House of Commons Hansard #118 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was provisions.
Bev Oda ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women
Mr. Speaker, I totally disagree. In fact, $5 million will go to women directly in their communities, which means more money and more services right in their communities. This will make a difference in the lives of Canadian women.
Omar Alghabra Liberal Mississauga—Erindale, ON
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Jean-Guy Fleury has served Canada with distinction for over 40 years, including holding senior positions at the Public Service Commission, CSIS and the Treasury Board.
Could the government confirm to the House the status of Mr. Fleury as chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada? Has he in fact resigned?
Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Citizenship and Immigration
Mr. Speaker, on Friday, I received a letter of resignation from Mr. Fleury. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Fleury for the 42 years of public service that he has provided and I wish him all the best in the future.
Nina Grewal Conservative Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Mr. Speaker, Ontario convicted violent sex offender, Paul Callow, known as the balcony rapist, has served his sentence, has been released from prison and is now planning to settle in my constituency of Surrey, B.C. This man has admitted to raping over 26 women and is considered a high risk to reoffend.
What is the government doing to stop high risk dangerous criminals like Callow from moving into our communities when they are likely to reoffend?
Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, I cannot comment on a specific case but I can assure the hon. member that we are absolutely committed as a government to containing violent criminals, keeping them off the streets and making our communities safer.
The good news is that we have introduced Bill C-27 which takes direct aim at repeat offenders who commit crimes over and over again by placing the onus on them to show why they should not be designated a dangerous offender. That is the good news. The bad news is, like all anti-crime measures this month, it is being opposed by the Liberal Party.
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, an internal audit at Canada Revenue Agency has revealed that the government is unwilling to investigate big corporations for fear of harming relations with them. That fear is costing ordinary Canadians about $1.4 billion in owed corporate taxes. That is equivalent to the income tax paid by almost 400,000 ordinary Canadians earning $40,000 a year.
Why is the government increasing the prosperity gap between the middle class and the big corporations instead of making those corporations pay their fair share?
Carol Skelton ConservativeMinister of National Revenue
Mr. Speaker, the internal audit of the CRA demonstrates yet another example of the Liberals ignoring the Auditor General's recommendations.
In 1996, the AG made recommendations to the Liberal minister but it took 10 years and nothing was done. The Liberals may not take the Auditor General seriously but this government does and the internal audit will be implemented this year.
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, this is not the only example of neglect we have seen at the Canada Revenue Agency. The Auditor General reported this month that taxes on foreign incomes were not being investigated or collected either. In fact, in Toronto, which has 40% of the workload, there are no investigators with international tax expertise.
When will the revenue minister stop neglecting her duties and make corporate Canada pay up, just like they make everybody else pay up?
Carol Skelton ConservativeMinister of National Revenue
Mr. Speaker, I take my job very seriously and we are trying our best to get people who can audit our corporate overseas accounts, as many as we possibly can. I must reassure my colleague that they are very qualified people and we intend to look after the situation.
Omar Alghabra Liberal Mississauga—Erindale, ON
Mr. Speaker, we know that the Prime Minister is bent on stacking the judiciary to suit his own ideological partisan agenda. It now appears that Mr. Fleury and the IRB are victims of Conservative bullying as well.
How can Canadians be comfortable with the fairness of the IRB process when the Prime Minister wants to use it as a tool for Conservative social engineering?
Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Citizenship and Immigration
Mr. Speaker, I believe Mr. Fleury would take exception to that. He himself said that he chose to retire because he wants to spend more time with his family. After 42 years of dedicated public service, he deserves that. I believe that the hon. member should apologize to Mr. Fleury for that.
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
Mr. Speaker, in the Toronto Star last week Eddie Goldenberg, former chief of staff to former prime minister Jean Chrétien, pulled back the dark curtain and admitted the Liberals had no intention of meeting the Kyoto accord. He said the government was not even ready to do anything about it. Yet in the same newspaper on the same day the Leader of the Opposition said, “The previous Liberal government's plan laid the foundation for positive action to fight climate change in Canada and [put] us on a path to meet Kyoto commitments”.
Can the Minister of the Environment tell the House what he thinks of this flip-flop and what the government is doing to take action on the environment?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, I was troubled to read the headline in the Montreal Gazette, “We had no hope of meeting Kyoto: Chrétien's top adviser”.
Last night many Canadians watched the Academy Awards and there was, sadly, one award which was not handed out. That is the award for the biggest flip-flop on the environment. Do you know who won, Mr. Speaker? Stéphane Dion and the Liberal Party of Canada.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
I can see why there are a lot of cries of disapproval of that conduct. The hon. Minister of the Environment has violated two rules.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
I would like to think of him as a rookie, but he knows he is not.
The hon. minister knows that mentioning other members' names is against the rules and so is using a prop, and that looks suspiciously to me like a prop. I hope he will restrain such conduct in future and refrain from such answers.
The hon. Leader of the Opposition for the next question.
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
Mr. Speaker, about the Anti-terrorism Act, I guess that the Minister of Public Safety, having received the report of the House five months ago, has done a point by point analysis of the report. Will he table his point by point analysis of this report and when will he table it so that we may see it?
Stockwell Day ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, we are very prompt to table all information related to this particular issue. As a matter of fact, part of the review that was conducted had the Liberals on record as supporting an extension of two very important provisions. The Liberals are actually asking for an extension of five years. We thought three would be good. We have offered other compromises.
We would like to see the report that the Leader of the Opposition must have received to create this colossal flip-flop. He has gone against the committee, he has gone against the Senate, he has gone against former Liberals. What report did he receive to cause this colossal flip-flop that he has done?
Robert Vincent Bloc Shefford, QC
Mr. Speaker, copyright infringement costs between $20 billion and $30 billion annually in losses to our businesses. For example, Polyform in my riding holds a patent for an insulating foam, and its innovation has been copied by another company. Obtaining a patent is expensive, but defending it in court costs even more.
The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology recommends amending the legislation on intellectual property. What is the Minister of Industry waiting for to provide better protection for intellectual property and give this legislation more teeth?
Maxime Bernier ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his question. We are concerned about what my colleague has just said.
I am waiting for detailed recommendations from the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology in order to continue our study of all the recommendations.
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Section 32(2) of the Standing Orders of the House of Commons, I have the honour to lay upon the table, in both official languages, the Report to Parliament on Afghanistan entitled “Canada's Mission in Afghanistan: Measuring Progress”.
