Debates of Nov. 28th, 2006

Treasury Board

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

Mr. Speaker, I am very comfortable receiving the Auditor General’s report and I thank her for her work. What the Bloc MP says is true. The previous government, the Liberal government, refused access to information needed by the Auditor General to do her job. I am happy to say to my colleague from Quebec that the new government has signed a new agreement so that the Auditor General can get the information she needs to do her job in my department, the Treasury Board.

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what was hidden remains hidden.

It was further to a motion by the Bloc Québécois at the Standing Committee on Public Accounts that the Auditor General began her investigation into the contract granted arbitrarily to Royal Lepage. The Prime Minister’s director of communications, Sandra Buckler, is supposed to have done some lobbying for this same company when Royal Lepage contacted some members of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts so that this motion would not to be adopted.

Whose interests is the government trying to defend? Those of the taxpayers or those of the Prime Minister’s Director of Communications?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc is wrong to make defamatory allegations about Ms. Buckler. There is no evidence to support this. It is common knowledge that Royal Lepage was one of Ms. Buckler’s clients before she began to work for the government. Furthermore the work she did for Royal Lepage was done after the company had got the contract for the Canadian forces and RCMP relocation program.

The Economy

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the commitments made by the government in its economic understatement are both misleading and dangerous. Just as the Conservative Party misled Canadians about income trusts, now it has promised to eliminate the so-called net debt. In order to do so, it put the grab on Canadians' hard-earned CPP and QPP funds and applied them against the national debt. These funds are not the government's funds. These funds are owned by the people of Canada, not the Government of Canada.

Will the Conservative government keep its hands off Canadian pension funds?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as I explained to the House yesterday and to my friend opposite, the net debt is the balance of the liabilities with the resources of the country, and we are going to accomplish that by 2021.

This is an important national goal for Canada, for all of Canada's governments, to fight back against the accumulation of debt that has happened in the past generation in Canada. Within half a generation, within 15 years, we as Canadians can eliminate our net national debt, and we are going to do it.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is more fiscal fairy dust from the Tinkerbell of the neo-cons.

This is not complicated. This is a federal debt. All he is going to pay down is $3 billion a year. It will take 160 years before the federal debt is eliminated. By 2021, the year he brags about, we will still have $430 billion worth of debt. The process jeopardizes Canadians' pension moneys. The government has no business making commitments with other people's money.

Will the government admit to Canadians that in 2021 the government will still owe $430 billion?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, according to the international gold standard of net debt, by the year 2021 the net debt of the governments of Canada will have been eliminated.

I am not surprised to hear that sort of thing when I see that the former minister of finance of the party opposite is supporting a fellow named Rae, who increased the public debt in the province of Ontario 113% when he was the premier of Ontario, to the point where the people of Ontario were paying $1 million an hour in interest when he left office.

The Environment

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of the Environment is hiding out so she does not have to explain why she abandoned the Kyoto protocol. On November 7, she was to appear before the Senate environment committee, but she did not. The media are looking for her. She is hiding.

Today, she was supposed to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development, but once again, she failed to show up.

What did she have to do this morning that was so urgent she could not appear before the Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development? Perhaps her alarm clock failed to go off once again?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to appearing in front of committee. I asked to be invited to committee. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it today, but I look forward to being there. Of course, I miss working with my opposition critics because we do have such a productive relationship.

As soon as we have set a new date, I look forward to being there and sharing with them all of the information that I have accumulated to explain to the member why we could not meet our Kyoto target.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we know that Canada has dropped Kyoto. We know that we have lost respect on the world stage. We know that the Conservatives have cut programs like the one-tonne challenge and EnerGuide. We know that they have cancelled programs for wind energy and renewable energy production. We know all that.

Nothing surprises us anymore. Given that we already know all that, and that nothing surprises us anymore, will the Prime Minister let her appear before the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development if we promise to be nice to her?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to coming to the environment committee and discussing how both top Liberal leadership candidates actually also state that they believe we cannot meet our Kyoto target, which is why I would ask the member opposite why he is putting forward a private member's bill to force the government to meet a Kyoto target when the leadership candidate he is supporting has clearly said those targets are unattainable. I do look forward to coming to committee and asking him why the Liberal leadership candidate he is supporting refused to come to committee.

Federal Accountability Act

[Merv Tweed, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, exactly one year ago this House voted non-confidence, condemning Liberal corruption and Liberal scandal.

In response to Liberal corruption, Canada's new government brought forward the toughest anti-corruption law in Canadian history, the federal accountability act.

The only obstacle left is the Liberal Senate, which has blocked the accountability act from becoming law for almost six months.

Would the President of the Treasury Board tell this House what he thinks of Liberal Party tactics to prevent the accountability act from becoming law.

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

Mr. Speaker, the democratically elected House of Commons has voted for the federal accountability act six times. Not one single member has stood to ask to go on record opposed to the bill.

What started as sober second thought led to partisan foot-dragging, and now has led to anti-democratic obstructionism. I think the Liberal Senate should take the comments from my colleague and friend, the Liberal member for York South—Weston, who said:

It would be folly...to prevent the bill from moving along. I'm hopeful that the Senate will use their sober second thought and allow the bill to go through.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, nobody should be able to buy an election in this country or a politician for that matter, but big money is still buying influence in Canadian politics through the loophole that allows these huge so-called loans to Liberal leadership candidates. If people can borrow millions from their corporate buddies, they can buy the election, and who knows if that loan will ever get paid back. That is not democracy. That is who you know politics.

Why will the government not step up and plug this last remaining loophole, so that nobody can buy an election in this country ever again?

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

Mr. Speaker, I share my colleague's strong concerns. I think they are tremendously well-founded. Bob Rae not only overgoverned, overregulated and overtaxed Ontario for five years but he has now brought that same process to his campaign. In fact, while he has raised $1 million, he is in hock up to $845,000. Long after the balloons fall and long after the convention is finished, who will pay back that money?

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the problem is that kind of bluster from the President of the Treasury Board is not going to clean up the Liberal leadership loans.

If the minister were serious about getting big money out of politics, he would have supported the amendments to Bill C-2 that the NDP put in to try to stop the corruption. Instead, he introduced his own new loopholes to try and backfill the reading of convention fees.

Would the minister agree that these huge Liberal leadership loans are just big money buying influence in Canadian politics, an abuse of the system? Will he promise to take steps to eliminate them, so they will not be around the next time we have a leadership race?

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the member for Winnipeg Centre very clearly that I share his strong concern. I think it is absolutely outrageous that Bob Rae continues his streak of waste and wild spending, going into debt by almost $1 million, and clearly trying to evade the important financial contribution limits. I share that concern, but we cannot clean up every Liberal scandal overnight. We are working hard and we will get the job done.

Canadian Wheat Board

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, on December 5 the CEO of the Canadian Wheat Board will be appearing before the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. We know the government does not want the substantive facts as to the consequences of the minister's proposals made public and has imposed a gag order on the board. However, witnesses before a committee need to be able to answer in a forthright and honest way without fear of persecution.

Will the minister assure the House that he will not undertake to persecute board representatives for their presentations and responses to questions at committee?

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

Mr. Speaker, we are trying to get more marketing choice for farmers. We want to put more money in their pockets. We want them to take advantage of their own expertise and marketing expertise, and let them make that choice. We are moving ahead with a plebiscite on that.

I have asked that the Wheat Board not spend farmers' money lobbying on this effort. Individual board members can speak out of course, but the board itself should not be spending farmers' money. Right now it should be selling grain for farmers and maximizing the return for farmers. It should leave the politics to the member for Malpeque.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, how far will the government go? It is subverting information in its attempt to destroy the Wheat Board. From gag orders, disenfranchising voters, and stacked task forces, the minister's propaganda campaign and now the minister's directive has removed from its website the board's response to the minister's discredited task force.

Will the minister table this letter in the House? Will the minister allow a full and open discussion by board members on his misdirected policies and stop violating the freedom of speech of board members?

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

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat again that every single board member of the Canadian Wheat Board can, will and probably is busy right now promoting their personal point of view. That is as it should be and I have no problem with that. We are getting tired of the Canadian Wheat Board wasting farmers' money on political action. It has a job to do and it is called selling farmers' wheat, and it should get at it.

Natural Resources

[Roy Cullen, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the project review process for major new investments in Canada's natural resources sector, especially in the mining and electricity industries, is unpredictable, inefficient and expensive. Major new projects are often subject to overlapping and duplicate reviews by the provinces, the territories and the federal government. Even though the Minister of Natural Resources has promised to streamline these processes, nothing has happened.

Will the minister tell the House and all Canadians what action he has taken to protect these jobs, this investment and to fix this problem? Why has there not been any action by the minister and the government after nine months on the job?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to the streamlining promised by the minister, certain programs have indeed been maintained.

The opposition is now asking us to act in haste. The Minister of Natural Resources is streamlining things in a manner that is efficient and logical, and that is what will be delivered.

[Roy Cullen, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yes, we are asking for action, but the minister promises a lot and delivers nothing. Talk and promises are not going to do anything for Canadians who are losing their jobs because of the government's inaction. The mining and electricity industries are crying out for support from the government.

All they are getting is cheap talk: on the issues of geological mapping, zilch; on the issues of critical labour shortages, zip; and on the issues of project review, zero. The minister talks, talks, talks, but has failed on every important issue.

Could the minister tell us when we can expect some action on these matters? When will he start to do his job?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to spouting rhetoric, we do not need to take any lessons from the party across the floor. That party was in power for 13 years without getting anything done, with catastrophic results. We must now clean up its mess. We are now taking action to come up with effective measures.