Debates of Nov. 2nd, 2006

Firearms Registry

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Lévis--Bellechasse.

Taxation

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

Robert Gagné, the director of HEC Montreal's Institute of Applied Economics and co-chair of the Council of the Federation Advisory Panel on the Fiscal Imbalance, wrote today that the Leader of the Bloc Québécois and his buddy, André Boisclair, are misleading the Quebec public when it comes to the fiscal imbalance.

How can they claim to defend the interests of Quebec? I would like to know my hon. colleague's position on that.

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question.

For the Bloc and the Parti Québécois, the problem is verbal imbalance. This is what was reported this morning in a number of Quebec's newspapers under the pen of the co-chair of the Council of the Federation Advisory Panel on the Fiscal Imbalance, and I quote:

By manipulating the data in our report, Mr. Boisclair and [the Leader of the Bloc Québécois] are misleading the public and trying to foster unrealistic expectations that have no basis in fact.

The Bloc Québécois contribution to this discussion is totally—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Burnaby—Douglas.

Public Safety

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday the citizenship and immigration committee visited the Kingston immigration holding centre. Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohammad Mahjoub and Hassan Almrei are being held there on security certificates. These men, detained for five or six years without charges or convictions, have never been allowed private spousal visits, are strip-searched, and are required to wear a prison uniform when meeting with family, friends and lawyers, and have no programming among other issues.

Will the Minister of Public Safety immediately act to reverse these practices?

[Stockwell Day, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind Canadians that these particular individuals are subject to a process called a security certificate. This process has been upheld in federal courts of appeal a number of times. These are people who are deemed to be a security risk if they are allowed to be in Canada. One could say it is a three-sided prison cell. They can leave any time if they want to go back to their country of provenance. They are working through the appeals process right now. If the courts uphold their appeal, then they will be free to go. Other than that, they are deemed a risk at this particular point in time.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Mr. Speaker, who would return to torture?

Recently the Correctional Investigator asked the government to expand his mandate to include the Kingston immigration holding centre and the security certificate detainees. He noted that the establishment of the holding centre removed the detainees to a situation where they “no longer have the benefits and legal protections afforded by ombudsman legislation”.

Will the Minister of Public Safety act immediately to extend the mandate of the Correctional Investigator to include the holding centre and security certificate detainees?

[Stockwell Day, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons that those five individuals are in a facility of their own, a $3.2 million facility constructed by the former Liberals, is so that they are not in the rest of the population. They are unique individuals and they are there for a unique purpose that has been upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal.

Others who are concerned about rights and are concerned about treatment of inmates have viewed that facility and have said that it is a good and more than adequate facility and it will continue to remain so.

Challenger Jet Use

[Todd Russell, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the minister for anything but Caledonia and Kashechewan likes to travel more than he likes filing expense reports.

On June 26 he flew from Washington to Toronto. He then hailed an empty Challenger from Ottawa, which the Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary tells us costs $11,000 an hour, to fetch him in Toronto when there are commercial flights between the two cities every hour.

Can the minister explain why he ordered an empty Challenger to fly him one way from Toronto to Ottawa instead of taking one of the many commercial flights that were available to him?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has his facts completely wrong. The minister in fact was stranded at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on June 27 at 1 a.m., with no commercial flights available because of cancellations. He took a Challenger to Ottawa and arrived at 2 a.m. He was in time for the cabinet meetings that began at 7:30 a.m. on the same day, and later that day he needed a Challenger to get to Washington to make a speech by 5 p.m. the same day.

I know it will make the hon. member happy that this government has used the Challenger half the frequency of the previous government.

[Todd Russell, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have used it only half the time but they have not been there for a quarter of the time that we were in office.

It gets worse. After his meeting the next day the minister took another flying limousine back to Washington even though there are at least four direct non-stop flights from Ottawa to Washington every day. On top of this, his expense report does not list his use of the government jet. Staffers take unaccompanied joy-rides to Washington. Conservatives get freebie flights to cocktail parties and subsidized trips to hockey games.

When will the government and the minister start following the rules and list the full cost of these joy-rides and which department pays?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would have thought the hon. member after getting his facts wrong in the first question would not have asked the second question.

In any case I will point out again that it was necessary for the minister to take the Challenger to get to Washington. There were no commercial flights available that were going to get him there on time. Again, let us all celebrate the fact that the Challenger is being used half the time it was under the member's government.

Canadian Wheat Board

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the minister's discredited task force has failed by every measure, except that it will give the corporate U.S. grain sector what it wants: more economic power at our farmers' expense. Look at the report. There is not a single reference to gains for farmers, absolutely none.

How can the minister defend an action that has its strongest support in the U.S.? Popping champagne in U.S. boardrooms, heartbreak for Canadian farm families. Does the Prime Minister just not care about Canadian farmers?

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

Mr. Speaker, we campaigned during the last election campaign on behalf of farmers who wanted marketing choice. They wanted a strong, independent, voluntary Canadian Wheat Board in a marketing choice world.

After we had this task force report, it delivered a very good report on how that transition might take place. Its first recommendation was to move on barley. We are going to have a plebiscite on barley in the new year.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the only farmers the minister is listening to live in North Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska. In giving the United States its way, the minister's undemocratic acts are getting worse. Now he is initiating a Stalinist purge, firing a pro-board director and inserting an anti-Wheat Board activist.

How can he expect such a director to act in good faith with a view to the best interests of the corporation and farmers, or is he just attempting to destroy the board from the inside?

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

Mr. Speaker, I guess the real issue is, after days and days the member would not wait for the task force report, but it came and it delivered the goods. For days the member opposite said, “Please, please, give us a plebiscite for the farmers of western Canada”.

We are not only going to represent the farmers from coast to coast, we are going to have a plebiscite which that member asked for. Why does he not get on board and listen to the farmers for a change?

Agriculture

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, farmers are faced with a serious income crisis, mainly because of low grain prices. This week, in committee, the minister told us that things would improve for grain producers. Is the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food aware that the price of grain does not even cover 85% of the production costs and that he must therefore act quickly? That means now.

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

Mr. Speaker, of course we are concerned about grain farmers across the country. We are not only moving on marketing choice for western Canadian grain farmers, but the first action of this government was to follow through on the $755 million grains and oilseeds payment to all grain farmers across the country.

We followed that up with $950 million to help repair the broken CAIS program brought in by the previous Liberal government. That will help somewhat more.

Thankfully, prices are starting to come up. We are going to work closely with farmers in Quebec and across the country to make sure they get the returns they need.

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

That is all well and good, but these people, who are losing a great deal of money every year, are not eligible for existing income support programs. That is why, yesterday, they left eight tonnes of grain for the Minister of Labour in his riding.

Will the minister agree to review his assistance mechanisms so that grain producers can benefit from them, and will he announce emergency assistance as soon as possible?

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

Mr. Speaker, I listed some of the things we did. I could go on about how we are helping grains and oilseeds farmers.

We also initiated, as promised in the campaign, a cover crop program for any farmers who are affected by flooding. Farmers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and in Quebec have benefited from that program.

We have also doubled the amount of money that farmers can borrow interest free through cash advances and through the AMPA program. We have expanded that to include horticulture and livestock. We have the grains and oilseeds program.

We continue to add programming to help Canadian farmers.

Infrastructure

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the success of Canada's cities depends upon an effective transportation network. The Spadina subway extension will improve access to York University and to Vaughan city centre.

The city of Toronto, York region and the province all have their funding in place and the environmental assessment completed.

Since the government's clean air act will do nothing to improve air quality in our cities, will it commit today to a project which at least will improve the quality of air and as well the overall quality of life in Canada's largest city?

What is the government waiting for to deliver the cheque?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we have during the last several months consulted the provinces. We have consulted the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

We were able to put aside $16.5 billion for infrastructure. We also put aside $1.3 billion for public transit. That money is already available. It is now flowing. The agreements are there.

Hopefully, the communities and cities will take that money to be able to go forward.

World Expo 2015

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the city of Toronto has worked extremely hard in preparing its bid for World Expo in 2015.

Unfortunately, the city's wishes to host the world exposition were completely lost on the provincial Liberals.

Would the Minister of Canadian Heritage update the House on the news of Toronto's best wish to host Expo 2015?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am very disappointed that the Toronto Expo 2015 bid will not go forward.

This government supported Toronto in its bid for Expo 2015. We were prepared to commit up to $600 million in support for Expo 2015 and to support Toronto.

Toronto's bid for Expo 2015 is dead because the Ontario government would not do its part. The Ontario government would not support an expo in Toronto. Why would the Ontario government not do its part? It has to answer to the lost opportunity for Toronto.

Government Programs

[Tony Martin, NDP, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, every report on income security released in the last six months indicates poverty is growing deeper and more pervasive.

I have been consulting across the country and people tell me the recent cuts by the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development are hurting the poor disproportionately.

Why will the minister not stand up for her ministry and fight these cuts?