Debates of Oct. 3rd, 2005

Softwood Lumber

[John Duncan, Conservative, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is 53 days and $200 million in tariffs since the Prime Minister promised Premier Campbell he would call the U.S. president about the softwood lumber dispute. The Prime Minister needs to be involved, and we need direction from the highest levels of both governments to try and resolve this dispute.

When will the Prime Minister stop his phony domestic posturing and pick up the phone?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, I have spoken to the president on this issue many times and I will be doing so again in the very near future.

At the same time it is important for us to raise support among other countries. I was delighted that in Vancouver last week President Vicente Fox of Mexico supported the Canadian position 100%. There are now two of the three NAFTA partners who support the Canadian position and it is about time the Americans did so as well.

Sponsorship Program

[Gary Lunn, Conservative, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, clearly the Minister of Public Works is trying to hide something as he continues to claim that the RCMP took a single invoice during a raid on September 14 of the Public Works office in Gatineau, Québec. Sources indicate that 150 boxes of documents were seized, not a single piece of paper.

Why will the minister not come clean and tell the House what the RCMP took from his office? What is he trying to hide?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that Public Works, in fact the entire government, cooperates fully with the RCMP in any investigation and we will continue to do exactly that.

Justice

[Rick Casson, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we have obtained a copy of the justice minister's position paper regarding private member's Bill C-313, an act to raise the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16. In this document, as hard as it is to believe, the minister argues against raising the age of consent because of potential costs associated with increased prosecution of such cases.

Why does the government have millions of dollars for golden handshakes for patronage hacks, but does not have enough funds to protect our kids from predators?

[Paul MacKlin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, as I clarified for the House last week, this matter of age of consent has been taken off to the side. The actual issue really is the person exploiting our youth.

Each and every one of us has as a priority the protection of our youth. It is with the legislation that we have in place, in particular Bill C-2 that will soon be law, that we go after the person who exploits our children. That is the person we want to attack.

[Gurmant Grewal, Conservative, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Mr. Speaker, a recent survey found that 10% of high school kids in Surrey use crystal meth, North America's most dangerous drug. This highly addictive drug is cheap and easy to get. As a result of the Liberals' inaction, the crystal meth crisis is getting out of hand.

When will the government introduce mandatory prison sentences for drug pushers and a national drug strategy to help people, especially children, before their lives are devastated by crystal meth?

[Paul MacKlin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member had been watching what we did this summer, he would know that we did make sure that crystal meth was rescheduled to increase the penalty from 10 years to life for those who would traffic in crystal meth.

We believe that crystal meth is a very serious drug, and we are taking action to make sure that we minimize its use.

International Trade

[Marc Boulianne, Bloc, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the President of the FTQ, Henri Massé, again called on the government to use protective measures against China and India to help the furniture, textile and clothing industries in Quebec adapt to this new competition. The Minister of International Trade told us last spring that he was prepared to act if need be.

Does the minister not believe that it is high time to launch the process to implement these protective measures?

[Jim Peterson, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, this matter is now before the courts. We are in close consultation with these two industries. We want these industries to be able to compete in international markets. That is why we have given them over $1.2 billion in recent years.

[Marc Boulianne, Bloc, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, however, the minister must be aware that, in the textile and clothing industries alone, over 25,000 jobs have been lost in the past year and a half in Quebec.

When will the government decide to implement these temporary protective measures in order to protect these industries and their jobs while respecting the rules set out by the World Trade Organization, which authorizes the use of such measures?

[Jim Peterson, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, we have held consultations with these two industries. As they have pointed out, during the past quarter, imports this year have kept pace with last year.

However, this does not mean that we do not face huge challenges. That is why we will continue to work with these two industries so they can become competitive.

Newfoundland and Labrador

[Norman Doyle, Conservative, St. John's North, NL]

Mr. Speaker, for the first time since 1949, when Newfoundland and Labrador joined Canada, the province does not have full time cabinet representation. The current minister has announced publicly that he will not be seeking re-election. We do have four other Newfoundland and Labrador members sitting in the government caucus.

Why will the Prime Minister not appoint a full time cabinet minister from Newfoundland and Labrador from among his four members, or is the Prime Minister saying that Canada's youngest province does not deserve equality with the rest of this nation?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are all aware of the illness of the Minister of Natural Resources and we are all very hopeful that he will regain his health as soon as possible. I am sure the hon. member would want to join me in that.

That being said, while travel is difficult for him, he is able to exercise his responsibilities fully as regional minister while staying in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I must say at the same time that I would like to thank the hon. member for his very favourable references to the four Liberal members from Newfoundland. I have to say that they are outstanding.

Firearms Registry

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the $1 billion gun registry is back in the news again.

In 2001, to save money, the government switched from plastic registration cards to paper certificates which just made it easier to forge registrations.

Now taxpayers are amazed to learn that the government allowed a website offering fake gun registrations to operate a year after it knew about it.

Why are security measures still so sloppy that anybody, any gang member, any violent criminal, can type up their own registration certificates?

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

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member probably is aware, that is not true. In fact, there are many security features built into the documents that the firearms centre issues.

The other issue to which the hon. member referred in relation to a website out of the United States, I have in my possession a letter sent April 15, 2004 from the firearms centre asking for the shutdown of that site. I have a response from homestead.com in which homestead.com said the following, “Based on your complaint, we have terminated the account in question”.

Natural Resources

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the acting Minister of Natural Resources.

In a world of ever increasing demand for fuel sources, we, in Canada, are well placed to take a leadership role in the area of biofuels, including bioethanol and biodiesel fuels. These are renewable resources that are cleaner burning and therefore better for our environment.

I would ask the minister, what is his government doing to encourage and facilitate the use of biofuels in Canada?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Davenport for his very timely question in view of the high world price of oil, because the more we can increase the supply and usage of our renewable fuels the less we will depend on oil, which not only is very high in price but which also contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.

I am very pleased to report that over the last two years we have allocated $118 million toward the construction of 11 new ethanol plants across Canada. These will increase our annual production by seven times, enough to meet the target by 2006.

Health

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my first question in the House of Commons was: When will the Liberal government compensate all hepatitis C victims from tainted blood?

Over a year later I am asking the same question. The Liberals have dithered for a decade and I can say that a Conservative government will compensate the victims immediately.

Will the health minister fulfil the Conservative commitment and compensate all victims of hepatitis C from tainted blood?

[Ujjal Dosanjh, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, it was not the Conservative commitment. We made a commitment to do that. The negotiators are discussing these issues. Progress is being made. I am hoping that in the next few weeks and months we will have this issue resolved to the satisfaction of all.

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James, MB]

Mr. Speaker, since hinting that the forgotten victims might be compensated, the government has dithered and delayed.

The victims do not trust the minister or the government.

If or when these victims are compensated, could the minister assure the House that the forgotten victims will receive compensation equal to that of the victims who have already been compensated and will the minister apologize for the blatant disrespect the Liberal government has demonstrated toward the forgotten victims?

[Ujjal Dosanjh, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, this is obviously a very serious issue and we take it seriously. We started the negotiations with the class pre-86 and post-90. We are sure that we will get to an understanding and an arrangement between the classes.

I am certain that these victims will be compensated in due course. Those negotiations are underway and progress is being made.

Canada Post Corporation

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, our region will lose 500 jobs if the closure of the Canada Post sorting centre in Quebec City goes through as planned.

Before those 500 jobs are lost to the Quebec City region, will the Minister responsible for Canada Post ask it to put the decision on hold until an overall postal services restructuring plan is submitted to us?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, there are two important points to make. One: there are no job losses. Two: physical mail is becoming a thing of the past. Even grandmothers send birthday wishes electronically.

As a result, Canada Post needs to be efficient if it is not to go into deficit. So there are two points: no job losses and concern for efficiency.

Social Development

[Don Bell, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last Thursday the Governments of Canada and British Columbia signed a historic agreement on early learning and child care.

Could the Minister of Social Development please inform the House what this agreement means for children and families in British Columbia?