House of Commons Hansard #23 of the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was justice.
Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, I think we have been very clear in this country. We have made a decision within Canada with respect to the death penalty. We will continue to seek assurances in extradition cases. I think the law is clear. The law is working in Canada. We should continue to support it.
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, at a conference in Oshawa today, the Minister of Finance said that the government might consider helping struggling Canadian manufacturers. He said that he was open to new measures to help the manufacturing sector.
Is the minister's sudden about-face related to the fact that he just recently became aware that the crisis in the manufacturing industry is wreaking havoc on the automobile industry, whose nerve centre is in his own riding?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, once again, I must remind the member from Rivière-du-Nord that in our economic statement, this government clearly indicated its intention to support and assist not only the manufacturing sector, but also the forestry sector.
Need I remind my hon. colleagues that in our economic statement, we brought in some very specific tax measures to accomplish exactly that? And what is the Bloc Québécois doing? The Bloc Québécois continues to categorically oppose those measures.
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, when a manufacturer is not making any money, all the tax credits in the world will not do a bit of good. For a year now, everyone in Quebec has been telling the minister that something must be done, yet a single visit to Oshawa, the heart of the auto industry, was enough to change his mind. Unfortunately, the minister has asked us to wait until the budget, when he will no doubt make all kinds of wonderful announcements.
The minister understands the mess industry is in, so what is he waiting for? Three months from now, it will be too late.
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, if the Bloc Québécois could agree to work with us, we would be able to implement the measures we proposed in the economic statement immediately, particularly those measures that will reduce the tax burden for individual Quebeckers and for businesses in Quebec. The Bloc members have opted to leave $12 billion on the table.
Pauline Picard Bloc Drummond, QC
Mr. Speaker, the general consensus in Quebec is that tangible measures are needed to help the manufacturing sector. In addition to the Bloc Québécois, all the political parties in Quebec, as well as engineers and unions, not to mention manufacturers' associations and exporters, want real action now.
Given the extent of the crisis, how can the Minister of Finance ask manufacturers to wait another three months?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, once again, I invite hon. members to consider what has been done. If they looked at the plan introduced today by the Government of Quebec, through the premier and the economic development minister, they would see that it includes provisions to expedite the elimination of the tax on capital in Quebec. Which government first gave the provinces tax incentives in the 2007 budget, so that they could do this? We did. That is action.
Pauline Picard Bloc Drummond, QC
Mr. Speaker, thousands of jobs have been lost in the manufacturing sector, and the federal government is doing nothing. Since the Conservatives came to power, 65,000 jobs have been lost in Quebec alone.
With even the FTQ now decrying the lack of response from the federal government, when will the minister finally do more than just call for patience?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, first of all, last year in Canada, because of economic activity, business has created more jobs than ever. Clearly, instead of saying that Quebec is losing jobs, we should be saying that Quebec has created 69,000 jobs.
Let us look again at what the Quebec federation of chambers of commerce has said about the economic statement. The federation welcomes the economic update by Canada's Minister of Finance. The federation is satisfied with the measures to help Canadian companies.
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice has clearly put the interests of his political mentor, Brian Mulroney, ahead—
Manufacturing SectorOral Questions
The Speaker Peter Milliken
Excuse me, I forgot something. I am sorry, but I wrote things incorrectly on my list. The hon. member for Outremont has the floor.
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
Mr. Speaker, all police officers receive in-depth training and are subject to strict rules when it comes to the use of deadly force. Tasers are a grey area that can give a false sense of security to police officers. Another tragic death yesterday in Nova Scotia is of concern to all of us.
Is the Minister of Justice prepared to declare a moratorium on tasers, in the best interests of the public and police officers, until a clear protocol is developed for their use?
Dave MacKenzie ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, there are a number of ongoing investigations into the use of the taser. We do sympathize with those people who have been involved in the incidents of tasering.
Yesterday, the parliamentary committee decided to also look at it. I think the Minister of Public Safety has asked Mr. Paul Kennedy to look into this matter and to report back to the minister by December 12. I think it is incumbent on us to wait.
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
Mr. Speaker, the taser is an intermediate weapon. It turns off the person. It has an unfortunate side effect that is called death. How many more people will need to be killed by tasers before the government understands that it is time to decree a moratorium?
The minister just talked about sympathy with those people. Those people include not only the victims of the tasers but the police officers whose own professional and personal lives will be affected by years of investigations.
It is time to act now. Why are the Conservatives sitting on their hands?
Dave MacKenzie ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, as I have already indicated, the minister is not sitting on his hands. He has a report coming forward from Mr. Kennedy. It would be important to wait for that report. It only about three weeks away. The hon. member's comments may not be appropriate given that there are a number of investigations under way.
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice has clearly put the interests of his political mentor, Brian Mulroney, ahead of his departmental responsibilities. He refuses to be briefed on the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, but he signs the letters refusing requests to examine new information on the extradition of Mr. Schreiber.
Now that the parliamentary committee has invited Schreiber to testify, will the minister ensure that he appears before the committee? Will he ensure that Mr. Schreiber appears?
Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, inasmuch as this matter is before the court, it would be inappropriate to comment.
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
Mr. Speaker, the minister's own government finally yielded to public pressure and agreed to call a public inquiry and, if I may pre-empt the minister's usual non-answer, we all eagerly await the work of Dr. Johnston's review. However, the inquiry will be meaningless if it cannot question and examine evidence provided by the two key figures, Mulroney and Schreiber.
Why is the minister refusing to use his power to ensure that Schreiber will remain in Canada until the inquiry can question him? Is he still planning to whisk him out of the country on December 1?
Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, I do not think the hon. member should prejudge a public inquiry that has not been set up yet.
I would indicate to the member that the Prime Minister has put in place a process by which he will be advised on the terms of the public inquiry and I think everyone should let Dr. Johnston do his work.
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Mr. Speaker, for weeks the justice minister has squirmed uncomfortably between loyalties: his duty to remove his government's fingerprints from the Mulroney file and his real duty as Canada's justice minister.
Why will he not allow full disclosure when it comes to his own involvement on this file and tell us who shut down his department's review of the $2.1 million Mulroney settlement?
Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, I have been completely comfortable answering questions on this and I invite the members of the Liberal Party to ask all 20 questions during question period on this.
As I have indicated, the Prime Minister has set in place a reasonable process whereby an independent third party will make recommendations with respect to a public inquiry and I think the hon. member and her party should let that take its course.
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Mr. Speaker, the question is the responsibilities of Canada's justice minister.
Two days after the Conservative government took office, the media reported that Brian Mulroney had received three cash payments of $100,000 from Mr. Schreiber. Mr. Mulroney, of course, claims that he never disclosed these payments because he was never asked. However, in 1996 he testified that he knew very little about Mr. Schreiber's business dealings.
Did his Mulroney era friends tell the minister about this contradiction? Is that why he refused to be briefed by the justice department? Let us see if we can get a proper answer for that.
Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, the incident to which the member referred was four prime ministers ago. If we remember what members of the Liberal Party were saying about 10 days ago, they all wanted a public inquiry. They were determined to have a public inquiry but they seemed a little disappointed when they got a public inquiry. I think we should let Dr. Johnston do his work.
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are better at making cuts than they are at managing energy efficiency programs. Now 10 months later, we see that businesses have lost out because of the cancellation of the commercial building incentive program, that the 2008 criteria for cars eligible for the ecoAuto program have not yet been announced and that the ecoEnergy retrofit program does not have enough evaluators for residential housing in some regions, particularly in the Gaspé.
Can the minister tell us if this irresponsible management of energy efficiency programs is not in fact indicative of his total lack of interest in these kinds of programs?
David Anderson ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and for the Canadian Wheat Board
Mr. Speaker, the member knows that is not true. She knows that we are interested in energy efficiency and that we have focused on that through the last year and a half.
All our initiatives have been very practical and well-focused and they will achieve real results for Canadians, especially homeowners across this country.