Debates of Oct. 5th, 2001

NDP

Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Musquodoboit Valley—Eastern Shore, NS

Mr. Speaker, in 1975 the Government of Canada did a good thing. It followed NDP advice, took over Petro-Canada and made it into the profitable company it is today. Media reports now state that Canada is thinking of getting rid of its last 20% share.

After September 11, with concerns about energy and the security of energy sources on the minds of every Canadian, we ask the Government of Canada to withdraw its decision to sell off the remaining stake. This year alone the government would have gained $19 million in dividends from its 20% investment in Petro-Canada.

In light of the circumstances of September 11 we encourage the government to withdraw selling off any further stake in Petro-Canada and to secure for all Canadians a say in the future energies of the country.

Théâtre du Nouveau MondeStatements by Members

Bloc

Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—Petite-Patrie, QC

Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago this coming Tuesday, October 9, the curtain rose on opening night of Molière's L'Avare , the first play presented by the Théatre du Nouveau Monde.

The theatre was founded by a small group of theatre people, including Jean Gascon and Jean-Louis Roux, after their stay in Europe studying theatre. Since its inception, the TNM has produced and toured great works from the classic and contemporary repertoire, while promoting national creative talent.

Hundreds of actors and directors have produced works for Quebec audiences that have been milestones in our artistic history, attracting audiences of up to 123,000. These include Jeannine Sutto, Robert Gravel, Denise Boucher, Guy Hoffman, Monique Miller, Michel Tremblay, Michèle Rossignol, Gérard Poirier and Huguette Oligny, to name but a few of the people connected with TNM who have brightened up our spirits and our lives.

In the fall of 1972, the company moved to the magnificent quarters we are familiar with today. Under the masterful artistic direction of Lorraine Pintal for nearly 10 years now, the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde has a fine future stretching before it. To everyone connected with the TNM, we extend the traditional theatrical wish “Break a leg”.

Communities in BloomStatements by Members

Liberal

Aileen Carroll Liberal Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to announce that the city of Barrie in my riding of Barrie--Simcoe--Bradford has blossomed into a winner. Barrie has won the top award in the national Communities in Bloom program. The announcement was made in a ceremony in Saint John, New Brunswick, last week. Barrie has also picked up another award. The National Capital Commission Award was given as a separate prestigious distinction for beautification effort.

I am pleased to congratulate all those involved in making my city beautiful and achieving this recognition. Special kudos go to Alderman Patricia Copeland, head of Barrie's Communities in Bloom committee. I thank those who worked so hard to achieve this honour. This five bloom ranking will help promote the city of Barrie to tourists and attract business and industry.

TaxationStatements by Members

Progressive Conservative

Peter MacKay Progressive Conservative Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS

Mr. Speaker, lower income Canadian students and labour intensive industries are pleading with the Liberal government to stop targeting them with crippling payroll taxes.

The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association has made a recommendation to the human resources committee to establish a $3,000 yearly basic exemption in the employment insurance program as a cost effective way to reduce the payroll tax burden on labour intensive industries such as food service, retail and tourism.

Financially it would help lower income workers and expand job opportunities for entry level workers. In these times of economic uncertainty the need for targeted payroll tax relief has never been greater.

The finance minister has forgotten his new framework for economic policy statement of October 1994 in which he stated:

We believe there is nothing more ludicrous than a tax on hiring, but that is what payroll taxes are. They have grown dramatically over time. They affect lower wage earners much more than those at the high end.

I concur with the finance minister. It is time for him to heed his own words and introduce payroll tax relief immediately. A fall budget would be a perfect opportunity for him to do so.

Child Abuse Prevention MonthStatements by Members

Liberal

Anita Neville Liberal Winnipeg South Centre, MB

Mr. Speaker, I remind the House that October is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Sexual, physical and emotional abuse and neglect toward children are among the most disturbing problems facing Canadians today.

We must prevent child abuse. We must promote social and economic conditions that support parents and reflect the great value we place on our children. We must challenge attitudes that propagate child abuse. We must intervene when we suspect a child is being mistreated, hurt, neglected or exploited.

The Government of Canada through partnerships with community, national, corporate and voluntary organizations supports a number of initiatives to help prevent child abuse and support families and young children.

These include family violence initiative and community based programs such as the community action program for children and aboriginal head start. Together we must continue to reaffirm our commitment to protect Canada's children.

AgricultureStatements by Members

Canadian Alliance

Carol Skelton Canadian Alliance Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK

Mr. Speaker, agriculture in our country continues to suffer due to lack of action on the part of the Liberal government. According to Stats Canada the agricultural industry saw the largest job loss in the goods producing sector. An astonishing 39,000 jobs have been lost.

This is simply not a number. These are 39,000 people who are now struggling to pay their bills and feed their families. These are 39,000 people whose way of life have changed forever.

The minister of agriculture tells us that current safety net programs are enough. Obviously these programs are ineffective and insufficient. Would 39,000 jobs have been lost if these programs actually worked?

The agricultural community is not looking for handouts. It is in dire need of programs that work, programs that would enable them to compete in the global market, programs that support families when disasters happen and programs that will get them back to work. Something must be done.

National SecurityOral Question Period

Okanagan—Coquihalla B.C.

Canadian Alliance

Stockwell Day Canadian AllianceLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, when we have raised concerns in the House about Canada's security weaknesses, we have been accused of partisanship and fearmongering. Yesterday, in acknowledging the need to play catch up, the Minister of Foreign Affairs was refreshingly frank in the media when he said:

You can't just sit at the G-8 table and then, when the bill comes, go to the washroom.

We now hope he will be as open to MPs in the House of Commons as he was to the media outside the House and tell us just how much money the government is prepared to commit to the very needy beefing up of our defence and our security.

National SecurityOral Question Period

Ottawa South Ontario

Liberal

John Manley LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Speaker, I think the point we can all agree on is that the world did change on September 11. What I have been saying consistently is that imposes upon all of us a burden to review what we are doing, what we need to do in the future and how we will conduct ourselves to meet the challenges September 11 have presented to us.

Canada has punched above its weight in the G-8 and elsewhere. The Prime Minister's influence, because of his experience and the positions he has taken, has given us greater influence than our size or our population would otherwise indicate.

National SecurityOral Question Period

Okanagan—Coquihalla B.C.

Canadian Alliance

Stockwell Day Canadian AllianceLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about his comments pre-September 11. We agree with post-September 11 that a lot more has to be done.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs said, and this is not just a headline, that Canada still trades on a reputation that was built two generations ago and more than that, which we have not continued to live up to.

For the last three weeks the government has maintained consistently that its past funding has been adequate. The Minister of Foreign Affairs now says that the past funding was not adequate. Is this a change of government position, or is the minister being punished for his refreshing honesty?

National SecurityOral Question Period

Ottawa South Ontario

Liberal

John Manley LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Speaker, if the Leader of the Opposition would read what I said I think he would discover that some of the things I think we need to be putting more money into are not ones that his party has supported in the past. That includes our contribution to overseas development assistance.

We have long had a target that has been difficult for us to achieve. In years of cutbacks it has been even more difficult to achieve. We have seen the situation that followed September 11. Did the United States expect to put that much overseas development into Afghanistan on September 10? I do not think so. The world changed.

National SecurityOral Question Period

Okanagan—Coquihalla B.C.

Canadian Alliance

Stockwell Day Canadian AllianceLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, we thought we were seeing some refreshing frankness. It sounds like he is headed back to the washroom.

One way to improve security in Canada and in the United States is to create a North American security perimeter. U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, a number of premiers and some important business leaders are asking for such a security perimeter.

Why does the Minister of Foreign Affairs feel that their idea is simplistic? Why is it simplistic?

National SecurityOral Question Period

Ottawa South Ontario

Liberal

John Manley LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Speaker, as Minister of the Industry, I spent years urging provincial governments to reduce interprovincial trade barriers.

We do not need provincial governments to help us find ways to open our borders with the United States. If we had free trade between the provinces the way that we do between the two countries, things might be a lot better than they are. This is not a provincial issue.

Airline IndustryOral Question Period

Canadian Alliance

James Moore Canadian Alliance Port Moody—Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC

Mr. Speaker, the transport minister has ruled out the use of air marshals on planes foolishly, calling it “a radical idea”, but his rush to judgment will hurt Canadian carriers badly.

Yesterday Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport reopened, but only to planes carrying air marshals. Not only has the transport minister denied Canadians another layer of security they want, deserve and need, but he is now putting a roadblock in front of Canadian carriers that compete with American carriers.

Will the transport minister admit that he was wrong to rule out air marshals and reconsider the idea today?

Airline IndustryOral Question Period

Don Valley East Ontario

Liberal

David Collenette LiberalMinister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, as we have seen in the last couple of weeks, the hon. member is very selective when he brings forward the facts. The fact is that Ronald Reagan national airport has been partially reopened to a limited number of U.S. air carriers serving only eight cities.

Up to this point Canada had a privileged position in that Air Canada was the only foreign airline allowed to fly into Reagan national. As the U.S. authorities deem Reagan national to be safe for full operation I hope we can resume the Air Canada service into that airport.

Airline IndustryOral Question Period

Canadian Alliance

James Moore Canadian Alliance Port Moody—Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC

Mr. Speaker, Air Canada has formally requested to put air marshals on planes because it wants to be able to fly Canadians in to the capital city of Canada's largest trading partner.

If Canadian carriers are to compete internationally, they will need to have air marshals on planes. Will the minister withdraw his statement that air marshals are radical and commit to putting them on planes so that Canadians will feel safe and so that Canadian carriers can compete around the world?

Airline IndustryOral Question Period

Don Valley East Ontario

Liberal

David Collenette LiberalMinister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, I have said consistently that the use of air marshals was not the preferred direction of the government.

We want to ensure that security measures are in place at airports to prevent the need for putting armed personnel on planes, which in itself creates some degree of danger and is not endorsed, certainly not at this point, by the pilot unions in this country. In fact, Mr. Bush has not even agreed to the arming of cockpit personnel on planes.

This is a matter that is evolving. This is a matter that we will be discussing in future weeks with the FAA.

Foreign AffairsOral Question Period

Bloc

Caroline St-Hilaire Bloc Longueuil, QC

Mr. Speaker, the events of September 11 have shown that countries are vulnerable and forced us to rethink our notion of security.

As President Bush appears to be opening up slowly to the problem of disparity in the world, will the Minister of Foreign Affairs agree recent events have shown that from now on—

Foreign AffairsOral Question Period

Some hon. members

Oh, Oh!

Foreign AffairsOral Question Period

The Speaker

Order, please. Something happened, and I did not hear the end of the hon. member's question. Perhaps she could repeat the last part of it.

Foreign AffairsOral Question Period

Bloc

Caroline St-Hilaire Bloc Longueuil, QC

Mr. Speaker, as President Bush appears to be opening up slowly to the problem of disparity in the world, will the Minister of Foreign Affairs agree recent events have shown that from now on, no country will be able to think about its internal security without giving thought to the political and social situation in the world?

Foreign AffairsOral Question Period

Ottawa South Ontario

Liberal

John Manley LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Speaker, I agree with that. Something very important that occurred after the September 11 situation was the effort by the Americans to create an international coalition against terrorism. They realized that a coalition must be carefully built not only in North America and western Europe, but throughout the world.

Foreign AffairsOral Question Period