Debates of May 4th, 2006

Industry

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

Mr. Speaker, the minister should have the pages in his briefing book numbered; he is on the wrong page.

The rise in value of the Canadian dollar, energy costs and competition from emerging countries are major factors affecting industries such as textiles, furniture, clothing and bicycles, all industries in the minister's riding.

How can the Minister of Industry abandon these sectors, do nothing, miss the boat, when it is his duty to take action and he has the means to do so? I want an answer to my question.

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, in the budget it tabled this week, this new government finally gave tax breaks to all Canadians and Quebeckers, to small businesses in Beauce and throughout Quebec and Canada, and to big business.

Our new budget will benefit 90% of Canadians. We are improving Canada's competitiveness, which will be good for business and for the country.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government says that it wants to review the Kelowna agreement, and it maintains that it is respecting its objectives because its budget provides for financial resources for the first nations.

However that budget contains only part of the funds provided for in the Kelowna accord.

How can the government claim to be respecting the objectives of the Kelowna accord when, for the next two years, it is cutting more than $640 million from the original agreement?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians]

Mr. Speaker, our government has demonstrated a significant commitment to aboriginal Canadians.

The budget provides $300 million for northern housing, as much for housing on the reserves, $150 million for the additional fund and a $300-million increase for departmental spending. The total envelope is $1.050 billion. That is a lot of money. We are making progress.

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at the time of the health accord concluded in September 2004, the government was supposed to pay the first nations the sum of $700 million over five years. This amount was not confirmed in the budget.

Where did the first nations’ health money go?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians]

Mr. Speaker, it is a fair and reasonable budget with respect to aboriginal Canadians. It contains extensive funding. In terms of the total budgetary situation, there was additional money allocated to the Department of Health relating to aboriginal health for the coming year. It is a fair and reasonable budget and I invite the hon. member to read the specifics of it.

The Environment

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance has cut $5 billion earmarked for the environment. He has compensated with a vague promise to reduce that amount by 60%. In his budget, he did not even offer one dollar.

How can the minister let the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister sacrifice Canada's environment and the future of Canadians?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, our government and our Prime Minister are very concerned about the health risks associated with pollution. Last year, the member across the way might like to know, there were 53 smog advisory days in Ontario, 35 in Quebec and, for the first time ever, we had 10 winter smog advisory days in Canada. That is the Liberal record.

On those days, children with asthma and elderly people with respiratory diseases cannot leave their homes. We took positive steps forward in the budget to clean up the air that Canadians breathe by investing in cleaner types of transportation and encouraging Canadians to use that transportation.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if the minister were an honest woman, she would admit that she has been totally ousted from the budget, and has no weight in Cabinet and no plan for protecting our environment.

Canadians want a real plan, made by Canada and for Canada.

When will the minister stop bending over backward to please President Bush instead of doing some good for Canadians and our environment?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, today unfortunately, after years of Liberal rule, we have fallen behind in every single industry sector compared to the U.S. on pollution control. The Liberals did not make the necessary investment in clean transportation.

We have taken significant steps to invest in cleaner transportation and invest in environmentally friendly choices for Canadians to use that transportation. I hope that the hon. member will work with us and every one in the House to develop our clean air act to deal with industrial pollution.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Gary Merasty, Liberal, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the finance minister and the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development defended a budget that scrapped the Kelowna Accord.

There is no new funding to address serious health issues like TB, diabetes or HIV in aboriginal communities, no new funding for education or water, and no funding increases for economic opportunities. The government will never understand the pain our people feel. The government promised funding contingent on a budget surplus.

Will the minister admit there are no real dollars for aboriginal peoples in the budget?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians]

Mr. Speaker, let us compare this Conservative budget, not with Liberal promises but with previous Liberal budgets.

The 2004 Liberal budget had no new money for aboriginal housing, zero, nothing. This Conservative government has invested $300 million in northern aboriginal housing, $300 million in off-reserve housing. The Liberal budgets were about multi-year procrastination, fuzzy language and empty promises. This budget is about action. It is about a two year action plan. It is about real money.

[Todd Russell, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the government is trying to sell aboriginal people a case of diet Kelowna: little flavour, none of the punch and truly tasteless.

It talks about meeting the Kelowna targets. Talk is cheap but the government is cheaper.

With less money than was agreed to in 2005, nothing for the Métis, nothing for health and nothing for education, will the minister admit that he has broken his promise to aboriginal people and denied progress for us, the aboriginal people of Canada, for generations?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians]

Mr. Speaker, I have no intention of apologizing to that hon. member or anyone on that side of the House about promises to aboriginal Canadians.

This government has provided $300 million in northern housing, $300 million in off-reserve housing, an additional $475 million, $500 million for the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, $2.2 billion in relation to residential schools. We have nothing to apologize for. It is a good budget for aboriginal Canadians.

Fisheries and Oceans

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

Mr. Speaker, it has become apparent that the member for Halifax West is suffering from amnesia. He now thinks that he actually did something about the capital gains exemption for fishers.

My question is for the real Minister of Fisheries. Did any of the former Liberal ministers, besides crowing like roosters on a dung pile, have anything in place to help the fishery with this important capital gains exemption?

[Loyola Hearn, Conservative, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, the credit for this great initiative should really go to the member for South Shore--St. Margaret's. He was the first to introduce two private member's bills on this issue. He was with the Prime Minister and myself in Indian Harbour in Nova Scotia when we made the commitment before the election.

It is interesting to hear the member for Cardigan and the member for Halifax West trying to take credit. It must be a great program. They are not criticizing it. They are trying to take ownership.

The Environment

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

Mr. Speaker, for over 10 years, the Liberals first dithered and then failed when it came to climate change. Now their own environment commissioner, and this is true, said that they were all talk and no action.

The Conservative Party must have been studying hard all those long years for after all this time. when dealing with climate change, Canadians are now presented with the option of one more study and more consultation from the government when what they need is action.

Is the government prepared to live up to its throne speech commitments and table a bill in the House today and a plan to address the serious challenges we face on climate change?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with the hon. member as we develop our plan.

Our government has made a clear commitment to invest in the Canadian environment right here at home. Our Prime Minister has shown the courage and the leadership to address this pressing issue with a strong commitment to a made in Canada plan to clean up our environment. We will continue to work with industry, our colleagues in the House, the provinces and Canadians in the development of our plan to ensure that we can show real results on the environment.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to see the record and play button is working well.

The problem with this is that Conservative MPs stood in this House more than a year ago and claimed that they already had a plan for the environment. On April 13 of last year, their then environment critic said, “On the Kyoto plan, yes, my party has a one”. However, just three days ago we learned that the Conservatives do not have a plan at all. Did they lose their plan on the way to becoming government or are they just like the Liberals, a lot of hot air and all of it bad?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. How is anyone going to hear the minister's answer? The minister was asked a question. The Minister of the Environment now has the floor. We will have a little order so all hon. members, including the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley, can hear the answer.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with most of what the hon. member said. I would like to make sure he understands that under the Liberal Kyoto plan we could have seen up to $600 per Canadian family shipped overseas on international credits.

I can assure the member that under our made in Canada plan our Canadian transfer values will be spent right here at home on our own environment.

[Paul Zed, Liberal, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, there needs to be some accountability for the billions of dollars that went missing in Atlantic Canada in this budget. There is no new money in this budget for strategic infrastructure or for housing.

The Prime Minister and Premier Lord dine at $5,000 corporate tables while six Olympic size swimming pools full of sewage is dumped into the Saint John Harbour every day.

Will the Prime Minister give Saint John some crumbs off his table and clean up the harbour this summer? Will the Prime Minister allow it to start?

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, that member is the guy that fell asleep on this file in his first term here in the House. That problem has been around for years. We addressed it. The Prime Minister was in Saint John, New Brunswick, along with the Minister of ACOA. We put real money into that project. The member put zero dollars in it. He put zero dollars into Point Lepreau. Bogus promises to New Brunswickers is the member's record.

[Paul Zed, Liberal, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, this is a non-partisan issue--