Debates of Oct. 19th, 2006

The Environment

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, again the member has his facts wrong. We regulate greenhouse gases in this country, which is what we announced this morning. The United States does not, from a national perspective.

Again, the member knows full well that every industry sector across the country will be regulated with hard caps on pollution, including the oil sector.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the message from the government is simple: Tell Canadians to hold their breath for five years while they figure themselves out.

The government said it had a plan; it does not. It said it would reduce pollution; it will not. It said there will be targets and timelines; there are not. It said it would regulate, but it is not.

Will the minister admit that this plan is an absolute failure and that she lied to the House and to Canadians?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

That question is out of order.

Infrastructure

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, municipal governments across Canada are worried that their local decisions and their local contracting will now be second guessed and manipulated by the meddlesome minority Conservative government for totally partisan reasons, for the sole vindictive purpose of inflicting personal political abuse.

It is not only the cities of Toronto or Ottawa. The worry is nationwide.

Is it the policy of the government that every municipal contract, including those to which the Government of Canada is not a contracting party, are subject to the partisan whims of the President of the Treasury Board?

[John Baird, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, the quick answer to that question is no.

I can tell the member for Wascana this. At least our budget is not subject to the whims of the New Democratic Party.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. We do not want to waste time. The hon. member for Wascana has another question. Everyone wants to hear it. We will hear it now.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the hon. gentleman that it was not us but them who implemented the NDP proposals.

The minister bellows and he blusters, he rants and he raves, but he just fails to offer to any proper justification for his interference. He demands access to contracts to which he is not a party. He violates confidentiality agreements and uses the federal purse to bully and blackmail local authorities. He uses his office to advance his own partisan interests.

Is this just a local personal vendetta in Ottawa, or does his venom extend to every municipality in Canada?

[John Baird, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, another day and another gift from the member for Wascana.

The member for Wascana has the nerve to stand in his place in the House and talk about breaking confidentiality. I remind the member opposite about the income trust scandal, where literally tens of thousands of hard-working senior citizens lost millions of dollars because of the blabbermouth member for Wascana.

Agriculture

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, that minister is subject to wild whims of fiction.

The other minister, on the other hand, stated it would be inappropriate for grain companies to be part of the discussions for undermining the Canadian Wheat Board. However, on September 18 he wrote Agricorp, a grain company, stating:

I appreciate your comments, which will be very useful...as we move towards implementation of marketing choice.

Now a director of that company is calling on key board officials to resign. Why? Why is--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order. The hon. member's time has expired.

The hon. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

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

Why? Why didn't he ask me a question?

Mr. Speaker, since he did not ask me a question, I guess I will ask him one in response.

Why does he want only western Canadian farmers to be subject to the Canadian Wheat Board Act? Why does he not ask for Prince Edward Island farmers, Ontario farmers and B.C. farmers to be included?

The reason is he wants to make decisions on behalf of western Canadian wheat farmers. We say it is time they had marketing choice.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has not answered a question with facts since January.

First, why is the minister involved in collusion with the grain companies as opposed to supporting primary producers?

I might add, the Prime Minister promised cost of production in this House and during the election. The minister, last Thursday, contradicted the Prime Minister and stated cost of production was too expensive.

Will the minister now support the Prime Minister and go to cost of production?

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

Mr. Speaker, I think there were a couple of questions in there.

On the first one, I would just repeat what I have always said. We are listening to grain handling companies, to the western Canadian grain farmers, and to the entire industry, which by the way has not had a profitable year since the Liberals came to power in 1993.

As far as cost of production is concerned, we continue to work day and night, night and day, to try to fix the program that his government brought in. The CAIS program was flawed from the start. We are going to replace it.

Government Programs

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage answered with a firm “no” when asked if cuts had been made to theatre and dance troupes. Yet, those troupes are telling us otherwise, that they have in fact suffered cuts.

Will the Minister of Foreign Affairs please tell us whether or not cuts have been made to these troupes?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, obviously, we are involved in this with 36 other countries. This is a deployment of troops that is involved in interesting and important work to provide security for the development of the work that is undertaken. If the member wants to be a little more specific, perhaps she could provide us with that information.

[Maka Kotto, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the question was not about military troops. It was about theatre, dance and music troupes.

I ask the question again: will the cuts to the public diplomacy fund affect the international tours of dance, music and theatre troupes, yes or no?

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, I want to be clear because the other day this same member asked a question with inaccurate information. Again, dance troupes and performing troupes will continue to be able to tour.

Yesterday, this member talked to me about museums that were going to have their funding affected. I asked him to give me the name of the museum affected. He has yet to do that. We are going to ensure that our cultural communities do enjoy our support.

Small Arms and Light Weapons

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

As we speak, at the United Nations right now, there is an international treaty to ban and stem the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

Small arms and light weapons kill more than 150,000 people a year. However, 100 countries support the establishment of this treaty. Right now the government has removed Canada from supporting the small arms and light weapons treaty.

Why has the new Conservative government removed Canada from supporting the establishment of a treaty that--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca for his question and also his interest and passion on this file.

The fact of the matter is he is incorrect. He is factually incorrect. We have not withdrawn support for this treaty. This is something that we have involved ourselves in for some period of time. We supported British efforts in this regard. It is ongoing at the United Nations as we speak. We will be engaging and we will be making our position known in the days ahead.

Justice

[Gary Goodyear, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday students and teachers at Southwood Secondary School in my riding had a handgun scare which necessitated a code red alert. Thankfully, no one was physically hurt. I commend Southwood staff and students, and our police for the quick response and for having an emergency plan in place that worked.

Since the election Canada's new government has tabled eight new bills to tackle crime. Can the Minister of Justice please tell me what the public reaction has been to these initiatives?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this week when talking about the dangerous offender bill, B.C.'s Liberal solicitor general said that it was high time this change was made.

On the subject of reverse onus, according to the Toronto Star, during the election the member for Mount Royal said he had no doubt such a provision in the Criminal Code relating to bail for weapon offences would pass a challenge under the charter of rights.

The hon. member for Toronto—Danforth said during the election that if individuals commit a crime or have been carrying a gun and they have been charged, they should have to show why they should not be kept locked up from that moment in time.

Homelessness

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, since the Liberals abolished Canada's national affordable housing strategy over a decade ago, homelessness in this country has skyrocketed. Canada has a national housing crisis and the time for action has long past.

Will the government update the House on the status of the implementation of a motion adopted by the human resources committee to fully commit funding and immediately flow funds for the national homelessness initiative and its six programs?

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, we have absolutely no cuts to the funding of the SCPI program and I believe that is what the member is actually asking. We are consulting with the stakeholders on the best practices with regard to homelessness programs, on informed decisions, and how we are going to proceed.

We are a responsible government. We will ensure that projects will provide value for money. To do that we need to take the necessary time to review projects thoroughly.