Debates of Nov. 26th, 2004

Drug Strategy

[Randy White, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the government tabled Bill C-17, decriminalization of marijuana, in the House. This bill applies to children over the age of 11 in this nation. Children will have discounts on fines, and in fact, according to the justice department, they will likely not have to pay fines at all.

On the other hand, crystal meth, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin run rampant through the streets in this country. To combat that, the government has thought of a program called injection sites where individuals can bring drugs in and shoot up, a bubble zone where nobody will tackle the drug issue at all.

Does this sound like a government that knows what it is doing? Does this sound like a government that actually has a legitimate national drug strategy? Does this sound like a government that should stay in power? Then let us do something about it. Let us change the government.

National Arts Centre Orchestra

[David Anderson, Liberal, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the National Arts Centre Orchestra, led by maestro Pinchas Zukerman, on its return from a splendid tour of British Columbia which culminated in a concert in my riding of Victoria last Thursday evening.

The two week tour consisted of four evening concerts, student matinees, and over 80 educational student events involving teaching of children, with special emphasis on first nations children in communities all across British Columbia.

Thanks go out to Canadian National, Yamaha and many other sponsors who made this tour possible.

Bravo to the National Arts Centre Orchestra for taking its talent on the road and delighting audiences throughout British Columbia.

Sikh Community

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, today members of the Canadian Sikh community will be protesting at the French embassy the new French laws which prohibit the wearing of turbans, among other religious items that apply to other religions.

I want to rise to indicate the support of the NDP for this protest and to celebrate the fact that we do things differently here in Canada, most of the time. One of the things we could do which would be helpful to affirm the fact that we do things differently here in Canada would be to finally pass a motion which I introduced in a previous Parliament and which was introduced in the last Parliament by the member for Winnipeg North Centre to affirm the importance of the five Ks to the Sikh community and the contribution of the Sikh community to Canada.

This is a motion that almost passed but it was not votable under a previous private members' business regime. I understand that my House leader will be initiating discussions with other House leaders. Perhaps very soon we could have a motion affirming the five Ks in this House and show that we are indeed a different country.

Courage Campaign

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on November 23, some 200 people attended a special dinner in Cornwall in my riding of Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry. This dinner was in support of the first annual Courage Campaign which has raised $11,000 for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre Foundation.

The Kinsmen Club of Cornwall donated $5,000 and the dinner raised another $6,000. All of the money raised will go toward a project to double the size of the hospital. The keynote speaker, CJOH news personality Max Keeping, praised the people of Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry for their caring and their generosity.

The Courage Campaign will continue until December 15. I encourage everyone in eastern Ontario to lend their support to this excellent cause.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned about the recent reorganization of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands.

Budgets for CBC radio correspondents in Chaleur Bay and the Magdalen Islands were cut, and now the CBC just transferred its correspondent for the Chaleur Bay region to its facilities in Matane, moving him more than 200 kilometres away.

Rather than promoting regional development, the CBC prefers to abandon the regions. Yet, in September 2004, its CEO, Robert Rabinovitch, said that the CBC had a duty to provide a balanced and high-quality information service on which all Canadians could rely.

The Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands deserve better. This situation must be corrected and it must be corrected quickly.

Post-Secondary Education

[Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, post-secondary education costs are skyrocketing. Many of our future teachers, nurses and engineers are being forced to forgo career dreams simply because they cannot afford the high cost of tuition.

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations has put together a list of recommendations that will assist Canadians from low income backgrounds to obtain an education that could in turn provide a brighter financial future. Among those is a recommendation to provide funding through a dedicated Canadian education transfer.

These recommendations come from those who are directly affected by the increasing costs of education, the students. These are people who want to better themselves and the future of Canada through education. They also want to see that all Canadians, regardless of their financial situation, have the same opportunities.

Maybe the Liberal government should take a lesson or two from Canada's post-secondary students.

Arthur Hailey

[Wajid Khan, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned the sad news of the passing of internationally renowned author Arthur Hailey.

Born in England in 1920, Arthur Hailey began his writing career while a Royal Air Force pilot during the second world war. After the war, Arthur Hailey moved to Canada, became a Canadian citizen and began writing television screenplays.

It was in Canada that Arthur Hailey wrote Flight into Danger , his first television screenplay. It was broadcast live on the CBC in 1956 and later in England and the United States to huge audiences and great acclaim.

Building on his success in television, Arthur Hailey moved on to write novels. In total, Mr. Hailey wrote 11 novels about ordinary people facing extraordinary ordeals. Hailey's novels include international bestsellers Hotel, Airport and Detective .

On behalf of the Government of Canada, I salute Arthur Hailey.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has told the Toronto Star that the Prime Minister is totally supportive.

We know the minister enabled a stripper with an expired work permit who was working in her campaign office to jump the queue by granting a ministerial permit. We also know the minister's right-hand man visited a strip club to facilitate the immigration of women to work there.

Do the minister's comments mean that the Prime Minister is totally supportive of queue jumping and ministerial staff processing immigration applications in a strip club and in a Liberal campaign office?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister finds disturbing, as do I and other members of the House, are the ongoing unsubstantiated allegations and character assassinations by members of the opposition.

The opposition for many years has called for an independent Ethics Commissioner. We now have an independent Ethics Commissioner. I think it behooves all of us in the House to let the commissioner do his work. He will issue a report. That report will be made public.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, we are also calling for ethical behaviour from the minister and ministerial accountability.

The member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre has said he was afraid to ask a question in the House of Commons because of calls he received from the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration's staff. He said it was implied that representations on behalf of constituents would be denied if he questioned the minister about the permit that was given to the stripper who worked in her campaign office.

The Prime Minister has said he is totally supportive. Does this mean that the Prime Minister is totally supportive of ministers of his government intimidating members of Parliament from asking questions in the House?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, again what the hon. member and the opposition party are doing is involving themselves in character assassinations and unsubstantiated allegations.

We have a process. It is an independent process. The Ethics Commissioner will in fact review this matter. He will issue a report. That report will be made public. I would ask the hon. members on the other side to stop the outrageous assertions that they are making that destroy potentially--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Central Nova.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre has raised a number of questions with respect to the expense accounts of the minister's office. He has asked why there were expense charges in one city while a staff member was actually in another. The member has asked as well why the website documenting this inaccuracy of expenses was changed.

The minister has stated that the Prime Minister is totally supportive. Can the minister clarify this to mean that the Prime Minister is totally supportive of bogus expense claims and cover-ups?

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member had taken the time to look at the French website, he would have seen very clearly that this issue was correct all along. It is the same old Reform-Alliance party continuing to make discriminatory remarks against people and allegations that are clearly unfounded.

In answer to his earlier question about my staff, let me say that I have two of the finest young men working for me and I deny any allegations. If we are guilty of anything, it is because we are trying to be too kind to all of those guys over there.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the immigration minister says on one hand that the stripper program is necessary to protect women, yet on the other hand she says the program is exploiting women and should be stopped. Which is it? Can she please explain her hypocrisy?

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting that there is a woman standing and asking some of these questions.

Let me say that when it comes to standing up for women's rights, we on this side of the House are going to make sure that women's rights are front and centre. When we talk about issues of exploitation of women or anything to do with threats against women, we are going to be standing up for them. I will never stop doing that.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is really very simple. I would appreciate it if the minister would stop dancing around the subject. Why are legitimate claimants left waiting in line while the minister allows queue jumping under a program that she says she does not support?

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I was very clear. There was no queue jumping. There was an individual married to a Canadian citizen working in an industry that she no longer wanted to work in. I assisted her on the merits of that application under humanitarian and compassionate grounds, and in spite of all of those guys and their accusations for the past two weeks, I would do it again today.

The Environment

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the former Minister of the Environment made very harsh comments about the government and criticized the behaviour of his colleagues, calling them industry cheerleaders and lobbyists.

In light of this very severe criticism by his former colleague, what is the Minister of the Environment waiting for to draft a plan to implement the Kyoto protocol based on the territorial approach?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, in 2002 the Government of Canada implemented an action plan to reduce greenhouse gases. This action plan has led to 241 measures so far, and soon it will be my pleasure to announce a new one, in conjunction with the Minister of Public Works. We are continuing to improve this plan, because it is very important for Canada to do its part for the good of the planet.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what lies behind the government's refusal to act and lack of goodwill is a pro-industry bias.

If the minister is as determined as he says, then why is he reluctant to announce the plan to implement the Kyoto protocol based on the territorial approach, which is far more in line with the polluter-pay principle?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we continually need to do more because this is an extremely important issue. This very week I was in Iceland at the Arctic Council, and all the council members agreed to work together to help this part of the world, which is directly affected by climate change. I must point out that our American friends signed this agreement along with all the members of the Arctic Council.

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last week the Minister of the Environment expressed his complete confidence that the Minister of Natural Resources would implement an effective and equitable plan to meet the Kyoto objectives.

As Minister of the Environment responsible for sustainable development, can he explain how a company like Ford, which has received $100 million in assistance, has not been required to meet stricter pollution emission standards in its manufacturing process?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we are currently negotiating with the auto industry in order to improve automobile energy efficiency by 25% and we are determined to get results. The Minister of Natural Resources and I have said very clearly that there will be a reduction in auto industry greenhouse gases. The industry will do its part.

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the technology exists and all that remains to be done is for Canada to adopt stricter regulations, as California did earlier this month.

Will the Minister of the Environment agree to quickly bring in regulations on vehicle manufacturing aimed at reducing vehicle pollution by 25%? If the federal government wants to be serious about Kyoto, let it take action right now.