Pablo Rodriguez

[Child Care, May 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, no one is buying her story.

The government continues to abandon the provinces and increase the opportunities to do so. We just saw that with the environment and with child care.

Yesterday, in response to a request from Quebec for the right to opt out with compensation from child care, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development uttered more empty words by telling Quebec she would provide a reply. When will she provide that reply? It smacks of improvisation and total abandonment. To me it looks as if this minister is also abandoning the provinces.

[The Environment, May 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, relations between the provinces and this Prime Minister continue to deteriorate.

After abandoning the provinces on child care, now the environment is the issue.

We know how this Prime Minister operates. When things do not suit him he sends the problems to the provinces and takes their money. Quebec has just lost $328 million that way.

Is this government finished making savage cuts to the provinces or will it continue to abandon the provinces by cutting even more?

[The Environment, May 29th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a priority for all of us. It is a priority for the opposition parties, a priority for the international community, a priority for all Canadians. It is a priority for everyone except this government.

Will the government realize any time soon that climate change is a reality, that global warming is a reality? Will it realize that the fight against greenhouse gas emissions is not an invention of the evil communists or an infernal machination by Fidel Castro?

Will it finally admit that it has made a mistake by abandoning the Kyoto protocol? Will it admit that it was a mistake to ruthlessly slash programs dealing with climate change? Will it admit that by abandoning the environment today, it will make future generations pay an unprecedented price?

Will it stop making excuses and hiding, and finally show some courage so that we can take action today for future generations?

[Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, May 17th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-288, An Act to ensure Canada meets its global climate change obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.

Mr. Speaker, as you said, the purpose of this bill is to ensure that Canada meets its climate change obligations under the Kyoto protocol.

This bill creates an obligation on the minister to establish annually a climate change plan and make regulations. It also creates an obligation on the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to review the plan and the proposed regulations and submit a report to Parliament.

I hope that my colleagues from all parties will support this bill, which is vital to our future and to that of our children.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[The Environment, May 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, our party has nothing to learn from a party that abandons the environment. It is not only Canada's image that is suffering at this time. There is also a cost involved in abandoning climate change, a cost in abandoning the environment, and costs that are linked to public health, quality of life and our children's future.

Considering all of this, does the minister not see that this policy of abandonment is becoming extremely costly?

[The Environment, May 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, last December, all eyes were on Montreal as it hosted the United Nations conference on climate change. The conference was very successful and Canada was applauded around the globe for its leadership in matters of the environment. This Canadian success was praised by heads of state, environmental groups and the international press.

Today, the minister has confirmed something for us: the Conservatives are abandoning this leadership, they are abandoning the Kyoto protocol and they are abandoning the environment. Why did the Minister of the Environment become, so quickly and so unfortunately, the minister of abandonment?

[The Environment, May 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I always thought that political action should be prompted by a firm desire to improve things in the world around one, a firm desire to make a better future for generations to come. The environment is certainly one area where we can act now to improve living conditions for future generations.

The Liberal government understood this, and that is why it introduced a host of programs to fight climate change. That is also why it always played a leading role in environmental issues on the international scene, earning recognition and praise around the world.

But all that is changing today. Why? Because the Conservatives have decided to abandon the Kyoto protocol. They have decided to abandon the fight against climate change. In fact, they have abandoned the environment.

This is a sad time in our history, because in abandoning all that, they are doing serious damage to Canada's image. More importantly, they are undermining future generations, and as long as there is hope—

[The Environment, May 11th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, what is quite clear is that the Conservatives have abandoned the environment. What we do not know is why? Why have they abandoned the environment? Is it because they do not understand the issues or lack vision, perhaps? Is it because they lack the leadership, the conviction or simply the courage?

Which of these reasons led to their abandoning the environment? Why did they abandon Canadians?

[The Environment, May 11th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians believe in Kyoto. The Conservatives could care less. There is now the question of the minister resigning as president of the next conference on climate change. That is embarrassing. Things have got to the point where ecology groups are asking Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair to put pressure on the Canadian Prime Minister not to abandon Kyoto.

Will the Prime Minister be set straight by the entire planet or will he get on with the job and ensure Canada assumes the leadership role it played under the previous government?

[The Environment, May 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, these are just more meaningless platitudes.

We know now that the government has no plan for the environment and no plan for Canadians' health. We are wondering why the Bloc Québécois is abandoning the environment to support this budget.

Will the minister finally admit that she has no plan, that she does not know where she is going and that the only thing she has managed to accomplish today is to buy the Bloc Québécois off cheap?