Transport Committee on June 3rd, 2010

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chairman, we have gotten off the point of debate, and we're talking again about segmenting Canadian society. If the parliamentary secretary continues to attribute support from a particular community, then I make the same offer that I made before we began discussing this amendment, and that is to bring members of the Canadian Jewish Congress before the committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

We've addressed that before.

I will ask Mrs. Crombie to maintain or continue her comments specific to that section, subclause 7(2), and again advise, as I did earlier, that if it's not relevant I will intervene and we will move to the next speaker.

[Bonnie Crombie, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.

I do intend to wrap up. My goal here is to ensure that the original intent of the bill is preserved, that the integrity of the original bill is preserved. So I want to ensure that the minister has the ultimate responsibility and that the council is in a supporting role when it comes to spearheading a campaign for the cost of planning, constructing, designing, supporting, installing, and maintaining the monument, as was the original intent of the original bill that everyone so unanimously supported.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you, Mrs. Crombie.

Mr. Dhaliwal.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's very confusing. First of all, when I hear filibustering from the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Transport, he should have been sitting on the access to information, privacy and ethics committee that I was sitting on when the Brian Mulroney and Schreiber case came forward, which tried to--

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Watson on a point of order.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

I thought we were in debate on G-6.2 as subamended.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

I will advise again. I know you're headed there, but I would ask that you get there, please.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

That was really filibustering, where they tried to hide everything under the carpet, and now--

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Jean on a point of order.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Relevance?

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Dhaliwal, I would ask that you please move to your comments with regard to the clauses, please.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, as a member of Parliament I have always supported the original intent of the bill that was presented in the House of Commons. Has the Jewish community had an opportunity to express their views?

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Jean on a point of order.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Relevance, Mr. Chair. We're talking about an amendment. We're speaking specifically to subclause 7(2).

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Comment on the point of order, Mr. Dhaliwal.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

You know I'm not going to be going out of order. All I'm doing is just the bill and the community--that's it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

The subamendment, please.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

The amendment is...? We're talking about the Holocaust monument, right?

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

We're talking about a council spearheading a fundraising campaign--

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

It's the whole intent of the bill. I'm not going to debate the bill. I'm going to come back to this. If the chair feels it's not relevant, then he can kick me out. I'm not reporting to you on this.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the only opportunity I have to speak on this amendment, Mr. Chair. As I said earlier, we are fully in support of the bill to build a monument, but when it comes to saying there should be a particular steering committee that should be supporting and campaigning on the cost of planning, designing, constructing, installing, and maintaining the monument, and any other costs incurred by the council, it means we are giving them the freedom to buy land, to build their own monument, to look after it the way they want. We as Canadians should take the responsibility.

I can tell you of a similar event. It's a coincidence that I was talking to the Sikh community this morning--

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Jean on a point of order.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

I want to make sure people aren't misled by what Mr. Dhaliwal just said. He indicated that council has the authority to buy land. Nowhere in this act does it talk about them buying land. The NCC is the place, if he would read the rest of the act, where it specifies.... It's got nothing to do with buying land, so I don't really understand what he's doing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

That's not a point of order. Information is presented.

Mr. Dhaliwal, please continue.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to respectfully say that the act before us today is about creating a public, country-wide monument to commemorate a very dark chapter in the history of humanity. Indeed, this event was an especially difficult event that touched many of our fellow Canadians through what happened to their families, their friends, and their colleagues. It was an event that touched so many Canadians across the whole country. It is important that a national monument commemorating it be a truly national and public project that should be taken care of by the public. In other words, it should be fully taken care of by the Government of Canada, which is representing those Canadians. That's exactly what is true. Otherwise, another community will come and they will try to build their own monument, and a third community will come.

There are many dark chapters in history in many communities. I can talk about the Sikh community. You know, it's very coincidental, in June 1984—