Debates of April 25th, 2006

National Defence

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the disrespect does not end with flags. We now have the decision to ban the media from allowing Canadians to participate in the repatriation of our soldiers who have fallen.

I will remind the Prime Minister that I was with him on October 10, 2004, in Halifax at a ceremony to recognize the return of Lieutenant Chris Saunders who died on the HMCS Chicoutimi. All Canadians were able to participate in that very moving ceremony. There, we were reminded of the sacrifice that is made. It is very important that this opportunity be shared with all Canadians.

Will the Prime Minister tell us what he is trying to hide by dishonouring our fallen soldiers?

[Gordon O'Connor, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the government is not trying to hide anything. The media have full access to our forces in Afghanistan. They report every movement and every action in Afghanistan.

Back here in Canada, at the second stage in Trenton, we are going to allow the families to mourn privately for their fallen members. The media have a chance to go to memorial services or funerals, as they did in the case of Lieutenant Saunders. The family permitted the media to go. If the media had not been permitted, they would not have been there.

Child Care

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government’s decision to cancel the early childhood education and child care agreements has created a crisis for Canadian families. For example, Saskatchewan has dropped its program for all four-year-old children. The Conservative government has no plan to create child care spaces.

Will the minister agree to provide multiyear funding in next week’s budget?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is very aware that our plan is twofold. One is to provide $1,200 a year to the parents of each child under the age of six, but the other part is that we will work with business and community groups right across this country to create 125,000 new child care spaces. That is 125,000 more spaces than the previous government created in 13 years.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Speaker, one would think that in 13 years as a government in waiting the Conservatives could have come up with something more substantive than vague promises and numbers pulled out of the air.

They have no plan and have never had a plan. The minister has admitted that herself. Why is she now trying to cobble together a plan when the provinces and the families have said that they like our Liberal plan? Is this just spite?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, with the help of the opposition parties, Canadian parents across the country will receive in the budget, should the opposition members support it, $1,200 a year for each child to help with the choice in child care that meets their needs, whether it is day care, babysitters, grannies, moms or dads staying at home. Parents will have that option and then we will work on the creation of 125,000 new spaces that meet the needs of real working families.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in complicity with the Bloc Québécois, the Conservative government is preparing to sap the vitality of francophone communities in Canada.

By insisting on eliminating the national child care program, the government is also eliminating the universality criterion in the Liberal program.

Can the minister tell us how the meagre cheque that she intends to send parents will ensure that francophone children living outside Quebec will be able to have services in their mother tongue at this crucial stage of early childhood?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, one of the great beauties of our choice in child care allowance is that it will be a universal benefit available to every Canadian family whether they live in a large city or a small one. They will be able to use the money for whatever early development and child care facility they need, in whatever language and in whatever part of the country.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, even in Alberta, the Prime Minister’s own province, francophones have no guarantees.

Families in Quebec have voiced support for the Liberal plan for early learning and child care which would have helped create 200,000 new places for children in my province. By tearing up the agreement with the province of Quebec next year and replacing its universal access provisions with a meagre cheque, what guarantee will the minister give to the anglophone community today that their children will have access to quality services in their own language?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, our program will allow every parent to spend the money where they need to, whether it is in English or in French in whatever part of the country they live. They can spend it on early developmental materials or they can invest it in registered savings plans for their children's education.

There are a lot of ways this can be done and we need to ensure that parents are working with the provinces whose responsibility it is to deliver the programs themselves. We will help parents get the spaces they need and the money they need to afford them.

Softwood Lumber

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we hear that Washington has made an offer to settle the softwood lumber issue that fails to comply with the NAFTA rulings but that the government has nevertheless deemed attractive enough to resume the negotiations.

Can the Minister of International Trade explain what has changed to make what was unacceptable a few weeks ago suddenly acceptable?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics]

Mr. Speaker, as the member well knows, over the last five years there have been at least five occasions when it was alleged that Canada and the United States were close to a deal on softwood lumber. I can say that being close does not count. There is no deal on softwood lumber at this time and when there is the House will be informed.

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, can the Prime Minister assure us that the gaffe made last week by his industry minister—who said that the moneys held in trust by the Americans in the softwood lumber dispute were lost—will not result in negotiations that endanger the gains we have made through the NAFTA panel rulings?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I would just reiterate the position I took last week, which is the official position of our government and our department. It is very simple. This government is prepared to work together with the Americans to find a long-term solution to the conflict. If this long-term solution is found, the House will be informed in due course.

Trusts

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have information that the government created trusts in which to deposit, prior to last March 31, some of the funds allocated under the Act to authorize the Minister of Finance to make certain payments. We know that the budget will be tabled on May 2. There are some legitimate questions about the creation of these trusts.

Given the large sums in question, can the Minister of Finance confirm or deny the creation of these trusts?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, we are preparing the budget. I was pleased to have the opportunity to have some discussions with the member about some of the issues we are facing in making determinations and preparing the budget.

We intend to fulfill as many of our platform commitments as we can. The budget is to be presented on May 2 at which time I can deal with the issue raised by the hon. member.

[Christian Ouellet, Bloc, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the act to authorize the Minister of Finance to make certain payments allocates money for social housing. Three hundred million dollars have gone to Ontario for social housing. The remaining $1.3 billion is in trust.

With the rest of the money, does the government plan to sign similar agreements with Quebec and the other provinces and transfer the appropriate money for social housing?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we will be dealing with issues, such as the issue he has raised about affordable housing, in the budget to be presented next week.

Child Care

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, day in and day out the Conservatives refuse to listen to outraged parents. They refuse to listen to child care groups who signed petitions. They refuse to listen to cities that passed motions to not slash the Liberal child care plan, a plan that provided accessible and affordable day care for Canadian parents and families.

Will the Minister of Human Resources, who has already axed 4,000 child care spaces in Toronto, admit that the Conservative child care choice of $1.60 a day is really no choice at all?

Why are the voices of parents falling on deaf ears?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member across the floor seems to think that we are taking away spaces when in fact these spaces were never created by the previous government. We cannot take away what was never given by the previous government.

We are providing $1,200 a year to the parents of each child under the age of six, which is $1,200 more than the previous government provided for child care. We also will be creating 125,000 new spaces at work, at home and in the community. That is way more than we have heard even promised before.

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister should actually be embarrassed for parroting those canned lines from the PMO. The truth is that the Conservatives are taking away spaces and taking away money from Canadian families and Canadian parents.

The Conservative government has been busy cutting important social programs, despite inheriting one of the best surpluses from the previous Liberal government.

Given that the NDP has already betrayed Canadians by trading our national child care program for 10 more seats, Canadians are counting on the Liberal Party to ensure that we protect child care in this country.

Will the minister tell the House if the Conservative government will deliver and guarantee the $100 million--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. Minister of Human Resources and Social Development.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, we are in the business of creating child care spaces and of creating choice in child care: day care for those who need it and babysitters at night for those who need it.

Whether people live in small communities like my own or in big cities, we will help parents. We will help working families get the choice in child care that meets their unique needs.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, last week I was one of a number of Nova Scotia MPs who received almost 10,000 signatures from Nova Scotia parents who are dismayed and angry at the government's plan to abandon child care in Canada.

Instead of honouring the Liberal child care agreements, a small taxable allowance will be given to parents and a tax scheme that has never worked before will now be used to create imaginary spaces and not real spaces.

Will the minister admit that this scheme will do nothing to create new child care spaces for Canadian children and families?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, our program to create new child care spaces will be developed with business, large business and small business, and with community groups so that kids can get child care in their home community or at work so that if it is in their small community the kids will not have to commute.

This is a true vision for child care, one that we have never heard before and certainly in 13 years of promises never saw from the previous government.