international missions is a positive and important step to help our military personnel.

In April 2004 the government extended the tax exemption to all deployments except low risk missions. Our government's national security policy includes a six point plan to enhance Canada's maritime security, along with an investment of $308 million. As part of this plan we will be increasing the on water presence of the navy, as well as establishing the maritime security operation centres in the Halifax-Dartmouth area, my own riding, and Esquimalt. These centres will involve cross-department and agency coordination, and will include personnel from the Coast Guard, Transport Canada and the RCMP.

In recent months the government has announced an increase in the availability of reserves for civil preparedness, including their capacity to deal with natural disasters and local emergencies.

I am not here to blame people or to create problems, or to embarrass colleagues from years past. I believe strongly that we must all work together to be honest in the way we find solutions to our problems and to do what parliamentarians are called upon to do, which is to find solutions for national problems.

I believe we need to reinvest in our military, and I hope all members will work together to meet those objectives. Predecessors from my own riding of Dartmouth--Cole Harbour from all parties have left a strong legacy of support for our men and women in the military. There is Mike Forrestall, who was a member for 25 years, who is involved in the Senate defence committee. Ron MacDonald, who was visiting here today as a matter of fact, served in this Chamber for nine years and was one of the strongest supporters that the military had. Wendy Lill, my predecessor, with the New Democratic Party, was a strong supporter of military families and the military.

My commitment to military personnel is to ensure that they are properly trained, properly equipped, properly compensated and properly deployed. While I may disagree with members opposite on how our military should be deployed and in what causes they should be asked to serve, I support increased funding for our personnel. I believe our government is moving strongly in the right direction. It is my intent to ensure that we stay true to that course.