Debates of Oct. 17th, 2006

Afghanistan

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Westmount—Ville-Marie has the floor.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of International Cooperation should tell the truth to all the people of Canada and particularly to our soldiers at Valcartier. Enough talking. It is time for action.

Is she telling us that the general’s testimony yesterday was false—that what he told the Senate was incorrect? How is it that the money is not there and projects are not being carried out directly in Kandahar? She is obliged to answer to the people and particularly to the military.

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Minister of International Cooperation and Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, by the end of the year, close to $15 million will have been invested in Kandahar. I ask the hon. member for Westmount—Ville-Marie to have the courage to go and listen to the soldiers working there, who know perfectly well the work they are doing and the services they are providing. I ask her to go and support the families and friends of the soldiers who are preparing to leave for Kandahar. I challenge her to wear the bracelet in support of our troops who are going there.

Older Workers

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to media reports, the government is preparing to table an assistance plan for older workers. Yet yesterday evening, this same government voted against a Bloc Québécois motion calling for an income support program for all older workers. Let us not forget that the government had made a commitment in the throne speech and the budget to create such a program.

Are we to understand that the government is about to introduce a partial assistance program for older workers that does not cover all older workers?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this government has just introduced a plan to help older workers, with the provinces' cooperation. The plan is worth $100 million over two years and includes a study to plan the next steps.

However, the leader of the Bloc Québécois is asking an interesting question, on the day the founder of the Bloc is saying that Quebeckers are not working enough. That is not the problem. The problem is that the Bloc Québécois is not up to the job, and our party has provided assistance for older workers.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this is the height of incoherence, but we are starting to get used to that.

The assistance plan that the government plans to introduce would apply only to older workers in the textile and softwood lumber industries. Yet older workers in the clothing industry, such as those at the Cardinal plant, and in the furniture and appliance industries, such as workers at the Whirlpool factory, have all been victims of massive layoffs, and they too urgently need an income support program.

Why does the government not create a real assistance plan for all older workers throughout Quebec, especially since it has the means to do so?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, the assistance plan for older workers that our government has announced today was designed specifically to help unemployed older workers from traditional sectors such as forestry and fisheries and for older workers in communities with only one employer. My colleague should know that we are working with the governments and with the Government of Quebec to make this program a reality. We have invested $70 million and, with the provinces' involvement, we will reach $100 million.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government let slip yesterday that $30 million would be allocated over two years—we have learned today that it would be more than that—to establishing an older worker assistance program that would provide training to workers from certain target sectors.

How can the government turn its back in this way on thousands of older workers in all the other sectors of the economy who will be left to their sad fates by this government, which nevertheless made promises to older workers that it now, apparently, will not keep.

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, this government said during the last election campaign that it was in favour of open federalism, flexible federalism, and that is what we have done here with this program because we are currently negotiating the details of its implementation with the provinces. If the Bloc member wants us to intervene and be very controlling toward the province of Quebec, we will not do so because we have too much respect for jurisdictions and too much respect for the Government of Quebec.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what we have here is the art of sowing confusion in a debate that is as specific as can be. Older workers who have been victimized by mass layoffs need an income support program to make the transition to their retirement.

Does the government not understand that the pseudo-POWA it announced today means that thousands of working people will be left in the lurch?

Why did the government decide to turn its back on these people even though it has the means to help them?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague in the Bloc Québécois claims to defend the interests of Quebeckers. I have serious doubt about that now because this program responds specifically to the interests of Quebeckers as well as all Canadians.

I am a little surprised to see the Bloc Québécois asking us to intervene and take vigorous action in an area of shared jurisdiction with the provinces. We have great respect for the provinces, we have great respect for the Canadian constitution, we have open federalism, and we are very proud of that.

Canadian Wheat Board

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

Mr. Speaker, last week the Prime Minister issued a gag order on the Canadian Wheat Board. It is like tying its hands behind its back so it cannot put up a fight. Is that not convenient? The government of Alberta has already spent $1 million attacking the Wheat Board.

I ask members to consider the hypocrisy. The Prime Minister, in previous positions, attacked the imposition of gag orders on third parties. Now that he has this job, he is putting gags on the Wheat Board.

Will the Prime Minister stop his agriculture minister from interfering in the affairs of the Wheat Board, yes or no?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as the agriculture minister stated clearly yesterday, the directors of the Wheat Board have the ability to express any opinion they want.

The Wheat Board is an organization that represents farmers who have a range of opinions on this question. They are engaged right now in an electoral process and the Wheat Board has an absolute responsibility to respect the opinions of all western farmers, not just those who agree with it.

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

Mr. Speaker, why is the government removing 16,000 farmers from the voters list for the vote on the Wheat Board?

Let me quote from a letter that we have from the Minister of Agriculture. It states:

I...instruct the Canadian Wheat Board to...take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that permit book holders...are not automatically...on the voters list.

If he wants to have a fight, let us make it a fair fight.

Will the Prime Minister tell his minister to put those 16,000 farmers back on the list and bring the future of the Wheat Board to a vote in the House, where they will be supported?

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, I sent a suggestion to the Wheat Board that only people who actually shipped grain should vote. If they have not shipped grain for the last couple of years, for example, maybe they should not be on the voters list. The Wheat Board agreed with me and said that this was a pretty good idea.

The former NDP cabinet minister, Sidney Green, wrote yesterday:

--when the government prohibits the wheat board from using the wheat board treasury to fight against the government position, it is perfectly right to do so....The wheat board is not a privately operated organization that is entitled to use its treasury as it deems advisable.

The Environment

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in the environment as well as in foreign affairs the government is becoming a stranger to the truth.

When the Minister of the Environment appeared before the environment committee on October 5, she claimed that the previous Liberal government spent over $100 million in purchasing hot air credits from foreign countries. The truth is that not one penny has ever been spent by the federal government on hot air credits or foreign credits of any kind.

Will the Minister of the Environment apologize to the House for misleading the committee?

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, misleading the people of Canada is the question for that member. Today at the environment committee, he was part of a plan to derail the CEPA review at that committee. He needs to decide and tell the Canadian public why he derailed the CEPA review.

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps if I ask the question in French I will get better results.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order. We have to be able to hear the supplementary question from the hon. member for Don Valley West. He is the one who has the floor so we will have a little order, please.

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has misled Canadians on the question of purchasing credits. In the former Liberal government’s Green Plan it was clearly stated that purchasing hot air credits would never be on the table.

The minister has shown that she is incapable of understanding the most basic elements of Canada’s Kyoto commitments. Will she finally admit that the government never intended to purchase hot air credits? Will she finally tell the truth?

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, it was the commissioner who came two days prior to the minister and she said to the committee and the Canadian public that after 13 years of the previous government doing nothing, we need to work together, we need to have a clean air plan. That is what this government will do after 13 years of neglect.

Forestry Industry

[Jean Lapierre, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, all Canadians, and even the Minister of Industry, agree that the Minister of Labour is playing the fool with his clever words.

Now that we have all agreed that he has disgraced himself by blaming environmentalists and singers for the misfortunes of the forestry industry, is the Minister of Labour man enough to rise in his place and offer an apology to the people who care about the future of the forestry industry?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, there are a number of reasons why the forestry industry is experiencing problems at present: the Canadian dollar, restructuring in the industry. I will not list them all, but there are a number of reasons.

One major cause, however, was the failure of the previous corrupt Liberal government to do anything. For 13 years, they did nothing. They did not even pick up the telephone to call the Americans to solve the industry’s problem. They did nothing for the industry and they should apologize for that.

[Jean Lapierre, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Industry is trying to rewrite industry, but anyone who has followed this issue knows that this government stood up to the American industry. We did not grovel like the Conservatives.

Does the Minister of Industry share the opinion of his colleague the Minister of Labour, that the blame for the problems the Quebec forestry industry is having lies with environmentalists and singers? Does he agree with his colleague in the next office?