Debates of Nov. 17th, 2005

Louise Laurin

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Montreal Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society has just declared Madame Louise Laurin patriot of the year for 2005-06. Although this was partly for her life's work, it was mainly for her lead role in the Quebec government's adoption of an inclusive educational policy, and in particular the replacement of religious education by moral education and an introduction to world religions. This even took an amendment to the Constitution.

Louise Laurin, a woman of ideals and determination, with a long career in teaching and school administration, particularly working with immigrants, realized that a secular school with the same open welcome for all children would play a better role in ensuring integration and francization. Despite the major challenges this entailed, Louise Laurin's efforts to rally and mobilize, inform, convince and encourage were crowned with success.

An independentist from the very start, Louise Laurin has always focussed her efforts on a homeland that is inclusive, generous, open to the world, and French.

United Nations

[Stockwell Day, Conservative, Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC]

Mr. Speaker, just a few days ago, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia ordered an inquiry into the question of any possible Australian involvement in the United Nations oil for food scandal, even though the Volcker report found no direct evidence of Australian involvement. The Australian prime minister has ordered the investigation because there were “numerous documentary and circumstantial warning signs”.

The Prime Minister of Australia wants to do all he can to clear the air on the question of any possible Australian involvement. I again ask our Prime Minister why he does not want to clear the air on any possible Canadian involvement with the oil for food scandal given that his closest friend and advisor, Maurice Strong, has been asked to step down from his United Nations position given that a company of Mr. Strong's son received a $1 million cheque from the program and given that the Paribas Bank was involved in distributing the cheques for the program.

Will the Prime Minister quit stonewalling and order an investigation to clear the air for his close friends and associates and settle the question of any possible Canadian involvement in the oil for food scandal at the United Nations? Why will the Prime Minister not act on this? What is he afraid of finding out?

All India Pingalwara Charitable Society

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to bring to the attention of the House the work of Dr. Inderjit Kaur. Dr. Kaur is the President of the All India Pingalwara Charitable Society.

She is presently in Canada touring the country on behalf of the local branch of the association. I would like to welcome her to Canada. This organization is dedicated to helping the poor, the mentally challenged, the orphaned and those who are terminally ill. It is an exceptional organization with a noble cause.

Presently it has three schools for the poor and have five branches and service over 1,000 patients.

Dr. Inderjit Kaur has dedicated her life to helping individuals who are less fortunate and in dire need of her assistance. There is nothing more honourable than that.

My thanks go to Dr. Inderjit Kaur for her good work.

Montée Saint-François Institution

[Robert Carrier, Bloc, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Montée Saint-François Institution, which is located in my riding, recently invited me and a number of executives from new companies in the area, to an information session on its mission of reintegration.

We heard presentations on a variety of themes: the penitentiary process, its programs, work releases, community supervision, supervising kitchen work by inmates, Life-Line and a glimpse into the life of an inmate.

The business people were impressed by how well this was all organized and found that the presentations took some of the mystery out of life in prison. Several of them indicated a readiness to enter into a partnership with the institution.

My congratulations to Montée Saint-François on this initiative. Our community cannot help but be enriched by the opportunity to work together on a smooth reintegration by former inmates into society.

Forest Industry

[Tony Martin, NDP, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the forest industry and communities in northern Ontario are in crisis. Twelve years of Liberal governments have not been kind.

The northern Ontario Forest Coalition is asking for $150 million over three years and loan guarantees reflecting the $5 billion being held as duty on softwood lumber going into the U.S. We must move quickly on these two requests.

Provincial programs such as the prosperity fund have not helped in the critical short term. The loan guarantees would go a long way to help them access the cash they need from private institutions to meet their immediate needs.

Industry leaders are telling me that the situation is critical and different from other cyclical challenges in the forest industry. The industry is changing dramatically and it needs both short term and long term assistance.

Sponsorship Program

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, Marc-Yvan Côté, former chief Liberal organizer for eastern Quebec ridings, admitted to distributing at least $120,000 in cash to help Liberal candidates illegally win their elections.

Can the Prime Minister guarantee that no Liberal candidate currently slated to run in the next election pocketed or used dirty sponsorship funds?

[The Speaker]

As the hon. member for Central Nova well knows, questions on political party funding are out of order unless they relate to expenditures made with government funds. His question made no such reference. This question clearly has nothing to do with the Gomery commission.

It is difficult to understand how this question could be in order.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, obviously the ad scam was all about the theft of public money. Campaign war chests of Liberal riding associations were bolstered in previous elections with stolen Liberal ad scam money. The Prime Minister promised he would get all the facts. He said that people would be held to account for their breach of the public trust, and that did not happen. He refuses to identify the Liberal riding associations that used the illegal kickback cash.

Again another election is looming. Why is the Prime Minister refusing to say which riding associations received the illegal money, and when will the Liberal Party just pay back all the money it stole?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party of Canada has paid back any funds received inappropriately to the Canadian taxpayer based on analysis of the facts in Justice Gomery's report. Beyond that, the Prime Minister has referred Justice Gomery's report to the RCMP. The RCMP will investigate if there are further issues.

We also are taking action against 28 firms and agencies to recover $57 million for the Canadian taxpayer. We have taken action. We are demanding accountability and we are strengthening governance.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, there is still over $40 million missing. That flim-flam salesman would not know the truth if it hit him in the head.

The Prime Minister condemned the people who gave out the dirty ad scam money, but he condones those who received it, including the campaign of his principal secretary. This is the worst scandal in modern Canadian political history.

The Prime Minister boasts that he referred this to the police. The Auditor General knew about it in 2002. What was he waiting for? Since the Prime Minister is away in Korea, where he says he is governing, will the Deputy Prime Minister tell us how many RCMP investigations are there currently ongoing into Liberal riding associations?

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

Mr. Speaker, our Prime Minister deserves respect for having done the right thing, ending the sponsorship program and having had the guts and the integrity to establish the Gomery commission, supporting the work of Justice Gomery and supporting his findings absolutely.

All last winter, the hon. member and his party interfered with the work of Justice Gomery and tried to shed doubt about the work of Justice Gomery. Now that we have Justice Gomery's report, just because they disagree with Justice Gomery's conclusions, they are saying that he is wrong. Canadians believe in Justice Gomery, not the Conservatives, on this issue.

Gasoline Prices

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, six weeks ago we blew the whistle on the Liberal plan to hike mileage rates for politicians and bureaucrats. Thanks to Conservative leadership, the mileage rate hike for MPs was cancelled. The Liberals promised to do the same for government employees, but now we have learned that six weeks later the 10% mileage rate hike for federal employees is still in place, even though gas prices have gone down. Another Liberal promise made, another Liberal promise broken.

Why did the Liberals break their word to scrap the government mileage hike? Why is it so hard for them to keep their word?

[Reg Alcock, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is the system by which these changes are made is embedded in the agreements that are signed with our employees. I made the request, as I said I would, that this be reviewed. They did so. They did not agree to make the change. I am pursuing that with officials as we speak.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, let me get this straight. When it comes to getting tens of millions of dollars from the government to the Liberal Party, the rules are no problem. When it comes to appointing Liberal cronies to plum patronage jobs, Liberals bend the rules, they break the rules, they get it done. When it comes to taking care of themselves, they always manage to get it done. However, when it comes to creating a single standard for Canadians so they are not getting hosed at the pump and paying for higher gas rates in Ottawa, they cannot do anything, they are impotent.

How is it that the government has managed to take care of itself, but it cannot even keep its word?

[Reg Alcock, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, I do realize the members opposite have no interest in supporting the decisions that are made by judges in our courts, have no interest in supporting the decisions that are made by other levels of government and have no interest in supporting the collective agreements that we sign with our employees. We do.

Softwood Lumber

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in May 2002, the Bloc Québécois proposed a complete assistance package including loan guarantees for businesses hit by the softwood lumber crisis. The federal government has always refused to implement the Bloc's proposal. Recently, again, Domtar was obliged to shut down its plants in Lebel-sur-Quévillon because of the softwood lumber crisis.

Will the minister decide finally to provide the loan guarantees the Bloc has sought for the past three years together with the softwood lumber industry?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, the government is well aware that this is a huge challenge for the Canadian economy and the forestry industry. Accordingly, I congratulate the Liberal members of the Atlantic, Quebec and Ontario caucuses, who helped the government in this process, which has led to some good ideas. The government will make an announcement in the future.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, for the past three years now, the government has been in “future” and “soon” mode. The crisis is urgent. Communities are folding throughout Quebec and in the rest of Canada. Today, we are again being told something will happen “soon”. It is time they did something.

Can the minister tell us today whether there will be loan guarantees instead of making remarks that have nothing to do with reality, as the Liberals have been doing for three years now?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, the government has made manifold contributions in the past. We are now looking to the future and are confident that the future of the forestry industry will be rosy. There are problems today, but the federal government will deal with them.

I thank my colleagues once again for their good ideas and many contributions. We will be making an announcement in the coming days or weeks.

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday NAFTA brought down another ruling in favour of Canadian and Quebec softwood lumber producers. As might be expected, the Americans are very likely to continue their legal wrangling.

Does the Canadian government not understand that instead of sticking to its empty words—an example of which we have just heard—it needs to demonstrate its determination now by instituting the loan guarantees that everyone has been calling for since 2002?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc never realizes that this is a national problem. Conditions in the forest industry vary across the country. It is different in British Columbia, in the Atlantic provinces, in Ontario and in Quebec.

The government must therefore consider conditions throughout the country. We are working very hard on this matter and an announcement will be forthcoming shortly.

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois has been demanding loan guarantees for more than three years, as has the industry Canada-wide and in Quebec, and the other associations. The government has sloughed off all of its responsibilities all this time.

Does this government understand that it has dragged its feet long enough, that the situation is critical in such places as Lebel-sur-Quévillon, and that now, in this House, it needs to announce the loan guarantees everyone has been calling for for the past three years?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, the only thing that could create a problem with our announcement would be the Bloc Québécois' calling for an election too soon.

The Environment

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of the Environment.

Twelve years ago, the Liberals promised to reduce greenhouse emissions by 20%. We learn now from the United Nations that Canada's emissions have gone up 24%. That is worse than America. In fact, Canada's emissions are now rising, after 12 years of Liberal inaction, at almost twice the rate of the United States.

What does it say about how far the Liberals have fallen? On greenhouse gas emissions, we are now performing dramatically worse than George Bush and his administration.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we are not. Canada is the sole Kyoto country that is exporting oil and gas at a very high rate. It is a large part of the explanation.

What is unexplainable is why the leader of the NDP is with the leader of the Conservative Party who wants to kill Kyoto and have an election when Canada will welcome the world in Montreal. This is unexplainable. I hope the leader of the NDP will change his mind and welcome the world at a time when there is no election.