House of Commons Hansard #61 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was religious.

Topics

The EnvironmentOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Some hon.members

Oh, oh!

The EnvironmentOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

The Speaker

Perhaps before the minister gets under way, we might have a little order. There seems to be a lot of people trying to help. I do not know who the yells were intended to help, whether it was to give the minister clues for his answer or correct the member who was asking the question, but there is a lot of unnecessary noise. We need to be able to hear the Minister of the Environment, who now has the floor.

The EnvironmentOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Saint-Laurent—Cartierville Québec

Liberal

Stéphane Dion LiberalMinister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, let me read a paragraph from the 2002 plan that the member did not even know existed. It reads:

By necessity, the Plan will need to evolve over time. As new ideas emerge, new technologies are developed and better approaches suggested, we must be flexible enough to shift our resources from less effective actions to those with more potential to deliver emissions reductions.

That is what the 2002 plan said. It is where we are now. It is why we will have an improved plan. Why is it so difficult to understand that?

TaxationOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Conservative

Monte Solberg Conservative Medicine Hat, AB

Mr. Speaker, did you ever notice that there is never a tranquilizer gun around when you need one?

According to the Fraser Institute, a single person in Ontario with a taxable income of $35,000 a year pays $17,175 in taxes. That is an average tax rate of 49%.

Given this punishing record, why did the Prime Minister tell us last fall that lowering taxes will be his lowest priority in the upcoming budget?

TaxationOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Scarborough—Guildwood Ontario

Liberal

John McKay LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, as members well know, the Government of Canada over the last number of years has instituted a significant reduction in tax revenues, while over the past five years something in the order of $100 billion. We have also simultaneously put the public pension system on a fiscally sustainable basis through to the year 2075.

Unlike America, where it is facing incredible deficits and a fiscally unsustainable system, we, on the other hand, are in a very favourable position vis-à-vis almost any other country.

TaxationOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Conservative

Monte Solberg Conservative Medicine Hat, AB

Mr. Speaker, I am concerned about the deficits that Canadians are facing right now. Many Canadians are facing bankruptcy, half of their income goes to taxes, and many of them are without jobs. That is what we are concerned about.

The government campaigned against tax relief. The government then reluctantly committed to some tax reductions in the throne speech after we twisted its arm. This fall the government reversed its position and said it is a very low priority. Enough of the dithering over there.

When will the government reverse its stand and finally give a break to low and middle income Canadians, or are we going to get another dithering answer right now?

TaxationOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Scarborough—Guildwood Ontario

Liberal

John McKay LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, in the last seven years the Government of Canada has run surpluses, unlike any other nation in the OECD. Many other nations in the OECD run an average deficit of 0.4% of revenues.

Unlike members opposite, we take the view that we have to run a balanced program. We cannot tax cut our way to nirvana. A balanced budget is a little like going to heaven; everybody wants to be there, but nobody wants to do the hard work to get there.

Research and DevelopmentOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Brent St. Denis Liberal Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON

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

In recent days the valuable work of foundations, such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation, has been maligned by some members opposite who do not seem to understand the importance of their valuable work in support of research in Canada.

Would the minister inform the House about the value of the work being done by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and whether this work is supported by the research community across Canada?

Research and DevelopmentOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Vancouver Kingsway B.C.

Liberal

David Emerson LiberalMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Foundation for Innovation is one of the foundations that has been set up to provide predictable and stable funding for research in Canada. The research is evaluated on the basis of merit and peer review. There has been something like $4 billion put out to research. We have attracted 1,889 new researchers to Canada.

I quote from the president of the University of Saskatchewan who said:

--CFI's support for research infrastructure has been a critical element of Canada's success in research in recent years.

HealthOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

NDP

Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC

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

During the election the Prime Minister promised he would defend medicare. He said he opposed credit card medicine, but we have credit card surgery in B.C., credit card hospitals in Alberta, credit card home care in Ontario, and credit card MRIs in Nova Scotia. Patients are now paying a doctor in Quebec to jump the queue.

What is the health minister going to do about it?

HealthOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Vancouver South B.C.

Liberal

Ujjal Dosanjh LiberalMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, we will be providing over $41 billion to the provinces over the next 10 years. This is the party that stands for public health care and public delivery. We shall enforce the Canada Health Act, without exception, right across the country. We are in the process of doing that.

HealthOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

NDP

Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC

Mr. Speaker, that answer is just not good enough. It was not good enough on Friday and it is not good enough today.

Our “see no evil, hear no evil” health minister would not be able to stop a private clinic operating out of his own living room. The minister has said many times that he plans on dealing with the creeping privatization.

The question is when? When will the minister shut down these private clinics?

HealthOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Vancouver South B.C.

Liberal

Ujjal Dosanjh LiberalMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, just watch me enforce the Canada Health Act right across the country.

TaxationOral Question Period

February 21st, 2005 / 2:45 p.m.

Conservative

James Rajotte Conservative Edmonton—Leduc, AB

Mr. Speaker, Canadian manufacturers and exporters have called for changes to the capital cost allowance rates which deal with how companies can write off their capital investments. They want these taxes to be treated the same way in Canada as they are in the United States to ensure that our manufacturing sector is on a level playing field with its competitors and trading partners.

I would like to ask the Minister of Industry a very simple question. Does he support these changes?

TaxationOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Scarborough—Guildwood Ontario

Liberal

John McKay LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, the tax system in this country is based upon the economic useful life of assets, and they are depreciated according to those schedules. We are not in the business of competing with the United States, which has an accelerated rate of depreciation, unless and until we are in situations where we have a competitive tax rate as we do now. We have a tax advantage vis-à-vis most states in the United States and we intend to keep that tax advantage.

TaxationOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Conservative

James Rajotte Conservative Edmonton—Leduc, AB

Mr. Speaker, that is quite a telling comment: we are not in competition with the Americans. Exactly. That is the problem. Their rates are better than ours. In fact, we are competing with them on a daily basis. That is why they need to be changed.

In addition, it is not only manufacturers that are calling for these changes, it is also people concerned about the environment because upgrading equipment and manufacturing processes is beneficial to the environment as well. Newer equipment is more efficient and more environmentally friendly.

I would like to ask the environment minister, does he support these types of changes, to allow the inclusion of more environmentally friendly technologies in Canada?

TaxationOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Scarborough—Guildwood Ontario

Liberal

John McKay LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, the depreciation schedules are set according to the useful life of the asset. Any departure from the useful life of the asset has to be for a specific public policy reason.

We compete on a global basis. Our depreciation schedules are set on a global basis and they are very competitive. As a consequence, Canada's companies in the world and vis-à-vis the United States are doing very well.

JusticeOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Conservative

Kevin Sorenson Conservative Crowfoot, AB

Mr. Speaker, despite the government's empty promise to implement the zero tolerance policy, drunk driving diplomats are immune from criminal prosecution in this country. In the past three years, eight diplomats charged with drinking and driving have received driving suspensions rather than the appropriate criminal sanction.

My question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the Minister of Justice. Why is diplomatic immunity continuing to jeopardize Canadians' safety and security, and why is diplomatic immunity trumping our justice system?

JusticeOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Pickering—Scarborough East Ontario

Liberal

Dan McTeague LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Speaker, the policy is one of zero tolerance. The department will suspend a diplomat's driving privileges on the basis of a police report, certainly when it deals with a first offence. This is a reciprocal approach as well. We hope the same happens in other countries. Canada is one of the first that does this, by the way.

National SecurityOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

Kevin Sorenson Conservative Crowfoot, AB

Mr. Speaker, in response to a question last April, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness indignantly dismissed my request to expand the CSIS mandate to operate overseas.

Now, in the wake of revelations that threats of terrorism are worse than before 9/11, the minister is trying to convince us that she has always wanted to broaden the CSIS mandate.

Why the about-face?

National SecurityOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Edmonton Centre Alberta

Liberal

Anne McLellan LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mr. Speaker, there is no about-face. The government, including myself, has always talked about the importance of foreign security intelligence gathering. In fact, intelligence is the lifeblood of keeping a country and its people safe and secure. We will continue to monitor, we will collect the right kinds of foreign security intelligence, and we will work sufficiently cooperatively with our allies, in terms of sharing foreign security intelligence information which we collect.

All of this, in our shared--

National SecurityOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

The Speaker

The hon. member for Terrebonne—Blainville.

International AidOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Bloc

Diane Bourgeois Bloc Terrebonne—Blainville, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is rushing out of the country to show how generous Canada is. Still, the reality is that the level of international aid, far from increasing, is stagnating. Moreover, in 2002-03, Canada ranked 12th among OECD countries, having slipped from sixth place seven years previously.

Faced with such devastating figures, can the government deny that, ever since the Liberals came to power, Canada has been slowly and continuously withdrawing from foreign aid?

International AidOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Barrie Ontario

Liberal

Aileen Carroll LiberalMinister of International Cooperation

Mr. Speaker, the government has committed to increase international assistance by 8% each year which will double our budget by the year 2010.

We have done extraordinarily well in showing leadership to the entire HIV-AIDS pandemic; $100 million to the World Health Organization's 3 by 5. James Morris, who is the head of the World Food Program, said:

Canada is one of our best friends, an incredibly generous country in terms of looking at these tough humanitarian issues.

He called the Canadian International Development Agency a national treasure.

International AidOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Bloc

Diane Bourgeois Bloc Terrebonne—Blainville, QC

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to believe the minister's words, because if things continue in the same way they are going now, by 2009 Canada's international aid will only amount to 32 one-hundredths of 1% of the GDP.

Is the government aware that this figure does not even represent one half of the UN target for 2015?