Harold Albrecht

[Canada-Korea Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, October 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her comments, and thank her and her party for their intended support of this bill, because it is very important.

There was one point in her comments where there may have been a translation issue. I am not sure. However, she referred to the Canada-China free trade agreement. I would just like to inform the House and Canadians that we do not have a free trade agreement with China. We have a foreign investment protection agreement, which is very crucial for potential investors in a foreign economy.

For that reason, I wonder if my colleague could explain why she would not have stood up for those foreign investors who intend to invest in South Korea, by having her committee try to remove that section from this bill. It is a very crucial section for those who intend to invest in South Korea.

[Business of Supply, October 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, there were many inaccuracies in not only the member's intervention today, but those of many of his colleagues.

I have the honour of serving as the chair of the environment and sustainable development committee, and I want to underline the fact that it is both. It is environment and sustainable development. I am proud of the record of our government when it comes to protecting our environment. In fact, the greenhouse gas emissions alone since our government took office have been reduced by over 5%, during a period of time when the economy grew by over 10%. That is a big contrast to the Liberal record when greenhouse gases rose by over 30%.

Why would the NDP oppose a proposal that has not even gone to the National Energy Board yet? Also, is my colleague implying that we should shut down all boating and shipping on the St. Lawrence Seaway?

[Business of Supply, October 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the parliamentary secretary, for his great intervention.

Members may know that I have the honour of chairing the environment committee, but the environment committee is called the environment committee and sustainable development committee. It has both of those obligations.

Yesterday officials from Environment Canada came before our committee. I was really encouraged to hear about the great work our government is doing on the environment. For example, our greenhouse emissions between 2005 and 2012 decreased by over 5%, while the economy grew by 10%. In fact, our per capita greenhouse emissions are lower than at any point since records have been kept, so Canada is certainly doing its job.

However, as I mentioned, the committee is called the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.

We all know that the NDP sometimes uses the acronym for the “no development party”, but just recently, in a 2012 speech at the Canadian Club of Toronto, the Leader of the Opposition called the shipment of western oil to eastern Canada a pro-business, common sense solution. Maybe there is hope.

However, I want to ask my colleague why the NDP is putting this motion before us to reject this project before it has even been submitted to the National Energy Board.

[Petitions, October 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition signed by citizens of Canada who want to see tougher laws and the implementation of new mandatory minimum sentencing for those persons convicted of impaired driving causing death.

They also want the Criminal Code of Canada to be changed to redefine the offence of impaired driving causing death as vehicular manslaughter.

[Military Contribution Against ISIL, October 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to my colleague across the way. He quoted a number of other people in his speech, but I would like to quote someone he might be familiar with, former premier Gary Doer, who recently said, “...I'm proud of the recommendation the prime minister's made, and I respect what Parliament will do with it. ... The government, I think, is making the right decision.”

Now we are hearing from former Liberals and former NDP members who are clearly on side with what our government is proposing.

More importantly, just this week my staff received a call from a husband and wife who were born during the Holland crisis. They said during the call that Holland could not have freed itself from the yoke of the Nazis without the help of many people. They are forever grateful to the Canadian government and army and Allied soldiers for freeing them. They feel that ISIS cannot be confronted with humanitarian aid, that it needs force, and that people cannot free themselves from ISIS brutality. They wanted me to know that they stand behind the government and that their thoughts and prayers are with us

I would welcome my colleague's response to the question that my colleague raised earlier about what Holland would be like today had not Canadian soldiers on the ground and in the air stood with them in a time of need.

We have to do the same today with those who are facing this brutal regime.

[Military Contribution Against ISIL, October 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his intervention. I have found him to be a very reasonable colleague in discussing these issues. He made some great points today in terms of the fact that military action alone would not solve this problem. On this side, we agree that military action alone would not solve the problem.

The member mentioned humanitarian aid. We are sending humanitarian aid into this area, and we will send it, but all of us know that humanitarian aid sent into an area that is totally chaotic, where there is no law or order or security of any kind, will not get to the people who need that aid.

The member said that our Prime Minister indicated that this will not solve the problem. Would he suggest that because my efforts on suicide prevention have not stopped every suicide in this country, efforts to minimize the number of suicides are not effective? Is he saying that we would allow the murder of hundreds of thousands of people and children? If we can at least reduce that to a few, would that not be better than the large number who are currently being decimated?

[Petitions, October 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition from citizens of Canada who want to see tougher laws and the implementation of new mandatory minimum sentencing for those persons convicted of impaired driving causing death.

The petitioners also want the Criminal Code of Canada to be changed to redefine the offence of impaired driving causing death as vehicular manslaughter.

[Mental Illness Awareness Week, October 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honour all the Canadians who are marking Mental Illness Awareness Week, a campaign to help open the eyes of Canadians to the reality of mental illness. Whether through a friend, family member or colleague, at some point all Canadians will be affected by a mental illness. One in five of us will personally experience a mental illness.

The stigma attached to mental illness presents a serious barrier to diagnosis and treatment. Almost half of those who feel they have suffered from depression or anxiety have never sought the help of their doctor.

Tomorrow the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health will host the Faces of Mental Illness breakfast here on the Hill. It offers us an opportunity to engage in a discussion about the reality of what suffering with a mental illness means.

Until we are as comfortable discussing our schizophrenia as our diabetes, we still have work to do. I invite my colleagues to attend tomorrow and to ask themselves how they can use their office to help stop the stigma surrounding mental illness.

[Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve Act, October 2nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of working with my colleague who just finished his speech, as well as with my colleague from the NDP who spoke earlier. You will recognize that I tried to get a question in earlier, but there was not time.

I would just like to comment that had it not been for the lack of co-operation from our NDP partners, we probably could have been in committee already doing some work on some of these important initiatives to protect our environment. Maybe my colleague from the NDP could explain at some future date why we are still not in committee, but that is another matter.

My colleague from the Liberal Party just acknowledged his support for this bill, for which I am thankful. It is important that we continue to support efforts to protect our natural areas.

In response to a comment my NDP colleague made earlier, he gave the impression that we on this side do not want to protect our natural areas. I would just like to point out that since 2006, our government has made a sixfold expansion of the Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories. It is considered to be one of the most significant conservation achievements of a generation. We have secured almost 4,000 square kilometres of ecologically sensitive private lands. We have added an area nearly twice the size of Vancouver Island to the network of federally protected areas.

I wonder if my colleague from the Liberal Party would disagree with my colleague from the NDP, who just moments ago made some disparaging remarks about the effort on this side of the House to protect our environment and our protected areas through national parks.

[Canada-Korea Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, September 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to pick up on a couple of points that my colleague made near the end of her speech, pointing out that 50% of Korean cars currently enter Canada duty free from the U.S. under NAFTA and that over 85% of Canadian production is exported. We know that is the current situation, but since the Korea-U.S. free trade deal was signed, U.S. auto exports to Korea have more than doubled from $340 million in 2011 to over $800 million in 2013. Since the Korea-EU agreement was signed, exports to Korea have doubled from $2 billion in 2010 to $4 billion in 2013.

Considering the facts that currently 50% of Korean cars can enter Canada through the NAFTA already, if we remove these tariffs would we not expect to find similar results to the U.S. and the EU after they signed their Korea free trade agreements, with auto exports actually doubling? Also, Ford set an annual sales record last year in Korea. From 2012-13, Ford was the fastest growing brand being sold in Korea. The concerns that the Ford Motor Company had and the concerns about possibly reducing numbers, I think these numbers would indicate the opposite.