House of Commons Hansard #106 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was industries.
Child CareOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order, please. The members are going to get more. The minister has at least 10 seconds remaining in the time for his answer and it appears he is going to say more. We will want to be able to hear it.
Ken Dryden Liberal York Centre, ON
Clearly, Mr. Speaker, the side opposite is very proud of the fact that the $2,000 tax credit which was--
Child CareOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order, please. I am afraid the 10 seconds did get used up, all but one or two. There is not enough time left I am afraid for more from the minister, but I am sure there will be other questions.
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, when the government tried to influence the vote of the member for Newton—North Delta, the Minister of Health said:
In fact, cabinet can be arranged right away. For the other, you don’t want to lose the advantage.
How can the Prime Minister continue to deny everything, when not only did his chief of staff make promises, but his Minister of Health, on the eve of a confidence vote, said such a thing to a Conservative member in an attempt to persuade him to vote with the government? Is that not precisely what we call influencing the vote of an MP in exchange for consideration?
Ujjal Dosanjh LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, I have already said that the member for Newton--North Delta made demands. They were not accepted. No offers were made.
The problem with the tapes is that they appear to be edited, spliced and excised. Audio is hard to hear. The English transcription is very deficient. The Punjabi translation is even worse. The fact is that there is very little credibility attached to those tapes.
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health went on to say, “The Minister of Public Works was made parliamentary secretary, that thing cannot be ruled out. That, the Prime Minister can say to you or not. If that cannot happen right now, that will be done in two or four weeks. You do understand that, right?”
How can the Prime Minister continue to claim that this was not an attempt to buy a member's vote on the eve of a crucial vote here in the House?
Ujjal Dosanjh LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, the member for Newton--North Delta approached us and made demands. They were rebuffed. No offers were made. None were accepted by us. We basically told the hon. member he could cross the floor and we would be welcoming him. He did not. That is why he is not on this side of the House.
Michel Gauthier Bloc Roberval, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's chief of staff goes much further. He said:
I think, as you will see, the PM will say we are not offering and making no offers. And I think that is the narrative we have to stick to it. Or make the PM a liar.
Is that not precisely the narrative the Prime Minister and his ministers have been using from the beginning, confirming the taped conversations? What are we to think of such behaviour?
Member for Newton—North DeltaOral Question Period
Hamilton East—Stoney Creek Ontario
Liberal
Tony Valeri LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has been clear. He was aware that his office had been approached and that the member wanted to cross the floor. He approached wanting to cross the floor. The MP did not cross the floor. There was no meeting set up with the Prime Minister. In fact, the member tried to strike a deal. There was no offer made. The hon. member is supposed to be sitting somewhere over there, but I am not quite sure where.
Michel Gauthier Bloc Roberval, QC
Mr. Speaker, I maintain that on the tape the Minister of Health and the Prime Minister's chief of staff are implying to the hon. member that they will offer him a position, using the Minister of Public Works as an example, saying it would take some time, but it would work out, saying everything the hon. member would want to hear to make him cross the floor. I would say that is an offence under section 119 of the Criminal Code. Trying to influence the vote of a member of Parliament is very serious.
Ujjal Dosanjh LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, as I have already said, the member approached us. We rejected his demands. The fact is that we are dealing with a serial taper who has had 14 days to possibly manipulate those tapes. The translation is not authenticated. The tapes are hard to hear. The English is badly transcribed. The Punjabi is badly translated. There is no stock that can be placed in those tapes.
Jim Prentice Conservative Calgary North Centre, AB
Mr. Speaker, on April 11 of this year the House of Commons implored the Deputy Prime Minister to take immediate action on the residential schools file. The Deputy Prime Minister's response has been a political agreement and a year long study, no settlement money, no apology, no national truth and reconciliation commission, no budgetary envelope, and no changes to the ADR process.
After five years and $700 million, why is the government offering nothing more than empty promises and more delay?
Anne McLellan LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Mr. Speaker, as I think the hon. member is aware, the residential schools unit in my department actually funded a report done by the AFN. We encouraged the AFN to study the approach that we were taking to residential schools. In fact, it published a very thorough report, the recommendations of which the federal representative will take up, among other recommendations, with claimants, with claimants' lawyers, with the churches and with the churches' lawyers.
I would hope that we all have the same objective here, which is to reach a timely, just and fair conclusion.
Jim Prentice Conservative Calgary North Centre, AB
Mr. Speaker, the House asked for immediate and urgent action, in consideration of the life expectancy of the former students at Indian residential schools. They are dying at a rate of five per day. Judge Iacobucci is a negotiator, not a mediator or an adjudicator. He is only required to make a recommendation next year. The former students deserve an immediate, fair and decent resolution.
Why is the government continuing to mismanage this file?
Anne McLellan LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
In fact, Mr. Speaker, we are very aware of the concerns, especially of the aged and the sick, in relation to the resolution of their claims. In fact, the national chief and the AFN are very aware of that, which is why dealing with those claims in a timely fashion is one of the principles that the national chief, the AFN and this government agreed to on Monday.
I really do not understand the hon. member. I do not doubt his motivations. I have no doubt that he cares about the resolution of these matters, but I do not understand why he does not accept the fact that the national chief, the AFN and this government are working together to--
Vic Toews Conservative Provencher, MB
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the public works minister stated that no deal had been made with former Prime Minister Chrétien regarding the Gomery commission, yet Mr. Chrétien's lawyers state, “Arrangements have been made with the government by which Mr. Chrétien will suspend the proceeding which he has launched”.
When will the minister disclose the specific nature of the arrangement to the House?
Scott Brison LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chrétien made a decision. He has the right to pursue a course of action before an independent judicial inquiry. He is exercising that option.
Let us be clear. This government and this Prime Minister have supported and continue to support the work of Justice Gomery because we want Canadians to have the truth.
Vic Toews Conservative Provencher, MB
Mr. Speaker, the fact remains that Mr. Chrétien's lawyers have stated, “Arrangements have been made with the government by which Mr. Chrétien will suspend the proceeding which he has launched”.
Canadians have a right to know. What is the nature of these arrangements? Why will the government not tell Canadians the real facts about the deal it has made with Mr. Chrétien in the backroom?
Scott Brison LiberalMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, it is ironic that after months of the Conservative Party demanding that the Prime Minister in fact intervene and try to convince Mr. Chrétien to pursue a course of action, when Mr. Chrétien by his own volition makes a decision to pursue a course of action, for which the member for Port Moody--Westwood--Port Coquitlam has in fact congratulated him, they are somehow upset with that.
They in fact are not being very consistent, because the course of action that Mr. Chrétien has taken is the course of action that they have been asking Mr. Chrétien to take for some time. They cannot have it both ways.
Nancy Karetak-Lindell Liberal Nunavut, NU
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask a question of great national importance.
Last night the Prime Minister concluded an unprecedented cabinet committee meeting with the national aboriginal leaders. He said that the meeting marked a new beginning in the relationship with Canada's first nations, Inuit and Métis.
Could the Minister of Indian Affairs explain how yesterday's meeting marks a new beginning for us?
Andy Scott LiberalMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member and members of the aboriginal affairs committee for their work on this file. Yesterday's meeting did in fact mark a historic new beginning. We agreed on specific policies in housing, education, health and negotiations and we have signed political accords to build on that success.
This could not have happened without the leadership of the Prime Minister and the vision of the five national aboriginal leaders. It is a tribute to their faith in this government and in this country that these deals were signed.
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, a recent report shows that greenhouse gas emissions in Canada are growing even faster than the rate of our economy. Little of the money that has been promised has been spent and what has seems to have been wasted.
The government should be ashamed of its record. The so-called green plan demands that ordinary Canadians who are responsible for only one-quarter of these emissions are meant to clean up 75% of them. When will the government demand that the big polluters, the final emitters, do their fair share to clean the air?
Stéphane Dion LiberalMinister of the Environment
In fact, Mr. Speaker, among all the Kyoto countries, Canada alone has regulated targets for industry. Europe has only transitory targets. Our targets are very demanding but they are achievable. In 2012 we will have a greener Canada and we will be more competitive. This action plan for climate change will help a lot with that.
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, the minister says they have plans and they have money, but the money has not gone out and the plan is not working. On a day when a national magazine has lauded former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as the greenest PM, the competition seems to be too fierce for this current administration.
The NDP has a plan that will work and will put Canadians back to work while cleaning up the environment. After so many years of failures, how does the minister expect Canadians to trust that the money promised will actually be spent and that pollution will finally go down?