Debates of May 30th, 2005

Welland Rose Festival

[John Maloney, Liberal, Welland, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to announce that the 44th annual Welland Rose Festival can be enjoyed by residents of Welland, Niagara, southern Ontario and western New York State through most of June.

Since 1961 the Rose Festival has served as a premier annual event for the city of Welland, the rose city, and fosters civic pride through exciting cultural, sporting and general interest activities.

Events are featured throughout the entire city, but favourite festival activities include the always popular grand parade on June 12 and the impressive rose show on June 19.

I commend Tourism of Welland Niagara and its army of volunteers for their hard work and initiative. I would also like to thank the citizens of Welland for opening their community in a celebration of beauty.

The mission of the Rose Festival is to provide Canadians with a truly wonderful family event. Each year the festival welcomes over 80,000 visitors throughout the month of June.

I greatly encourage everyone to plan a visit to one of Ontario's premier communities. Come and enjoy the Welland Rose Festival.

Post-Secondary Education

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Speaker, for the third year in a row B.C. universities have posted the largest tuition fee hikes in Canada. Average undergraduate tuition in B.C. is now $4,735, nearly $600 over the national average. Add on soaring compulsory fees and it costs $5,500 to attend school, and that is if students are lucky enough to get in.

Waiting lists for B.C. universities now rival those for elective surgery. The province needs 30,000 more university spaces. As a result, B.C. has the lowest university participation rate in Canada at 13.5%. B.C. students are victims of federal downloading.

As finance minister, the Prime Minister slashed funding for post-secondary education, cutting CHST payments by $25 billion and leaving the province to pick up the slack. Under his watch student debt tripled.

The Conservative Party believes in cooperation with the provinces to improve accessibility and eliminate barriers to post-secondary education.

Meanwhile the Liberal government is slamming the door--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale.

2005 World Driving Championships

[Russ Powers, Liberal, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is with a great deal of pride that I rise in the House today to announce that my next door neighbour, harness racing driver Jody Jamieson of Dundas, Ontario will represent Canada at the 2005 World Driving Championships to be held in Italy next month.

Mr. Jamieson won the World Driving Championship in 2001 and was runner-up in 2003. In 2004 he won over 500 races and was recognized as the leading driver in the Ontario Sires Stakes.

The World Driving Championship, held every two years, is the pinnacle of harness racing. I urge my fellow members to join with me in congratulating Jody Jamieson on being chosen to represent Canada at the 2005 World Driving Championships and to wish him the best of luck in Italy.

National Defence

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, as the NDP defence critic I am rising today to call the attention of the Minister of National Defence and the House to the contract for making shell cases which DND has with IMT Partnership.

Formerly owned by IVACO and now owned by the former company president, this profitable company is demanding concessions, including a 12% rollback in wages, elimination of cost of living adjustments, reduction in vacation time and reduced benefits.

If the company does not change its attitude, DND should be looking to do its business with more socially responsible owners, instead of someone who is clearly out to bust the union.

In the interests of justice for the 136 workers of Steelworkers Local 2916 who are currently on strike, but who are facing the prospect of scabs, I urge the minister of defence to tell this company that this is not the kind of behaviour that DND will tolerate from its suppliers.

Decent wages and benefits are the backbone of a decent society. Governments that turn a blind eye to those who would constantly make people work harder for less are sanctioning a trend that is contrary to the common good.

The Memorial Cup

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, history was made yesterday. The London Knights hockey club's proud heritage was made complete with the winning of the Memorial Cup.

As host of a week of outstanding Memorial Cup events, the city of London and hundreds of volunteers and organizers must be congratulated for a great show on and off the ice.

The Memorial Cup, a trophy to honour our men and women of the armed forces, was highlighted this year with many veterans being involved.

The young men of the Kelowna Rockets, the Ottawa 67's and L'Océanic de Rimouski, all the best in their leagues, played well.

Knights owners Dale and Mark Hunter in just a few short years built a team that will long be remembered. The Knights season started with a record setting 31 game unbeaten streak and finished undefeated in the cup tournament.

After a year with this many highs, it is only a short wait until next year and more. Go Knights go.

Softwood Lumber

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on May 23, a NAFTA panel reiterated that countervailing duties imposed by the United States on softwood lumber are illegal. As a result of the three earlier NAFTA panel decisions in this case, the U.S. Department of Commerce has reduced the original subsidy from 18.79% to 1.88%. However, the Americans continue to impose an unjustified 16.37% subsidy rate.

The Minister of International Trade announced aid for softwood lumber industry associations, but only for late 2005. This aid is insufficient and would only allow the industry to pay a small portion of its legal fees, which have exceeded $350 million to date.

The industry in Quebec and Canada needs a real assistance plan, right now, to survive the harassment by the American industry. The situation is all the more urgent since the industry must not only assume astronomical legal fees and over $4.5 billion in illegal duties, but deal with a slowdown in construction. The government must take its head out of the sand and act.

Health

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James, MB]

Mr. Speaker, today in court the Red Cross publicly apologized for its involvement in the tainted blood scandal.

The federal government, through the Red Cross, was ultimately responsible for Canada's blood supply. It therefore bears responsibility to those infected by tainted blood.

Over a month ago, the House of Commons voted to immediately compensate all victims of tainted blood. It was not six months from now, not in a year, but immediately. Yet despite bearing full responsibility for victims' suffering and despite the decision of this House, the government still has done nothing.

The government must help those harmed by its negligence, yet it places qualifications on its help. It essentially tells victims, “We caused you untold suffering, yet we may or may not help you”.

I call upon the government to end the victims' cruel uncertainty. The Red Cross has done the right thing by apologizing. The government must do the same and compensate victims now.

The Budget

[Françoise Boivin, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Québécois has stated repeatedly for some time now that there is nothing in the government's budget for Quebec. I suspect that the leader of the Bloc has not taken much of a look at the budget, and I encourage him to do his homework again.

In fact, the budget sets out a $471 million increase, starting this year, in federal transfer payments to Quebec for health care. This is part of the 10 year health care plan, which will increase health care funding to Quebec by $8.3 billion over 10 years.

It is also a fact that the equalization agreement in the budget will give Quebec an additional $1.9 billion this year.

The leader of the Bloc is also forgetting over $1 billion for municipalities in Quebec, the substantial increase of the guaranteed income supplement for seniors, and some $300 million to stimulate the growth of SMEs throughout Quebec, to name just a few.

All this oversight makes us wonder how serious he is.

Association des traumatisés cranio-cérébraux

[Bernard Cleary, Bloc, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to emphasize the commitment of an organization in my riding that works with persons who have suffered cerebral trauma and with those close to them.

For more than 15 years, the Association des TCC des deux rives has enabled trauma victims to come out of isolation by offering them social activities and workshops, as well as information and education activities.

I have been moved by several testimonies read in the newsletter L'en tête and I want to pay tribute to all those who are working tirelessly not only for the association, but also for the cerebral trauma victims and their families.

I join in their everyday fight and I am proud to support them because they are models for us all.

Sponsorship Program

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we have learned that the Prime Minister has set up a $1 million war room to deal with the fallout from the sponsorship inquiry. Now Canadians are on the hook for that money that is defending the Liberal Party.

This is a Liberal scandal, not a Canadian scandal. Canadian taxpayers have already paid enough. Will the Prime Minister direct the Liberal Party to repay this money to taxpayers?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition knows that the inquiry is complex. It goes back over a 10 year period and involves thousands of transactions.

The mandate of the coordination in the PCO is to ensure that in fact the commission has the support it requires from the government. There are literally thousands upon thousands of documents that have to be prepared. It is the PCO that makes sure those documents are prepared and released to the commission. In fact, this is what is called cooperating with the commission to ensure that it has everything it needs from the government.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

In fact, Mr. Speaker, the existence of this war room came to light because it was undermining the work of Justice Gomery in attacking the cost of his inquiry. That is how it was discovered by access to information.

We got the sponsorship scandal because the Liberal Party used public funds for partisan purposes. It was wrong then. It is wrong now. Will the Prime Minister direct the Liberal Party to repay this money to taxpayers?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the work of the committee came to light because there was nothing secret about it. It came to light because the committee is doing the very job it was set up to do and that is to make sure that in fact the inquiry has all of the papers it requires and that the government is responsive to its needs.

Members of the opposition stand up daily and ask, will the government provide this and will the government cooperate. It requires a structure to do that. The answer is yes, we have cooperated, and we will continue to do so.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Let me ask a related question, Mr. Speaker. Before the break week, the government announced that it had set up a $750,000 trust fund for the Liberal Party to repay money to. Can the Prime Minister tell us how much money the government has directed into that fund since it was set up?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the government has not directed anything into that trust fund, but the Liberal Party of Canada has in fact put $750,000 into that trust fund, to answer the hon. member's question.

The fact is that the Liberal Party is cooperating fully. The establishment of this trust fund demonstrates good faith. Furthermore, the Liberal Party has been clear that any funds received inappropriately will be returned to the Canadian taxpayer once we have all the facts.

[Monte Solberg, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the spinning just goes on and on. Using tax dollars for the benefit of the Liberal Party is what the sponsorship scandal is all about.

Now we learn that there is a $1 million war room operating out of the PMO right now to orchestrate Gomery damage control for the benefit, once again, of the Liberal Party. So my question is, once again, why is the Liberal Party allowing this to happen? Why is the government allowing more tax dollars to go to the Liberal Party?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, there is no war room. This is an effort to cooperate fully with the Gomery commission.

The only people who are at war are the members of the Conservative Party. They are at war with Canadians who want this Parliament to work and who want to see the continuation of a functional Parliament addressing the concerns of Canadians: investments in health care, investments in child care, investments in housing, investments in the environment and investments in strengthening Canada's role in the world. The real war is between the Conservative Party and the interests of Canadians.

[Monte Solberg, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that is coming from a party that just cut a backroom deal with the leader of the NDP, one of the most undemocratic moves I have ever seen in 12 years in Parliament.

The Liberals have not learned anything at all from the sponsorship scandal. Spending public money to benefit the Liberals is the problem. Now they are doing it all over again. Will the government close down the war room and force the Liberal Party to pay back that $1 million?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, to address the hon. member's preamble, the fact is that we are cooperating with the NDP to respect the wishes of Canadians, to make this Parliament work, to invest in child care, to invest in health care, to invest in the environment, to invest in housing and to make a difference in the lives of Canadians. I am proud that we are doing this and not siding with the separatists who want to tear the country apart, as the hon. member's party is doing.

Furthermore, the fact is that our government has cooperated and will continue to cooperate fully with the Gomery commission and has in fact provided and coordinated over 20 million pages of documents to the Gomery commission because we want Justice Gomery to succeed.

Member for Newton—North Delta

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Tim Murphy, the Prime Minister's chief of staff, apparently contacted the Conservative member for Newton—North Delta about a political appointment if the latter abstained from voting during the confidence vote. Part of the conversation was aired on CTV on May 18. Yet, the Prime Minister refused to say in this House if it was his chief of staff speaking.

Since the conversation has now been widely reported, can the Prime Minister now confirm that it was indeed his chief of staff on the recording?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have not heard the recording. The hon. member knows full well that there were discussions. I can repeat that, one, it was the hon. member for Newton—North Delta who approached the government and, two, that no offer was made.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the transcript in The Hill Times speaks for itself. Tim Murphy appears to have said that before the Conservative member abstained there was not much point in specifically discussing Senate appointments, but afterward they would be free to talk about it. Tim Murphy appears to have tempted the hon. member for Newton—North Delta with a political appointment in exchange for his support for the government.

Does the Prime Minister realize that such behaviour is subject to prosecution under section 119 of the Criminal Code?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I repeat: no offer was made and it was the hon. member for Newton—North Delta who approached us, period.

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

Mr. Speaker, the recording of a conversation between a Conservative member and the Prime Minister's chief of staff reveals that the latter asked the MP to abstain in the government non-confidence vote in exchange for future considerations, and I quote, “We can make an arrangement that allows you to move”.

Will the Prime Minister acknowledge that attempting to influence an MP's vote in exchange for future considerations contravenes section 119 of the Criminal Code? This is very serious and calls for immediate action.