House of Commons Hansard #29 of the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was ports.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
I assume the hon. member for Kings—Hants was addressing his remarks to the Chair, but the Minister of Industry is rising to answer.
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will never be sitting on this side of the House as long as the Liberals subscribe to Liberal Party backwater economics.
The Leader of the Opposition wants to increase taxes. The hon. member for Kings—Hants wants to cut Canada off from foreign investment. Now he wants to have less competition and higher consumer prices.
This is Liberal Party nirvana, fewer jobs, fewer investments, higher prices for consumers. It is not going to happen.
Sue Barnes Liberal London West, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence continues to disguise his involvement in the Mulroney-Schreiber affair. He claims to have been leery of Mr. Schreiber and warned his father to stay away from him.
For the record, could the minister tell the House if he became leery before or after he was employed by Thyssen, the company Mr. Schreiber represented in Canada and which apparently funded the $300,000 cash payment to Mr. Mulroney?
Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, the opposition continues to engage in irrelevancies. The member has been quite clear that this has nothing to do with government business. He has never made any representations or had any representations made to him on this issue.
It is really time opposition members get off this kind of smear tactic and deal with the serious issues facing our country.
Sue Barnes Liberal London West, ON
Mr. Speaker, the member should speak for himself then. In his maiden speech in the House, the defence minister called the investigation a “witch hunt” against Brian Mulroney. For years he railed, insisting that Mr. Mulroney was an innocent man. In opposition the minister made at least 19 House interventions on the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, including mentions of Mr. Schreiber by name. He even demanded that the Liberals stop the RCMP investigation. Talk about improper.
With this devotion to Mr. Mulroney and Mr. Schreiber, did the minister recuse himself at any cabinet discussion of this matter? Will the minister stand and answer?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of National Defence and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite would know that discussions that took place at cabinet had nothing to do with what she is somehow proposing here.
I will tell her this. I think I was the ripe old age of about 22 or 23 years old when I worked in Germany. I had not met this individual at the time. If the member opposite wants to continue to engage in fear and smear, she will have plenty of time to do that.
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
Mr. Speaker, the decision to have Canada join the global nuclear energy partnership was made unilaterally behind closed doors, without any parliamentary debate. Nuclear energy is not without risk. No matter what the minister says, it is dangerous and produces radioactive waste, for which safe disposal is always an issue.
If the minister is so convinced that nuclear energy is the best solution to replace fossil fuels, why did he not put the decision to a vote in Parliament, instead of acting secretly?
Gary Lunn ConservativeMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, it should be clear that the decision to join the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership has nothing to do with deciding which source of energy we want. That is a matter for the provinces to decide, and we completely accept their decision in that regard.
This is about working with international partners to promote a safer, more secure, cleaner world. That is exactly what we have done. I have offered myself to become available at committees. I told the member, the last time I appeared before the standing committee, that our government, under no circumstances, would ever accept spent nuclear fuel from any country at any time. She knows it.
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
Mr. Speaker, contrary to what the minister likes to repeat, it is the federal government, not the provinces, that is promoting nuclear energy by joining the global nuclear energy partnership.
Will the minister have the courage to acknowledge that he is in a hurry to move forward with nuclear energy, without holding a debate here in this House, because he does not want people to find out about the dangers of nuclear energy, and particularly because he hopes this will make it easier for his friends the oil companies to extract oil from the oil sands?
Gary Lunn ConservativeMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. The hon. member should know this is purely a provincial decision to decide on its energy mix.
I remind the hon. member that the only three provinces with nuclear energy in Canada today are Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. Once they make that decision, our job, as the regulator, is to ensure the safety and security of all Canadians. This is something we take very seriously and will continue to do so.
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, this morning the Prime Minister announced the appointment of Bernard Lord to lead a series of consultations and make recommendations on the new action plan for official languages. At the same time, the Prime Minister rejected the possibility of restoring the court challenges program.
How can we take these consultations seriously when we know that the main request of minorities—to restore the court challenges program—has been rejected outright by the Prime Minister?
Pierre Lemieux ConservativeParliamentary Secretary for Official Languages
Mr. Speaker, our government is a responsible one and we do what is necessary to ensure that the best decisions are made in the interests of communities and the vitality of French and English throughout Canada.
This morning the Prime Minister, along with the Minister of Official Languages, appointed Mr. Bernard Lord, former premier of New Brunswick, to lead consultations with Canadians on linguistic duality and official languages.
Our government made a promise and we are keeping it.
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
Mr. Speaker, the government eliminated the court challenges program over one year ago contrary to the advice of officials, women's groups, aboriginal peoples and language communities.
Bernard Lord's consultations will only tell us what we already know—that everyone wants the court challenges program to be brought back even though the Prime Minister has already rejected the idea. What credibility can we give to these consultations?
Pierre Lemieux ConservativeParliamentary Secretary for Official Languages
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are grateful to have Mr. Lord lead the consultations. We are very fortunate that he is leading these consultations.
Official language communities want to participate in the process we are undertaking. It is a good process that was launched this morning.
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Mr. Speaker, Brian Mulroney was a member of the board of directors for Cendant Corporation and Trizec Properties.
Has Brian Mulroney or any of his spokespersons contacted his former colleague in the legal profession, the Minister of Public Works, his parliamentary secretary or the cabinet minister regarding Cendant Corporation or Trizec Properties, or any other transaction that could have been profitable for those businesses?
Public Works and Government ServicesOral Questions
Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam B.C.
Conservative
James Moore ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics
No, Mr. Speaker.
John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Mulroney earned $100,000 a year for his work with the Blackstone Equity Group. Upon being named as a director last June, he was given 10,000 deferred restricted common units of Blackstone, which became publicly traded last June.
Blackstone is seen as a likely suitor for large and midsize Canadian telecom companies.
Can the government tell the House if Mr. Mulroney or any agent working on his behalf made representations to the government on Blackstone's behalf?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I would repeat for the benefit of the members on that side of the House, I have never had any discussions with Mr. Mulroney about the subject of spectrum option, telecommunications or Blackstone in any way at any time on any occasion. It is a fabrication in the minds of the hon. members opposite.
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Mr. Speaker, the government's obsession with destroying the Canadian Wheat Board will destroy farmer marketing power, but a fractured market of wheat and barley sellers will be a huge benefit and financial windfall for grain companies such as Archer Daniels Midland.
Brian Mulroney serves on the board of ADM and according to media reports, ADM pays him $200,000 a year in cash and options. He has shares worth about $3 million.
Has Brian Mulroney or any representative had discussions with any minister, political staff or a department on behalf of ADM?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear. Brian Mulroney has never had any discussion with me about the Canadian Wheat Board, about barley or about any other grain or oilseed.
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Mr. Speaker, Brian Mulroney is on the board of Barrick Gold Corporation. According to media reports, Mr. Mulroney owns stock options in the company valued at $3.7 million U.S.
Recently the Prime Minister added side trips to Chile and Tanzania to promote Barrick, despite the environmental and human rights controversies that dog the company internationally.
Will the government release the details of any dealings the government has had with Mr. Mulroney or his representatives concerning Barrick?
Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, I think we addressed this question last week.
When we look at the pathetic fishing expedition the Liberals are on, we can understand why the fisheries were in such trouble under the Liberal government.
Mike Allen Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
Mr. Speaker, under the leadership of this government, Canada has the strongest economy and the lowest unemployment rate in 33 years. However, not all Canadians are in a position to benefit from this opportunity.
In some parts of the country, seasonal workers face specific challenges in maintaining their income levels year round.
Can the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development tell us what he is doing to help seasonal and other workers who experience a temporary income lapse?
Monte Solberg ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Social Development
Mr. Speaker, I know my friend has a deep concern for the fate of seasonal workers, as do we. That is why it is my great pleasure to announce that we are renewing the extended EI pilot program for seasonal workers, a program that will allow us to collect data so we can better support them in the future.
We want to support workers, which is why this government is investing more in training than any government in history. We want to give them the skills so they can take advantage of the hottest job market in history, so they can support themselves and their families.
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Speaker, the partisan commission on official languages announced today will once again stall the government's support of linguistic duality in Canada. The Conservatives are doing whatever they can to brush off the issue of the court challenges program, even though they are the same Conservatives who claim to care about linguistic duality.
Why is the Prime Minister using official languages to practice political patronage by naming a Conservative friend? How much money will Bernard Lord be paid to do the Prime Minister's dirty work?