Debates of May 31st, 2006

The Environment

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, I have had three months to reflect. what I have decided, and what this government has always claimed to be true, is that we are focused not on what is happening in the U.S. Congress, not on what is good for the Americans but we are focused on what is good for Canada. We have developed a Canadian plan with Canadian priorities, investment in Canadian communities and Canadian technology.

Yesterday the western premiers endorsed our made in Canada plan. Canadians are supporting it, the United Nations is supporting it, our international partners are supporting it, and I expect the hon. member to support it.

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, the Prime Minister discussed joining the Asia Pacific Partnership with his Australian counterpart. In Australia, the respected Climate Institute affirms that, with this plan, global emissions are going at least to double by 2050.

Does the Minister still think that Canada should join this partnership?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, what we do know clearly is that the Liberal Party of Canada turned its back on the Kyoto protocol without coming up with any plan. It did nothing to reduce greenhouse gases. Now it is criticizing another global movement to reduce greenhouse gases, which is the Asia-Pacific partnership.

I would like to ask the hon. member a question. Will he stand in his place and tell the House that he does not support another global effort to reduce greenhouse gases?

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday was another smog alert day in Toronto, just another lead-in to a difficult summer. While Torontonians are rushed to the hospital, the Minister of the Environment was busy promoting a program, the budget of which was slashed by 30% without her even knowing. By abandoning Kyoto, the Conservative government has clearly abandoned Canadians.

Meanwhile, the government has killed funding that would have allowed Ontario to close several coal plants in favour of cleaner energy. Why is the Prime Minister preventing Ontario from closing coal plants and why is the government promoting more smog days?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the only party that turned its back on the Kyoto protocol was the Liberal Party of Canada, which never put forward any sort of implementation plan to reach the targets that the Liberals even set for themselves.

When it comes to pollution, under the Liberal watch Canada has fallen behind on pollution control in every industry sector. Our government is acting. We are introducing legislation to bring us up to speed on pollution control across every industry sector and I expect that party to support it.

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, more talk. We will see how long it takes to see some action.

It is evident that the environment is not on the government's radar and not one of the government's five priorities. Instead of taking the lead on an issue that affects all Canadians, the Conservative government is marching to the beat of a different drum, like Hail to the Chief instead.

Why does the health of Canadians come second to that of Americans?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, why is it that under the Liberals' watch they allowed Canada's pollution control and Canadians' health to fall below the American standard? Americans now surpass us on greenhouse gas emission reductions and all pollution control across every industry sector.

Our government is acting. We will be cutting greenhouse gases immediately. We will be introducing our target for renewable fuels, biodiesel and ethanol. We are also introducing legislation for pollution control.

Bankruptcy

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last November, just before the election campaign began, this House pushed through Bill C-55, a bill to protect the wages of individuals whose employers go bankrupt.

Can the Minister of Labour tell us when he plans to bring this legislation into force and, specifically, when he plans to establish an assistance program for workers whose companies have gone bankrupt?

[Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Conservative, Minister of Labour and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, during the last session, this House adopted Bill C-55, which enables the government to establish a program to protect the wages of employees of a company that goes bankrupt. Despite unanimous support from parliamentarians, we are not in a position to bring this legislation into effect immediately without making some major housekeeping and technical changes.

That said, an interdepartmental committee is currently working on this issue and I would say we are making rapid progress.

Bicycle Industry

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Mr. Speaker, although the Canadian International Trade Tribunal recommended that the government apply safeguards to protect the bicycle industry, workers at the Raleigh bicycle company run the risk of losing their jobs.

Does the Minister of International Trade realize what he is doing? The possible closing of the Raleigh bicycle plant and the ensuing loss of jobs will be caused primarily by his refusal to intervene on behalf of this industry, as permitted by the WTO and as recommended in the ruling by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal.

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to answer this question. I am pleased to announce to the House that this new government decided today that it will not penalize Canadian consumers by applying a 30% tariff on bicycles. I believe that this is good news in Canada. We do not want Canadian buyers to pay an additional $67 for a bicycle.

The Environment

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

Mr. Speaker, Quebec had to establish its own plan to reach the Kyoto targets because the Conservatives rejected the made in Canada plan that was already in place. The Prime Minister confirmed that Quebec cannot count on financial support from the Conservative government. The Quebec Minister of the Environment was clear: if Quebec does not meet its Kyoto targets, the Conservatives will be to blame.

Why is this government abandoning the provinces instead of assuming those responsibilities that, clearly, should be taken care of by the federal government?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the only party in this House that failed Quebec's opportunity to reach its Kyoto targets is the Liberal Party of Canada. It never put in place any national plan with the provinces. In fact, it agreed to targets without even consulting with the provinces years ago on how to put that implementation plan in place.

Our government is working with the provinces, including Quebec. When I was in Quebec, Minister Béchard told me that the highest cause of greenhouse gases in Quebec was transportation, which is why this government has invested in public transportation.

Canada Post

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS]

Mr. Speaker, Canada Post's rural customers are facing the possibility of a further reduction in services. Canada Post says that the service is temporarily being limited due to safety concerns of their drivers. This will pose a significant hardship for many rural residents.

Could the Minister of Transport tell us what his plans are to help resolve this issue?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I want to inform the House that I, along with the Prime Minister, will be meeting with the head of Canada Post to discuss the issues and, obviously, the options that will be put forth for rural residents and drivers.

We are very sensitive to the problems raised by our colleagues, not only on this side of the House but our colleagues on the other side of the House.

The Environment

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Mr. Speaker, the government is doing nothing to tackle climate change in Canada and now we learn that the Minister of Finance has called for imports of one of the highest polluting forms of energy, liquefied natural gas, from Russia no less.

Could the minister explain how importing gas from Russia is part of the made in Canada solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I think the member is referring to discussions at the G-7 meeting in Moscow in February where there was some discussion of negotiations and potential agreements between Petro-Canada and one of the Russian gas companies. Those are private negotiations between those entities.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Mr. Speaker, the government is so confused. On the one hand it says that it is wrong to buy carbon credits overseas and, on the other hand, it says that it is okay to spend money overseas for one of the highest polluting forms of energies.

Could the minister tell us how importing liquefied natural gas from Russia will do anything to clean the air that Canadians are breathing or does the government just expect Canadians to buy the government's hot--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. Minister of the Environment.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, what will clean the air Canadians breathe is an investment in renewable fuels. Last week we had a historic meeting where all the territories and provinces came out in agreement that we need to move forward on a 5% target for biodiesel and ethanol. That is cleaning the air Canadians breathe.

[Lloyd St. Amand, Liberal, Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government has abandoned Canadians to fend for themselves on climate change. For months now, the government has been proposing that Canada join the Asia-Pacific partnership and that that organization be the focus of our climate change efforts.

On May 25 the United States Congress adopted a resolution terminating funding for AP6. In one stroke, fully 30% of the budget vanished. Why did our government abandon Kyoto and sign on to a partnership whose budget is slashed at a whim by the United States?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the only party that abandoned the Kyoto protocol is the Liberal Party of Canada. It never put a plan in place, it never took any measures to reduce greenhouse gases to reach the target and now it is criticizing a partnership that includes four of our Kyoto partners in that partnership.

The hon. member might like to know that the former environment minister for the Liberal Party actually looked for membership in Asia-Pacific but, guess what, the party was not welcome.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The Chair has notice of a question of privilege from the hon. Minister of Finance and we will now hear from the minister.

Member for Ajax--Pickering

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on a question of personal privilege.

On May 18, 2006, the member of Parliament for Ajax—Pickering stood in the House and accused me of using my position as Minister of Finance to benefit a family member. The member stated as fact that I had adopted a capital cost allowance for forest bioenergy in the 2006 budget in order to benefit Dorset, a small industrial chemical company that is owned by one of my brothers.

Referring to environment programs, the member for Ajax--Pickering said:

It is time for the government to listen to Canadians. Instead of slashing valuable programs like EnerGuide and keeping only the program that benefited the finance minister's brother, the government needs to focus on the priorities of Canadians, honour our Kyoto commitments--

I call upon the member to apologize. I would table the letter from the Ethics Commissioner declaring that there is no conflict of interest.

Canadian Forces Provost Marshal Report

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the pleasure to table, in both official languages, copies of the 2004-05 annual report of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal.