House of Commons Hansard #56 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was children.
Marcel Lussier Bloc Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Mr. Speaker, while the environment commissioner was presenting her report, what were the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Natural Resources doing? Well, both ministers were visiting their friends, the oil companies.
Does this not show a blatant lack of interest in dealing with greenhouse gases and confirm the government's complacency toward the oil companies?
Mark Warawa ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, we agree with the commissioner's recommendations. For 13 years the Liberals did absolutely nothing.
The commissioner said that she wanted a plan with action, which is exactly what our minister is doing. Imagine if Canada had had this environment minister for the last 13 years, the emission rates would have gone down. Instead, the Liberals caused the emission rates to go up. Shame.
André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Mr. Speaker, thousands of Quebec producers are mass mailing postcards to convince the government to listen to the concrete proposals they have developed to end the ongoing agricultural income crisis.
Producers are demanding concrete measures adapted to the realities of their different products.
Will the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food finally implement temporary measures until the 2008 review of the Agricultural Policy Framework by introducing a new agricultural income stabilization program to mitigate the damage caused primarily by foreign subsidies?
Agriculture and Agri-FoodOral Questions
Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière Québec
Conservative
Jacques Gourde ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board
Mr. Speaker, there will be money.
The difference between the Bloc Québécois and us is that we mean what we say. We will come through for producers.
The first thing our cabinet did was give them $750 million. That is money in the pockets of producers in Canada and Quebec.
As part of the budget, the Conservative party tripled its $500 million commitment to $1.5 billion. That is money in producers' pockets.
The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie
I would remind members that there is no need to clap and yell after every answer. The answers are good enough.
André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Mr. Speaker, I would like someone serious to answer me.
“There will be money”. What does that mean? This government has been in power for eight months and the agricultural income crisis still has not been resolved.
I want someone serious to answer me.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food wants to talk about money. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food promised that Quebec would get its fair share of the $950 million budget for agriculture. However, Quebec's producers got only $50 million because of the method for calculating inventories, which the minister has described as “the best system around”. What a nice way to compensate Quebec's producers.
How did the minister come to the conclusion that Quebec should receive only 5% of the money, when Quebec represents 18% of Canada's agricultural activity?
Agriculture and Agri-FoodOral Questions
Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière Québec
Conservative
Jacques Gourde ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board
Mr. Speaker, my dear colleague asked an excellent question, which I will answer.
We have invested in changing the CAIS program in order to put more money in the pockets of the producers. We promised and we have developed a new, innovative program: the Canadian Farm Families Options Program. This program will go a long way to helping the 4,000 families in Quebec who urgently need money.
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Treasury Board president denied in the House that he ever said that helping adults learn to read was a waste of money.
Let me quote yesterday's Canadian Press article:
--[the] Treasury Board President...suggested that his government would rather spend more money teaching children how to read and write than try to help illiterate adults
On tape he said that we should “not be trying to do repair work after the fact”.
Did the Treasury Board president mislead the House or was someone impersonating him and doing media interviews yesterday?
John Baird ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, we believe that when we spend upwards of $40 billion to $45 billion a year providing education and training to young Canadians and adults through school boards across the country, that it is not too much to ask that when people graduate from high school that they be literate.
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Treasury Board president was on the streets of Ottawa helping to raise $12,000 for the literacy program. Now he only has to raise another $17.7 million to make up for the money he slashed from literacy groups this week.
Adults who need help with literacy are worth the government's time and respect. Why is the government giving up on them? How does the government expect to improve Canada's productivity when it abandons people who are learning to read and write?
Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Social Development
Mr. Speaker, that is one more example of Liberal hypocrisy. This Canadian government is taking action to help with literacy, which is why we are investing over $80 billion and why we have put forward 307 million new dollars to help with immigrant settling, something the Liberal members voted against.
I must point out that in the last session of Parliament the previous minister for literacy did not mention the subject in the House, not even once. It was all talk and no action.
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
Mr. Speaker, in reference to the budget cuts he has made, the President of the Treasury Board described adult literacy as a waste of money.
Studies clearly demonstrate that minority communities are more disadvantaged in terms of literacy.
Plurielle, a group that provides literacy services for these communities, announced today that it was closing nine literacy centres in French-speaking Manitoba.
Will this Conservative government reverse these unacceptable budget cuts?
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
Mr. Speaker, it is ironic that the same week the government cut literacy programs, the Prime Minister's wife was out contradicting her husband. It turns out that she was right.
Literacy leaders tell us that the whole coalition is now on life support. Saskatchewan is closing within two months. Yukon is closing within two weeks to a month. Alberta is hanging on by a thread. Newfoundland is in the worst shape of all. In my riding, Literacy Partners of Manitoba will close its doors in March.
When will the government reverse this unconscionable decision?
Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Social Development
Mr. Speaker, we are refocusing the dollars spent on literacy on programs that will help Canadians right across the country, those within federal jurisdiction. We believe that provincial and regional issues can best be addressed at the provincial and regional levels, which is why we will not step on their toes. We will be focusing on Canada's vulnerable right across the country.
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Mr. Speaker, after so many years of inaction on the part of the former Liberal government, could the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development tell us what he will do to address the on reserve matrimonial real property issue?
Rod Bruinooge ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Mr. Speaker, matrimonial real property has been a long-standing human rights issue that our Conservative government is committed to solving.
This morning, the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development has joined with the Assembly of First Nations and the Native Women's Association of Canada to launch a series of consultations with the aim of resolving this important issue. These consultations will be completed by January and the minister is confident that he will introduce legislation regarding this issue in the spring of 2007.
We are contributing $9 million toward achieving a solution to this problem. Our party is getting things done for women, children and families.
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
Mr. Speaker, Canada is not ready for climate change and, after five plans and $6 billion, the Liberals did nothing that matters.
Just like the Liberals, the Conservative government gives $1.5 billion to big oil and gas companies when they are reaping huge profits. To many of the people in my riding across the north, the caribou are their grocery store and climate change is killing a way of life.
When will the government stop the subsidies and get on with fighting climate change? Our northern children need a future too.
Mark Warawa ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, the member is asking for specifics on our plan. The plan will be tabled next month. It is a good plan. It deals with greenhouse gas emissions. It is achievable, it is realistic and it is what the commissioner is recommending. It is good for Canada.
Catherine Bell NDP Vancouver Island North, BC
Mr. Speaker, the mountain pine beetle is now creeping into Saskatchewan's Jack pine, spreading the red tide of dead trees into the boreal forest. At the same time, the government is cutting almost $12 million from fighting the scourge of the pine beetle.
The Minister of Natural Resources said that he has B.C. buy in, but I guess he forgot about Prince George that requested funds from the program and were denied.
Does the Prime Minister believe that forestry workers in western Canada, who will lose their jobs because of these cuts, are merely fat to be trimmed?
Christian Paradis ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question.
First, this statement has to be set straight, because the commitments made by the Department of Natural Resources will be honoured, and this, on top of the $200 million announced in Budget 2006.
Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON
Mr. Speaker, diplomatic relations with China are in shambles and disarray. The foreign affairs minister even accused China of espionage in Canada.
Strong relations with China are vital to bilateral trade, to human rights and to terrorism, and is essential to the resolution of issues such as the imprisonment of Canadian citizen, Huseyin Celil. Relations with China must be returned to strengthened mutual respect.
What is the government doing to repair the enormous damage it has caused?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Mr. Speaker, I was saddened to see the member across absent from the reception that was held yesterday at the residence of the ambassador of China.
When I met last week with the foreign minister from China, we had a very open and fulsome discussion on a number of issues, including some consular cases of which the hon. member is familiar.
Our relations with China are strong and are on a very good foundation. We are continuing to work on a number of economic issues. I know that the Minister of Agriculture, as well as the Minister of Natural Resources, have trips planned there in the future, as do I. We will continue to elevate and work very hard on this important relationship with China.
Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have provided the government with an email concerning the cancellation of a meeting with China to discuss the Celil case. In it the Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary writes:
I am going to be more discreet about what I say on this in the future as I am seriously concerned that this [cancellation] may have been the result of PRC [Chinese] eavesdropping.
The loose lips of that member have put a Canadian citizen in jeopardy and further damaged relations with China.
Will the Prime Minister finally take charge of the situation and start by firing his chronically indiscreet parliamentary secretary?