House of Commons Hansard #50 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was tax.
Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Mr. Speaker, the minister has refused to answer the question.
The approach the federal government is preparing will unjustly penalize Quebec, which has already made considerable efforts. The Quebec environment minister wrote his federal counterpart some months ago to get Ottawa to sign a bilateral agreement with Quebec.
When does the minister plan to negotiate a bilateral agreement that will acknowledge Quebec's past efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
Stéphane Dion LiberalMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, a lot of good things are being done in Quebec as well as elsewhere in Canada. They will be needed if we are to achieve our objectives. We must work in very close collaboration with all provincial governments. I have an excellent relationship with my Quebec counterpart.
In the plan we are working on, we will strengthen our ability to work with the Government of Quebec and with each provincial and territorial government.
Ken Epp Conservative Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB
Mr. Speaker, senators are appointed from a list of candidates. The Prime Minister has a list. Alberta people have a list, democratically chosen.
Could the Prime Minister give the House and Albertans just one valid reason for claiming that he cannot use the list that was provided by the people in a democratic vote?
Mauril Bélanger LiberalDeputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, maybe we have more candidates for the Senate than we expected.
This matter came up yesterday, it has come up a number of times and the answer is the same. The government is open to Senate reform but we will not do so on a piecemeal basis.
Until a consensus is obvious and emerges among the provinces, we will not proceed with piecemeal amendments to reform the Senate.
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Mr. Speaker, last December the Minister of Natural Resources misled the House when he stated that he had never promised--
Natural ResourcesOral Question Period
The Deputy Speaker
Order, please. I do not think anyone did anything deliberately, but we will listen to the end of the member's question, please.
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Natural Resources stated that he had never promised a quick answer on the question of federal funding for the cleanup of uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan but media reports prove otherwise.
The minister also said that he would tour those mines last February. He did not.
The minister further stated that he would make this issue a top priority with his government. He has not.
My question for the minister is simply, why did you mislead the House and why--
Natural ResourcesOral Question Period
The Deputy Speaker
Order, please. Sometimes things can happen that are not done deliberately, so perhaps the Minister of Natural Resources would like to clarify.
R. John Efford LiberalMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, before I answer the member's question, I would suggest that the next time he should get someone competent to write his questions for him.
I have had meetings with the minister in Saskatchewan concerning the cleanup of uranium mines. As the minister it is my priority and it is a priority with the government.
I suggest that the hon. member just take his time and wait and it will be done.
Garry Breitkreuz Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised voters a more open and transparent government and yet he hides a report on the $2 billion gun registry, a report he ordered and a report he promised would fix this mess. That report came back full of blanks.
Why is the Prime Minister blanking out the truth? Why is he doing the same thing Jean Chrétien did, keeping Parliament in the dark?
Roy Cullen LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Mr. Speaker, the firearms program has a very positive cost benefit because it is working and it is contributing to public safety.
Police and other officials use the firearms program information. In fact, they are averaging 15,000 inquiries a week from the firearms registry online.
So far this year, 1,100 affidavits have been prepared by the Canada Firearms Centre to support firearms related criminal prosecutions and more than 12,000--
Firearms RegistryOral Question Period
The Deputy Speaker
The hon. member for Yorkton—Melville.
Garry Breitkreuz Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Mr. Speaker, that answer indicates that the government is shooting blanks and missing the target completely.
The Canadian Firearms Centre sent out letters with 770,000 free licence renewals but 46,509 letters came back as undelivered.
How are the police supposed to know where all the guns are when they do not even know where 50,000 gun owners live?
Roy Cullen LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Mr. Speaker, the only member shooting blanks is the member opposite.
Police organizations are supporting the gun registry. In fact, I would like to quote the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police President, Edgar MacLeod, who said:
There is no question that the system works and that it is a valuable tool. ...new gun-control system improves the screening of legal gun owners, increases their accountability and provides tools to prevent the diversion and misuse of firearms.
We are managing and containing the cost, and we will continue to do so.
Russ Powers Liberal Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
Mr. Speaker, the corn producers of my riding are economically threatened by the extremely low commodity prices in Ontario as compared to prices paid for U.S. imports and to other Canadian producers. They are in fact being paid less than their production costs.
Will the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food advise me as to what action may be taken to assist the corn producers of my riding so that they can realistically continue to grow their produce for all Canadians?
Andy Mitchell LiberalMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Mr. Speaker, corn producers are facing challenges in Ontario, which is why we have provided over $82 million through the CAIS program to producers in Ontario and why we have made changes in the program to cover negative margins to increase the cap.
That is why I am working with my provincial colleagues to contemplate additional changes. That is why the parliamentary secretary is taking a close look at structural changes within the various commodity sectors to deal with long term declines in income. That is why we are working within the WTO to make sure that our producers are able to compete on a level playing field. That is why collectively in 2003 we provided $4.8 billion of assistance to producers.
Joe Comartin NDP Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Mr. Speaker, since 1986 the government has callously overtaxed Canadian recipients of U.S. social security benefits. This has caused great suffering to some of our most vulnerable seniors. The government can rectify this gross injustice created by this administration by a simple policy change.
I invite the finance minister not to wait for the budget, not to wait to be forced to do so by the combined opposition in the House, but to do it and to do it now.
John McKay LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, when a Canadian receives social security from the United States there is a credit of about 15% against that, so 85% goes into tax and 15% does not.
The hon. member has invited us to reduce that to 50%. The problem is that Canadians receiving $100, for example, from the Canada pension plan are fully taxed, whereas those who receive U.S. social security are then half taxed. That hardly seems like an equitable solution.
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Mr. Speaker, what the government could do is at least grandfather people so a justice could be done on this file.
A number of times I have asked the government about the patriot act. The U.S. patriot act violates Canadian privacy and exposes Canadian citizens and private companies to losing documents and information to the U.S. government upon its whim. Every time the government has denied there is a problem, it has left this chamber and taken corrective action. The most recent is a full audit of all outsourcing because of this significant breach of sovereignty.
My question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Will the government get our files out of the oval office?
Diane Marleau LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board
Mr. Speaker, that seems to be an odd question.
All departments are cooperating. We are certainly making sure that all our privacy concerns are met. Canadians can rest assured that their information is secure.
James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake, MB
Mr. Speaker, the Province of Manitoba is currently in a legal dispute with the United States over water diversion from Devil's Lake in North Dakota. This diversion could potentially devastate Lake Winnipeg's water quality, fishing stocks and cause greater flooding along the Red River.
It has been suggested that foreign marine species, bacteria and disease could be catastrophic to Lake Winnipeg's ecosystem, affecting the tourism and fishing industries.
Will the government conduct its own review of the impact of the Devil's Lake water diversion on Lake Winnipeg and Manitoba's Red River?
Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, that is a very important file for our government. We continue to pay a great deal of attention to it along with the American administration. It will certainly be a part of the first meeting I will have with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as I did with Colin Powell. Hopefully we will make progress on this most important file.
Jim Prentice Conservative Calgary North Centre, AB
Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister continues to mismanage the residential school file. In November she told the House that her ADR program was a great success. In fact, we now know that only 25 ADR claims have been settled, out of a total of 88,000 cases, at a staggering cost of $100 million.
Her officials have publicly admitted that the system is deeply flawed. The AFN says that it is biased. The administration cost will be $2 billion, and it is abusive.
Why did the Deputy Prime Minister mislead the House? When will she stop re-victimizing aboriginal people and violating their human rights?