Debates of Dec. 3rd, 2007

Official Languages

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

Mr. Speaker, our government listens to Canadians.

That is why the Prime Minister and the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages have launched consultations today in order to get Canadians' points of view on the challenges of linguistic duality and support for English language and French language minority communities.

Could the Parliamentary Secretary for Official Languages provide more details to the House regarding these consultations?

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary for Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his question and for his hard work on official languages.

In our last excellent Speech from the Throne, we announced that we were committed to implementing the next phase of the action plan on official languages. These consultations are an excellent step forward. Mr. Lord is eminently qualified to lead these consultations.

Our government made a promise and we are keeping it.

Canadian Heritage

[Louise Thibault, Independent, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Exhibit Transportation Services will be discontinued as of April 1, 2008. They allowed museums to share works of art affordably and in accordance with high standards. Heritage Canada has decided to hand this service over to the private sector, which will be free to offer the service as it likes. Those who will be disadvantaged the most will be museums that are far from the major centres, such as the Musée régional de Rimouski.

Art has to be protected and transported safely. Museum art collections have to be accessible to us because they are part of our heritage.

[Jim Abbott, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary for Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, our government has a strong commitment to ensuring transparency and accountability within federal institutions. There was a difficulty in that the use of contractors at the exhibit, transportation services, contravened Revenue Canada rules regarding employer-employee relationships. We have put in place a relationship with private corporations that can do exactly the same thing and perform exactly the same service.

Veterans Affairs

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, last Friday, the Minister of Veterans Affairs said that we did not support the veterans' ombudsman or the bill of rights. That is simply not true.

He also said that we should call Joyce Carter and ask her what she thought about the VIP. There is no need to. She wrote a letter today in The Hill Times that condemns the minister and the Prime Minister for their failure to honour the VIP.

My question is quite simple. We know the Conservatives like practising the politics of perjury, so let us ask them one more time. When will they honour the VIP and when will they honour the agent orange compensations that they promised?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I think the hon. member for Sackville—Eastern Shore may have stepped over the bounds in referring to people speaking that way. We will move on to the next question.

Does the hon. Minister of Veterans Affairs wish to respond?

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that was a correct ruling.

The NDP member who just asked the question has a terrible habit of piggybacking and tailgating on the backs of other members of Parliament. On this particular issue of Mrs. Carter, it was the member for Cape Breton—Canso who brought this issue to the floor of the House of Commons. It was that member who arranged a meeting between myself, the Prime Minister and Mrs. Carter and we stepped through how we would fix that program. I congratulate the member for doing it.

I say shame on the member for piggybacking and tailgating.

Airbus

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, earlier today in question period, the Minister of National Defence made a general reference to cabinet discussions pertaining to the Mulroney-Schreiber matter. I wonder, for the sake of clarity, if he would elaborate.

In the last two years, what cabinet discussions have there been pertaining to Mr. Mulroney and/or Mr. Schreiber and will the records for those meetings be made available to the pending public inquiry?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am unaware of any.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. I wish to draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of the Hon. Charlene Johnson, Minister of Environment and Conservation for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to table in the House of Commons the letter that Joyce Carter wrote in today's Hill Times so all members of Parliament and the public will have access to this very important letter.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Does the hon. member for Sackville—Eastern Shore have the unanimous consent of the House to table this document?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I thought perhaps the hon. member was going to say something else.

Government Response to Petitions

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to one petition.

Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-33, An Act to amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development

[Barry Devolin, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have two reports to present today.

I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development regarding adoption of the recommendations from the committee's sixth report in the first session of the 39th Parliament, entitled “No Higher Priority: Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education in Canada”.

Additionally, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the second report of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development regarding the supplementary estimates (A) for the fiscal year 2007-08. The committee has considered all votes under Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and reports the same.

National Defence

[Rick Casson, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on National Defence in relation to supplementary estimates (A) for the year 2007-08.

Justice and Human Rights

[Art Hanger, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. I am pleased to report that the committee has considered the supplementary estimates (A) under justice for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008, and reports the same.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Norman Doyle, Conservative, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, which has considered supplementary estimates (A) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008, and reports the same.

Government Operations and Estimates

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates in relation to supplementary estimates (A) for 2007-08.

Criminal Code

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North, MB]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-489, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (mass transit operators).

Mr. Speaker, the bill aims to amend the Criminal Code so those convicted of assaulting the operators of buses, street cars, rail and light rail vehicles and ferries would receive the same penalties as currently applied for the assaults of pilots and peace officers.

Millions of Canadians depend on the skill and protection of transit drivers each day, yet as the law stands, these workers regularly endure threats and attack. Since 9/11, we have become especially aware of the targeting of mass transit vehicles and the vulnerability of their operators.

I trust that all parliamentarians will want to support this measure of deterrence.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions today. The first has to do with the CRTC decision to allow Chinese hate channels to be on the Canadian airwaves.

On Friday, December 22, 2006, the CRTC chose to accept nine Chinese state run television services to be eligible for lists of distribution on digital broadcasting. I understand that the CRTC found that one of the channels had aired seriously abusive and hate inciting programming on multiple occasions, which would expose the targeted group or individuals to hatred or contempt.

The petitioners therefore urgently call upon the Government of Canada to help stop the hate propaganda on the CRTC approved channels.

Income Trusts

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

The second petition, Mr. Speaker, is the income trust broken promise petition. This is from Mr. Gordon Hallgren from Drayton, Alberta, a wonderful place. He remembers the Prime Minister saying that there was no greater fraud than a promise not kept.

The petitioners remind Prime Minister that he promised never to tax income trusts, but he recklessly broke that promise by imposing a 31.5% punitive tax, which permanently wiped out over $25 billion of the hard-earned retirement savings of over two million Canadians, particularly seniors.

The petitioners therefore call upon the government to admit that the decision to tax income trusts was based on flawed methodology and incorrect assumptions, to apologize to those who were unfairly harmed by this broken and to repeal the punitive 31.5% tax on income trusts.