Debates of March 24th, 2005

Forestry

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Industry. As hon. members know, the mountain pine beetle is devastating the forests of British Columbia and the infestation has now moved into the province of Alberta. The Minister of Industry has recently promised to start delivering results on this issue within 90 days.

The member for Cariboo—Prince George has wrongly accused the minister of breaking this promise and being unable to deliver on this commitment.

I would like to ask an important question on behalf of all Canadians, especially those in British Columbia and Alberta. Would the minister please inform the House as to measures--

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Industry.

[David Emerson, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for reminding me about the verbal diarrhea that came from certain members opposite, accusing me and this government of not keeping our promises.

I am very happy to announce today that the government is putting another $100 million into fighting the pine beetle in British Columbia. This comes on top of $30 million put in, in 2002. We care about resource based communities in the country, and the B.C. caucus fought hard for this. Promise made, promise kept.

Labour

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, when Canada ratifies international treaties, we have an obligation to enforce them. The leadership of UFCW, NUPGE and the Canadian Labour Congress today have pointed out that Canada is a signatory to the United Nations international labour organization.

We have ratified ILO conventions that promise to allow freedom of association and the collective bargaining process. The Minister of Labour has refused to intervene in Wal-Mart's attack on its unionized workers.

How will the government meet Canada's international treaty obligations in the face of Wal-Mart's abusive actions?

[Joe Fontana, Liberal, Minister of Labour and Housing]

Mr. Speaker, this country takes no back seat in terms of supporting workers' rights around the world. We are working and have adopted five of the eight international labour organizations. We are moving with the provinces to ratify those workers' rights protocols. We are doing everything possible to ensure workers' rights are protected.

As for Wal-Mart, that is a provincial jurisdiction. In the provinces of Quebec and Saskatchewan, the provincial ministers are working on those issues right now.

The Environment

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, that was an answer skilled at passing the buck.

It has been eight years since we signed on to Kyoto and we still have no plan. Now the Liberals have introduced budget legislation that threatens key environmental acts. It is a desperate attempt to manage cabinet bickering over Kyoto by creating legislation on the fly.

We need solid, stand alone legislation to meet our Kyoto obligations, with no more excuses, no more weeks and no more months. When will the minister get over his performance anxiety and just give us the dates?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, obviously the climate change plan is not in the budget bill. In the budget we have all the commitments by the Minister of Finance that give Canada the greenest budget since Confederation. This includes a system for large final emitters, a technology fund and a climate fund that will powerfully help Canada reach its Kyoto targets.

Government Appointments

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it has taken only a few short months for the Prime Minister to break his word. He promised parliamentary overview and a return of democracy. Despite the overwhelming rejection by the environment committee of Glen Murray, the Prime Minister continues to defend this obvious patronage appointment. Now he has his own deputy whip running around saying that rejecting Mr. Murray's appointment may be, “outside of legal authority”.

Why is the Prime Minister allowing one of his parliamentary secretaries to try to undermine one of his key campaign promises, or is this just another case of, promise made, promise broken?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, let me read the editorial from yesterday in the Winnipeg Free Press . It said:

Mr. Murray...has a long record of interest in environmental issues and enough experience, through one and one-half terms as mayor of Winnipeg, to lead a national effort at consensus building in a difficult policy area....Mr. Murray became a target for opposition objections because he is a defeated Liberal candidate....

Fisheries

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Dewdney—Alouette, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans continued to chant the DFO mantra that it is warm water and climate change that killed the missing fish during the 2004 Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery. I guess he missed the part of our report that said, “Everything points back to problems with the management of the fishery”.

If he believes that water temperatures were dangerously high, is he admitting that DFO made a mistake in not closing the fishery and in the future will he finally show some political backbone and do whatever is necessary to save this valuable resource?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, conservation of Pacific salmon is very important to the government and is taken very seriously. In recent months I launched a post-season panel review of last fall's salmon fishery in the Fraser River. It is ongoing, and I am looking forward to that report.

I take the report of the committee very seriously, as well. I will respond to that committee's report once I have the time to give it the consideration it properly deserves.

Airline Industry

[Dave Batters, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Mr. Speaker, this week El Al, the Israeli airline, and dozens of other carriers, warned that skyrocketing airport rents threaten their abilities to serve Canada.

Foreign carriers like El Al bring tourists and business to Canada and they act as a vital link back to their home countries for expatriates. El Al warns that Canada risks becoming an island onto itself if rent is not addressed.

The Liberal government continues to gouge Pearson Airport, and ultimately passengers, to the tune of $145 million this year. Why does the government continue to increase airport rent when it threatens to kill our gateways to the world?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman keeps asking the same question and the answer remains the same. This is an issue that the government proposes to address. The next increase in the rents is not scheduled until January 1 of next year, and the issue will be dealt with long before that.

Justice

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Mr. Speaker, marijuana grow ops are a major problem not only in my riding but across the country. The convicted growers are not doing the jail time. In British Columbia only one in seven went to prison. In Calgary it was one in ten. The justice minister seems to think that is okay but Canadians are just fed up.

Will the government support minimum sentences for grow op criminals?

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, we have said before that the combatting of grow ops is a priority and we have a comprehensive strategy in place to do so. However, minimum penalties are not the way to do it because they have been shown to be neither effective nor a deterrent.

Older Workers

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in 1997, the current Prime Minister abolished the program for older worker adjustment or POWA, which gave workers aged 55 and up access to benefits until the age of retirement.

The Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development voted on February 8 against a Bloc motion to help textile workers. Quebec, however, has unanimously recognized the need for a POWA. If the minister does not intend to help these workers, what is she waiting for to transfer the necessary funds so that Quebec can implement its own POWA?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, the old POWA became obsolete a long time ago. Workers have not wanted passive measures for a long time now. For a long time now, people aged 55 who are still in good health and who want to continue working.

Second, this is why we initiated all the pilot projects for older workers currently underway. Over $21 million has been allocated to Quebec for this purpose. We are working with Quebec on future initiatives to ensure that older workers continue to receive assistance.

[Alain Boire, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, one quarter of all workers in the region of Huntingdon are over the age of 55 and do not have a high school diploma.

Does the minister understand that training and outplacement assistance are insufficient, and that what these workers need is a broader social support program, such as a POWA?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada]

Mr. Speaker, can the Bloc member understand that people aged 55 and up, even those with limited education, want to continue working? They do not want to sit at home and get a cheque. They want to continue, they want to take advantage of active return to work measures.

Does the Bloc member realize that responsibility for the workforce was transferred to Quebec a long time ago? So, we are currently working with the Quebec government to help workers.

Foreign Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, by the time we return from the Easter break it is estimated another 5,000 people will have died in the Darfur region of Sudan, mainly at the hands of the Janjaweed militia.

This weekend, while Canadian children are looking for hidden Easter eggs, orphaned children in the Darfur region will be foraging for food and looking for places to hide.

We know the government has committed money into Sudan, but the UN has done a Rwanda style pullout of the Sudan region. Will the government commit to pulling together a force that will go into that region and protect those people?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, we are monitoring very closely the situation in Sudan and in particular the region of Darfur. We are very concerned and preoccupied with this region.

Yesterday we had a thorough discussion with Secretary Condoleeza Rice about precisely what the Security Council would be deciding today. Our government, along with the government of other major countries of the Security Council, will act as determinedly as we can because we understand this is a very important situation.

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

Mr. Speaker, at the Security Council, China continues to veto any kind of force going in to help the African Union. China's own deplorable record on human rights domestically is a subject of attention this week in Geneva at the international meeting on human rights.

Will Canada be willing to co-sponsor a resolution which denounces and decries China's human rights records? We have shied away from doing that with other democracies before. Will Canada be willing to do that this week?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I was in Geneva at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. I told the commission exactly what the position of Canada was.

We support Kofi Annan's great efforts in wanting to renew the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. We believe there is a better way of dealing with these situations. We really want to support Kofi Annan and the United Nations reform in the next few weeks.

Housing

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if you can believe it, the opposition has posed a total of 242 questions in relation to individual testimony that has been given at the Gomery commission just in 2005. However--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!