House of Commons Hansard #97 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was report.

Topics

EqualizationOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

Order, please. The right hon. the Prime Minister has the floor. It seems the Christmas spirit has taken a grip on some hon. members today.

The right hon. the Prime Minister has the floor. We will want to hear him.

EqualizationOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Conservative

Stephen Harper Conservative Calgary Southwest, AB

Mr. Speaker, I can say with confidence that in the next budget the Government of Canada, with the help of our Conservative MPs from Saskatchewan, will deliver the best deal for Saskatchewan it has ever had in Confederation.

Whether it will justify the wasteful advertising campaign of the Government of Saskatchewan is another question. Whether at that point in time we will actually have a position from the NDP is another question.

However, since I may not be up again on my feet this year, let me just wish all members a merry Christmas and thank the NDP members for their help on the—

EqualizationOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

The hon. member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore.

Government ProgramsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

Michael Ignatieff Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON

Mr. Speaker, despite what the Prime Minister said about phantom cuts, the cuts reveal a clear intention to slash investment in post-secondary education and in science. In so doing, that lays bare the very clear intention of the government to have no policy whatever on productivity and competitiveness.

Why is it that the government has no policy to create jobs today for Canadians in the future? Why is it that the government has no policy whatever to meet the competitive challenges this economy faces?

Government ProgramsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Whitby—Oshawa Ontario

Conservative

Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, not only do we have a policy, we have a plan called “Advantage Canada”. Not only do we have a plan called “Advantage Canada” that will try to address the lack of productivity growth in the last 10 years when the party opposite was the government, but our plan has the endorsement of the International Monetary Fund.

In the report issued today by the International Monetary Fund, it praises Canada's new government for its commitment to allocating unplanned surpluses to lower the debt, to increase productivity in Canada and to lower taxes.

Persons with DisabilitiesOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON

Mr. Speaker, the ideological and meanspirited cuts by the minority government are without bounds. Conservatives have done nothing new to help Canadians with disabilities and they have taken a giant leap backward by slashing $150 million which was scheduled to help persons with disabilities to access jobs.

The minister is supposed to be committed to the full inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of life. Could she explain how these cuts make Canada more inclusive and help disabled Canadians to find jobs?

Persons with DisabilitiesOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Whitby—Oshawa Ontario

Conservative

Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, I commend to the member opposite the report that was filed yesterday by the Minister of Finance's committee on disabilities. For the first time in the history of the country, we now have a potential initiative that will help parents with children with severe disabilities to save for their future, something the member's government could have done over the course of 13 years, which we have now done in the course of 10 months.

Persons with DisabilitiesOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

Ken Dryden Liberal York Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is hard for students with disabilities. It is hard for them to qualify for college or university. It is hard for their families who are often low income because one parent has had to stay home to offer the extra care. We, as a government, put in $550 million over five years to help them, money that was locked in, guaranteed. If we were the government today, it would be in the pockets of these students.

Instead, Canada's new government, new, ungenerous, small, pinched government, has done what it takes pride in doing, delivering cuts. These kids have fought hard to get their chance. Why?

Persons with DisabilitiesOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Whitby—Oshawa Ontario

Conservative

Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, what we need to know is where the Liberals locked up the money. In what brown bag did they lock up the money? Is it in the hands of their bookie, Alfonso Gagliano? We do not know where they locked up the money. Which set of books were they using, the first set, the second set or the third set?

We would rather actually do something for people with disabilities and we will.

Status of WomenOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Larry Bagnell Liberal Yukon, YT

Mr. Speaker, students were really shut out with that answer.

The only minority the Conservatives care about is their own minority government. Yesterday the Minister for the Status of Women defended her scandalous decision to close offices across the country, by claiming those in remote and rural communities could access programs via the Internet.

We now know that the meanspirited Conservative government is cutting $100 million from rural and aboriginal broadbands. The minister tells women to access their programs from the Internet and then cuts the Internet funding.

Will the minister give a real answer today as to how rural women will access her programs?

Status of WomenOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Ottawa West—Nepean Ontario

Conservative

John Baird ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board

Mr. Speaker, if there could be no better example, so many members of this cabinet wanted to stand up for women and speak about it in the House today.

The reductions that the member opposite talks about are very clearly and very specifically decisions to sunset the program tabled by the former Liberal government. Women in remote and rural Canada deserve better and, on January 23, they elected better.

Telecommunications IndustryOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Bloc

Paul Crête Bloc Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC

Mr. Speaker, the CEO of Cogeco, Mr. Louis Audet, says that the Minister of Industry's decision to accelerate the deregulation of telecommunications only gives more power back to the large companies that have always dominated the market. He concluded that the minister's approach is faulty.

Will the Minister of Industry recognize that he is on the wrong track and that his decision will only encourage the development of monopolies that could set prices as high as they like, once they get rid of the competition?

Telecommunications IndustryOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Beauce Québec

Conservative

Maxime Bernier ConservativeMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, we know this. I read what the president of Cogeco said yesterday and I would like to quote him. “Thanks to the low operating costs of its Internet phone service, Cogeco will be able to compete with the old monopolies in the event of a price war”.

Cogeco and all other businesses in the telecommunications industry are ready to face the competition and even engage in a price war, which, in the end, would benefit consumers.

Telecommunications IndustryOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Bloc

Paul Crête Bloc Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC

Mr. Speaker, the minister's distortion of what Mr. Audet said is unacceptable. Mr. Audet stated that he is against the deregulation.

Not only did the minister take this decision without consulting anyone, but he is giving people 30 days, from December 15 to January 15, in the middle of the busy holiday period, to submit their opinion in writing. What a farce.

If the minister is serious about his desire to consult, I challenge him to hold public hearings. Is he prepared to take up the challenge? Will he hold public hearings to debate the drastic deregulation he wants to bring in?

Telecommunications IndustryOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Beauce Québec

Conservative

Maxime Bernier ConservativeMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, here is what Jim Shaw of Shaw Communications had to say about the reform we are putting forward.

We agree entirely with [the Minister of Industry] that the interest of consumers must come first.

That is what we are doing for Canadians. They are going to benefit from more competition, lower prices and better services.

Science and TechnologyOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Bloc

Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC

Mr. Speaker, when asked yesterday whether he would be in favour of providing funding to Quebec City's Boîte à science, the Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec said that before providing funding he will ensure that the project is viable so that CED does not have to subsidize the project year after year.

Can the minister explain why he is requiring that the Boîte à science be viable before he will fund it, when he does not require the same from other science centres across Canada, in Newfoundland and Vancouver for example? Why this double standard?

Science and TechnologyOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Jonquière—Alma Québec

Conservative

Jean-Pierre Blackburn ConservativeMinister of Labour and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec

Mr. Speaker, maybe we are too close to Christmas and things are not being understood very well. I will repeat what I said.

The Boîte à science project is currently under review. It is asking for $500,000. If we move forward with this, that money will be used for a feasibility study for the construction of a building that will cost $30 million. This will be followed by funding.

What I am saying is that the study will have to show that the Boîte à science could be viable without funding from the CED for its operating costs.

Government ProgramsOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Bloc

France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC

Mr. Speaker, we have learned that the $55 million cut on September 25 to youth employment programs will come strictly from the summer career placement program, which will affect young people, agencies and regions in particular.

On what study did the minister base her decision to make cuts to the summer career placement program, when the committee, of which her colleagues are members, asked for the program to be improved?

Government ProgramsOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Haldimand—Norfolk Ontario

Conservative

Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, it is true that we did commit, when we were elected, to reviewing all programs that were run by the previous government to ensure they were offering value for Canadian taxpayer money. In that process, we are looking for opportunities for improvement and we are hoping to be able to announce some.

Government ProgramsOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Liberal

Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS

Mr. Speaker, the community action program for children and the Canada prenatal nutrition program provide essential services to low income and single parent Canadian families.

Will the government today commit to low income families in hundreds of Canadian communities, children who need these programs, that they will not be left out in the cold by more heartless, neo-conservative cuts?

Government ProgramsOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Beauce Québec

Conservative

Maxime Bernier ConservativeMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, the community access program is sunsetting on December 31. Right now we are working on that. I can assure the member that all communities will have access to the Internet and to broadband.

TradeOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Liberal

Don Bell Liberal North Vancouver, BC

Mr. Speaker, the inexplicable cuts of the meanspirited, ideological government continue to baffle Canadians. The cuts have hurt Canada's ability to be competitive in a global market: $250 million for the global success fund, $109 million for our trade commissioners, and $60 million to showcase Canada to the world. These are all gone. These cuts will hurt our Pacific gateway strategy to grow import and export businesses across Canada.

Why is the government determined to dismantle our strong economy by crippling--

TradeOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

The hon. Minister of Finance.

TradeOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Whitby—Oshawa Ontario

Conservative

Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, we know there was a wish list and there were several sets of books, three at least from the previous government. One other thing we know for sure is that $40 million of taxpayers' money from hard-working Canadians is gone.

TradeOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

The hon. member for Eglinton--Lawrence.