House of Commons Hansard #4 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was farmers.
James Moore ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, the information in the member's question was as bad as his joke. The government is going forward with a greening government program.
Navdeep Bains Liberal Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Mr. Speaker, accountability is no joke. The Speech from the Throne demonstrates the government's lack of commitment toward the environment. After years of progress on greening government procurement, the government is turning back the clock. Why?
James Moore ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, my colleague should get his facts straight. The greening government program is going ahead. The hon. member is wrong.
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
Mr. Speaker, on January 16 the Minister of International Trade warned Canadians that Conservatives would let the weak die, would demolish the national child care programs, would turn its back on first nations and aboriginal peoples and would undermine Kyoto. He said that poor Conservative public policy would result in deficits and the decimation of social programs.
Is this an accurate reflection of the policies of the Conservative Government of Canada?
David Emerson ConservativeMinister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics
Mr. Speaker, it was an exciting election campaign. There was a lot of partisan rhetoric from a lot of people. I want to say one thing. I am very proud to have been asked to serve in the cabinet of this new government. I believe I made a very good decision.
I want to finish by saying, Mr. Speaker, that I will be serving the people of Vancouver Kingsway as well as I possibly can, and I am going to do it very effectively with significant results.
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
I take it, Mr. Speaker, that the minister is saying that what he said is not official government policy, so was he wrong in January or is he wrong today?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of International Trade just noted, the government decided to look beyond the partisanship of the election campaign and form a government that reaches out to all Canadians. I am very proud of the fact, and I think the Minister of International Trade should be very proud of the fact that he put his country ahead of his party. Members opposite should do the same.
Daniel Petit Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the hon. member for Eglinton—Lawrence, who is also a candidate in the Liberal leadership race, suggested that showing respect to the people of Quebec would divide the country. He has provided, yet again, more evidence of the Liberals' arrogant attitude toward Quebec.
What does the Prime Minister think of the comments made by this member who wants to become leader of the Liberal party?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, after the sponsorship scandal, it is essential for the new government to try to rebuild the image of federalism in Quebec. We will do so by respecting the Constitution and the autonomy of the provinces and by involving the provinces in international matters where discussions affect their responsibilities. This includes giving the Government of Quebec a place in UNESCO.
It is detrimental to national unity for the member for Eglinton—Lawrence to oppose our initiatives in this matter.
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Mr. Speaker, at the recent trilateral meeting in Cancun, President Bush stated that he intends to enforce a new American law requiring all people crossing over the American border to have passports. It seems our Prime Minister is willing to roll over at this impractical U.S. plan that is going to create nightmares at the border crossings and affect trade and tourism in our country.
My question is straightforward. Did the Prime Minister present a counter-proposal to President Bush or did he simply throw in the towel?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, I certainly expressed to President Bush, and it was expressed to American officials by all Canadians present, that we believe this law is not in the interest of either of our countries, that it will inhibit commerce and inhibit travel between our countries.
However, this is a law passed by Congress. President Bush must respect it. We would expect the United States to respect our laws, and our government will make sure we are not caught with our pants down and we are ready when this law comes into effect.
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Mr. Speaker, I hope this administration at least wears its pants to the meetings because quite frankly, this issue is emerging very significantly. We know that right now only 20% of Americans have passports and a new study today indicates that one out of every three Americans will not even participate in a new regime.
Centres like Victoria, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Edmundston and my riding of Windsor will be harmed by these new rules. The bottom line is these new rules will kill Canadian jobs and affect the Canadian economy. Will the Prime Minister please outline his government's plan to ensure that he is going to protect the workers of our nation?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, there will be meetings between the Minister of Public Safety and his American counterpart to get on top of this issue and make sure our countries are ready for this new law, if and when it comes into effect. In the meantime, I would be very interested in finding out how the NDP plans to force Americans to get passports.
Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON
Mr. Speaker, the trend of the Conservatives to do as they say, not as they do continues.
It seems the government has rewarded the Prime Minister's friend and key member of his transition team, Marie-Josée Lapointe, with an untendered contract to reform, of all things, the tendering process. While I am sure her consulting firm is ecstatic, Canadians are not.
Now that the Prime Minister is in government, will he keep his word, undo this contract and end sole-sourcing for his friends?
John Baird ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, as minister I take responsibility for what goes on in my department. The moment that my political staff and I learned of this contract, it was immediately terminated.
Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am glad that the Conservatives are so proud that when they--
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
Order. The hon. member for Ajax--Pickering has the floor for a question.
Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON
Mr. Speaker, I ask the Prime Minister directly, when was this decision made, after the hand was caught in the cookie jar or before?
Fundamentally the point is that the Prime Minister made a promise, he broke it, he was caught, and now he is changing his mind. There is a pattern here that is totally unacceptable.
John Baird ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite obviously does not know what accountability looks like. I am the minister. I take responsibility. The moment a political actor heard about this change, heard about this contract, we believe in providing leadership by example and the contract was terminated.
Anita Neville Liberal Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, four elderly residential school survivors die every day.
Yesterday and again today the government has made excuses for not respecting the agreement that provides for immediate payment to victims.
My question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage. As minister responsible for this matter, how many more elders need to die before they will receive the respect they deserve?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Mr. Speaker, the government continues to work on this. As I indicated to my hon. friend yesterday, there were two preconditions to the residential school agreement. The first was the preparation of a final agreement. That has not happened. The second was court approval. That has not happened.
I have spoken with former Mr. Justice Iacobucci about this matter. We anticipate progress and we will continue to keep the House informed.
Gary Merasty Liberal Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
Mr. Speaker, let me first of all thank the electors of Desnethé--Missinippi--Churchill River for electing me and allowing me to represent them here.
On Monday a thousand residents of the Canoe Lake Cree Nation in my riding were deprived of clean water because of a malfunction of their water treatment plant.
In a recent announcement by the minister responsible, he talked about certifying workers and training, but no funding announcement. Shame. As the House knows, the Kelowna accord booked $400 million for such initiatives.
When will the minister stand up for aboriginal communities and commit to desperately needed funding?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that there was a system failure at Canoe Lake this week and this government together with first nations dealt with it in exactly the way the member's government never did.
We moved immediately. Public health was taken care of. The system was repaired. It was remediated. Those first nation citizens today are going to be drinking water that lives up to national standards that the former Liberal government would not institute.
Christian Ouellet Bloc Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Mr. Speaker, the lack of any mention of social housing in the Speech from the Throne is dismaying.
How can a government that says it wants to tackle crime and provide prospects for young people not realize that the solutions to this problem start with support for building decent housing for low-income families?