Debates of Nov. 29th, 2007

Airports

[Dean Allison, Conservative, Niagara West—Glanbrook, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this past Wednesday, Canada's blue sky policy celebrated its first birthday.

In my riding of Niagara West--Glanbrook, the Hamilton International Airport is one of the beneficiaries of this policy. Last summer, Canadians were able to fly non-stop from Hamilton to Ireland with round trip fares of under $400. Air travellers are delighted with such low prices.

I know that the blue sky policy is also benefiting airports in other regions of Canada. Could the Minister of Transport tell us about future agreements under this initiative?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Indeed, Mr. Speaker, that low-cost Hamilton to Ireland flight is a result of our new blue sky agreement.

The objective is to offer new international air service to people in every region in the country. As a result, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver have new non-stop flights to places such as Algiers, Amman, Auckland, Belgrade, Cancun and Dublin. They are all over the place.

As well, we have started to negotiate another agreement, with the EU, and hopefully that will give us more advantages.

HIV-AIDS

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, despite what the parliamentary secretary said earlier, AIDS groups across the country are struggling to deal with the prevention of HIV-AIDS. Today, Ontario groups learned they are facing a 30% cut in funding to let the government off the hook for the commitments it made to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Why is it that the government has enough for corporate tax cuts, with billions in a surplus, but it breaks its commitment for a new vaccine and diverts money from local groups that are struggling to survive? There is more than enough money to go around.

Why has the government broken its commitment to those local organizations that are doing this important work?

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary for Health]

Mr. Speaker, the government takes the issues of HIV-AIDS very seriously. That is why we are committing $84.4 million in the upcoming year to HIV-AIDS. That is in fact the largest commitment in Canadian history.

I think the member should be concerned about the Liberal cuts of 2004-05, but we are doing our best to fix the Liberal mistakes.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I will tell members what we are concerned about: the government continues to ignore evidence based results.

Harm reduction is gone from the government's drug strategy. It has put millions into enforcement, abandoning treatment and prevention, and now it is recklessly diverting money from critical AIDS prevention programs.

Surely the minister must know that this decision will result in lost lives, so I will ask him the question again. Will the minister stand today to honour his commitment for major new funding for a vaccine and commit that there will be no cuts to existing AIDS programs? Will the government make that commitment?

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary for Health]

Mr. Speaker, again I would like to emphasize that the government is making investments in HIV-AIDS that are historic in Canadian history and are the largest investments, at $84.4 million, and we are partnering with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

I think that is a testament to the government's commitment to HIV-AIDS.

We are going to find a cure and a vaccine for this terrible disease.

Darfur

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has just said that her government wants to stand up for human rights. That is hot air, because what the government has said, right up to this week, is no. It has said no to any contribution to the African Union hybrid force, and CIDA officials have said that if any resources are available, they are not going to Darfur, they are going to Afghanistan.

What is the government going to do to stop the genocide in Darfur? Will it contribute money to the African Union force, yes or no?

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Secretary of State (Foreign Affairs and International Trade) (Sport)]

Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member failed to listen to the response that I had previously given. Let me remind him that Canada is the fourth largest donor to the mission. That is significant.

I also think the hon. member would recognize the importance of ensuring individual accountability that does not vary according to the category of crime. Impunity is no more tolerable for crimes against humanity or war crimes than it is for genocide. We have been and will continue to be on the forefront of efforts, both diplomatically and financially.

Hog Industry

[Luc Harvey, Conservative, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's hog industry has been in difficulty for several years now. The rise in the value of the dollar, international competition and porcine circovirus are causing huge headaches for producers.

All this time, the Bloc Québécois has never been able to do anything to help hog producers, except yell, of course.

Can the Secretary of State (Agriculture) tell us what the Conservative government is doing to help producers?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Secretary of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for that excellent question.

In addition to all the actions that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food mentioned yesterday, I was in St-Hyacinthe on November 15 to announce $25 million in financial assistance for producers, to cover diagnostic testing and vaccination for circovirus. This retroactive assistance will cover 50% of costs incurred since March 1, 2006.

That is action. While the Bloc keeps on yelling, we keep on taking action. And we are going to help our producers weather this storm.

Equalization Payments

[Bill Casey, Independent, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Mr. Speaker, in the two briefings regarding the October 10 agreement to replace the Atlantic accord, Department of Finance officials told MPs and senators present that they had prepared best case and worst case scenarios for revenue projections.

Will the government now make those projections public?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, certainly the goal has been to make the briefings as fulsome as possible. If the member opposite feels that the briefings have not been adequately fulsome, then we can arrange for more briefings.

Cinematic Industry

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on November 24, 2005, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage denied, in a report, the existence of a Quebec film industry. At the time, no federal political party had supported the Bloc's motion calling for recognition of the Quebec film industry. Moreover, the budget for the Canada Feature Film Fund has not increased over the past seven years, and this has a direct impact on the production and distribution of Quebec films.

Does the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages recognize the existence of a Quebec film industry, and what is she waiting for to invest $50 million annually, of which $20 million will go to the Quebec film industry, to make up for the increase in production and marketing costs?

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure of meeting committee members during the lunch hour and, as I indicated, the government is committed to the film industry in Canada, including its French-language component.

Violence Against Women

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, earlier today Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams reminded parliamentarians that brutal crimes against women have become the norm as weapons of war in Darfur, Congo and elsewhere.

In 2000, when Canada supported Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, the government pledged to develop a plan of action for protecting women in warfare and involving women in peace processes. Seven years later, Canada has no plan.

With millions of women victimized by unspeakable sexual atrocities, where is the promised plan? What is it going to take for the government to act?

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Secretary of State (Foreign Affairs and International Trade) (Sport)]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the hon. member that Canada of course is taking a lead role in Afghanistan, where we see many women who have been living through 30 years of tyranny and violence, and often we hear the NDP calling for us to abandon those women in Afghanistan. I think the hon. member might want to reconsider her question.

Manufacturing Industry

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

Mr. Speaker, the owners of local manufacturing firms in my riding of Brant are in Ottawa today, desperately concerned about their chances of survival in light of the high dollar and lower priced import competition. All they get from the government is condescension and indifference.

Manufacturing job losses are real. The federal surplus is huge. The provinces are trying to help. Why will the government not give manufacturing workers and their employers a glimmer of hope before Christmas? EDC and BDC are there, use them.

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we do not have to wait until Christmas. We did it in on March 19, with an accelerated capital cost allowance, which was recommended unanimously by the industry committee of the House.

The member opposite should know that. He should read the budget. It is $1.3 billion of assistance for manufacturers across Canada.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of the Hon. Richard Brown, Minister of Development and Technology for Prince Edward Island.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I would also like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of Ms. Jody Williams, winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

Business of the House

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, since the government has not given any indication of its agenda for Parliament beyond next Tuesday, could the government House leader provide us with a more complete agenda for the next full eight days and in doing so, since that takes us essentially to December 10, could he indicate which day next week will be designated as the last opposition day in this semester?

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, this week's theme is getting the job done on justice and tax cuts. I am proud to say that our government got the job done on justice yesterday. The tackling violent crime act passed the House at third reading and the bill is now over at the Senate.

The government expects the Liberal dominated Senate to respect the will of this democratically elected House of Commons and quickly pass the bill, certainly before Christmas so Canadians can enter the new year safer and more secure in their neighbourhoods.

Today we will continue to get the job done on tax cuts by debating the budget implementation bill, which grants tax relief to all Canadians, especially by reducing the GST to 5%.

Next week will be economic certainty and prosperity week. Hopefully the budget bill will pass second reading this week so next week will begin with the Standing Committee on Finance considering it. The budget bill is an important part of our plan to provide economic certainty and prosperity for all Canadians.

The government hopes that the committee, once it receives the bill, will quickly review it and report it back to this House so it may proceed through the legislative process and receive royal assent before January 1, 2008. Canadians do not want to lose the reduction in the GST if parliamentarians fail to pass it into law before Christmas.

In this chamber next week we will continue to provide economic certainty and prosperity.

We will debate Bill C-23, to amend the Canada Marine Act, and Bill C-14, An Act to amend the Canada Post Corporation Act.

Both bills will help create jobs and a dynamic Canadian economy.

We will also debate Bill C-30, establishing an independent tribunal to which superior court judges will be appointed, to help resolve specific first nations claims.

This will deliver greater economic certainty for first nations and all Canadians.

We will also debate Bill C-29, which modernizes how loans are made to political parties, candidates and associations and how those loans are treated under the Canada Elections Act. This will create greater certainty by closing a loophole in our current campaign financing rules.

If time permits, we will debate our bill to strengthen the Youth Criminal Justice Act, Bill C-25.

Finally, in response to the question from the opposition House leader, Thursday, December 6 will be an allotted day provided that we have achieved early passage of the budget implementation bill and associated tax reductions.

Oral Questions

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, during one of my responses to the Leader of the Opposition, I referenced my inability to understand his question in one of our official languages. I did not mean my response to sound like I was commenting on his ability in either official language. Therefore, if I caused any offence, I want to apologize at this time.