Debates of Nov. 24th, 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, unfortunately it is true that this government inherited a shameful situation from the previous Liberal government. We can look back over the last 10 years since RCAP came out. The AFN issued a failing grade of F, and it was well deserved by the previous government.

We have done much since that time. We have entered into the first modern treaty with British Columbia. We dedicated $300 million for northern housing and $300 million for off reserve housing, as well as signed the residential schools agreement. We are taking real action for aboriginal people.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have had 10 months, yet Pikangikum children do not have access to running water. Kuiper Island has limited access to medical care. North of 60 over 50% of children have experienced violence in the home. One in four first nations children on reserve live in poverty. Off reserve 40% are living in poverty. Does anyone need to hear more? Nearly 50% of first nations houses in all of Canada are contaminated with mould.

How long is the government going to say that children will have to wait for clean water and stable houses? How long?

[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, immediately upon taking office, the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development began to address the shameful state that the government had received. Water was at the top of his list. Since that time, he has put forward a plan and brought forward an expert panel to look at the issues facing first nations people in relation to water.

Thankfully, we are taking real action and we are seeing real results.

The Economy

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

Mr. Speaker, deception, unfairness and off-loading are three words to describe yesterday's economic update. For one thing, the statement offers grandiose plans without intending to back any of it. Worse, it takes billions away from low and middle income Canadians.

Possibly the most blatant deception in this document is the alleged elimination of the debt by 2021. In fact, under the Conservatives' plan the federal debt will not be paid off by 2021, but in 160 years.

Why is the government tying its debt reduction targets to its greenhouse gas emission plans?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the member well knows that the net debt has been mentioned in every single Liberal budget and that there is an objective for the very first time, a commitment to get rid of the net debt.

We want to be the first OECD and G-7 country to get rid of the net debt. This is important because the debt puts a heavy weight on the shoulders of young Canadians. We want them to have a strong future, not one where they have to pay off the debt of former generations. The member should be getting behind this program to pay off Canada's net debt.

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are laughing right in the faces of Canadians. The Liberal government always set aside $3 billion to reduce the debt. There is nothing new in yesterday's proposal. Yet, the minister claims that the debt will be eliminated 140 years earlier. This proposal cannot be achieved without the help of the provinces, as the minister well knows.

What will happen if a finance minister finds himself facing a $6 billion deficit, as Mike Harris did in Ontario?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the member knows that reducing debt is a matter of fairness. In fact in reducing the net debt we are adopting the accepted international standard used to benchmark debt reduction from country to country. For example, Australia has recently celebrated the fact that it has eliminated its net debt.

We can eliminate Canada's net debt by 2021. We expect all Canadians to be part of this. We know they want to do this. They are proud that there is at last a benchmark and that we will put all of the unanticipated surpluses toward the debt, as we did this year, paying down $13.2 billion on the national debt.

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's economic understatement was a massive exercise in unfairness.

In 2005 the Liberals provided $29 billion in tax relief for all Canadians, particularly the low and middle income earners, but that is all gone and in its place a scheme that would make George W. Bush proud. The government's update laments the fact that those poor souls who are earning more than $120,000 are treated unfairly. Imagine that.

Why do the Conservatives always favour the six figure income earners over regular Canadians?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, lowering the GST especially helped low income Canadians who do not pay any other kind of tax. Yet that party did not want to support that. I wonder why it does not want to support tax relief for low income Canadians.

In this fiscal update, we will be giving Canadians a tax back guarantee. That means there will be more money in the pockets of Canadians, because every time we pay down the debt, we save interest, and that interest will go right back to Canadians in the form of reduced taxes. By 2011, Canadians will see each and every year an additional $1.4 billion in tax relief--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for York West.

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government has shown an incredible ability to shift the tax burdens from the rich to the poor in a mere 10 months.

The GST cut that the member referred to offers pennies on a Timex and hundreds of dollars on a Rolex, but on Canada Day, Canadians woke up to an increased tax rate at the lowest bracket. Now the government wants to further line the pockets of those who earn the most.

That party has taken the word “progressive” from its name with good reason. Why is it now doing the same thing to the tax system?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, that is a mischaracterization of what we have done, because in our very first budget we took 650,000 Canadians completely off the tax rolls. We cut consumer taxes for the lowest income Canadians. Under our tax back guarantee, we will continue to return to Canadians the benefits of paying down the debt. It will be $800 billion in the very next year. By 2011, Canadians will have another $1.4 billion every single year because we are paying down Canada's net debt.

The Environment

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in an annual report submitted to the United Nations, the government itself admits that if nothing is done, greenhouse gas emissions will surpass by 47% the 2010 Kyoto protocol targets. We should remember that the government's clean air plan has no reduction targets until 2011.

Why is the government so bent on not taking action now to deal with greenhouse gas emissions, when it has noted the urgency of the situation?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order. Perhaps the member for Wascana and the President of the Treasury Board could carry on their discussions in the foyer while the rest of us continue with question period. It is very difficult for the rest of us to hear the questions. I would be glad to send somebody out there to manage the discussion, if necessary. The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment has the floor.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, this was a report that the Liberal government was supposed to table with the UN on January 1, just prior to the election.

That report said what the member said, that the Liberal government's plan would have brought us 47% above the Kyoto targets. The big question is, why would that member support a government that has a failed Kyoto plan? It makes no sense.

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what the parliamentary secretary has stated is one more reason for taking immediate action to tackle climate change.

Since it is written in black and white, in a report prepared by his government, that greenhouse gas emissions will reach unacceptable levels by 2010 if Canada does not take action, will the government stop procrastinating and immediately put in place a plan to meet the Kyoto protocol targets as per the demands of climatologists, economists, environmental groups and citizens?

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the former government did nothing for 13 years. It did not present that report. Now the member opposite is saying that he supports that, he supports us carrying on. That is utter nonsense.

This government is committed to reducing greenhouse gases, not like the former government.

All the hon. member did in Nairobi was make mischief. He did not participate. He should actually be paying back the taxpayers for the waste of the dollars to send him to Nairobi.

[Marcel Lussier, Bloc, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to an expert in international law, the World Trade Organization rules could allow a tax to be imposed on countries that violate the terms of the Kyoto protocol.

In light of this, will the Minister of the Environment reconsider and change her position on the Kyoto protocol before her inaction and her laissez-faire approach endanger the economy of Canada and Quebec?

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we have been committed to the Kyoto protocol but we have been honest with Canadians and we have been honest with our international partners that we will not be able to meet the targets because of what the Liberals did when they were in government.

We are working with our international partners. We received a consensus. We have support on the international stage. We need to encourage every member of the House to work together on the clean air act because that is the only piece of legislation that will help us meet targets.

[Marcel Lussier, Bloc, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this government's inaction is deplorable, because in the long run it could have an incalculable impact not only on the economy, but also on the future of export companies. I therefore ask the minister to stop leaving Canada in uncertainty, which even companies are criticizing, and to reveal her greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I agree that those who are trying to sabotage the plan to deal with greenhouse gases should be condemned. It is the Bloc members and the Liberals who should be condemned.

This party is a party of action. We have tabled the clean air act and those parties want to stop Canada from moving forward on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

They need to stop their sabotage. They need to get on side with reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, while there are numerous members of the former Harris government present in this House, I want to ask the Minister of the Environment a question.

The contaminated water saga in Walkerton was caused in part by heavy precipitation, which produced heavy runoff of contaminated water into a local well.

Experts agree that climate change will increase the frequency of heavy precipitation, which represents a constant and growing threat to clean water in Canada.

What will the minister do to reduce this threat?

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, first nations communities are experiencing challenges with water supplies, much like other small communities across the country and around the world.

Boil water orders are being issued under provincial legislation and it is becoming common across Canada. This is due to the 13 years of neglect by the member's party.

This government has announced $450 million over the next two years to address drinking water, education, children and women and housing issues. This government is taking action.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the previous government funded a range of climate change programs, including the Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network.

The network was funding research into the impact of climate change on water at the Brace Centre in Ste. Anne de Bellevue in my riding. This program has been abruptly cut. Its funding will come to an end in about 10 months.

Will the government reconsider its short-sighted approach to climate change and restore the network's long term funding so it can continue to do its crucial work in the area of water research?