Debates of March 8th, 2005

Dominique Maltais and Stéphane Agnard

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Charlevoix—Montmorency, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to draw attention to the performance by Dominique Maltais of Petite-Rivière-Saint-François last December in Austria, as she earned her first gold medal in snowboard cross. She faced some very stiff competition from all four corners of the world.

This is the first year on the world cup circuit for the 24-year-old snowboarder, who is also a Montreal fire prevention services employee.

For the first time in the history of this sport, two Quebec athletes both won gold medals, as Mont-Tremblant's Jasey-Jay Anderson came out on top in the men's competition.

I must also draw to your attention the meteoric rise of freestyle skier Stéphane Agnard of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. His series of strong showings have won him a spot on the team for all the end-of-season events.

Once again, congratulations to Dominique Maltais and Stéphane Agnard, both of my riding of Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, and the best of luck for the Winter Olympics in Turin in 2006.

Agriculture

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the agriculture minister refused to say when or if he would provide emergency relief to cattle producers. These people are not hobby farmers. They cannot wait until the next day, the next month or the next year. They need help right now.

Will the Prime Minister announce today that he will release funds from the contingency reserve for farm families?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, before responding to the Leader of the Opposition's question, I would like to raise the issue of International Women's Day and say that I know that the Leader of the Opposition and all members of the House would like to salute the courage of women around the world who are fighting for equality.

I would like to note that this is International Women's Day. I salute the courage of women who are working for equality, all over the world.

In terms of the hon. member's question, he ought to know that the Government of Canada has been very supportive of Canadian agriculture and in fact of our beef farmers and ranchers right from the very beginning. In fact, a record $4.9 billion has been paid by the governments of Canada and the provinces over the course of this terrible issue.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, our farm families were told that the border would be opened. Now the border is not open. They do not want to have more wait and see. They want the Prime Minister to look and to take some action. Slaughter capacity must be increased.

Yesterday two provincial governments responded to the latest development in the crisis by announcing $40 million more aid. The government is offering nothing more than stale sound bites.

Does the government understand that the extended closure of the U.S. border means it needs to take more action on this crisis and more action on slaughter capacity?

[Andy Mitchell, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the Leader of the Opposition and members of the party opposite who seem to be finally waking up to the issue, last September the government put in place a strategy to reposition the industry so that it would be profitable with or without a border opening.

Our set aside programs have been put in place. Our market development programs have been put in place. We continue to see an increase in slaughter capacity in Canada.

The government understands what needs to be done and it is doing it.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about waking up. He was telling the House and Canadians the border would be opened this week. That guy is Rip Van Winkle.

Now that the border is remaining closed, a program to encourage domestic slaughter is even more necessary. The herds are getting larger and farmers are losing money.

Will the Prime Minister support a price per head?

[Andy Mitchell, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member can give all the mythical quotes that he wants to give. The reality is that rather than trying to score cheap political points this minister and this caucus were in Washington dealing with the Americans and dealing with this issue.

As the Minister of Finance has said, we have stood by our industry since May 2003. We have provided substantial investments in that industry. We have put in place some very creative and innovative programs to support that industry. We will continue to do that in the weeks and months yet to come.

Terrorism

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday CSIS director Jim Judd told a Senate committee that many veterans of terrorist training camps currently live in Canada. While not specifying how many terrorist suspects were in the country, Mr. Judd said that the number has three digits. He also said that terrorism is a very real threat to our national security. He went on to say that Canadian terrorists are bolstering the ranks of terrorists currently fighting in Iraq.

Clearly the government has no idea how many terrorists continue to be active, slipping in and out of Canada.

Could the minister simply state the number of terrorists active in Canada? Has it increased or decreased since 9/11?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, I never speak in relation to operational matters surrounding an agency like CSIS. That would be singularly inappropriate.

What I can do is reassure the hon. member that within CSIS, within the RCMP, within the Canada Border Services Agency, within my department and across other departments concerned with the security and safety of Canadians, we are doing absolutely everything we can to ensure we identify high risk people, we identify high risk goods and we ensure the collective--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Central Nova.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, this is really no laughing matter. I am only asking the minister to tell us whether the number of terrorists in Canada is going up or down. Since 9/11, the government clearly has not learned the horrible lessons necessary for prevention.

It took the government years to pass legislation that would enable terrorist checks on passenger lists. Four years after 9/11, the government still does not have an adequate system in place, cross-referencing, checking, sharing information of known terrorists travelling by air.

According to the director, there is a lack of equipment and criteria. This risks lives. Why has the government failed to put in place these important, basic tools necessary--

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Transport.

[Jean Lapierre, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know that Canada has one of the best systems in the world. We are controlling the access. We are ensuring that our airports are secure and most of our transportation systems.

We have spent over $8 billion since 9/11. Some people on the member's side say that it costs too much, but we want to ensure that we have the most secure transportation system in the world, and we do.

Employment Insurance

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the massive cuts made by the Liberals to employment insurance have hit women the hardest. At present, two-thirds of unemployed women do not receive any benefits. Worse, the Liberal mini reform that applies only in certain regions continues to discriminate against new entrants to the labour market, who are mainly women and young people.

On this International Women's Day, is the Prime Minister going to put an end to the discrimination suffered by women in employment insurance?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would simply like to say to the leader of the Bloc that he need only look at everything the government has done with respect to women since it came to power.

In particular, there is the agreement with Quebec on parental leave, which provides that the maternity and paternity leave period is now one year. In addition, the Business Development Bank has established a $25 million fund to help women entrepreneurs. Moreover, there are five centres of excellence for women's health in the country. We have invested $32 million annually in a system of—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Throughout his response, the Prime Minister avoided answering the question about employment insurance. When they came to power in 1994, 53% of men and 49% of women were receiving employment insurance benefits. Since the cuts, only 44% of unemployed men and only 33% of unemployed women draw benefits. That is the fact.

Will the Prime Minister end this discrimination by establishing an eligibility threshold of 360 hours for everyone? That would end the discrimination between men and women in employment insurance.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the leader of the Bloc not to use International Women's Day as a pretext for mixing things up in terms of the 300-hour threshold.

We should all be proud, in fact, that women themselves can choose to enter the labour force. They are now in the work force, and since the country's economy is going well, in fact, more jobs are held by women.

That said, we have already made many improvements in the employment insurance system, especially for women who receive maternity benefits, so that they can return to the work force without penalty.

Status of Women

[Paule Brunelle, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Fédération des femmes du Québec has expressed deep disappointment in the Canadian government for once again bringing down a budget that ignores the government's commitments to women.

On this International Women's Day, how can this Liberal government justify to millions of women living in poverty not including anything in its budget to deliver on its promises?

[Liza Frulla, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my fellow female member. I would also like to thank all my sister MPs in this place and all women involved in politics.

I reject the premise from an economic standpoint. Under the EI plan, which was just referred to, we have extended parental benefits to one year. We have also entered into an agreement with Quebec. By 2007, we will have increased investments in the Canada child tax to $10 billion; that is an increase of more than 100% over 1996. We are establishing a national system of early learning and child care, by investing—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Trois-Rivières.

[Paule Brunelle, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in 2002, which is the last calendar year for which we have statistics, 51.6% of single mothers lived below the poverty line. It is a disgrace.

In that context, how could the government, which has at hand all that is required to alleviate the plight of a number of these women living below the poverty line, decide against a comprehensive overhaul of the EI system, which would have improved their situation?

[Liza Frulla, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague has answered very well concerning employment insurance. However, the idea is not to focus on one specific area, but to look at the overall areas.

We are assisting families with respect to child care. We are assisting families with the national child benefit. We have established a $25 million fund with the Business Development Bank of Canada to assist women entrepreneurs. Through all these measures, we support women.

Moreover, I would like to add that the rate of participation of Canadian women in the paid labour force is among the highest in the world.

The Environment

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

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. For 12 years he has been promising to reduce climate change pollution gases, yet for 12 years we have seen those emissions going up. We are choking on it. The fact is we have seen no action.

Today, environmentalists criticize the Liberals because they are making taxpayers pay instead of holding the big polluters to account, just like they opposed our plan to reduce emissions from automobiles and make them work.

One speech does not stop the dithering. Where is the Kyoto plan?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it was a very proud day, certainly for me and I believe for all Liberals and all Canadians, when the Minister of Finance brought down his budget and it was characterized as the greenest budget that had ever been brought down in Canadian history.

I want to congratulate the Minister of the Environment. I want to congratulate the Minister of Finance. I want to congratulate all ministers and all members of this caucus.