Debates of Feb. 12th, 2007

Judicial Appointments

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

Mr. Speaker, there may be some confusion in the hon. member's mind. I should point out to her that all the appointments that have been made by this government have been recommended by the judicial appointments commission that the Liberals set up. Every one of them were recommended by the members that they put on that board. What is their complaint?

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this government is allowing an increasing number of judges' positions to remain empty. Worse yet, while the Conservatives are going over their list of defeated candidates with a fine toothed comb, they are turning their noses up at qualified candidates. Apparently, it will be a Conservative or no one.

Will the minister put an end to favouritism and appoint qualified, independent members, who are respected by the Canadian legal community?

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

Mr. Speaker, as we have pointed out repeatedly, we are appointing the most qualified judges.

It is interesting that the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine would speak about the quality of the appointments being made by our government when her government, in which she was a minister, appointed somebody named Luciano Del Negro to the Immigration and Refugee Board. I believe he is the husband of the member of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine.

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it has cut off funding to advocacy groups for women, child care and aboriginals so important public voices do not get heard the way other voices do, the shutdown of debate within the Conservative caucus, closing down access to the media and the absence of debate on Afghanistan. With the government there is one way, no discussion, no debate, it is right, everyone else is wrong and no one else can be trusted.

Now we have the judicial appointment process and committees hand-picked; its way or no way.

Will the Prime Minister ever understand that not everything is politics? When will he start acting like a Prime Minister, like a real leader to all Canadians, not just the 37% who voted for him?

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

Mr. Speaker, this government has opened up the process. I would ask colleagues to witness the appointment of a Supreme Court justice, Mr. Justice Rothstein. That was an excellent system that was put in place by this government.

Liberal members may be worried about the appointments that we have made to the bench but I believe they will stand up to scrutiny. I also believe that they should be the very first ones to accept them because it was their committee that recommended every one of them.

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, why is the government doing this? The public wants independent voices, voices beyond politics. The Prime Minister clearly does not trust independent voices and does not have the confidence that he can win the day if there are voices beyond his influence.

The justice system deserves more. The Canadian people deserve more.

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

Mr. Speaker, Canadians want a judicial system, a court system where Parliament makes the laws and the courts interpret them and apply them.

In terms of patronage appointments, we have already heard about the former chief of staff to the former minister of justice, Yves de Montigny. He was appointed by the Liberals to the federal court. Apparently they seem to think that is fine.

We heard about the husband of the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine being appointed to the Immigration and Refugee Board. We also have the former husband of the member for Westmount—Ville-Marie, Jacques La Salle, who was appointed to a post on the federal Immigration and Refugee Board.

The only good people to appoint are not all Liberals. There are some other ones too.

Lieutenant Governor of Quebec

[Paule Brunelle, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the expenses of the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, Lise Thibault, are quite surprising and should be looked at more closely.

How can the Minister of Canadian Heritage justify to the public that she is refusing to require an audit of the expenses of the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec? After all, we are talking about the taxpayer's money. Why this refusal?

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, as members know, the resources given to the lieutenant governors are so they can carry out their responsibilities. An allotment is given on an annual basis. I have asked my department to consult and review the reporting requirements and they will be reporting back to me.

[Paule Brunelle, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, before 2004, the lieutenant governor had to justify her expenses by submitting receipts. Since 2004, this is no longer case.

How can the government claim to be the champion of accountability and refuse to conduct a full audit of the expenses of the lieutenant governor, thereby condoning the abuses that may have been committed?

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, as soon as this was brought to my attention I asked the department to look into it. It will be reporting back to me. The information we received indicates that the process set up does not ask for full accountability, which is why we will put in measures that ensure taxpayer dollars are being used responsibly and enable the lieutenant governors to fulfill their important responsibilities in every province.

Official Languages

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the minister responsible for official languages boasted about the plan put forward by her colleague, the defence minister, even though this plan will eliminate bilingualism for senior military officers.

How can the minister responsible for official languages, who is a francophone, be happy about a plan that sets bilingualism in the Canadian Forces back 40 years?

[Gordon O'Connor, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the member's allegations are outrageous. In our plan, all senior officers, colonels and above, will be bilingual. That is in the plan. The member is asserting something that is not accurate.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, officials at the Canadian Forces Language School at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu are afraid that the school will suffer as a result of such an ill-advised decision, because less stringent bilingualism requirements for senior officers will inevitably translate into lower demand for language courses.

Do the minister and the Minister of National Defence realize that the school could be forced to close for good, in part because of the plan they are so proud of?

Is this another Collège militaire situation?

[Gordon O'Connor, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, for years and years, the language commissioner has reported that the defence plan for bilingualism failed. Year after year it failed. Once we get to a situation like that, it is time for a change.

We have developed a new plan that will ensure that the military within the defence department will meet all the mandates of the Official Languages Act.

Canadian Heritage

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec's culture minister was in Ottawa today to discuss cultural diversity. Unfortunately, the Minister of Canadian Heritage does not recognize the cultural specificity of Quebec.

While the Government of Quebec gives supplementary funding to Quebec cinema, the Minister of Canadian Heritage prefers to spend Canadians' money on her limousine service.

Does the minister realize that she is the most disappointing and ineffective minister this country has ever known?

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to report that Minister Beauchamp from Quebec and myself had a very productive meeting this morning. In fact, I am proud to say that the Declaration for Cultural Diversity has been ratified by over 45 countries. It will now go into the implementation stage.

Canada will be looking for a seat on the intergovernmental committee. We have indicated that we want to host the first meeting of the intergovernmental committee here in Ottawa and that we will support the resources needed for the important work of that committee.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this is totally unacceptable. We are talking about money, not theory. The minister is sitting around doing absolutely nothing. She has already managed to derail the Canadian Television Fund, and now her next victim is Quebec cinema.

The role of the Minister of Canadian Heritage is to preserve Quebec cinema, not destroy it.

When will she finally loosen the purse strings of her department? There are words, but there needs to be action.

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, I also had an opportunity to speak with the Quebec minister regarding the film industry. She is very supportive. I commended her on the actions taken by the Quebec government. She is very supportive of the work that we will be doing in a collaborative method to ensure we have a strong film industry in every province, including Quebec.

Afghanistan

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the one day photo op allowed by the international cooperation minister in Afghanistan cost Canadian taxpayers $35,000. When there are serious concerns about this mission, one would think that the government would find a better use for the money.

Why does the government spend money on photo ops and marketing ploys when money in Afghanistan is so desperately needed on the ground?

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

Mr. Speaker, the money is on the ground. In fact, Afghanistan is the largest recipient of development aid from the government. It is entirely appropriate and, I think, almost advisable in the circumstances, that the minister investigates that.

In terms of the cost, it was roughly one-quarter of the amount that the previous prime minister spent on rental for automobiles on a two day visit to Washington.

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, that is a poor answer from the wrong minister.

Like the foreign affairs minister, this is a PR driven exercise. The minister never left the compound. The government is more concerned about diverting attention away from the fact that it is spending nine times more on a combat mission than it is on the development on the ground.

There is no accounting on whether this aid money is getting through or whether it is actually helping.

When will we see the efforts in Afghanistan significantly increased instead of seeing $35,000 photo ops?

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Minister of International Cooperation and Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should have questioned his own government when it committed just $60 million to Afghanistan for this year, $50 million for next year and $40 million for the year after that.

Our government has increased the development budget to $100 million a year until 2011. These are concrete actions to achieve our development goals in Afghanistan.

Anti-terrorism Act

[Gord Brown, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in October 2001 this House passed a law written by a former Liberal government, the Anti-terrorism Act. It contained two powers which the Liberal Party then argued were key to Canada's ability to combat terrorism.

Despite the fact that Liberal members of the committee studying terrorism voted to keep the powers, last Friday the Liberals flip-flopped and signalled their intent to let the powers expire.

My question is for the Minister of Justice. Are Canadians safe without these powers? How does he plan to protect citizens if the Liberals vote against their own bill?

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

Mr. Speaker, I think that is a very good question. The member points out that these provisions in the motion now before the House were put in by the former Liberal government and had the complete support of Anne McLellan, then justice minister, and another Liberal justice minister, the member for Mount Royal. They were very articulate on why we must have these provisions.

I suggest to the House that the threat of terrorism in this world is not decreasing. It is in fact increasing. That is the consensus around the world. We need these provisions. I say to hon. members, let us have a look at their final reports, we are glad to have a look at them, but in the meantime let us not let these important tools expire. Canadians are counting on us.