House of Commons Hansard #122 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was c-48.

Topics

Veterans AffairsOral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

The Speaker

The hon. Minister of National Defence.

Veterans AffairsOral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

Toronto Centre Ontario

Liberal

Bill Graham LiberalMinister of National Defence

Mr. Speaker, I cannot speak to decisions, to which the hon. member refers, that were taken over 20 years ago, but I can speak to the decisions that are taken today.

This government is determined that the individuals in the region will understand the facts, will know what took place there and will be able to judge for themselves what they should be searching for as a way to enable them to have their rights dealt with.

I can assure the hon. member that we will provide the information and we will provide a solution to this very difficult problem.

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

Conservative

Diane Ablonczy Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

Mr. Speaker, the ethics report showed that the Liberals abused trust and destroyed fairness in Canada's immigration system.

During the 2004 election, 97% of temporary residency permits issued at the request of members of Parliament went to Liberals.

Canadians deserve openness and transparency. The ethics report proved that a list of which MPs were issued TRPs on request does exist.

Why are the Liberals still hiding this information from Parliament and from the public?

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

Eglinton—Lawrence Ontario

Liberal

Joe Volpe LiberalMinister of Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Speaker, nobody is hiding anything. As I said, we present an annual report to Parliament and the facts and figures are all there.

The member is part of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. When she asks for information it is provided for her.

As for her manipulation of those numbers, she might have taken greater care to indicate that the figures she added were a very small number of the 13,000 permits that are issued as a result of a series of events that occur over any year.

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

Conservative

Diane Ablonczy Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

Mr. Speaker, the minister knows those numbers came from the ethics report. A Sun editorial today pointed out:

Finally it's clear that the Liberals have grossly abused the TRP program for partisan political purposes.

Canadians and those seeking to come to Canada deserve better. The Liberals have been caught and Parliament has a duty to clean up this mess.

As a start, will the government today make public the number of TRPs issued at the request of each individual member of Parliament since February 1, 2004?

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:30 p.m.

Eglinton—Lawrence Ontario

Liberal

Joe Volpe LiberalMinister of Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Speaker, the member will know, of course, that Parliament approves a particular range of permanent residents who will be accepted, integrated and settled in this country.

Last year we accepted some 236,000. We also had some 600,000 who came here as tourists. We had an additional 110,000 who came as international students. We had a further 70,000 who made application as temporary visitors with work permits. We had an additional 13,000 who came here as a result of special events.

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Conservative

Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON

Mr. Speaker, the Ethics Commissioner has ruled that the former minister of citizenship and immigration was in conflict of interest, but then the Prime Minister knew that long ago.

Following last June's election, Ms. Katherine Abbott, an aide to the former minister, briefed the Prime Minister's director of communications about conflict of interest issues regarding several immigration files. Despite this, the Prime Minister put the member for York West into cabinet.

Exactly when did the Prime Minister learn of the member's potential conflict of interest?

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Edmonton Centre Alberta

Liberal

Anne McLellan LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mr. Speaker, I actually have the report of the Ethics Commissioner here and I have taken the opportunity to read it. The Prime Minister's staff did not act in any way that was inappropriate.

The Ethics Commissioner is an independent officer of this House. The matter was referred to the Ethics Commissioner. In fact, many on this side asked that the Ethics Commissioner take up this matter. He did so. He has issued his report and has made findings of fact and conclusion.

The Prime Minister has reviewed the recommendations and he has asked the minister and the Privy Council Office to take up these recommendations and determine how we can move forward.

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Conservative

Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON

Mr. Speaker, the usual hear no evil, see no evil response.

Each member of Parliament must abide by the conflict of interest code and the former minister breached this code by issuing temporary residency permits to relatives of people associated with her election campaign.

The Prime Minister knew about this, and we know this because a former minister's staffer told the Prime Minister's office, and yet the Prime Minister still appointed her to cabinet.

Why did the Prime Minister not act when he first knew ethics had been breached?

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Edmonton Centre Alberta

Liberal

Anne McLellan LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is following in the footsteps of others on that side of the House in making sweeping--

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

Anne McLellan Liberal Edmonton Centre, AB

Let me assure you, Mr. Speaker, those people have nothing to be proud of in this regard.

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

The Speaker

Order, please. The hon. Deputy Prime Minister has the floor and everyone wants to hear the answer.

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

Anne McLellan Liberal Edmonton Centre, AB

Mr. Speaker, it is an assertion of fact. If the hon. member had read the Ethics Commissioner's report she would have thought twice about what she said before uttering it on the floor of this House.

I apologize to all Canadians for the reckless disregard for people's reputations that--

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

The Speaker

The hon. member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie.

AgricultureOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Bloc

Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC

Mr. Speaker, Agriculture Canada and Health Canada have given the green light to a variety of genetically modified corn known as MON 863. Mice fed with this corn have developed kidney abnormalities and elevated white blood cell counts.

How can the government explain the approval of this product, when even an Agriculture Canada employee is quoted as saying the CFIA is aware of the Monsanto data but it hasn't changed their assessment.

AgricultureOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Vancouver South B.C.

Liberal

Ujjal Dosanjh LiberalMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, this particular material has been tested throughout the world, particularly in the G-8 countries. Many of those countries have had this particular substance approved.

After the results of these tests came to light, no jurisdiction, after the review, has actually dismissed this substance as useless.

Therefore I suggest to the hon. member that Health Canada has followed the appropriate procedure in maintaining the status quo.

AgricultureOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Bloc

Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister, would he be prepared to eat this type of corn tomorrow morning? A Greenpeace spokesperson has said it would be wise to suspend approval of this GM corn and to carry out another assessment.

Does the government intend to follow Greenpeace's recommendation and suspend approval, or will it continue to stick up for the huge multinational Monsanto?

AgricultureOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Vancouver South B.C.

Liberal

Ujjal Dosanjh LiberalMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, Health Canada was made aware of these results in 2004. Health Canada took into account its own review, in addition to the conclusions of the European Food Safety Authority and Food Standards Australia New Zealand which also reviewed the data in its consideration. None of those particular agencies have taken this off the market.

I choose my food carefully, as do all other Canadians, and I eat Canadian food.

Textile IndustryOral Question Period

June 23rd, 2005 / 2:40 p.m.

Bloc

Paul Crête Bloc Rivière-Du-Loup—Montmagny, QC

Mr. Speaker, the day after it was announced that the Huntingdon textile plants would close, the government made public an improvised plan that is not meeting its objectives because since that announcement over 4,000 more jobs have been lost.

Since it is becoming more apparent with each passing day that its plan is not working, does the government intend to use the plan of action proposed by the Bloc Québécois, which includes access by our clothing and textiles to the U.S. market and aid in developing new market niches for the clothing industry? Will the government accept our good idea?

Textile IndustryOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Brossard—La Prairie Québec

Liberal

Jacques Saada LiberalMinister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec and Minister responsible for the Francophonie

Mr. Speaker, long before the Huntingdon textile plants closed, my department was in contact with the local businesspeople. We sat on the Huntingdon revitalization committee. The companies did not accept our offers and the plants closed. We are following up on this matter jointly with the Government of Quebec in order to help the people of Huntingdon.

We will not solve these problems with attractive measures, but with effective measure. These will be forthcoming shortly.

Textile IndustryOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Bloc

Paul Crête Bloc Rivière-Du-Loup—Montmagny, QC

Mr. Speaker, contrary to the government, which refuses to believe in the future of this industry in a Radio-Canada news story yesterday, Canadian and Quebec manufacturers said they still believe in their chances of surviving. They maintain that the government should be more attentive to the needs of the industry if we want to keep it.

Does the government intend to take the advice of the manufacturers and review its aid package for the textile industry instead standing idly by?

Textile IndustryOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Brossard—La Prairie Québec

Liberal

Jacques Saada LiberalMinister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec and Minister responsible for the Francophonie

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of our CANtex program was to help companies cope with this new competition by encouraging productivity, by investing in new equipment or offering training.

We have evidence that this is working. When we go to Stedfast in Granby and Empire Shirt in Louiseville, we see that this is working. There are examples throughout Quebec that this is working. Nonetheless, people have to take responsibility. We are there to help them.

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Conservative

Nina Grewal Conservative Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Ethics Commissioner's report provides a behind the scenes look at a desperate Liberal Party seeking re-election.

Katherine Abbott, the former minister's aide, told the Ethics Commissioner:

--we were reacting to the temperature in the outside world--

--there was a thought that we might not come back, there was more of a pressure of just...getting it done.

Why is it regular Liberal policy to help political supporters jump to the head of the queue?