House of Commons Hansard #9 of the 37th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was industry.
Bev Desjarlais NDP Churchill, MB
Mr. Speaker, rail is the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly mode of travel. Federal support for rail service, including high speed rail in the densely populated area of the Quebec-Windsor corridor, could take 3 million vehicles off the road annually. That is 16.8 million tonnes less of CO
2
emissions annually.
My question is, if the government is truly committed to the Kyoto agreement, where is its vision? Where is its plan for revitalizing rail in Canada?
André Harvey LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows very well that when it comes to the enormous environmental challenges before us, every alternative scenario will be considered over the coming months. The government will be tabling a report on this issue.
Dick Proctor NDP Palliser, SK
Mr. Speaker, parts of Alberta and Nova Scotia have just suffered through their worst drought in memory. For several years now each summer seems to be hotter and dryer than the previous one. This is causing additional uncertainty and confusion within the agriculture community.
Now we have the spectre of a new El Nino, but farmers are also concerned that Kyoto will increase their energy costs. My question is, what steps will the government take to ensure that the many benefits of Kyoto will be passed on to our farmers?
David Anderson LiberalMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has correctly pointed out the devastating impact of drought in many parts of Canada, in particular south central Alberta.
This is of course one of those extreme weather events which we can expect to be more frequent, to have longer duration and to have greater intensity because of climate change.
It is important for us to attack and to deal with the causes of the problems of farmers in Canada that are related to extreme weather events, as well as of course carrying out other measures which can deal with short term effects or short term opportunities for taking care of immediate difficulty.
Bill Casey Progressive Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Mr. Speaker, we have now learned that Correctional Service Canada is training inmates to do telemarketing directly from Canada's prisons.
Corrections Canada is teaching inmates how to obtain information about Canadians' lives, their homes, their property, SIN numbers, credit cards, and bank account numbers. The potential for abuse is absolutely unlimited.
How can the minister justify subjecting Canadians to this crazy strategy?
Lawrence MacAulay LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, on the situation with the computers, Correctional Service Canada is doing a thorough assessment of inmate owned computers in their cells. CSC is doing a full review to make sure that they are used appropriately.
Bill Casey Progressive Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Mr. Speaker, this was not about computers. It was about telemarketing.
I would like the minister to explain why they have a policy of firing vocational teachers at prisons like Springhill, where there are 380 prisoners, while they are adding staff at Montague.
This telemarketing scheme is crazy. Will the minister immediately restore the funding to the facilities where the prisoners are?
Lawrence MacAulay LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated to my hon. colleague yesterday, the budget for the Addictions Research Centre in Montague comes from the national centre in Ottawa. No funds have come from Dorchester or any other institution in Atlantic Canada, but of course Correctional Service Canada is fully aware of how important it is to address the addiction problem.
Correctional Service CanadaOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order. I note that today there seems to be an unusual amount of noise and catcalls in the House. I am sure that the members who are speaking appreciate the free advice they are receiving from other hon. members, but it makes it very difficult for the Chair to hear and somebody may say something out of order. I appeal for a little more order today in the House, especially since we now have the hon. member for Langley--Abbotsford on the floor.
Randy White Canadian Alliance Langley—Abbotsford, BC
Mr. Speaker, if this fellow knew as much about the prison system as he does about fixing his friends up we would be better off in this country.
I am going to follow up on the previous question. Telemarketing schemes are not about computers in prisons. They are about phoning people at home from within the prisons.
I would like the Solicitor General to tell me why it is that Correctional Service Canada plans to expand that program and phone even more people at home on surveys to find out about their lives, their homes and their property. What gives?
Lawrence MacAulay LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, offenders who are working at call centres are carefully screened before anybody is chosen to do this and they do not have any access to personal information.
Randy White Canadian Alliance Langley—Abbotsford, BC
I told you, Mr. Speaker, that he did not know what he was talking about.
I do not know how an inmate can get on the phone and ask people about their families, their private lives and their property without having the information. Hello, get a life over there. This is a bad program. It spies into the privacy of Canadians. I want to know why it is not stopped.
Lawrence MacAulay LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated before, any inmate who is chosen to do the--
Correctional Service CanadaOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order. We have to be able to hear the answer from the Solicitor General. He has the floor.
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Mr. Speaker, any offender who is chosen to do this is carefully screened, and the fact of the matter is that before an offender--
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Mr. Speaker, it is part of the CORCAN program in order to make sure that offenders are prepared to be returned to society. It is all done in the line of public safety.
Correctional Service CanadaOral Question Period
The Speaker
The hon. member for Châteauguay.
Correctional Service CanadaOral Question Period
The Speaker
All my appeals for order seem not to be working. I know the member for Langley--Abbotsford did his very best to keep things quiet, but it is now the turn of the hon. member for Châteauguay.
The floor belongs to the hon. member for Châteauguay, and we would like to hear his question, please.
Robert Lanctôt Bloc Châteauguay, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services just tabled the report on the internal administrative investigation by his department into the sponsorships scandal.
How can the minister say that a public inquiry is not necessary for this affair, when the description of the mandate very clearly shows that the investigation was limited to administrative aspects of the program and did not touch in any way on the political involvement of the government?
Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, the efforts that have been put underway by the government are covering every dimension of this aspect. There have been of course the internal audits and the audit implementation plan. Whenever there are questions that raise legal matters they are referred to the RCMP. The Auditor General will be conducting a government-wide audit and examination, plus there is an administrative review now under way under the Financial Administration Act. There are time verification audits with respect to certain firms. Every dimension of this issue is being properly investigated.
Robert Lanctôt Bloc Châteauguay, QC
Mr. Speaker, we see that very clearly. As long as the investigation is limited to the administration of the program, the sponsorship scandals are presented as mere administrative errors. However, there was a political will behind it all. This was confirmed by Chuck Guité and Alain Richard.
When will the government allow the truth to be known by authorizing an inquiry that is public, and more importantly, independent of the government?
Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, again the hon. gentleman suggests the idea of a public inquiry, but I would suggest to him that in order to find the real facts of this matter, to thoroughly ventilate everything that went on, the most appropriate authorities to do that are, on the one hand involving legal matters, the RCMP, and on the other involving government activity and government policy, that would be the Auditor General. Both those authorities are fully engaged on this file.