Raymond Côté

[Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Timmins—James Bay for his speech, which gave me goosebumps several times.

From what I know of aboriginal issues, I do not think there has been much progress since the 19th century. Unfortunately, I would say that there has probably been a regression.

Obviously, the fact that legislation is proposed but the means do not follow is a very troubling aspect of the government's stubbornness in wanting to speed up the process and circumvent a thorough examination of Bill S-8, without taking into account the effects this could have.

I get the impression that the government wants to put a lid on this affair, that it wants to shut this whole thing down and abandon the first nations. What does the member for Timmins—James Bay think about that?

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, this is not just about transparency, but also about governance. From that point of view, I find it hard to believe that another level of government, here in Canada, would agree to such extensive disclosure of its activities.

I would like the minister to explain the justification for imposing this type of constraint on first nations when, insofar as the government is concerned, the door has not really been opened, not even to shine a ray of light on certain practices.

Within his own department, certain recurring problems are not being resolved. The government is asking the first nations to do much more than what his department is doing.

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Timmins—James Bay for his speech. It was very sensitive and very much in tune with his community in general and the aboriginal communities in his riding in particular.

For the government to claim that it is squeaky clean is totally ridiculous. If it showed as much zeal for strengthening the Canada Elections Act to give more powers to the Chief Electoral Officer, I would urge the government to exercise some restraint because I do not need to know the colour of every candidate's underwear during every election.

People need to realize that this bill goes way too far. It is very disturbing to see the fanatical zeal with which this government attacks specific groups in Canada. Take the example of the Canadian unions that are also the target of an initiative to disclose everything, including things that do not generally have to be disclosed in our society.

I would like the hon. member for Timmins—James Bay to say a few words about this disturbing zeal for attacking specific groups.

[Canadian Credit and Debit Card Industry, November 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, on November 13, Quebec City merchants and business people met in Baie de Beauport to discuss problems caused by the credit card transaction fees they have to pay.

The Coalition québécoise contre la hausse des frais de transaction par carte de crédit et de débit spelled out the facts to those attending the meeting. Since 2008, transaction fees paid by merchants have skyrocketed, and more importantly, managing the different types of cards has become a nightmare.

This coalition includes associations and groups of business people representing 35,000 members working in the food, retail, hotel and restaurant industries.

The coalition has been clear: the code of conduct for the credit and debit card industry is a complete failure, and the Conservative government has given in to powerful special interest lobbies. Business people no longer want to be at the mercy of the credit card companies' oligopoly. Business people want action. Last Tuesday evening, they realized that an NDP government will listen to them and act to help them.

[Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, November 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles for her very enlightening and well-researched speech. As usual, she has shown that she was very well prepared.

The many troubling facts about Panama lead us to ask many questions. Because of the problems she outlined, it is worrisome that the Republic of Panama adopted legislative amendments two years ago that prevent legal action against police in the event of certain abuses.

In light of everything she said, can my colleague tell us what she thinks of this unacceptable impunity of the Panamanian police?

[Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, November 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Québec for her speech. I also congratulate her for her work on the Standing Committee on International Trade, where I think she does a fantastic job.

Yesterday in my speech, I quoted an organization that is critical of tax havens. It had a few things to say in its assessment of Panama, which I will share.

Among their findings on Panama, this is what they said about automatic information exchange, “Does the jurisdiction participate fully in Automatic Information Exchange such as the European Savings Tax Directive? Panama does not participate fully in Automatic Information Exchange”.

That is very worrisome. I would ask my colleague to comment on that.

[Petitions, November 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present a petition in support of Development and Peace. The petition calls on the government to finally achieve its target of 0.7% of Canada's GDP for official development assistance and to restore the $49.2 million in funding for the next five years to Development and Peace, a major development organization.

[Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, November 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her excellent speech.

I asked a member across the way a question about something that is particularly troubling when it comes to Panama. Pursuant to legislative measures taken by the Republic of Panama, the police is immune to prosecution. Accordingly, labour laws, among other things, can be violated with impunity.

I would like my colleague from Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing to say a few words about that.

[Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, November 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Sherbrooke very much for asking me that question.

This sends a terribly ambivalent message. We have a human rights legacy that goes back decades. In fact, we fought for human rights throughout the entire 20th century. Canada was a pioneer; it is among the leading countries in this regard. The government is in the process of destroying that legacy and, frankly, that is disappointing.

[Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, November 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague's comments were very disappointing. I will turn the question around. Will we have to condone child labour and child exploitation in order to sell pork or potatoes? Will we even have to condone eugenics or reprehensible practices such as female genital mutilation? I am not sure. I do not want to go too far and accuse him of anything.

Quite frankly, it is disgusting that they are turning a blind eye so easily for the sake of trade. That is my response.