House of Commons Hansard #84 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was farmers.
Nina Grewal Conservative Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Mr. Speaker, the former special counsel for the justice minister told the truth about the Liberal attitude toward cultural communities when he said that every time the Liberal Party “needs the cultural communities only for two purposes, as slaves during an electoral campaign, or to buy tickets”.
It has been a week since we first raised this issue. Why does the Prime Minister refuse to denounce these comments?
Irwin Cotler LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member can continue to misrepresent the relationship of Mr. Wajsman, who is not my special counsel and never has been my special counsel. That is a matter of record.
With regard to any question of ethnic, religious or racial minorities, we have put our public position forward in the first ever national action plan against racism in the country. I would hope the member opposite would join us in that, since when we released that plan, we did not have any involvement and support from the members opposite with regard to the first ever national action plan against racism in the country.
Réal Ménard Bloc Hochelaga, QC
Mr. Speaker, as regards GMOs, the government decided to proceed with the voluntary labelling of products. The result, according to environmental groups, is that consumers are no better informed than before, and this approach has not yielded any results.
Will the government put an end to this voluntary approach in the labelling of GMOs, and will it adopt compulsory measures instead, which are the only ones that can produce tangible results?
Andy Mitchell LiberalMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Mr. Speaker, the reality is we have a strong regulatory regime in place in Canada. We make absolutely certain that public health and safety is paramount whenever any particular product is to be authorized to be distributed to consumers. That is the pledge of the national government. That is what we will continue to do.
Réal Ménard Bloc Hochelaga, QC
Mr. Speaker, does the government realize that voluntary standards are useless and that we could end up with the same disastrous results as with the implementation plan for the Kyoto protocol, in which the government chose the same voluntary approach for the automotive industry?
Andy Mitchell LiberalMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Mr. Speaker, the same question, the same reply. We have a very strong regulatory regime in place in the country, one that works to protect public health. That is what we have employed as a government. That is what we will continue to do, and our determination and our priority is the health of Canadians.
Belinda Stronach Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Mr. Speaker, in the 905 area where I come from, my constituents have a tax burden that is almost double that of Toronto and seven times higher than in other parts of the province. The amount Ontarians pay in federal taxes is far too much given the services they get back. Ontarians are demanding that services be on par with the rest of the country.
When will the Prime Minister find time to negotiate with Ontario for a fairer deal?
Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, as I have explained in the House before, a large portion of federal tax revenue flows from Ontario. Ontario, very positively, does have the largest provincial economy in Canada and the largest number of successful upper income Canadian taxpayers, both on the corporate side and the personal side. I think Ontarians are generally very proud of the fundamental role that they play in the country.
In terms of the major transfers that flow back from the Government of Canada to all Canadians, they are calculated on a per capita basis and they are on a dollar basis per capita, including tax points and cash, equal.
Belinda Stronach Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Mr. Speaker, let me say again, it is time to stop taking Ontario voters for granted.
Studies indicate that the average Ontario taxpayer contributes $4,500 a year to pay for transfers to other provinces through federal government taxation. Ontarians are proud to do that, but the burden is now compromising Ontario's future prosperity.
To safeguard the health of equalization for the whole country, why has the Prime Minister not met with the premier of Ontario to close the Ontario gap?
Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has indicated a willingness to meet with the premier of Ontario, just as he meets with all of the premiers to discuss specific issues.
When we put together an auto policy, it has a particular benefit that flows into the province of Ontario. When we have an industrial development policy, because of the size and focus of Ontario, that policy has a particular benefit in Ontario. When we have a science and technology policy, it flows largely to the advantage of Ontario. When we have an agricultural policy, because of the size of Ontario, a large part of the benefit flows to Ontario. On all of those fronts, Ontario is a major beneficiary.
Brent St. Denis Liberal Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Industry.
After years of discounting the science behind climate change, official opposition members would have us believe that they have experienced a deathbed conversion on the need to address climate change and the Kyoto accord.
The Leader of the Opposition has referred to Kyoto as the worst international agreement this country has ever signed. His environment critic has called the accord a great socialist plot.
Would the minister inform the House as to the seriousness of the government's plan to address climate change and the sincerity of the johnny-come-latelies opposite?
David Emerson LiberalMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I have not been in this House for long, but one of the things I have learned is that the members opposite are blatantly opportunistic, partisan and misleading the Canadian people. They are running a parallel inquiry to Gomery in the House day after day pretending that they can do better than Gomery.
They are doing the same on climate change. They are pretending that they support Kyoto. They have never supported Kyoto. They do not support Kyoto and they never will.
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
Mr. Speaker, Beryl Wajsman is a Quebec Liberal organizer who said, “The Liberal Party treats cultural communities as campaign slaves”.
Moments ago the Minister of Justice said that Beryl Wajsman is not and never has been a special counsel to him. I have in my hand a copy of a business card for Beryl P. Wajsman, “Special Counsel to Irwin Cotler, MP”.
Who is telling the truth, the minister or Mr. Wajsman?
Liberal Party of CanadaOral Question Period
The Speaker
This is the second time we have had this card read out in the House and I cautioned one of the hon. member's colleagues the other day on how contrary this was to the rules. I know he will want to be vigilant since he is supposed to set an example, in organizing his colleagues for question period, not to break the rules by reading someone's name in the record when we cannot do that. It is contrary to the practice of the House.
Irwin Cotler LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Wajsman was a riding assistant in my office for less than a year. I have no responsibility for what he put on any business card, then or since.
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Mr. Speaker, sky high airport rents are sending our airline industry into a nose dive. Last Friday the Liberal chair of the transport committee said, “The disadvantage being heaped upon Canadians is breathtaking”.
Because of the government's failure to address this problem, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and now even Calgary are among the most expensive places in the world to land a plane. The government continues to fail to address the problem and is failing the industry.
When will the transport minister recognize that this is serious and simply fix the problem?
Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I have had the opportunity to meet with all of the airport authorities referred to by the hon. gentleman in his question, together with several other airport authorities across the country. I have assured them that the government is aware of their arguments and their representations. We accept the point that the old formula is wrong and it needs to be fixed. We have indicated that it will be fixed, at the very latest before June.
Christian Simard Bloc Beauport, QC
Mr. Speaker, the surpluses accumulated by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation now total $3.4 billion and will exceed $7 billion in 2008. I introduced a bill in the House to restrict the assets of the CMHC and transfer its scandalous surpluses to Quebec and the provinces, so that this money can be used to build social housing units.
Does the government intend to support Bill C-363 and give hope to the 1.7 million people who are facing housing problems?
Joe Fontana LiberalMinister of Labour and Housing
Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, I do not think CMHC's surplus is scandalous. In fact, Canadians are buying homes in record numbers. They are able to afford homes and they are able to renew their mortgages at the lowest interest rates possible. That is good economic policy.
I have indicated that I am looking at options on how we can take some of those CMHC surpluses to ensure that we help more homeless people and people seeking affordable housing. That is what we would like to do. I do not want to do what the BQ is doing and that is to destroy a federal institution that helps all Canadians.
Rodger Cuzner Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
Mr. Speaker, there has been a great deal of speculation in the media and in coffee shops across this country that Canadians will soon be forced to the polls. This would obviously jeopardize current legislation before the House.
Could the Minister of Social Development tell Canadians what the state of early learning and child care would be if the budget implementation bill did not pass?
Ken Dryden LiberalMinister of Social Development
Mr. Speaker, a lot is at stake. It is not just the $5 billion over five years and the chance to finally build an early learning and child care system across the country with the ambitions of a real system, but more specifically, the moment the budget bill passed, $700 million would pass to the provinces and territories for early learning and child care with a deal or no deal.
That is $700 million, a 30% increase in what all governments across the country currently spend on child care. In an instant, it is there or it is gone. To put this at risk all for the sake of a few weeks, why the rush?
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
Mr. Speaker, moments ago there were some conflicting views on the veracity of a business card, a copy of which I have. I would therefore seek the unanimous consent of the House to table a photocopy of the House of Commons business card of Beryl P. Wajsman who lists himself as a special counsel to the member of Parliament for Mount Royal. I seek unanimous consent to table it.
Points of OrderOral Question Period
The Speaker
Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House?