House of Commons Hansard #58 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was sudan.
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Mr. Speaker, we thought we had heard it all from this far-right government, but it seems we have not. Now we know what the Minister of the Environment's chief of staff thinks of Quebec and Quebeckers. He criticized the Quiet Revolution and said he was afraid the rest of Canada might follow Quebec's bad example on marriage, sexual morality and abortion. Quebec has no reason to be ashamed of the society it has become.
Does the Prime Minister endorse these defamatory and intolerant statements?
Rona Ambrose ConservativeMinister of the Environment
Again, Mr. Speaker, this is just another distraction to ensure that Quebeckers do not see the record the Liberals actually had on the environment. I look forward to answering many more of these questions because I have enough of this material to keep me going for months.
Last week I told the House about $4.5 million going to Kazakhstan, yesterday I mentioned the $5 million going to the Asian Development Bank and today I am telling members about $2 million going to the State Power Corporation of China, all to buy foreign credits. That was their priority on a Liberal file.
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Mr. Speaker, recently, the Minister of the Environment said that she was not really that concerned about Quebec. In other words, she could care less. This is plain-spoken but it does not make up for her incompetence and intolerance with respect to Quebec. Furthermore, her chief of staff expressed fear that those evil Quebeckers might have a bad influence on the rest of the country. What a team—more Quebec bashing.
The Prime Minister has only one option: stand up and apologize to all Quebeckers.
Rona Ambrose ConservativeMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, that is not true. Once again, I am sorry that my comments were misinterpreted.
I know Quebeckers love their environment. That is why they should be part of our plan, but we do need a national plan for all Quebeckers and Canadians.
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Mr. Speaker, after promising Canadians they would be squeaky clean, the government has been anything but. Provincial Conservative operatives seem free to belly up to the patronage trough. The regional minister's office is rife with party insiders. However, the Prime Minister's partisan fingerprints are all over the appointment of the lieutenant governor, the wife of an influential party insider. The post represents the Queen, not a reward for political services.
How can the Prime Minister explain this growing list of partisan political appointments?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, Her Excellency Barbara Hagerman is a respected member of the Prince Edward Island arts and culture community and I am sure she will make an excellent choice as lieutenant governor of the province.
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the rest of the story. The husband of the new lieutenant governor admits he has close ties to the Conservatives and especially the Prime Minister. He worked on the Prime Minister's campaign for leader and was part of the first executive of the new party. In fact, they are so close that the Prime Minister spent last year's Canada Day on Mr. Hagerman's boat.
Is this appointment a political reward? Will the Prime Minister curb his appetite for patronage pork? What about ethics? What about accountability?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the lieutenant governor of Prince Edward Island is a prominent and excellently qualified lieutenant governor. This disgraceful attack on her by the member for Malpeque is nothing but cheap partisan politics.
Caroline St-Hilaire Bloc Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC
Mr. Speaker, a report released yesterday by a coalition of 600 NGOs brings to light major deficiencies in legislation on controlling arms shipments to countries that are under embargo or are responsible for massacres or human rights abuses. The report reveals that Canadian companies are circumventing the law by selling military equipment in its component parts.
Is the Canadian government going to continue to close its eyes and stand by while parts sold to China are used to build weapons that are then resold to Sudan, or is it going to take steps to put an end to this trafficking?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Mr. Speaker, Canada has an effective export control regime and is working in cooperation particularly with other states to see that non-proliferation regimes do not have arms going into these restricted areas like Sudan, and yet while we support in principle a comprehensive and legally binding conventional arms treaty that will prevent the illicit flow of arms into places like Sudan.
Caroline St-Hilaire Bloc Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC
Mr. Speaker, the minister is well aware that arms traffickers are getting around existing treaties by selling parts that are ultimately used to build weapons and military equipment.
Does the government intend to cooperate on putting in place a treaty that covers such a use of parts?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Mr. Speaker, I have just said that we would support efforts to control the sale of illicit arms into restricted areas. Of course we want to see how that particular treaty would be drafted. We are certainly concerned that Sudan in particular would be a destination point for illegal arms. We know that in the past there have been arms used against the people of Sudan. To that extent, I am pleased to work with the member and all members to see that this does not happen in the future.
Vivian Barbot Bloc Papineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, despite the statements by the Minister of Public Safety, the letter he sent to the United States asking them to take Maher Arar's name off their list of suspects is in no way a letter of complaint. The recommendation in the O'Connor report demands more.
Does the Minister of Foreign Affairs really think he can convince us that his colleague's letter is a formal complaint?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Mr. Speaker, as my colleague the Minister of Public Safety has said as well, we are certainly going to look at all the recommendations of the report of Mr. Justice O'Connor. Those recommendations include, of course, speaking with the other two countries involved here, the United States as well as Syria. We intend to have those conversations. In fact, we do believe as well that those reports should also be in the hands of the two countries that participated in this travesty.
Vivian Barbot Bloc Papineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, it seems clear to me that a letter is not a conversation, much less a formal complaint.
Is the Minister of Public Safety claiming that in sending the letter, he formally complained to the United States, whereas he did not complain to Syria?
Since the claims by the Minister of Public Safety do not hold up, I ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs what he is waiting for to immediately lodge a formal complaint with the United States and Syria, as the O'Connor report recommends?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Mr. Speaker, we are not waiting for anything. We are taking comprehensive action. We are not going to take a piecemeal approach to these recommendations. We are going to act responsibly. We are going to digest the full report and make sure that we make proper advances as far as the protection in the future of individuals like Mr. Arar who are treated so badly.
I say to the hon. member, be patient. These things will certainly happen in the future. Canada will take proper steps to ensure that this does not happen again. Both the Minister of Public Safety and the Prime Minister have taken decisive action on this file already.
Tina Keeper Liberal Churchill, MB
Mr. Speaker, yesterday when I asked the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development why former Conservative cabinet minister Harvie Andre was awarded a sole source contract worth up to half a million dollars, he insulted the previous negotiator, a former Ontario premier, who actually has land claims experience.
Will the minister explain why the government sidelined a person with experience in land claims, most recently in Caledonia, in favour of one of its cronies who has no land claims experience?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal ship sails under false colours on this one.
I did confirm yesterday that when I became the minister I did dismiss Mr. Peterson as the northern devolution negotiator. Following a publicly advertised search, I hired a qualified person, a respected parliamentarian, business leader, community leader and academic. Not only is Mr. Andre more qualified and more able, his contract is for a mere $50,000 per year. The contract which I terminated paid $3.1 million over three years, a very Liberal contract.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
Order, order. The hon. member for Churchill now has the floor for her supplementary question.
Tina Keeper Liberal Churchill, MB
Mr. Speaker, the minister has walked away from the Kelowna accord. He has reneged on the commitment to Kashechewan and abandoned the aboriginal procurement strategy. His government had a $13 billion surplus, and the minister could not even stand up for the first nations and Inuit tobacco control strategy, but somehow he could find up to half a million dollars for his Conservative buddy.
Why is the minister awarding his friends and ignoring the needs of aboriginal people in Canada?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Mr. Speaker, false colours is what the Liberal ship sails under, as I said.
How could the member possibly stand in this House? She should be embarrassed to get on her feet and call into question a contract that the Liberals awarded to a former Liberal premier, $3.1 million over three years, compared to a prudent contract with Mr. Andre, a respected Canadian, for $50,000. Accountability is what this government and this Prime Minister is about, not what we have seen from the Liberals.
Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON
Mr. Speaker, there are more details about this contract, which actually ranged between $250,000 and $500,000, details the minister has not been offering to this House.
Let us be clear. This sole source contract is not just another case of Mulroney-esque pork. This goes beyond the normal hypocrisy of the government and flagrant abuse of its own sanctimonious preaching.
Through you, Mr. Speaker, to the minister, is it not true that the daughter and son-in-law of Mr. Andre, the beneficiary of this patronage pork, are none other than the president and director of the minister's own riding association?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Mr. Speaker, if we are going to deal with the sort of malignant slander that comes from that side of the House, let us deal with the contract on the record, a $50,000 contract, not $500,000 as stated by the opposition. That compares to the $3.1 million contract, $1 million per year , for a Liberal, which is not accountable to the taxpayers of Canada. Moreover, the contract was such that we had to start from scratch with the table blank.
Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON
Mr. Speaker, the party opposite promised to end patronage. It not only broke that promise, it became the king.
Mr. Andre's son-in-law was not only the riding president, but he was also the co-chair of the minister's election campaign, and his daughter a director of the riding association. There is a direct conflict here involving the minister, riding officials and an abuse of taxpayers' dollars and trust.
When is the Prime Minister going to end this embarrassment, finally demonstrate some accountability and tell his pork-barrelling apprentice, “You're fired”?