Debates of May 17th, 2006

Correctional Officers

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

Mr. Speaker, I said that this problem with the previous government went on for four years. In my first 100 days in office, I have met with this union and spoken to its representatives four times in all. My assistant deputy minister is working with this group to get a real solution, a solution that the public servants can support and the government will support. As soon as possible, I will announce in this House the positive results achieved for the public servants and taxpayers alike.

Pay Equity

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, women who work full time in Canada earn only 71% of what men earn. The previous Liberal government committed to table new pay equity legislation by the end of 2006.

By contrast, in 1998 the current Prime Minister said that pay equity was “a rip-off” for taxpayers and that the federal government should “scrap its ridiculous pay equity law”. Is this still the view of the Prime Minister and, if not, will he table new pay equity legislation before the end of this year?

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

Mr. Speaker, the equality of men and women is something that this government gives great importance to. The equality of public servants is something that is required for the good functioning of government and we strongly believe that we must treat every public servant fairly.

This was another example of where the previous government said, after 13 long years, that it was just about ready to get on with it. We do not need any lectures from the member opposite. The member opposite who sat in the government throughout all those years did absolutely nothing in this regard.

Agriculture

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, at the agriculture committee, the CEO of the Farmer Rail Car Coalition said that if the government had given its fleet of hopper cars over to the FRCC it would have had to charge a lease fee to farmers. He then said that with the FRCC plan there “will be some increased cost to farmers”.

Could the transport minister tell the House if the government's decision to keep the hopper cars means any increased cost to farmers?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, while farmers have had a hard time making ends meet over the last 13 years, this government respects farmers and is committed to taking action. This is why this government, in Bill C-11, is bringing in an amendment to lower the revenue cap. The amendment will pass on savings to the farmers of Canada, who, everybody knows, need it. They will be getting $50 million.

Aboriginal Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General said yesterday that no federal organization has taken responsibility for assessing the extent of the insidious mould problem on reserves and no one is developing a comprehensive strategy to address it. This is a serious health and safety issue for first nations.

Which of those ministers will take responsibility for this disaster and ensure the resources are available to deal with this problem?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Health and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General has expressed a tale of mismanagement that has a direct impact on the health and safety of aboriginal Canadians. We do not have to make any excuses but we will be part of the solution rather than the members opposite who have been part of the problem for the last 13 years.

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

Mr. Speaker, without last year's NDP budget the Conservatives would have only committed $450 million to aboriginal peoples over two years, not the $1.15 billion that the minister is fond of bragging about.

The Auditor General's report shows that Conservative promises are not nearly enough to reduce the gaps in the standard of living for first nations, Inuit and Métis. Will the minister commit to implementing every single recommendation in the Auditor General's report for first nations programs immediately?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Health and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, I can tell the House that we intend to fulfill our promises that were based on budget 2006, promises to aboriginal Canadians from coast to coast to coast, which the hon. member and her caucus voted against.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of the Hon. Joan Burke, Minister of Education, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador; and Dr. David Dolphin, winner of the 2005 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

Business of the House

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

It being Wednesday, I believe the opposition House leader would now like to ask the Thursday question.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Yes, Mr. Speaker, because of the unusual events of tomorrow, the Thursday question becomes the Wednesday question.

I wonder if the government House leader would indicate what his work program is through the rest of this week and the full week after the Victoria Day break?

I also wonder, while he is on his feet, if he could advise us if the Prime Minister will be tabling in the House the document, clearly a cabinet document, that he was reading from and quoting from directly at 2:38 p.m. this afternoon?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, today the House will consider a motion by the Prime Minister of Canada supporting the extension of Canada's contribution to international efforts at reducing poverty, enhancing human rights and gender equality for all Afghan men, women and children.

Tomorrow, but no later than Friday, we would like to conclude debate at second reading on Bill C-13, the budget implementation bill, in order to ensure, among other important objectives, that parents will receive their much anticipated and needed child care benefit cheques by July 1.

I would like to use this opportunity as well to remind members that tomorrow the House opens at 9 a.m., with statements by members at 11 a.m., followed by question period at 11:15 a.m. At noon, the House will adjourn in order to allow arrangements to be made for the Prime Minister of Australia to address both Houses of Parliament at 3 p.m.

After Bill C-13 is sent to committee, it is our intention to call two important justice bills: Bill C-9, the conditional sentencing bill; and Bill C-10, the mandatory minimum penalties bill.

We will continue to debate those bills. In addition, I would indicate, pending progress on Bill C-13, that Tuesday, May 30 and Thursday, June 1 would be allotted days.

I am sure that answers all the hon. member's questions.

Oral Questions

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order regarding oral question period.

Allow me to quote from House of Commons Procedure and Practice by Marleau and Montpetit at page 372:

Any document quoted by a Minister in debate, or in response to a question, must be tabled.

The Prime Minister quoted a document in response to a question asked earlier. Does the Prime Minister intend to table this document?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, I will take that under advisement and get back to the House.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. government House leader has indicated he will look into the matter.

[Some hon. members]

No.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The Chair is entitled to hear argument from the hon. member on the point of order. There is a provision that documents quoted are to be tabled but there is also a provision that briefing notes prepared for ministers are not. We have to determine what it was.

The government House leader has undertaken to check this out and we will hear back from him. The Chair will then make a decision on whether the document has to be tabled or not. I think I have to hear both sides of the story before I make a decision.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in making your determination, will you also review the video of question period because it was quite obvious that the Prime Minister was quoting a cabinet document and not a briefing for question period.

[Jean Lapierre, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to intervene with regard to the same point of order. I saw with my own eyes that it was a cabinet document. We insist it be tabled immediately. We have no need to wait for consultations. It was clear to the naked eye. I saw it myself.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I am sure the hon. Leader of the Government in the House is very grateful for the help of the hon. members for Outremont and Ottawa—Vanier on this point. It will help him considerably in his consultations and in preparing his response to the point of order raised.

We will deal with that one when we hear back from the government House leader, which we look forward to with great enthusiasm.

The hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley is rising on a point of order.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a very important point of order on what happened in the course of question period today. The Minister of the Environment made some suggestion that in my accompaniment of her, which, under the agreements within the parties allows the minister to travel abroad, that I took this agreement and accompanied the minister to Bonn, Germany. In that accompaniment, I am wondering, Mr. Speaker, if you might request that the minister withdraw the comment, and also as the Speaker, direct her to offer an apology, because in her statement she imbued all sorts of comments about my participation, not only on the environment file, which she may address to some of her colleagues who have sat with me on committee over the years, but also my participation in Bonn, Germany and the diligence with which I took up my directives.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, what I was referring to was a number of comments that the critic from the NDP made in a presser yesterday. In particular, he referred to how he spent most of his time in Bonn arguing with Environment Canada employees. I took offence to that, because Environment Canada employees and our department, I would say, are the people who care most about the department in this country. I did not appreciate him coming to Bonn to argue with the Canadian delegation, who went out of their way to make him feel comfortable, to take him to all of the meetings--