Philip Toone

[Search and Rescue, December 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the parliamentary secretary for participating in tonight's debate.

I appreciate her answers, and I hope that the service will improve, but I have a question. If it is true that the service is going to improve and that services will still be available in both official languages 24/7, how did a rescue call get routed to Italy?

[Search and Rescue, December 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that the unemployment rate is rising in the Maritimes and eastern Quebec.

The Conservative government is closing the Quebec City marine rescue sub-centre, the only officially bilingual search and rescue centre in Canada. Consequently, there will no longer be a centre that can respond satisfactorily to the distress calls of fishers, mariners and boaters in Gaspé, the Magdalen Islands, and other communities in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Why endanger the lives of the inhabitants of Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands?

The Commissioner of Official Languages was very clear in his investigation report: Fisheries and Oceans Canada did not consider the language requirements of maritime search and rescue coordinators. The Commissioner has recommended that the Quebec centre remain open until the language requirements are met.

Furthermore, he recommended that Fisheries and Oceans Canada inform coastal communities of the measures that will be taken to respect their language rights. To date, we have not heard what the department will do to ensure that language rights will be respected. Why the delays? Does the department not want to implement the recommendations of the Commissioner of Official Languages ?

The Conservative government stated more than once that it was sure its closure procedure would be able to ensure the necessary language services, and that everything would go ahead with no problems. Considering the fiasco of medical calls transferred to Italy, which happened because of the hasty closure of the St. John's centre, I very much doubt it.

I am very worried indeed about the closure of the Quebec City centre. Imagine the situation: the Conservatives’ search and rescue system depends on a backup service in Italy. It defies all the laws of logic. To ensure they will be understood, will people in the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands have to learn Italian? Frankly, people in our region are wondering about that.

The Conservative government is closing the Marine Communications and Traffic Services Centre in Rivière-au-Renard. As a result, there will be a great loss of local knowledge. The people who work in Rivière-au-Renard do not want to be relocated. They will try to find work locally, in an area that already has a very high unemployment rate, as I said at the beginning of my speech. Once again, the unemployment rate is going up, not down.

We lose local expertise when we lose people who are familiar with the geography and the local resources that can respond to a distress call. Clearly, this is going to increase the time it takes to assist people in the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands who are in distress. I would like the government to tell us how it is going to offset this clear loss that will jeopardize the lives of fishers and pleasure boaters.

The Minister has often said that local expertise would be retained. How does he plan to arrange for the knowledge of people at the MCTS Centre in Rivière-au-Renard to be retained, if many of them refuse to be relocated to other service centres that are staying open?

The Trenton Centre will take years to develop expertise in local conditions, and even then, the employees will never have a better understanding of the situation than the people who live in our region. It is a question of logic. Why does the government not see it? The MCTS Centre in Rivière-au-Renard and the marine rescue centre in Quebec City are crucial elements of the marine rescue service. They have been tried and tested many times. The people of the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands depend on them.

Will the Conservative government take into account the fact that the loss of local expertise and the insufficient language requirements at the Trenton Centre will endanger the lives of people in distress?

[Petitions, December 10th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, today, I have the honour to present a petition signed by 300 people from the Gaspé region who are calling on the government to improve services at Forillon Park, particularly during the winter.

[National Defence, December 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday evening, we learned that, supposedly, the Conservatives have finally abandoned Lockheed Martin and the F-35.

As the NDP has said many times from the beginning, it was a mistake not to hold a competitive bidding process. It was a mistake to hide the costs of the program.

Can the government confirm that the cabinet committee on operations has decided to go back to the drawing board in the process to replace the CF-18s and that it has given up on the idea to go ahead with a single supplier?

[Firearms Registry, December 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the committee that advises the minister is unbalanced and full of extremists.

Yesterday evening, a committee member was asked about the possibility of including the voices of police officers and victims of gun crimes. He replied that being shot at does not make one an expert on gun control. For the Conservatives, victims are only useful for photo ops.

Will the minister dissolve the committee immediately and seek sounder and more diversified advice from police officers and victims of crime?

[Firearms Registry, December 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians were dismayed yesterday to hear proposals from the minister's advisory committee on guns that would dismantle gun control in the country. Yesterday the Prime Minister said that he would reject one of those recommendations, but was silent on the rest. He had no comment on reckless ideas, like doubling the length of licences or reducing the frequency of mental health checks.

Will the minister explain why his so-called expert committee is recommending measures that dismantle gun control?

[Kempt Road Interpretation Center, December 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Kempt Road Interpretation Center exhibit, the result of the hard work of Héritage Chemin Kempt, enables visitors to learn about this little-known aspect of Gaspé history.

Kempt Road, which was completed in 1833 and connects Grand-Métis, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and Pointe-à-la-Croix, in Chaleur Bay, was built as an alternative to the Chemin du Portage, which passed too close to the United States. It was after the War of 1812 that it became necessary to move the road connecting Quebec and St. John, New Brunswick.

Originally used by the aboriginal peoples, Kempt Road helped with the colonization of the Gaspé, allowing colonies like Sainte-Marguerite-Marie and Saint-Fidèle-de-Restigouche to be founded in the area.

I encourage people to come visit the Kempt Road Interpretation Center to see the photos, documents and period artifacts. Visitors can also walk the road and visit a number of points of interest. The road is a real pilgrimage for walkers who allow themselves to be transported to the Gaspé of the past.

[Search and Rescue, December 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, closing the Quebec City search and rescue centre is another example of this government's improvisation. Francophone mariners still have no guarantee that services will be available in their language.

The fiasco of medical emergency calls being answered in Italy came about because of the ill-advised closure of the St. John's centre.

Will the Conservatives learn from their mistakes and forego plans to close the Quebec City centre, or will they continue to endanger the lives of our mariners?

[Search and Rescue, December 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians deserve better than the Conservatives' misleading statements. We are talking about saving lives, not money.

The Conservatives are refusing to take responsibility. It appears that they are going to subcontract a departmental responsibility to Italy. They did not think twice about shutting down the search and rescue centre in St. John's, and they are now getting ready to shut down the one in Quebec City.

Will they repeat the same mistakes? Should francophones start practising their Italian?

[Fisheries and Oceans, November 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry, but “delighted” is not the way I describe the unemployed citizens in my riding.

The lobster season opened this week, but clouds of uncertainty hang over the industry.

Fishers met in Moncton yesterday to express their concerns about the cuts to Fisheries and Oceans Canada that affect the already unsatisfactory dates for the fishing season, the minimum size for lobsters, and much else. All these issues need to be resolved as quickly as possible.

Will the minister take her responsibilities seriously, go to Moncton, and find the appropriate solutions to protect the future of this crucial industry?