House of Commons Hansard #60 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was federal.

Topics

Natural ResourcesOral Question Period

11:35 a.m.

Wascana Saskatchewan

Liberal

Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, as always, the Minister of Natural Resources is absolutely correct.

Child CareOral Question Period

11:35 a.m.

Conservative

Larry Miller Conservative Grey—Bruce—Owen Sound, ON

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Social Development insulted families by saying that “as parents we are all ambivalent about child care because we feel guilty about not spending more time with our kids”. This is demeaning to all parents who choose home care over day care. The minister is telling stay at home parents that if they want any government support for child care, go get a job.

Twenty-eight years ago, my wife and I made the decision to stay at home and raise our three sons. Today one of my sons and his wife are expecting my first grandchild. Will the minister commit to giving my son and his wife that choice but with the same financial benefit as working mothers?

Child CareOral Question Period

11:40 a.m.

York Centre Ontario

Liberal

Ken Dryden LiberalMinister of Social Development

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the hon. member on his grandchild.

As I said, as the member said, all of us as parents do feel ambivalent about the amount of time that we do not spend with our children, but what I also said was that what we do not feel ambivalent about, what we feel very positive and very determined about, is doing something for the development of our children, to do as best as we can for our children. That is what we are not ambivalent about.

JusticeOral Question Period

11:40 a.m.

Conservative

Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON

Mr. Speaker, earlier this week the government reversed half a century of Liberal policy by declaring that the Minister of Justice favours retaining the power of disallowance, under which his cabinet can unilaterally strike down provincial laws.

It was explained that his position is that the federal Liberals are prepared to use this power under what were described to the House as extraordinary circumstances. I invite the minister to explain to the House which provincial laws, actual or hypothetical, he would categorize as being sufficiently extraordinary to be disallowed by his cabinet.

JusticeOral Question Period

11:40 a.m.

Mount Royal Québec

Liberal

Irwin Cotler LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, I am not speculating on when such a power would be used or if, even, such a power would be used. The power is there. I do not speculate on hypotheticals.

Foreign AffairsOral Question Period

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON

Mr. Speaker, Canada has always played a constructive role to foster peace in the international community. There have been many recent examples of Canada's success on the international scene. One such was the signing of the Naivasha agreement by south Sudan, thanks to the efforts of Canada.

With opportunities opening up in Palestine, could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs inform the House of what Canada is doing to assist the Middle East peace process?

Foreign AffairsOral Question Period

11:40 a.m.

Pickering—Scarborough East Ontario

Liberal

Dan McTeague LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the very thorough question and would advise her that the foreign affairs minister's visit last week to the Middle East was indeed an opportunity to assess how we can best support efforts toward peace.

Our focus is on helping the development of Palestinian capacity building in preparation for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Mr. Abbas has of course provided us a list of items that he wishes us to look at. On March 1 we will be in London supporting the Palestinian authority in preparation for that withdrawal and we hope that we will see progress in that area.

Wal-MartOral Question Period

11:40 a.m.

NDP

David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago, the Levi Strauss clothing company had over a dozen manufacturing plants in Canada, including in my hometown of Hamilton, but then along came Wal-Mart, which forced Levi to close all their North American factories and move their operations to poverty-wage Asia, killing off thousands of Canadian jobs.

Recently fined for child labour violations, this anti-labour predator could not care less about the damage it does to our economy. When will the government wake up and take action to ensure that Canadian manufacturing jobs are protected from corporate bullies like Wal-Mart?

Wal-MartOral Question Period

11:40 a.m.

London North Centre Ontario

Liberal

Joe Fontana LiberalMinister of Labour and Housing

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, Canada is a signatory to international labour laws and agreements and we believe it is the right of employees in this country to organize. We believe it is the right for both employers and employees to have collective bargaining, to work in concert, to make sure that the well-being of employers and the well-being of employees are at the forefront of our policy.

Canada does lead the international community in protecting workers' rights and we would urge all parties to do so.

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

11:40 a.m.

NDP

Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, over 2,000 Vietnamese boat people remain in the Philippines. These refugees from the war in Vietnam were never resettled and never repatriated and are without status in the Philippines. They receive no support from the UN.

Australia, the U.K., Norway and the U.S. are working to close the book on this chapter of world history by resettling some of these stateless refugees. The Canadian Vietnamese community is ready now to do its part to help.

My question is for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Why has Canada refused to assist with this admirable humanitarian project?

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

11:45 a.m.

Eglinton—Lawrence Ontario

Liberal

Joe Volpe LiberalMinister of Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will know that Canada played its role and did its part and did it very willingly. Over 50,000 such refugees were welcomed into Canada and integrated into our economy and society. We are proud to have been able to integrate them fully. The situation to which the member refers is one that is resident in the Philippines and that the Philippine authorities are in the process of remedying. The fact that they are stateless creates a little bit of difficulty for all of the nations that have an interest, but the UNHCR is currently involved and engaged.

Fisheries and OceansOral Question Period

11:45 a.m.

Conservative

Gerald Keddy Conservative South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced a $500 million plan to conserve wild salmon on the west coast.

Meanwhile, on the east coast, the Atlantic Salmon Federation privately contributes $250,000 to smolt tracking research, $100,000 to the Greenland conservation agreement, and $10 million annually to habitat stewardship and salmon restoration.

Will the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans commit to matching these private funds and help save Atlantic salmon from extinction?

Fisheries and OceansOral Question Period

11:45 a.m.

Vancouver Quadra B.C.

Liberal

Stephen Owen LiberalMinister of Western Economic Diversification and Minister of State (Sport)

Mr. Speaker, of course the circumstances on the west coast fishery and the east coast fishery are very different. They require different supports at different times for different species under stress.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans targets specialized care and support that is appropriate for each side. I am sure that the minister will want to consider the hon. member's question seriously when he returns, but I can assure members that the circumstances on the west coast and on the east coast are not comparable in many areas.

Equalization ProgramOral Question Period

11:45 a.m.

Conservative

Bradley Trost Conservative Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK

Mr. Speaker, today in Regina, Saskatchewan's Conservative MPs are meeting with Premier Calvert, Saskatchewan Party leader Brad Wall, and even the provincial Liberal leader. They have all agreed to work together to get Saskatchewan an honest equalization deal.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. Will he ever stand up for Saskatchewan? Will he ever stop cheating Saskatchewan of its own natural resources? Will he ever give Saskatchewan the same equalization deal as Newfoundland and Labrador?

Equalization ProgramOral Question Period

11:45 a.m.

Wascana Saskatchewan

Liberal

Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to be the finance minister who corrected a long anomaly, who delivered $120 million to Saskatchewan last year.

I am very proud to be the finance minister who put the floor under the equalization system that brought Saskatchewan $590 million last year.

I am proud to be the finance minister who set up the panel approved by Premier Calvert and voted for by all those members just three or four days ago to establish the independent panel that will allow the issue of the treatment of natural resources to be resolved once and for all in a way that is fair and equitable for all of Canada, especially Saskatchewan.

Government AppointmentsOral Question Period

11:45 a.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake, MB

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said it was no longer going to be a matter of asking who one knows in the PMO and that he would put an end to cronyism.

He soon appointed John Harvard as Lieutenant Governor to make way for his star candidate Glen Murray who failed to win. However, Murray has been given a plum patronage position. It is time to get the scores of defeated Liberals and their friends' heads out of the trough and off the gravy train.

If the Prime Minister is as serious as he said last year about condemning to history the practice and politics of cronyism, will he allow Parliament to select the best people for the job?

Government AppointmentsOral Question Period

11:45 a.m.

Saint-Laurent—Cartierville Québec

Liberal

Stéphane Dion LiberalMinister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, this is the challenge. What is wrong with Mr. Murray's curriculum vitae?

He has been a great mayor of the city of Winnipeg. He has a great background regarding environmental policy. He will do a great job helping us at this time when Canada faces tremendous challenges in order for us to do our share for the planet.

I am very pleased to work with Mr. Murray. I am sure every colleague of good faith will be pleased as well.

Post-Secondary EducationOral Question Period

11:45 a.m.

Conservative

Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON

Mr. Speaker, Bob Rae's recent report on post-secondary education brought to light the government's lack of support for higher learning.

We now know that program funding to colleges and universities has been cut in half by the Liberal government. Students are paying the price with higher tuition fees and student debts, and this amazingly, when every credible authority is telling us that higher education is fundamental to economic growth and personal prosperity. The government pretends it cares about education, but its actions show exactly the opposite.

Will the minister commit to establishing a dedicated transfer committed solely to higher education?

Post-Secondary EducationOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Peterborough Ontario

Liberal

Peter Adams LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development

Mr. Speaker, the government has delivered more in the area of post-secondary education than any federal government in history. Indirectly, through transfers to the provinces, it is in the order of $8 billion or $9 billion.

Directly through scholarship programs and research programs, which help students and universities to cover the indirect cost of research, last year for the first time, it was possible to say in Canada that the federal and provincial governments equally supported the colleges and universities of this country.

Youth Programming and AnimationOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Bloc

Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC

Mr. Speaker, a major study by SARTEC and UDA was released this week. It indicates that federal government actions have contributed to the decline of French language youth and animation series. According to the report, out of the $1.4 billion that went to animation, only 11% was for French language series. I should point out that these were often Canada-France co-productions and that many programs are dubbed abroad.

I would therefore ask, most calmly and politely, what the Minister of Canadian Heritage intends to do to remedy this situation.

Youth Programming and AnimationOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Jeanne-Le Ber Québec

Liberal

Liza Frulla LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I am indeed concerned about the findings of the report by SARTEC and the Union des artistes. I have asked my officials to work with the Canadian Television Fund board of directors to come up with some solutions by June 1.

Youth Programming and AnimationOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Bloc

Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC

Mr. Speaker, had the usual ratio been respected, the youth and animation sector would have received $207 million in 2004, rather than the meagre $17 million that it did receive.

Does the Minister of Canadian Heritage intend to take the necessary steps to put an end to the shameless pillaging of funds earmarked for French language youth and animation series?

Youth Programming and AnimationOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Jeanne-Le Ber Québec

Liberal

Liza Frulla LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women

As I said, Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes.

JusticeOral Question Period

February 18th, 2005 / 11:50 a.m.

Conservative

Myron Thompson Conservative Wild Rose, AB

Mr. Speaker, in 1982 David Dobson murdered 15 year-old Darlene Prioriello. He sexually assaulted her, committed unspeakable atrocities on her person, and finally ended her suffering by dropping a cinder block on her head. He then sexually assaulted her again.

Dobson taunted the police. He tried to contact the victim's family. Dobson was convicted of first degree murder and is currently eligible for day parole. If he is successful in gaining his freedom, his DNA will not be in the databank.

Can the minister once again please explain why his government does not believe David Dobson should be in the DNA databank?

JusticeOral Question Period

11:50 a.m.

Mount Royal Québec

Liberal

Irwin Cotler LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, the whole issue with respect to legislation regarding DNA and the expansion of databanks and the like is before the justice and human rights committee. The hon. member is a member of that committee. That is an appropriate forum where this matter can be dealt with as a matter of principle and policy.