House of Commons Hansard #125 of the 37th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was farmers.
Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, the member obviously gets his exercise by jumping to conclusions. What he ought to do is be responsible about this. He has already said that IRAP is an important and successful program for small and medium sized businesses throughout the country.
Rather than leaping to those conclusions, let the investigation go forward and let it run its course. We will make the details available when they are available and when it is appropriate to do so.
David Price Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Mr. Speaker, the supplementary budget estimates were tabled today, and we all know the financial challenges faced by the Department of National Defence.
Could the minister outline how the estimates will remove much of the pressure from the Department of National Defence?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, never has a single number spoken so eloquently to the depth of the government's commitment to the military than the number which appeared in the supplementary estimates today. No less than $1.315 billion has been committed for the single year. Of this total, we have $800 million in new base funding, $393 million for the Afghanistan mission, including $193 million in new money, and more than $100 million in salary increases.
John Williams Canadian Alliance St. Albert, AB
Mr. Speaker, last week it was champagne Charles Boyer, and this week it is the Pierre Théberge travelling road show. What is the common theme? Spending taxpayers' money with abandon. I thought that we had rules governing expenses by senior bureaucrats, but now we have $600,000 in lavish expenses for the high-flying director of the National Gallery.
My question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Why did she authorize these massive expenditures of taxpayers' money?
Carole-Marie Allard LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, I find the member's attitude deplorable. He knows that the government is committed to good management of public funds and he also knows that the National Gallery is a crown corporation, responsible for its day to day management and the management of its expenses.
Canadian HeritageOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order, please. It is clear there is a disagreement in respect of the allegations made by the hon. member for St. Albert, but he is going to ask a supplementary question and everyone will want to hear the question because there will have to be an answer.
John Williams Canadian Alliance St. Albert, AB
Well, that was a rant, Mr. Speaker, but it would have been better coming from the minister herself to get the real answer to what is going on.
The point remains that we have over half a million dollars of taxpayers' money spent and we have only looked at two expense accounts. The poor taxpayers are dumbfounded that this can happen. They are convinced that the Liberal government is out of control.
Who will stand over there and say that they will tackle this high-flying spending, or is it just spend, spend, spend over there until they get thrown out of office?
Carole-Marie Allard LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, I am glad to share with the House this press release from the board of trustees of the National Gallery of Canada. It is signed by Mr. Sobey and it says:
--I want to express our confidence in the Director, Mr. Pierre Théberge.
Canadian HeritageOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order, please. Usually with short answers we get more time for questions, but we will not if there is all this hullabaloo.
The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Jacques-Cartier has the floor and the questions must be heard.
Richard Marceau Bloc Charlesbourg—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Mr. Speaker, a Council of Europe committee report has focused on the apparent risk of abuse and torture being faced by Basques being held prisoner by Spanish authorities. These same fears have been echoed in a number of Amnesty International reports.
How can the Minister of Justice state, relying solely on the word of the Spanish authorities, that the two Basque militants whose extradition he has authorized are not at risk of torture, when there are serious reports to the contrary?
Martin Cauchon LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, the colleague across the way is referring to an extradition decision, essentially. Given the nature of the extradition process, the various appeal processes afterward, and the fact that the Minister of Justice is also involved, you will understand that I cannot make any comment on an extradition matter.
Jim Pankiw Canadian Alliance Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK
Mr. Speaker, once again the Liberals have thumbed their noses at the principle of equality. For years the Liberals have known that Indian-only fishery regulations are discriminatory and illegal, and two recent court rulings confirm this fact. Judge Kitchen called the regulations “government sponsored discrimination” and Judge Saunderson called it a “policy of political correctness”.
Why is the government appealing court rulings that restore equality to the west coast fishery to prop up a racist Indian-only fishing scheme?
Robert Thibault LiberalMinister of Fisheries and Oceans
Mr. Speaker, as the House knows, that decision is now under appeal before the courts, and therefore I will not comment on it.
But I would like to advise the House and assure everybody that we want to see the aboriginal people, the first people, participate in a commercial fishery and derive commercial benefits from all natural resources. We want to do it in an orderly way. We recognize that the old policy for fishermen is not the panacea, but we are willing to work actively to find a good way to the benefit of all, unlike the member opposite.
Roy H. Bailey Canadian Alliance Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister found $1.6 million for a horse show in his riding. Today, it is reported the Liberals want to establish a $30 million slush fund to be administered by MPs. Canadians can clearly see that the government is so cheap when it comes to our war veterans' widows. Why is that?
Don Boudria LiberalMinister of State and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member spoke of some figure in his mind, and perhaps the minds of others, of $30 million or something like that. That figure does not exist and as far as I know the member of Parliament who will be proposing a private member's motion to that effect has not proposed it either. Perhaps it exists only in the hon. member's mind.
Maybe he should vote for the government bill of my colleague, the Minister of Veterans Affairs, that will be before the House tomorrow or Thursday for improving veterans' benefits. That is where--
Veterans AffairsOral Question Period
The Speaker
The hon. member for Terrebonne—Blainville.
Diane Bourgeois Bloc Terrebonne—Blainville, QC
Mr. Speaker, a spokesperson for Reporters without Borders has expressed concerns that the charges against the alleged murderer of Madam Kazemi are nothing but a ploy by the authorities to protect the ones really responsible for this tragedy.
Can the government tell us whether the Minister of Foreign Affairs will take advantage of his visit to the UN to express to his Iranian counterpart the dissatisfaction of the Canadian authorities with the way the Government of Iran is acquitting itself of its responsibilities in the Kazemi affair?
Aileen Carroll LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, we are demanding an open trial where those responsible will be brought forward and punished. We are demanding that the remains of Madam Kazemi be returned to Canada.
While we welcome the news of some progress, we remain very concerned that there be action following the announcement. We are monitoring it very closely indeed and members can also be assured that the Minister of Foreign Affairs is meeting with his Iranian counterpart in New York to push all of those objectives.
Inky Mark Canadian Alliance Dauphin—Swan River, MB
Mr. Speaker, today we learned that the supplementary estimates show an additional $10 million for the firearms registry.
Access to information requests have revealed that between April 14 and June 30 there were no full time or part time employees of the Department of Justice working on the Canadian firearms program. Another access to information request showed that during the same period no employees in the department of the Solicitor General were working on the firearms program.
My question is, if no one in either the justice department or the Solicitor General's office is working on the gun registry, just exactly who is minding this--
Wayne Easter LiberalSolicitor General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear that the hon. member has his facts wrong.
We are not, through these supplementary estimates, asking Parliament for one more cent for the firearms program. Not one more cent. The money is not new money. The money was approved by Parliament and the money is within the spending targets that we announced earlier.
In fact, we are on target in terms of our action plan. We met the deadline for registrations. We are continuing to maintain registrations and we will continue until--
Firearms RegistryOral Question Period
The Speaker
That concludes question period for the day. We will proceed to orders of the day.
The House resumed consideration of the motion.