House of Commons Hansard #30 of the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was nations.
Michael Ignatieff Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Mr. Speaker, given that Australia has ratified the Kyoto protocol, given that the British are demanding absolute and major reductions, given that the international community is launching an attack against climate change in Bali, why does the Prime Minister refuse to even promote his own domestic targets on the international scene?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, the deputy leader of the Liberal Party is wrong, wrong and wrong. He never lets the facts get in the way.
If he wants to use quotes, I can use quotes too. He talked about the Australian prime minister. Let us listen to what Kevin Rudd, the Australian prime minister, said. He said, “our position is clear”. He went on to say:
...developing countries need to adopt commitments themselves. That is absolutely fundamental and those commitments would need to have an impact, not just on the major emitters, but also have an effect on their own greenhouse gas emissions.
We stand with the new prime minister of Australia and we look forward to working with him to get the job done.
Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday Jean Charest said that the federal government must take a leadership role on the issue of climate change. The Prime Minister is doing exactly the opposite. When he was in opposition, he did everything he could to stop Canada from signing the Kyoto protocol. Now that he is in power, it seems he truly wants to stop the fight against climate change.
Will the Prime Minister admit that his “all or nothing” policy has just one objective: to ensure the failure of post-Kyoto and please western oil companies?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, this is the first government in Canada that has established mandatory targets for industry in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Again, this is the only government that has adopted targets. There are no targets for the provincial governments in this country.
Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister does not want to agree to any plan on climate change unless China and India are on board. These two countries produce far fewer greenhouse gas emissions per capita than Canada does.
Is the Prime Minister prepared to support a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan on the polluter pay principle, taking into account emissions per capita, with absolute targets and 1990 as the base year? This is an opportunity for the Prime Minister to show leadership.
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, this government is seeking mandatory targets for all the major polluters on this planet. The Bloc Québécois position would result in doubling greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and that is not acceptable to this government.
Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Mr. Speaker, Quebec is asking that real greenhouse gas reduction targets be set, instead of the ones set by the Conservatives to help out their friends the oil companies, and that the reference year be 1990, and not 2006, so that Quebec companies can reap the benefits of the effort they have already made.
Does the Minister of the Environment plan on going back to the drawing board, as Quebec would like him to do, in order to avoid penalizing Quebec companies that have already made an effort? If the minister does not want to help them, the least he could do is not hurt them.
John Baird ConservativeMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, our goal was very clear. We are calling for reduced greenhouse gas emissions here, in Canada, and in the rest of the world. If we want to win the fight against climate change, we must have the real targets for each major country. That is the message we will be sending in Bali.
Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister should think about the virtues of his environmental plan, because it has been criticized by everyone except, of course, the oil companies. Minister Beauchamp from Quebec is rightfully critical of the federal plan, because it will impose strict penalties on Quebec industries and manufacturers that want to participate in a carbon exchange.
Will the government take the suggestion to set absolute and binding targets, and will it choose 1990 as the only reference year?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to see the new relationship between the Liberal government in Quebec and the Bloc Québécois. If these two political parties could work together, it would be better than the passage of the motion recognizing Quebec as a nation within a united Canada. And that was a proud moment.
Jack Layton NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON
Mr. Speaker, between 2001 and 2006, the Government of Canada miscalculated the consumer price index. The result was that four million Canadian seniors were shortchanged on the payments they were supposed to receive on the Canada pension plan, OAS and GIS.
We know that many seniors are living on the margin and many live below the poverty line. The government is always happy to go after seniors. If they make a tiny mistake on their taxes, boy, the government never lets go, but when the government makes a mistake, the Prime Minister does not lift a finger to pay back the seniors who are owed money, the seniors who built this country. Why not?
Monte Solberg ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Social Development
Mr. Speaker, this government's policy is unchanged from that of the previous government. We pay according to published rates and that is in accord with international practice.
The one thing this government has done is it has made seniors a priority. We have put in place a minister responsible for seniors. We have lifted them off the tax rolls. We have enhanced benefits. We have done more for seniors in the last 22 months than the previous government did in 13 years.
Jack Layton NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON
Mr. Speaker, I said that the Prime Minister would not lift a finger but I at least expected him to stand up and answer to Canadian seniors for the billion dollars that they have been shortchanged.
The government has admitted that it made a mistake and that it shortchanged four million Canadian seniors of something that belongs to them, which is their pension plan and their assistance.
The government, supported by the Liberals, can find billions of dollars for corporate tax cuts, no problem, but when it comes to paying back seniors for a mistake the government made, it cannot find a penny. Why not?
Monte Solberg ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Social Development
Mr. Speaker, let me tell the House where the NDP stands with seniors. When this government brought in legislation to lift 385,000 low income Canadians off the tax rolls, including seniors, the NDP voted against it. It voted against lowering the GST twice, measures that help seniors across this country. It voted against measures to raise the age credit, the pension credit and pension splitting. That is where the NDP stand on seniors.
Sue Barnes Liberal London West, ON
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of National Defence said that he was 22 or 23 when he worked in Germany for Thyssen. We now know that was not true.
He also, yesterday, referred to a discussion that took place at cabinet. Just what did these cabinet discussions involve? Was it Schreiber's extradition? Was it the decision to scrap the justice department's review of the Mulroney settlement or maybe the letters that the defence minister received from Mr. Schreiber himself? Just what was it?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of National Defence and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question and the sincerity of the member opposite.
What I had planned to do today is correct the record of yesterday but since I have been given the opportunity now, I will say that I was in fact 26 years old. I was off by about three years but that was 15 years ago. This, of course, has nothing to do with myself, my responsibilities or this government.
Sue Barnes Liberal London West, ON
Mr. Speaker, that answer will not satisfy Canadians. I will ask the Prime Minister a different question.
What discussions did the Prime Minister have or any of his staff have, either informally or formally, with Brian Mulroney on the issue of the wireless auction?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I thought we had resolved this yesterday. There were no discussions.
The real question is why the Liberals will not support consumer choice with respect to telecommunications.
Even in the good old days of BlackBerries and budget leaks by Liberal cabinet ministers, choice would have been good. They could have had all sorts of different products. Those five friends' plans could have been a possibility. Most important, lower cost service that could have saved a little money for their legal counsel.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Speaker, Martin Masse was the former industry minister's senior policy advisor. Masse was opposed to taxpayer funded wireless set-asides.
In May, Brian Mulroney's spokesperson, Luc Lavoie, took Masse to lunch to try to change his mind. That did not work. Masse refused.
Is the Prime Minister aware that Lavoie then called Ian Brodie, the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, to demand that Masse be fired?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, the only ones at lunch are members of the Liberal Party because we have put forward s a telecommunications plan wireless auction that involves more consumer choice, better service and lower costs.
I do not know why the Liberals insist on higher taxes, higher consumer prices, less foreign investment and less jobs. They are the ones who are out to lunch.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Speaker, the very next day, the Prime Minister's deputy chief of staff, Mark Cameron, called the industry minister's office on behalf of Ian Brodie to ask that Masse be fired. The minister said no.
Is it not true that the Prime Minister shuffled the former minister out of industry because the minister refused to do what Brian Mulroney and Luc Lavoie wanted him to do?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I think the record is quite clear that Mr. Masse has never worked for me. I am the minister who was responsible for the telecommunication decision for the spectrum option. I made that decision after very carefully following a process that involved meeting with the CEOs of eight companies and allowing them to make a presentation to me.
I was the one who made the decision. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the decision that was made.
Jean-Yves Laforest Bloc Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Mr. Speaker, on November 22, 2007, right here in this House, I asked if the Conservative government was finally going to decide to support Quebec's manufacturing industries. I even referred to the difficulties facing pulp and paper mills in Grand-Mère and La Tuque, and Belgo in Shawinigan. The Minister of Industry responded by saying that he did not agree, since they had created conditions to support business development.
Does the Prime Minister really think that the 550 workers at Belgo who just lost their jobs are satisfied with those conditions?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, there is no question that the manufacturing sector is facing difficulties and challenges. I am pleased to see that the Quebec government finally decided to put a plan into action. All levels of government, all governments, must make it their mission to resolve this crisis.
Jean-Yves Laforest Bloc Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Mr. Speaker, since last Thursday, I have met with hundreds of people of all political stripes and they all said the same thing, “How is it that the Conservative government has done nothing to help us? Is the government waiting for the whole town to shut down, before it reacts?”
Will the Conservative government finally wake up and decide to use the $11.6 billion surplus, as suggested by the Bloc Québécois, to help a community that is at the end of its rope and crying for help?