House of Commons Hansard #144 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was columbia.
Paul Martin LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, if the leader of the NDP was listening, then perhaps he is finally starting to understand the scope of the problem.
Obviously we insist that the Americans stick to the spirit and the letter of the agreement. It is certainly our intention to take them to court because we will not back down. We have no intention of negotiating what we have won.
Jack Layton NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON
Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister wants to behave like FDR, the least he could do is provide a new deal for the lumber industry.
The fact of the matter is there is no help for the industry. There is no plan. There is no deadline. There are no consequences spelled out for the Bush administration if it just continues to brush off Canada and the Prime Minister's endless words. Workers and businesses who provided the billions of dollars here are not helped by say nothing, do nothing radio ads.
When is the Prime Minister going to do something that gets respect in Washington?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Revenue
Mr. Speaker, as has been made clear in this House several times, the government is seized of this matter. My colleague, the Minister of Industry, myself, our cabinet colleagues and our caucus colleagues in particular are really concerned about this matter, as we all are. We are working very hard as we speak to develop a package that responds to the needs of the industry from coast to coast.
Brian Pallister Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
Mr. Speaker, the government says that David Dingwall is clean, which just shows us what passes for clean with the government. Last week's dingwash audit showed that David Dingwall charged taxpayers for personal flights, personal courier service--and the Treasury Board minister should listen to this as he seems to pretend he is interested in accountability--personal gum and even a personal massage.
Just two weeks ago the Department of Fisheries and Oceans fired employees for using tax dollars for personal use. Is paying David Dingwall severance a Liberal double standard?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Revenue
Mr. Speaker, last week I said that the hon. member devalued the currency of all members in this House by his accusations without merit and without facts. Today I will quote from the Saskatoon StarPhoenix which wrote that the Leader of the Opposition “needs to acknowledge it when his party jumped the gun by attacking the reputation of a man before the facts were in, and then acknowledge the mistake when the facts became known”.
Saskatoon is near where the hon. member lives. The message is directed at him.
Brian Pallister Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
Mr. Speaker, anybody who is interested post-Gomery in determining the level of sincerity of the government when it comes to cleaning things up just has to listen to that minister. When it comes to accountability, they just play dead over there.
Here is another good example. It has been 13 months and the André Ouellet possum audit still has no conclusion. Last year alone, Revenue Canada completed 307,000 audits on regular Canadian taxpayers. Why should 307,000 Canadians be held to account and not one fat cat Liberal?
John McCallum LiberalMinister of National Revenue
Mr. Speaker, I did not hear even a hint of apology in that second question, either to the attack on him by the Saskatoon newspaper or to that old issue where he still refuses to acknowledge that he does not have the right to limit the ability of Mr. Ouellet to speak French before a House of Commons committee. It does not hurt to say one is sorry. It is never too late to say one is sorry.
James Rajotte Conservative Edmonton—Leduc, AB
Mr. Speaker, it took less than a month to complete the audit of David Dingwall's expenses at the Mint. However, it has been more than a year since a compliance audit of Technology Partnerships Canada was begun and there is still no final report.
The TPC audit deals with contingency fees. Mr. Dingwall openly declared that he would be receiving a contingency fee as a lobbyist, which is strictly prohibited. Why is it taking so long to complete the audit of TPC?
David Emerson LiberalMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, the TPC audit has been going on for some months. It will go on for a number of months yet to come.
These are very complex audits. Each audit involves an extensive amount of research into the paperwork and the files of individual companies.
Bioniche was dealt with by the government. We recovered all of the taxpayers' money. We will continue with our audits. We will continue to recover money. We will release the results when we are able to by law and when the work is done.
James Rajotte Conservative Edmonton—Leduc, AB
Mr. Speaker, the secrecy surrounding the Dingwall case and TPC is unacceptable.
Last week the industry committee demanded that the minister release the names of the five companies that have already been identified as being in breach of contract and the amount of illegal payments made by each of these five companies, one of which was Bioniche, which we have not received from the government.
The lobbyist registrar furthermore has confirmed that he is conducting eight investigations into violations of the act, but did not disclose who was being investigated.
Will the industry minister confirm whether or not Dingwall is being investigated and is he involved in any of these other five companies that have breached their contracts?
David Emerson LiberalMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I will of course respond to the letter I received from the industry committee. We will do that as quickly as we can.
Mr. Dingwall is not a company in receipt of a TPC contribution. We are dealing with the companies with which we have contracts. We are investigating them. We will continue to investigate them. We will continue to ensure that taxpayers' money is fully recovered. We will release information as we are legally able to do so and when we have information to release.
Michel Guimond Bloc Charlevoix—Montmorency, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said he would do things differently from Jean Chrétien. Today he is using precedents to justify the fact that the opposition will get the report just a few hours before they can react and that only one person from each party will see it in a lockup situation until it is tabled.
How can he explain putting the responsibility back on Justice Gomery last week when the one refusing to give the opposition as much preparation time as he has is none other than himself? Once again, the Prime Minister is blaming someone else.
Scott Brison LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister said earlier, in fact there is a long-standing tradition that governments receive these types of reports in advance of the opposition.
The Romanow report in fact was received a day before the opposition received it. The Somalia report was received three days before and the Krever report was received five days before the opposition received them.
In fact, this is a bipartisan tradition. The prior Progressive Conservative government held the Royal Commission on National Passenger Transportation report for 13 days before releasing it and the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing for eight days before releasing it.
Michel Guimond Bloc Charlevoix—Montmorency, QC
Mr. Speaker, all the precedents mentioned were under Jean Chrétien. The Prime Minister is again blaming Jean Chrétien, or somebody else, or the Conservatives. We know that the Gomery report will be quite sizeable and that it will contain several hundred pages and a great deal of information to which we will need to react quickly.
Contrary to his own promise to eliminate the democratic deficit, is the Prime Minister not in fact adding to this deficit by allowing himself 16 hours to prepare his reaction, while the opposition parties will have no time to prepare because he refuses to give them the report when he gets it?
Scott Brison LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, as I alluded to earlier, the fact is that there is a bipartisan tradition of Canadian governments actually receiving these reports to contemplate, to respond to these reports in advance of the opposition receiving copies.
This is in fact a historically small period of time, 12 hours before the opposition will wake up bright and early tomorrow morning to get their Wheaties and to review the report.
Beyond that, I cannot refer to any precedent of the Bloc Québécois because thank goodness, the Bloc Québécois will never be able to form a government in this country.
Bernard Cleary Bloc Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Mr. Speaker, the federal government is the trustee of the aboriginal people and therefore responsible for the terrible situation facing the Kashechewan first nations.
How can the federal government spend so much time and energy invading areas under the jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces and not find the time or the resources to attend to its own responsibilities, particularly when it has known about Kashechewan since 2003?
Andy Scott LiberalMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Mr. Speaker, again quite the contrary, last Thursday we made an announcement that will change the quality of life for the people in Kashechewan forever. That is what is going to mark this government from others, in that we are taking the bold steps to change the conditions that exist in first nations. These problems have existed for a very long time and we are getting down to the job.
Christian Simard Bloc Beauport, QC
Mr. Speaker, CMHC has increased travel and parties across Canada and has been sitting on a surplus of over $4 billion that it could be using to build decent housing for the most vulnerable members of our society, especially aboriginal people.
How can the minister responsible for housing condemn the first nations to living in unsanitary and degrading housing as a result of CMHC's inaction?
Joe Fontana LiberalMinister of Labour and Housing
Mr. Speaker, with regard to this question, the Bloc has no credibility.
In fact, I do not understand how the Bloc can on one hand say that we are not supporting through CMHC surpluses any particular housing, yet the Bloc voted against the budget that allowed for $295 million for on reserve housing. The Bloc voted against Bill C-48 that provides $1.6 billion, of which significant numbers will be made available for affordable housing for aboriginals, Quebeckers and Canadians.
Diane Ablonczy Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Mr. Speaker, the stripper program is yet another example that the Liberals talk a good game publicly while playing things quite differently behind the scenes. Barely a year ago the Prime Minister was under fire for the stripper program. He told Canadians that the department “is no longer doing those soundings. It is over”. Yet the Ottawa Sun has just revealed the sordid truth: Canada's welcome mat is still rolled out for foreign strippers and lap dancers.
Why did the Prime Minister break his word?
Belinda Stronach LiberalMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal
Mr. Speaker, as required under the law, my department provides a labour market opinion for any legal occupation in Canada. There is no blanket approval in place and since the labour market opinion was withdrawn in December 2004, HRSDC assesses requests from employers on a case by case basis.
Diane Ablonczy Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Mr. Speaker, that is not what the government promised. The immigration minister said, “That program has been cancelled”, “The category for exotic dancers is no longer there,” and “The program is finished”. Canadians made the mistake of believing the Liberals. Now it comes out that the government is still sanctioning the recruitment of vulnerable women, knowing full well many of them will be abused and exploited.
Why is the government complicit in the trafficking of women?
Belinda Stronach LiberalMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal
Mr. Speaker, we have reviewed the procedures that are in place. We want to make sure that we have the appropriate safeguards in place when it comes to issuing labour market opinions.
Let me reiterate, there is no blanket labour market opinion in place. Those requests are reviewed on an individual case by case basis. We are required to issue a labour market opinion for any legal profession in this country.
Carol Skelton Conservative Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK
Mr. Speaker, it has been reported that a strain of H5 avian flu has been found in birds in Manitoba and Quebec. Further tests will confirm if it is the worrisome H5N1 strain, the deadly strain that has claimed lives in Asia.
Will the government immediately share the avian flu plan with this House and all Canadians?
Andy Mitchell LiberalMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister of State (Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario)
Mr. Speaker, one of the things we have committed to do is to monitor exactly what the level of avian influenza may be in wild birds. That is exactly what is taking place right now. A survey has been conducted. Some of those test results are now known and those test results were disclosed today.