House of Commons Hansard #64 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was workers.
Bev Oda ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women
Mr. Speaker, this government is made up of caucus members who understand that not all women have equal opportunity and therefore we will address that issue.
This government did not cut, as the previous Liberal government did, the women's program budget three times in the last decade, and this government does not have a caucus that has boys' weekends to make up its policies.
Belinda Stronach Liberal Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Mr. Speaker, I do not think that answer will satisfy Canadian women.
On a day that we should be celebrating progress in the area of women's rights, there is a black cloud over it because the government does not believe in women's equality and does not even want to hear their progressive voices.
The CIDA minister and the Minister responsible for the Status of Women apparently share the views that minority rights do not deserve protection.
Will the minister send a strong signal to Canadian women on this very important day and reverse her decision to cut equality from the mandate of the Status of Women?
Bev Oda ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women
Mr. Speaker, I shared with you an experience this morning of honouring some very significant women and in fact these women are with us today.
I would suggest that the member opposite who had the opportunities, at one time being recognized as the most powerful businesswoman in Canada, did very little about it. Consequently, when we look at her board at Magna, there is no female representation on that board.
Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC
Mr. Speaker, not only is the program announced yesterday not a real income support program for older workers, but it is also limited to localities with populations of 250,000 or less. Straight off this excludes workers who lost their jobs at Wolverine in Montreal, for example, or the factory workers at Régence shoes in Quebec City, in Charlesbourg riding.
Does the government realize that its supposed support program will not be of any help to hundreds of workers who have the misfortune of being laid off in a major centre where the program will not apply?
Maxime Bernier ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I am still trying to figure out the Bloc Québécois position on this new initiative that we announced yesterday. In fact yesterday the Bloc Québécois member for Sherbrooke said, and I quote:
This program gains something for the forestry industry and the textile industry.
It is a good program.
Today the Bloc Québécois is against the program. What is the Bloc’s position?
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
Mr. Speaker, I give you the example of the Cardinal clothing company, where hundreds of workers were laid off. These are good seamstresses who are over 55 years old and many of them are immigrants with only a limited knowledge of French or English and a limited education.
What reasons is the government going to put forward to explain to these workers that not only is the program inadequate, but also that they are not eligible for it?
Maxime Bernier ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, this is a misunderstanding of the program that we announced yesterday. It is very simple. We were asked for a program for older people, to help older workers in the regions. That is what we did
There are two key criteria: be between 55 and 64 and be in a hard-hit region. All the other criteria will be discussed in cooperation with the provinces, including Quebec. The Government of Quebec will decide which community will benefit from this program.
We believe in the provinces, unlike the Bloc Québécois.
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
Mr. Speaker, the program announced yesterday will not be of any use in truly helping the workers. The Minister is fooling herself. When you are over 55 and you have spent the better part of your life in a textile factory, it is almost impossible. The Minister of International Cooperation and Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages can go ahead and urge workers not to look back anymore, but to look ahead all she wants. It will not change a thing.
Does the minister realize that if you lose your job after spending 40 years with the same company, without a diploma, the only thing ahead of you is often a choice between welfare—
Maxime Bernier ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is trying to say that people 55 and older can no longer contribute to Canadian society. This is not what the Mouvement des aînés du Québec is saying. Those individuals can take part in Canadian society. I have confidence in people, in individuals, and I know that people over 55 deserve to work and deserve our support to find work.
Jean-Yves Roy Bloc Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
Mr. Speaker, many workers who are victims of mass layoffs live in regions that rely on a single industry such as forestry, fisheries or mines. In that context, retraining is difficult, if not impossible.
Can the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development tell the hundreds of forestry workers in the Gaspé Peninsula, who recently lost their jobs, how her program is supposed to help them retrain and for what?
What will they be retrained for, Minister?
Maxime Bernier ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, today we are telling all older workers, including those in the Gaspé Peninsula, that we have implemented a program. We will work together with the province of Quebec and we will respect its priorities. The province will decide which community will benefit from the program.
Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL
Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans was the fisheries critic, he said in the House, “The department has been asked to find up to $20 million. This means devastating cuts. The government cannot giveth and then taketh away”.
The departmental estimates now prove he is cutting $100 million, affecting 200 jobs in fisheries. Why will the minister not use the money to give instead of taking away?
Fisheries and OceansOral Questions
St. John's South—Mount Pearl Newfoundland & Labrador
Conservative
Loyola Hearn ConservativeMinister of Fisheries and Oceans
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know and does know that he should not be reading NDP published press releases because what he is talking about are interim figures that are tabled that have no reality to the budget that will be presented next spring.
Our budget will not be cut. We are in the process of helping people, not hurting them. They had enough of that in years past.
Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL
Mr. Speaker, there is a fish off the Atlantic coast called the flounder. It is kind of a flat fish. When it swims and sees trouble, it flips, it flops, and it swims in the opposite direction.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
Order. The hon. member has the floor. We will hear the hon. member's question at once.
Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the minister of flip, flop and flounder.
Department cuts, also custodial management, when will he practise what he started to--
Fisheries and OceansOral Questions
St. John's South—Mount Pearl Newfoundland & Labrador
Conservative
Loyola Hearn ConservativeMinister of Fisheries and Oceans
Mr. Speaker, I asked the member who ducked away from supporting our committee to go to Newfoundland so that we could hear what the people had to say and that we made the proper decisions in relation to the fishery.
The biggest problem we have in Newfoundland is an oversupply of one fish. It is called the shrimp.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
Order. We are on to the next question. The hon. member for Labrador has the floor. We will have a little order.
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
Mr. Speaker, that is a bit of a whale of a tale, but there was shock among Canada's aboriginal peoples when the Prime Minister announced that he would eliminate race based fisheries. It is a page out of the Reform book. It is inflammatory and divisive.
Yesterday the fisheries minister was confronted by a fellow MP for his government's handling of the west coast fishery. Having crushed Paul McCartney's relationship, is he now set on crushing Canada's relationship with aboriginal people?
Will the fisheries minister commit to protecting aboriginal fishing rights, constitutional rights that have been upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada?