Debates of Oct. 27th, 2006

Aboriginal Affairs

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians]

Mr. Speaker, contrary to the opposition, the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development along with the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, and the Minister of Labour and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, as well as other members of our Quebec caucus were in fact there and will continue to be present for aboriginal people in Quebec.

At the forum the minister announced $3.8 million for the University of Quebec, nearly $.75 million for the First Nations Education Council. Health Canada put aside $16.2 million. I could go on, but the point is that Canada's new government is there and the opposition is not.

Public Service of Canada

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Halloween is coming and my kids are working on their costumes. My kids at least will not follow the example of the former Liberal government and create phantom jobs for themselves.

The Public Service Commission has alerted the Conservative government to the blurring of the line between public service and politics, citing the creation of jobs that do not exist. It is time to seal the cracks.

More than 100 bureaucrats who over the past 11 years worked as ministerial aides have slithered back into the bureaucracy. Will the minister confirm no current ministerial staff will do the same?

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

Mr. Speaker, I can certainly tell the member that no current Conservative ministerial staffers can do this, but I cannot tell him that former Liberal staffers are still not entitled to this right.

The reason is that this privileged political access of Liberal elites being able to sneak inside our non-partisan bureaucracy is still on the statute books today. We want to get rid of it. We want to ban that practice in the federal accountability act. While the unelected Liberal Senate dithers, this practice unfortunately still goes on.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I wish I could be confident that this will not happen again. There is still two way traffic. These are exactly the conditions that spawned the sponsorship scandal, yet the government has not acted on this specific issue.

The public service must be apolitical. Staff cannot shift into and out of political jobs. Public servants moving to minister's staff must resign first. They must follow the same rules as rank and file public servants. Will the government commit to plugging this obvious gaping loophole that presently exists and change the present legislation?

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

Mr. Speaker, we are certainly prepared to look at that. I am told, unfortunately, it does not fall within the scope of the federal accountability act. This Liberal scandal was just brought to our attention.

We learned that after Justice Gomery completed his work, after Mr. Ouellet, Mr. Dingwall and Mr. Gagliano were fired, and after Canadians had relieved the Liberals from power, the Liberals took one last attempt to politicize our bureaucracy and help create phantom jobs that did not exist. This experience has been --

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Bill Blaikie]

The hon. member for London West.

Literacy

[Sue Barnes, Liberal, London West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is galling to most Canadians that despite being awash in money, this meanspirited minority government has axed $17 million in funding to help people who want to learn how to read and write.

In an astonishing display of ignorance, the Senate leader of the government, the Prime Minister's confidante, recently said, “this is not an issue that is receiving much attention from people out there”.

Have any of the government members or senators bothered to meet their constituents and read their correspondence? Is this another case of government members ignoring what they do not like and acting in shortsighted ignorance?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, when Canadians elected us, they wanted a change from the old Liberal government. They wanted a government that was going to be accountable for how well their tax dollars were spent.

That is why we have identified programs that just were not meeting the needs of the literacy groups, programs that were not helping to reduce illiteracy across this country. That is why we are refocusing our energies and refocusing our dollars in order to help improve the literacy situation while respecting taxpayers' money.

Justice

[Ken Epp, Conservative, Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB]

Mr. Speaker, one of our five election priorities was to get tough on crime. Following through on our promise, our Minister of Justice has brought forward a number of bills to toughen up Canada's anti-crime legislation.

Can the government House leader please update the House on what he is doing to move forward on this important aspect of the government's agenda?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, one of the things we made clear to Canadians in the last election was that we wanted to get tough on those individuals who committed serious crimes. This is why the justice minister has introduced 11 pieces of legislation.

On Tuesday, the official opposition indicated that it was preparing to slow down all government business. By Thursday, it said it was prepared to pass six justice pieces of legislation.

I can speculate how this conversion came about, but I put together a draft motion. We want the input of course from the other two political parties here. I will be returning to the House and see if everybody will make good on these promises. This is an opportunity for this House to work together and make this minority Parliament work.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Mr. Speaker, undocumented workers and their families live in fear today because the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has failed to act.

It seems the minister has three choices: he could follow the Liberal lead and just turn a blind eye to the exploitation of these workers, he could order a massive witch hunt and deport 200,000 hard-working tax paying people, or he could just do his job and find a solution.

What is the minister planning to do?

[Monte Solberg, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that we are working hard to find some solutions for all newcomers. Canada is a great country and a lot of people want to come here.

However, we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that these people are here illegally. That is what we cannot turn a blind eye to. Canadians are fair. They want people to come here, but they also want them to play by the rules. We are going to find a way for everyone to get here who have all kinds of skills because we need that, but they are going to come here legally.

Canada Post

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada Post's mail sorting facility on the Lachine Canal is to be sold privately for some $25 million, but local elected officials, the Société du Havre, the FTQ, the CSN and the mayor of Montreal all support the project developed by local stakeholders. Yesterday, hundreds of citizens rallied in support of the project. The Conservative government is the only party that does not seem to care.

When will the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities intervene in support of this unifying initiative? It is time to end these false pretenses and do something positive for Montreal.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, this land was actually offered to Canada Lands in a first right of refusal and Canada Lands did not take the offer that it had available to it. As a result, it has been offered to the highest bidder and that sale is apparently going to go through.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Bill Blaikie]

This brings the Friday question period to an end.

The hon. member for Wascana is rising on a point of order.

Business of the House

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, in light of what the government House leader said just a few moments ago, I wonder if you could see if there is unanimous consent in the House at this moment for the following motion: That Bill C-9 be deemed to have been concurred in at report stage, read a third time and passed; that Bills C-18, C-19 and C-23 be deemed to have been reported from committee, without amendments, concurred in at the report stage, read a third time and passed; and that Bills,C-22 and C-26 be deemed to have been read a second time, referred to and reported from committee without amendments, concurred in at report stage, read a third time and passed.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Bill Blaikie]

Does the hon. member have unanimous consent to move the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that it is totally unfair to the other political parties in the House for the member to come forward with this. They are not the government. Despite what is happening in the Senate, the Liberal Party does not govern the country.

I have circulated a draft motion and I want to have the input of the members of the NDP and the Bloc Québécois. It is only fair that they have a chance to look at this. When they have had an opportunity to properly consider it, we will get back to the House.

That is the way parliaments work. To unilaterally go ahead, at the expense of those two political parties that have had no opportunity to look at this, is completely unfair.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we just saw this motion a few minutes ago and consider it completely inappropriate that the Liberal Party would attempt to do this.

We know there needs to be discussion on these bills and we are prepared to do that. To bring it forward in this manner, when there has not been discussion among the critics or among the House leaders, is why we denied unanimous consent.

We are prepared to talk about it, but not when it is done in this manner.

Tabling of Documents

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, during question period, I referred to a letter that was written on behalf of the now Prime Minister in response to a letter from an individual named Joyce Carter. For the benefit of my colleagues in the Conservative, Liberal and Bloc Québécois parties, I would like to table these documents so they can have access to and read what the Conservatives' leader said.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Bill Blaikie]

Does the member have the unanimous consent of the House to table the documents?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Government Response to Petitions

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to four petitions.

Natural Resources

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first and second reports of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources relating to motions in the name of the member for Etobicoke North. The two motions are self-explanatory.

First, the committee regrets that the government rejected the advice of departmental officials to continue and renew the EnerGuide for houses program. It calls upon the Minister of Natural Resources to reinstate this program.

The second motion, which is the body of the report, is that the committee recognizes that the freezing of the wind power production incentive program has thrown the industry into disarray and put at risk jobs and future investment. It calls upon the Minister of Natural Resources to immediately reinstate full funding for the wind power production incentive program.