Larry Bagnell

[Supply, February 17th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, as opposed to suggesting that the motion raises ire on our side, this is a tremendous motion for two reasons. First, this is basically what we are doing already in going toward those goals. Second, it gives us the chance throughout the day to explain all sorts of programs, successes and regulations that we have put in place with respect to the Kyoto goals.

I have great respect for the member. He is a great analyst and a great parliamentarian. I was astonished that he would suggest that Canadians should not have any role, that they are not interested in reducing greenhouse gases. It is a very small part of our plan. We are working with auto companies and large emitters and industry, but a small part is that Canadians want to help out. We are showing them some ways they might do that. I am surprised that he thinks Canadians are not interested in helping out or having guidance on how to help out.

People are constantly saying there is no plan. The member has been saying that. People should know that in October 2000 there was a $500 million Government of Canada action plan 2000 on climate change. It is amazing that members in the House who are interested in climate change, especially the critics, are not aware of the plan. There was a second plan to improve it in November 2002, the climate change plan of Canada. In August 2003 there was another $1 billion announced.

In talking about our selling greenhouse gas reducing coal technologies to China and that it is one of the worst polluters, the member talked about our being one of the worst polluters in the world. However, we are third out of 12 in improvement of energy in the 1990s as decided by the International Energy Agency.

Just to make sure that people are aware of the issue of auto emissions today, I would like to ask the member some questions, and he can answer any one of them, just to ensure that the critics, the ones who should know the most, are up to speed on this topic.

On January 1 this year we introduced new sulphur reduction emissions as the opposition said. How much will that reduce sulphur emissions? Roughly how many lives did the federal-provincial study on that say it would save?

We are going to reduce smog by a large amount by 2010. Approximately what percentage of auto emission smog will be reduced by 2010 by the many regulations that Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition has said that we already have in place?

[Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, February 10th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her very reasoned approach and I appreciate a lot of the things she said. I would like to elaborate that the federal funding was never 50% on health care. We paid 50% of certain costs in the past, but there was never a total of 50%. If members want to see the exact calculations, some do not have the figures at their fingertips, they are on the finance website. Depending on which of the health care items we put forward, it could be 33%, 37% or 40% today.

I am glad the member brought forward the point about human resource strategy because there are elements of that in our deals with the provinces. I am glad she brought up patents because I have been fighting that battle with her colleague and I am quite supportive of changes, although the regulations we proposed are not the status quo. The regulations that exist now are the status quo and we want to change them.

Hopefully the member will support the Prime Minister's effort to ensure that the discussion with aboriginal people took place before the main discussion on health care because that was an important item that had to be looked at. It was looked at and progress was made. The Premier of Alberta suggested that to keep the system funded and sustainable there needs to be some sort of mix of both private and public or the system will bankrupt. I would like her to comment on the premier's views.

[Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, February 10th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, I would like to comment on the remarks made by the official opposition. I have no comments for the Bloc member.

I want to set the record straight on the amount of health care funding. It has been suggested that the level has dropped from around 50% to 14%, which is not true. I beg the member to go back to his researchers and check it out more carefully. The percentage now is over 30% and it is higher than it was before program review.

I have no problem with the concept of asymmetrical deals. Provinces and territories came into Confederation with different deals. That is one of the great flexible things that makes our Confederation work and makes us modern and successful.

I would like to compliment the member of the loyal opposition for making the point that all the provinces and the territories and the federal government signed on to this huge deal that will provide massive funds for health care. This is an amazing concept when we have such distinct views across the country. However I would like to remind people that this is the second major deal in this decade that the provinces have signed onto. This is an important issue to Canadians and we are making good progress on it.

[Patent Act, February 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the member could outline how the new provisions will compare with other major competitors once the new regime has been set up. In order not to put brand name companies out of business, how will this compare with other major competitors?

[Petitions, February 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, the second petition, which was provided to me by the hon. member for Don Valley West, is from 26 people who, similar to a previous petition, want to amend the Canada Health Act and regulations to include intensive behavioural intervention therapy for children with autism as medically necessary treatment and to contribute to the creation of academic chairs to teach applied behavioural analysis and the resulting intensive behavioural intervention therapy for graduates and undergraduates in Canadian universities.

[Petitions, February 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I would like to table a petition from 29 Yukon residents who express their support for non-proliferation arms control and disarmament and reject any plans for weapons in space, including missile defence.

[Supply, February 3rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I wonder if we could see the clock as being 5:30 p.m. so we could start private members' business.

[Finance, January 31st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, just before question period I outlined a remarkable list of items that the Prime Minister had achieved in his first term. I talked about the historic health care deal and the historic equalization deal; the support for child care, seniors and 5,000 more peacekeepers; the new deal for cities; the $1 billion for new environmental technologies; the brand new Canada Corps; our work in Darfur; our peacekeeping aid to Haiti, Afghanistan and Africa; the Canada-Mexico agreement; our work toward solving AIDS, malaria, TB and polio; the Prime Minister's remarkable international movement to protect those citizens who were under attack by their own governments; his work on getting the G-20 together to help solve international problems; the learning bond; the increase in the ceiling on student loans; the historic new relationship with aboriginal peoples and the historic Canada aboriginal peoples round table and the signing of new land claims and the encouragement of more.

I was also telling the finance minister how important it was to not only fund and sign new land claims but to make sure sufficient funds were available to implement existing land claims in Yukon and elsewhere.

This is already an unprecedented list for the first year of any Prime Minister but I want to go on and talk about the Prime Minister's democratic reform. It is amazing how the House has been reformed since the new Prime Minister has allowed free votes in the House on the government side on most items. For members who were here in the last Parliament they will remember that everyone was talking about reform and now we are not talking about it at all.

Ottawa society has to get used to the fact that it does not matter if the government loses votes because that is democracy. The members on the government side now have free votes. It is a whole new atmosphere of democracy here.

Another exciting historic initiative which perhaps sets our government aside from all others is the new northern economic development plan and the new northern strategy that was announced just before Christmas with many cabinet ministers outlining a new look at the north and its place in Canada.

While there are all these expenditures to help those in need and to give hope to millions of Canadians, we still have sufficient fiscal control and organization to give the largest tax cut in history of $100 billion. This is especially important for low income people because a lot of the tax cuts were aimed at low income people.

Last night I, along with a number of parliamentarians, attended the play Danny, King of the Basement . I commend the actors, the writers and the National Anti-Poverty Organization for putting the play on and for bringing forward the problem of child poverty in Canada, which we must work toward eliminating.

These tax cuts reduce the taxes for families with children in Canada by 27%, which is another way to help bring many of those children out of the poverty cycle.

The government has also created one of the most important social programs in history since medicare and that is the national child benefit. The government is constantly increasing that so that by 2007 it will be up to $10 billion. There are all sorts of other initiatives in this economy of hope for people in need: initiatives for people with disabilities, $1 billion for affordable housing, the new horizon program for seniors and the enhancement of our programs for the homeless. We have made these expenditures to help millions of people in all segments of Canadian society with the issues of the day.

Have we been able to still keep the country in fiscal balance and be responsible for the economy without bankrupting the country? The answer of course is yes, through prudent fiscal management. Granted, it does not leave a lot of room to manoeuvre to provide extra tax cuts or other expenditures but it certainly is done within a very solid and responsible fiscal framework.

Approaching and including the time of the Prime Minister's great new economy of hope, we have created three million more jobs in Canada in the last 10 years. Since 1997 we have led all the G-7 countries in growth of living standards. Low interest rates in Canada have led to a housing boom. We have not and we will not go into deficit.

We have had seven consecutive budget surpluses. Canada is the envy of the prosperous countries in the world. I do not think anyone in the opposition or in the media could deny this unprecedented agenda and these accomplishments in only one year of a new Prime Minister's time in office.

However because of the limited room to manoeuvre we cannot provide large tax cuts. There is no huge surplus to do what people would suggest. We must remember that we have a large national debt in the order of just under $500 billion and we need to contribute toward that. That is what has led to the success of all these programs. Because of cutting down the interest rates we have billions to spend on Canadians in need.

I will finish my speech where I began it, which is that we awoke one morning to the news of a tragic tsunami. All Canadians reaffirmed and recognized that others were in much more need. That is the economy of hope. It is a program designed to help people around the world and in Canada who have need of it.

I am proud to be a Liberal because our philosophy is to have a strong economy so that we can help those in need. I am proud of the Prime Minister and the government which created this incredible success in the first year of our mandate.

[Finance, January 31st, 2005]

Madam Speaker, I would like to wish a happy new year to everyone in the House today.

Unfortunately the tsunami tragedy started off the new year in a shocking way for all of us. It reminded all of us here and Canadians across the country in a cogent way that there are people who are in far more need than any of us. There are people in need around the world, not just in the areas affected by the tsunami but also in Africa.

I am going to call my speech today the economy of hope. I am going to explain how our budget will deal with people in need around the world and in Canada.

I want to set the background of the tremendous accomplishments made by our Prime Minister and the government during its first year. I do not think any member of the opposition or any member of the media has encountered a Prime Minister who has achieved so much in such a short period of time. I am going to outline some of those areas and how they will help the big agenda items of our nation and the world.

The government started out by dealing with the biggest problem in the nation identified by Canadians, health care. That historic deal followed another historic deal made by our government. Some $41.3 billion has been set aside for 10 years for health care. How many times in history has a prime minister in the first year in office been able to deal with the biggest problem brought forward by Canadians? On top of the regular deal there were additions for people in the north and for aboriginal people because of their special health care needs.

The second historic agreement related to equalization. A whole new structure was set up with $33 billion, and increases will start in 2006. If anything defines the nature of this country it is equalization, where provinces that are having a hard time are supported by wealthier provinces. It is the backbone of our nation.

In the Prime Minister's first year in office, equalization was renewed, extended and increased. The wealthier provinces will help to take care of other provinces in their times of need. To emphasize that point, a couple of days ago a new deal was finalized concerning the special requirements of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

The health care and equalization deals are huge and historic. Part of the reason these deals could be made was the openness to understand the differences between provinces across Canada. Provinces are not always treated the same if they have special needs. That is the whole philosophy behind equalization. The provinces and territories came into Confederation with different deals. They are not identical. Canadians are open enough to understand that fact. A great strength in our federation is that different areas with different situations can come together in this great country of Canada.

The background includes the election platform of the Prime Minister and the government. Some five or six great initiatives were included in that platform. These were fundamental initiatives to deal with the needs of our nation. All of the promises that were made in the platform have been kept. They were translated from the election platform into the throne speech.

The first area is the historic demand by Canadians for a national child care and early childhood development program. Over the last few years we have been putting millions of dollars into that area. This was an even more comprehensive deal. I congratulate the federal minister and provincial ministers who came to an agreement on the basic philosophies of that program. They will meet shortly to finish the deal. When they finish that deal, Canada will be putting $5 billion toward that area.

In an economy of hope another group to help is the group of seniors. What people in society could be more needy and have less control over their destiny than senior citizens? The platform included the increase in the old age income supplement for low income seniors and the return of the new horizons program, which was very popular for seniors' activities.

In the environmental area, greenhouse gases were mentioned in a previous speech. There were requests from the Bloc for an increase in wind energy. As everyone knows, our platform is quadrupling the wind energy capacity in Canada with a huge investment. That is not the only energy initiative. There are all sorts of other ones related to ethanol as well as other renewable energies such as solar energy and atomic energy. We are investing in different areas to decrease greenhouse gases.

Canadians have always been very proud of their place in the world especially with respect to peacekeeping, defence and humanitarian aid. They will be proud that we are contributing 5,000 more troops and 3,000 more reserves to continue that role to help people in other parts of the world, as we have in a number of situations which I will mention later.

Another massive initiative in the platform and in the throne speech was the new deal for cities, some of which was acted on right away. The platform was to manage all the areas of challenge at the federal government level and around the world and then to add the interaction with another order of government, to tell the municipal and community level of government that the federal government would help out there too. Another remarkable achievement is that finances were managed in such a way that we could interact with a level of government with which we have not normally interacted.

Since 1994 we have put $12 billion toward infrastructure in communities across Canada. Since then roads, bridges and water systems have been built. It has helped create jobs across the country and has helped improve the quality of life in our communities. In the new deal there was $7 billion provided almost immediately from GST rebates. The communities in my area were absolutely delighted with this extra money with which they could build the basic infrastructure for their citizens.

There was the rural infrastructure program to help the rural parts of Canada over 10 years. We have accelerated that down to five years. There will be twice as much expenditure per year. The final negotiations are going on now related to the gas tax.

These are tremendous investments and new initiatives in the first year in office of a new Prime Minister.

The new deal for cities is more than just that. The new deal as we see it evolve will lead to an entire new relationship of how we envision the communities, from the very small to the very large, will fit into the type of vision that we see for Canada and how the Government of Canada can help achieve that vision.

As I said earlier, there is the strengthening of Canada's place in the world. In his first year in office, the Prime Minister has made a great mark around the world in a number of unprecedented initiatives.

One of my proudest moments over Christmas was at a rotary club meeting when a club member stood, as I think happened in rotaries across the country, and commended the Government of Canada, the finance minister and the Minister of International Cooperation for the $42 million that was put toward polio, saving a campaign that was having a great deal of difficulty this year, the United Nations campaign in Africa. There is also the creation of another historic initiative, the Canada Corps, to help Canadians spread the values of good governance and living by the rule of law around the world. There is the $20 million that we put toward helping the African union and people in Darfur.

Who in the world could be more in need of our economy of hope than those suffering tragedy and murder in Darfur? No Canadian approached me over the Christmas season to say that we should give this money back to Canadians, that we should not invest in Darfur or in people affected by the tsunami.

We put $100 million into AIDS drugs, and a $70 million increase in our AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs. At the same time we put peacekeepers or money in Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa. We have also signed a Canada-Mexico partnership. It is a huge agenda for the first year of a government.

On the world scene, we have made a change in how we help countries and peoples in trouble such as Darfur. It is almost unprecedented that a new Prime Minister would have such an effect on the world scene in his first year. He has the respect of the world to make such a change, starting with the whole concept of the responsibility to protect and spreading this especially around a group of G-20 nations that can help instill this new philosophy to help prevent situations like Rwanda and Darfur. The world sees a responsibility to protect these citizens. This is a remarkable achievement by our new Prime Minister.

It also includes helping Canada and Canadians fit into the new economy. We have the new learning bond for those in lower income families. This falls on the heels of the largest scholarship in Canadian history, the millennium fund. We also have an increase in ceilings on student loans.

Following on the $3.5 billion, the largest environmental program in history, we have added another $1 billion to the new environmental technologies from the sale of Petro-Canada. We have $100 million for the auto industry.

Another historic achievement in the first year was the Canada aboriginal peoples round table. There is a whole new era of cooperation and interaction with first nation peoples: a new adviser in the Prime Minister's Office; a new secretariat in the Privy Council Office; and now round tables in various areas identified in that original historic meeting. On top of that is the business of carrying on modernizing governance of first nations with the Tlicho and the Westbank land claims. Of course I encourage the government to ensure that over and above the new deals for land claims that we continue to ensure we fund the implementation sufficiently in ones that have already been signed, such as in my area.

[Forestry, December 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, this has been a good debate. It has been great that we have been able to get this forward for the reason that we have been able to outline a comprehensive set of programs since 2002 in working with the British Columbia government to deal with the mountain pine beetle.

This take note debate is a good mechanism for Parliament. It allows us to bring forward some initiatives, some esoteric areas that we do not have time during the day to get into all the details. It was quite clear from the debate tonight that most members, if not all who were in the House, were not aware of the various programs that the federal government has undertaken. They were not aware of the research that we are doing that will give good background for the British Columbia government, the four pillars of that research program, dealing with the communities, dealing with the industrial strategy of the lumber and how long it will last and what to do with it, and the programs on federal land.

I would like to reassure the member from Her Majesty's loyal opposition who spoke last about parks. I agree with the point he was making and I want him to know that we are taking action in the parks. We are doing the operational actions in the parks now. We are cutting the trees on federal land, as we are doing in all the federal properties, the relatively large forest tracts we have in B.C., on the national defence lands and on first nation reserves.

Earlier tonight I talked about what we are doing for the small private land owners. I want to carry on and talk about how it provides assistance for beetle control and rehabilitation on first nations reserve forest lands in the federal parks along the western side of the Rocky Mountains and for major federal forest holdings in central and southeastern British Columbia.

A second major focus of the initiative is to deliver the research required to ensure an effective response to this beetle epidemic. These research needs were identified through a series of regional forums with hundreds of B.C. land owners and managers. That will help many of the people. Members spoke tonight about wanting this consultation and I am indicating that we have done that with the people in B.C.

All the mountain pine beetle initiative programs are fully operational. A wide range of B.C. land owners and researchers have become involved, many of them in the riding represented by the hon. member for Cariboo—Prince George as well as those of his colleagues in and around the city of Prince George in B.C.'s interior.

The Canadian Forest Service has located staff in Prince George and Kamloops to assist private land owners to develop proposals to identify forest beetle infestations, to take management steps to control the beetle and to subsequently reforest these lands. The Canadian Forest Service has also stationed a research group with three scientists and technical support at the University of Northern B.C. in Prince George to work with the university and provincial government researchers.

Together they will work to provide a cohesive and targeted flow of information in meeting the challenges of this beetle epidemic. In addition, the UNBC and provincial government researchers in Prince George have been awarded almost $1 million in mountain pine beetle initiative funds. These are responsible and laudable actions on behalf of the land owner.

The Government of Canada's six year $40 million mountain pine beetle initiative is assisting land owners located in communities within over nine million hectares of British Columbia. Communities such as Vanderhoof, McBride, Quesnel, 100 Mile House, Cranbrook and Armstrong are home to private land projects under this federal initiative. As well, there are new projects and agreements being reviewed by officials in the Canadian Forest Service.

This is also not a new focus for the Government of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, or the Canadian Forest Service. For over 100 years the Canadian Forest Service has proudly represented the people of Canada in researching the needs of Canada's forests, working with our provincial and territorial colleagues to ensure that all Canadians have a healthy and sustainable forest resource for today, tomorrow and long into the future.

Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Forest Service have a long tradition of working with individual Canadians to ensure that they have knowledge, tools, and where necessary, the additional assistance to meet the challenges they face in managing this valuable resource for environmental, economic and social needs of their families and communities. The mountain pine beetle initiative is simply the current example of this government's response to this need.

I commend the member opposite for bringing up this topic tonight so we could debate it in the House, and as he has said, bring people's attention to it so we can get these points out.

There is no doubt that the mountain pine beetle is the most serious pest of mature pine forests in western Canada. The current infestation in British Columbia is by far the largest of this type on record. This massive infestation is approaching 10 million hectares of mature lodgepole pine, the insects' food source. Complete control of the mountain pine beetle is not feasible but that is not to say the Government of Canada has been sitting idly by, leaving the province of British Columbia to fend for itself.

The government's mountain pine beetle initiative is an example of strong federal-provincial cooperation. Forest land management is a provincial mandate. British Columbia forest legislation requires that major forest licence holders be required to carry out reforestation at their own expense. However, the federal government stepped up to the plate and is working with the province in areas of this massive infestation that fit within the federal role and responsibility.

The Government of Canada's mountain pine beetle initiative is focused on federal lands, first nation reserve lands, federal parks and on private forest lands owned by the little guy.

The mountain pine beetle initiative allows the federal government to do what it can to help British Columbians on lands that are outside the responsibility of the province.

Officials at Natural Resources Canada continue to work in close collaboration with their provincial colleagues in B.C. and Alberta to ensure that every effort is made to respond in the best way possible to this massive natural epidemic. Officials must continue to do so in a manner consistent with the federal mandate.

The Government of Canada's mountain pine beetle initiative plays an important role in supporting the provincial forest management efforts by the province of British Columbia. It adds to the scarce resources to face this epidemic that is so devastating to local communities and local businesses, for instance the people in the riding of the member opposite, who is doing such a good job in bringing forward an initiative.

I want to make sure that people realize that we have taken initiatives in a number of areas that are under federal jurisdiction. We have a large block of forest in B.C. which, unlike in most provinces, is still under federal control. We are taking our initiatives there, on reserve lands, on national park lands and in working in cooperation to come up with a continued coordination plan with the B.C. government. We joined them in 2002 on this most recent outbreak. Of course the pine beetle has been there for thousands of years living in the forest.

We are doing research on the effect on the communities and how we can best harvest the dead wood, how long it will last and what it can be used for. There is also the ecological impact. This pest has co-existed for thousands of years with the forest. If we deal with this pest in an unnatural way, or if we do something dramatic, we have to make sure we are not setting off a chain of ecological reactions that will harm us more in the long run than the problem itself.

I thank the member opposite and all the members who have spoken to this issue tonight. The government will assure the people of Canada that, as with all our programs on this pest, this is a major concern to Parliament. The government will continue to analyze the results that have come from this debate and see if there is more that we could do to mitigate the effects of this devastating outbreak in British Columbia and Alberta.