Debates of June 1st, 2006

Softwood Lumber

[Blair Wilson, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, when the trade minister was a Liberal he used to brag about getting tough and taking numbers. Now that he is a Conservative all he does is take dictation for the American lumber industry.

The softwood lumber deal, negotiated by the head butler for the U.S. lumber lobbyists, permanently weakens Canada's right to free trade under NAFTA. It makes a sham of our legal victories and hands Canada's sovereignty over to the U.S. Even the U.S. trade lawyers think Canada was suckered.

Why is the Conservative government so focused on signing a deal that is only good for Americans?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member might just want to sit around his cappuccino bars in West Vancouver and not go out to the communities where people are trying to make a living in the softwood lumber business. Those people are being hurt by continued litigation and continued trade wars.

This government and this Prime Minister have brought certainty, stability and some sense of a future for the softwood lumber industry.

[Blair Wilson, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, at least I can leave Ottawa and go back to Vancouver.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. We are going to proceed with the question at once.

[Blair Wilson, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada needs someone with the strength of a redwood on this file, not a twig. This duck and hide minister is intent on leaving our industry in turmoil.

The market conditions for this deal have drastically changed in just one month. The very future of our industry is under economic jeopardy.

Will the minister allow our industry to be fleeced by the American lumber bullies or does he not have the backbone to stand up to the Americans?

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

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the hon. member will be prepared to stand and shoot off his mouth when this industry falls back into turmoil, which is what will happen if we are unable to finalize this agreement, The softwood lumber industry would be back in the tank, lumber markets would decline and we would have more duties and more tariffs. He does not know enough about the business to realize what he would be doing to British Columbia.

Employment Insurance

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, even though the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development and the minister responsible for regional development both confirmed yesterday that pilot project no. 6 would be replaced, this is still all very vague. There have been no details forthcoming.

Will the government tell this House how this new project will work, which regions will be involved and for how long, and which workers will benefit?

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, as the member remembers, I had such a loud applause yesterday that I had no time to finish what I was going to say. I would like to say that we are committed to exploring solutions to address the unique needs of the seasonal workers.

We will continue to provide up to five additional weeks of EI benefits in regions included in the original pilot where the unemployment rate continues to be relatively high. This is an interim measure.

The government's priority continues to be to help Canadians participate in the labour market.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

We are no further ahead, Mr. Speaker. It is all very vague.

It is difficult to understand why the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development did not take advantage of this announcement to put in place at the same time an income support program for older workers who fall victim to mass layoffs.

How can the minister justify not acting on this when there is a commitment to that effect in both the Speech from the Throne and the budget?

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, that is right, it was addressed in the throne speech, but more important, it was addressed in the budget as a feasibility study, which is the prudent thing to do.

Bankruptcies

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Labour stated that Bill C-55, which protects the salary of workers in the event of their employer's bankruptcy, could not be brought into force because it is running into technical problems. There are two parts to this legislation: the overhaul of the Bankruptcy Act and the creation of a program to help workers.

Could the Minister of Labour confirm for us that the technical problems are found essentially in the part on the Bankruptcy Act and tell us whether the part on assistance for workers can be brought into force now?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

I want to again remind this House that the vote to pass the bill protecting the salary of employees when a company goes bankrupt was unanimous. However, to adopt the legislation and to bring it into force, we must make technical changes to two acts: the Companies' Creditors Arrangements Act and the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. Major technical changes are required to these two acts in parallel. This is the cause of the delay. It is not due to any lack of desire on our part.

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the program of help for workers is needed urgently. In Granby, in my riding, the company C-Plast has gone bankrupt, thus depriving its employees of their holiday pay.

Would the minister consider implementing this program as of the date of Royal Assent, which was November 25, so that workers in the riding of Shefford could recover their money?

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

Mr. Speaker, after MPs adopted this bill, it was sent to the Senate. At the time of Royal Assent, the members of the Senate asked to see, before the act came into force, the technical changes that would be made to it. This is the reason for the work we are doing now and have been doing since we arrived, which involves making technical changes to the two acts I mentioned earlier.

Softwood Lumber

[Ken Boshcoff, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, at recent standing committee hearings, witnesses condemned the softwood lumber deal as a sellout. Committee members heard how 20% of Canada's sawmills would close, how the deal would impede free trade and that NAFTA, along with our industry's right to control its own practices, would be undermined.

The president of the Ontario Forest Industry Association was quoted as saying, “We expect to suffer—and suffer a lot—under the terms as now written”.

Will the Prime Minister please stand up for Ontario's forest companies and negotiate a commercial agreement and not a complete surrender?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am a little surprised at the hon. member. He comes from northern Ontario and he knows that the softwood lumber industry and the forest industry generally in his part of the world have shed thousands of jobs in the last few years, much of it because of the very softwood lumber dispute to which this government has a solution. He ought to get behind it, support it, support the workers in the softwood lumber industry, support the rejuvenation of the forest industry and get back to work instead of playing political games.

[Ken Boshcoff, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would lay off the cappuccino instead of the lumber workers.

If this is a good deal, why are the best legal and business minds in Canadian forestry condemning the agreement as a sellout? Why are they saying the agreement puts the survival of our industry at risk? It is not too late to salvage at least something of value for Canadian lumber exporters.

Will the Prime Minister gather some Canadian pride and fortitude instead of waving the white flag for his July photo op with his Republican mentor? Will he listen to the legitimate concerns put forth by our lumber industry and negotiate a deal that serves the interests of our industry? Will he finally stand up for Canada?

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

Mr. Speaker, the major producing provinces are supportive of this agreement. The vast majority of the lumber producers in our country are supportive, albeit there are some lawyers who have made a darned good living off this trade dispute who do not support it. There are a few association heads who are in the same boat.

However, the people who have to meet a payroll in the softwood lumber business want the stability. They want the predictability. They want the recovery, the transformation and the strength of the softwood lumber industry.

Foreign Affairs

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, during a March 1 visit to Canada by his Mexican counterpart, our Minister of Foreign Affairs was told that the Mexican government wanted to assure Canadians that there would be a complete, transparent, open and very professional investigation into the murders of Nancy and Dominic Ianiero.

The murders occurred over three months ago. We still have no knowledge of who was responsible or if anyone has ever been brought or has been suggested to be brought to justice for this horrific crime.

Would the Minister of Foreign Affairs inform the House if he has raised any concerns with foreign minister Derbez about the lack of results in finding and prosecuting the killer or killers who were responsible for this horrific crime?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, I have in fact had an opportunity to speak with my counterpart in Mexico on this issue on a number of occasions.

As the member opposite should know and would know, these criminal investigations take a long time. They often involve extensive investigations both inside and outside the country. There are police matters which another country cannot impose its will upon.

I would ask the hon. member to be helpful in this case rather than trying to draw publicity to himself, as is his wont.

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member may impugn any type of motive he wants, but the reality is the minister has failed to put pressure on and to ask consistently of the minister of foreign affairs of that country the standing of that investigation. What the minister has done amounts to an abject failure.

The question has to be put to the minister. Dominic and Nancy Ianiero and their family deserve answers. Could the minister, at this time, take this matter more seriously and put pressure on the Mexican government to devote more energy in locating the person or persons responsible for these brutal murders and stop playing politics with this very important and serious issue?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, the old phrase of the pot calling the kettle black certainly comes to mind when I hear that member suggesting that somehow somebody is playing politics with this matter. This is a serious matter. There are two individuals whose lives have been snuffed out senselessly in an extreme act of violence while they were in Cancun.

Standing up in the House of Commons and trying to draw attention to himself is not going to help catch the killers of the Ianiero family.

Correctional Service of Canada

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

Mr. Speaker, under the past Liberal government, Canada's corrections officers were doing their own hard time for four long years without a labour contract. The former government dithered and failed to act in good faith in the negotiations.

Former Treasury Board President Reg Alcock seemed more intent on bullying and intimidating the union members than on getting a deal done. Our corrections officers deserve better.

What has the new Treasury Board President done for our corrections officers during the four short months this Conservative government has been in power?

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

Mr. Speaker, while some frontbench members of the Liberal Party were canvassing kindergarten classes, shaking down young children for campaign donations, this team was hard at work providing good government to the country.

I am pleased to announce that this team has come to an agreement with our correctional service officers to recognize the hard work that they do and reward them with a contract to ensure they continue to do the important job that they do.