House of Commons Hansard #29 of the 37th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was budget.

Topics

Employment Insurance ProgramPrivate Members' Business

6:45 p.m.

The Speaker

In my opinion the yeas have it.

And more than five members having risen:

Employment Insurance ProgramPrivate Members' Business

6:45 p.m.

The Speaker

Pursuant to Standing Order 93, the recorded division stands deferred until Wednesday, March 31, 2004, just before private members' business.

Employment Insurance ProgramPrivate Members' Business

6:45 p.m.

Bloc

Michel Guimond Bloc Beauport—Montmorency—Côte-De- Beaupré—Île-D'Orléans, QC

Mr. Speaker, I may not have understood your comment on when the division will take place, but an agreement was reached between all the parties, that division take place next Wednesday, March 31, 2004, at 3 p.m. Our agreement is for the division to be held at the same time as the one on the budget and on the ways and means motions.

Employment Insurance ProgramPrivate Members' Business

6:45 p.m.

The Speaker

Is there unanimous consent of the House to change the time so that the division take place at 3:00 p.m., on Wednesday, March 31, 2004?

Employment Insurance ProgramPrivate Members' Business

6:45 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

Employment Insurance ProgramAdjournment Proceedings

6:45 p.m.

Progressive Conservative

Greg Thompson Progressive Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB

Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago I put a question to the minister of ACOA. It was based on a speech given by the president of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. What I suggested to the minister was that the president of ACOA had stepped outside her bounds as president of an agency when she publicly endorsed a policy paper by the Liberal Party of Canada. It was not government policy, it was simply a policy paper put together by a group of Liberals. In fact it was the Liberal Atlantic caucus, but it has never been government policy.

Therefore, I suggest that she breached the public services ethics act when she did that. She clearly stepped outside of her bounds. She is not there to be a political voice for the Liberal Party of Canada. She is there to serve the agency and to serve all citizens in a non-partisan way. She should not be picking favourites, and that is exactly what she did when she gave that speech in Moncton on February 23 this year.

She has clearly stepped outside of her responsibilities as the president of an agency of government. I would like to quote from the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service of Canada. It states:

Public servants must work within the laws of Canada and maintain the tradition of the political neutrality of the Public Service.

It goes on to say:

Deputy Heads and senior managers have a particular responsibility to exemplify, in their actions and behaviours, the values of public service...It is expected that they will take special care to ensure that they comply at all times with both the spirit and the specific requirements of this Code.

She did not do that. In fact this document that she promoted, which is called the “Rising Tide” was not even mentioned in the Speech from the Throne. It was only a reference when the Prime Minister, the next day, under pressure from his Liberal members of Parliament suggested that he should make reference to it in his speech when debating the Speech from the Throne.

It is pretty obvious that it is not government policy. In fact the minister himself suggested that this would be the basis of the Liberal Party's election platform in the next election.

I think it is fundamentally wrong when a public servant is given instructions from a minister of the Crown to go out on the rubber chicken circuit speaking tour promoting a Liberal Party policy document. When the president gave her speech, she even suggested that it was just a discussion paper and referenced that paper in relation to positions held by other political parties. Not only was she promoting the Liberal Party, she was criticizing positions by other political parties, which is way outside her limits.

She should be reined in by the minister. In fact when I questioned the minister in the House a week or so ago, Mr. Speaker, you were in the chair, and the minister stood on his feet and said in reply to my question:

Mr. Speaker, the deputy minister of ACOA was merely doing her job as deputy minister. She is speaking out on government policy. The implementation--

Employment Insurance ProgramAdjournment Proceedings

6:50 p.m.

The Speaker

I am afraid the time for the first installment is up.

Employment Insurance ProgramAdjournment Proceedings

6:50 p.m.

Progressive Conservative

Greg Thompson Progressive Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB

You're not being very generous sir.

Employment Insurance ProgramAdjournment Proceedings

6:50 p.m.

The Speaker

The hon. member has had a full four minutes. That is all he is entitled to. I am being as generous as the rules permit. In fact he has gone over by some seconds already. I was reluctant to interrupt him, as usual.

The hon. Minister for ACOA.

Employment Insurance ProgramAdjournment Proceedings

6:50 p.m.

Egmont P.E.I.

Liberal

Joe McGuire LiberalMinister of Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by congratulating the hon. member for his new placement in the House of Commons. He must have done something politically brilliant to be so positioned, right behind his new leader.

In response to his concerns, our government remains committed to reducing regional disparities and ensuring that all Canadians benefit from a strong economy and the services that such an economy can provide.

The recent Speech from the Throne reasserted this commitment when it stated that the objective of the government is to ensure that every region of the country has the opportunity to move forward socially and economically on a rising tide of progress.

The Prime Minister was even more explicit in his response to the Speech from the Throne. He said:

We must ensure that...the hopes and dreams of Atlantic Canada, as reflected in the report “Rising Tide,” are realized.

Again, this week the Minister of Finance stated in his 2004 budget plan that “Rising Tide” would be our government's guide to building on the progress to date in diversifying the economy of Atlantic Canada.

The mandate of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is to tackle the socio-economic challenges facing Atlantic Canada. It is within this context that ACOA helps communities and businesses overcome barriers and identifies new opportunities for growth. In other words, advancing the economic development of Atlantic Canada as reflected in the report “Rising Tide” is the policy of the Government of Canada.

When the deputy minister of ACOA speaks about ways to advance the Atlantic economy, as reflected in the report “Rising Tide”, she is doing no more and no less than what I have asked her to do. She is speaking out on government policy. To suggest otherwise is a disservice to a talented deputy minister, one of only two deputy ministers from the Atlantic region. I might add it is also a disservice to the people of Atlantic Canada.

Our government's vision is to strengthen and deepen the transformation that is already taking place in Atlantic Canada.

To talk about “Rising Tide” is to talk about the future of Atlantic Canada and about issues of concern to Atlantic Canadians, such as innovation; entrepreneurship; trade and investment; research and development; and community development.

The deputy minister's speech to a service organization was an opportunity for ACOA to highlight its future vision. That vision is contained in the “Rising Tide” policy document, a document that has been accepted by the Government of Canada and a document that is now being converted from words into action.

ACOA's approach recognizes the great opportunities inherent in the people and the communities of Atlantic Canada. It also recognizes the need for us to work in partnership with various stakeholders both within and outside Atlantic Canada.

My deputy minister is doing just that by bringing people together to build on existing strengths.

Employment Insurance ProgramAdjournment Proceedings

6:55 p.m.

Progressive Conservative

Greg Thompson Progressive Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB

Mr. Speaker, the president of ACOA clearly stepped outside her bounds. That is why there is ad scam, the political scandal that is going on on the government side, because officials were unwilling to say no to their political masters.

The minister knows full well that the president of ACOA stepped outside her role when she was out promoting a policy document, not government policy, but a policy document of the Liberal Party of Canada.

It is interesting that the Liberals talk of “Rising Tide”. When the document first came out it was a $4 billion package for Atlantic Canada. They kept paring it down until finally they had it down to around $700 million. Note that the other day in the budget papers there was no money for “Rising Tide”, not a nickel. The only money that is referenced is in the supplementary estimates, according to the minister himself.

How can he get on his feet and brag about “Rising Tide” when in fact the government did not put a nickel into it in this budget? In fact it will be a political discussion paper for the next election.

The minister should be ashamed of himself and he should rein in his deputy minister, that is, the president of ACOA.

Employment Insurance ProgramAdjournment Proceedings

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

Joe McGuire Liberal Egmont, PE

Mr. Speaker, on several occasions the government has been criticized for politicizing ACOA. The facts do not support this allegation. Indeed, any objective view would indicate that our support at ACOA is focused more heavily on the rural areas than on urban ones, on young people, on women entrepreneurs and on building a brighter future for all four Atlantic provinces.

Critics opposed to ACOA's very existence use flawed data to put forward their complaints. Then the analysis is picked up and repeated. In the past it has been our pattern to simply ignore those errors, but no more. We now believe that it is crucial to point out that criticisms such as these are simply wrong and are a deliberate attempt to distort the facts. ACOA makes its decisions based on good projects brought forward by good people in the business community and in communities across Atlantic Canada.

I know the hon. member supports the principles that led to the “Rising Tide” report because he recently told a New Brunswick paper that the Atlantic Conservative caucus “will develop a policy and that nothing will go forward until we develop that policy”. The hon. member clearly recognizes the role of caucus in developing government policy.

Employment Insurance ProgramAdjournment Proceedings

6:55 p.m.

The Speaker

It being 6:58 p.m., this House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 6:58 p.m.)