House of Commons Hansard #143 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was surplus.
Paul Crête Bloc Rivière-Du-Loup—Montmagny, QC
Mr. Speaker, having run short of arguments justifying Canada's position in the face of the Americans' hard line attitude on softwood lumber, the Minister of Industry is accusing the Bloc of trying to divide Canada by calling for loan guarantees.
How does the minister intend to respond to the Quebec chamber of commerce and the Liberal chair of the Standing Committee on Industry who, like the Bloc Québécois, have spoken out in favour of loan guarantees?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Revenue
Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues have said time and again, the problems facing the forestry industry are extremely important, and the government is studying them.
We are in the midst of considering a number of options in order to find a national solution.
Paul Crête Bloc Rivière-Du-Loup—Montmagny, QC
Mr. Speaker, everyone in Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, not to mention the Free Trade Lumber Council, unanimously agrees with the Bloc Québécois in calling for loan guarantees. A letter sent to the minister on September 14 confirms this.
Will the Minister of International Trade admit that his government is alone in refusing to consider loan guarantees?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Revenue
Mr. Speaker, the government will admit no such thing because it is not true. That is an excellent reason for not admitting it. As I just said, we are considering all the options that will be best for all of Canada.
Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister, at an all important meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, told her that 50% of Canada's gun crimes were the result of guns coming from the United States, yet the U.S. Ambassador objected. He said that Canadian officials later told him that in fact that figure was just grabbed out of thin air. Imagine, at a meeting like that, making figures up.
He contradicted his public safety minister. He is making up numbers. How can Canadians expect the Prime Minister to competently and credibly negotiate something like softwood lumber or crime when he is simply making it up as he goes along?
Anne McLellan LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has already referenced, the Mayor of Toronto, David Miller, and Chief of Police Bill Blair both indicated in August of this year that 50% of firearms used in crimes came here from the United States.
What we need to focus on here is the actual conversation that took place between the Prime Minister, myself and the Secretary of State. That conversation was about the shared challenge of making sure our border is secure and the shared challenge of stopping gun smuggling so that the people of Toronto and all over North America are safer.
Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS
Mr. Speaker, the minister said it was not a problem. She called the Prime Minister's comments simplistic. Now we see from inspector Bruce Crawford of the Toronto guns and gangs task force that most of the guns came into Canada in cars, a few at a time, at the borders.
Some guns are seized at the borders, but it is hard when the officials are working unarmed and alone.
Instead of trying to hide behind the government's failings, hectoring other people about Canada's problems, when is Canada going to properly arm, equip and give back to our border officials the support they need? Stop making up figures and do something about it.
Anne McLellan LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member wants some figures, here are some figures. In budget 2005 we allocated an additional $500 million to the CBSA. In fact, we are hiring 270 new front line officers. Let me reassure the hon. member that we have approximately 12,500 full time employees at the CBSA and over 80% of them are directly in the field securing our border.
If anybody should get the facts straight around here, it is the hon. member.
Border SecurityOral Questions
The Speaker
Perhaps I could remind all hon. members that today is Thursday, not Wednesday. There seems to be an unusual tempest in the chamber. It is very hard for the Chair to hear the questions and the answers today. Perhaps we could just tone things down a little while the hon. member for Portage--Lisgar tries to encourage members to listen to his question.
Brian Pallister Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
Mr. Speaker, yesterday's audits were just a shallow attempt to legitimize David Dingwall's spending and his severance. The auditors admit that--
David DingwallOral Questions
The Speaker
I guess I made the request at the wrong moment.
The hon. member for Portage--Lisgar has the floor in order to ask his question. We will want to hear it.
Brian Pallister Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
Mr. Speaker, they should listen to this part.
Even the auditors admit that they could not make any judgment on the appropriateness of the policies. The question is, why not? Because the government's own terms of reference deliberately restricted the auditors to an analysis of Dingwall's spending, while ignoring the cause of that spending, the rules. l
Yesterday, the minister misinformed the House when he said that the terms of reference were on the website. They are not on the website. Why is he hiding them? Will he table them today?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Revenue
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House treat the taxpayers' money with great respect.
David DingwallOral Questions
The Speaker
Order, order. Obviously members want to hear the rest of the minister's answer, as the first part has been warmly received. The minister will want to proceed with his answer. Order, please.
John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON
Mr. Speaker, I would submit that the histrionics and the excessive accusations of the member opposite serve only to bring disrespect and a negative public image to every member of this House.
James Rajotte Conservative Edmonton—Leduc, AB
Mr. Speaker, the fact is there is another issue with David Dingwall that this government is choosing to ignore. He registered to lobby TPC for Bioniche. He openly declared he would be receiving a contingency fee, which is prohibited. The company in question was forced by the government to pay back this fee. Then Dingwall insisted before a House standing committee that he did not receive a contingency fee.
There is a direct contradiction here. Either the government has wrongly forced a company to repay $460,000, or Dingwall did not tell the truth to a standing committee of this House. The industry minister knows what the truth is. What is it?
David Emerson LiberalMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I think I have said many times before the truth is that Bioniche did pay a lobbyist a contingency fee. We have recovered every cent of that money through our relationship with Bioniche. Bioniche is the body with which we have a legal relationship. If it wants to recover that fee from its lobbyist, it has the ability to do so.
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Mr. Speaker, the situation in Haiti remains both fragile and difficult. We know that Canada is among the key donors to that country, and has invested over $180 million to help restore security and stability.
With Haitian elections on the horizon, could the Minister of Foreign Affairs provide us with more details on Canada's commitment with regard to this elections?
Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, we are determined to play a lead role in accompanying Haiti along the road to democracy. The upcoming elections will be crucial to the development of that country. Canada, through CIDA, will be providing more than $22 million for the electoral process and, through Elections Canada, will play an observer role.
We will continue to accompany Haiti after its elections. We expect to have a long-term presence there.
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have just been in touch with the evacuees trying to get out of Kashechewan. The situation is chaotic. People are frightened, tired and have no idea where they are going or what they will be going back to. As well, the water is still not safe to drink.
We have heard a lot of huffing and puffing about Kashechewan today but I have not heard the one phrase I need to hear. I need to hear the Prime Minister of Canada stand and say simply that he will do what is necessary to rebuild this community with proper houses, adequate sewage and proper medical treatment that is worthy of the dignity of the Mushkegowuk community.
Andy Scott LiberalMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Mr. Speaker, I say to the hon. member that is exactly what we are going to do.
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Mr. Speaker, hopefully we will actually see some action instead of talk.
The health minister is ignoring new private hospitals, new private surgeries, new private MRIs. He says that they are not happening. He left Tommy Douglas' party to join the party of Senator Kirby who celebrates the Supreme Court decision opening the door wide for private care.
Why is the minister helping Senator Kirby get what he wants, more private for profit health care in Canada?
Ujjal Dosanjh LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, there are some members of the House who will never get it. The fact is that we have spent $41 billion over the next 10 years to strengthen the public health care system.
The hon. member asked me a question about private health care. The only way to strengthen the public health care system in this country is to provide additional resources, and we did that; to train more doctors and nurses, and we are doing that; to reduce wait times, and we are doing that.
I would like that party to join us in strengthening the public health care system. That is the real answer to Chaoulli.