Debates of Feb. 7th, 2007

Middle East

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, according to access to information reports, there is no evidence that the $13,000 that was spent by the Prime Minister's special adviser on the Middle East resulted in any report whatsoever.

In fact, government officials say, “after a thorough search through our files” there are no records of any actual report that were found. The only traces were a couple of phone conversations between officials and the adviser.

My question is for the Prime Minister. Did his special adviser produce a report, yes or no, and if he did, will he release it to Parliament?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that the member for Mississauga—Streetsville had a fruitful effort. He had a mandate to provide a report to the Prime Minister, which he did.

What is more interesting is why, if the members of the Liberal Party are so interested in his views now, they showed no interest in those views when he was a member of their caucus. That is the real question.

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the government that it was the same member for Mississauga—Streetsville who promised all parliamentarians that he would release his report last October. So let us be clear that this $13,000 was spent for just a few conversations and little else.

I would like again to ask the Prime Minister this question. Will he release this report or is he willing to admit that he wasted Canadian taxpayers' money on this con job?

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

Mr. Speaker, when the Liberal Party was in government, special advisers for foreign affairs were a way to give people a going away party. Just think about it. Jean Augustine, Sophia Leung were special advisers, but were their reports ever tabled? There was access to information, but they were never tabled.

We want to know why the Liberals have a double standard here. It is not surprising. They always have a double standard.

Byelections

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Mr. Speaker--

[Some hon. member]

Hear, hear!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, order. The hon. member for Halton now has the floor.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I had no idea they cared.

My question is for the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister support my request of yesterday to work immediately to have a byelection in my riding of Halton, and at the same time have byelections in Vancouver--Kingsway and Mississauga--Streetsville, so we three members can be accountable?

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. We want to be careful not to waste any time in question period. The hon. government House leader has the floor. With all this noise, we are wasting time.

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

Mr. Speaker, the member for Halton has not been in the caucus for 24 hours and he has already received a standing ovation for the concept of him resigning.

I will assure the member for Halton that if he wishes to see a byelection in Halton, it is fully within his control. He can resign today and I am sure we will comply.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to try again. If the Prime Minister will call a byelection today, so the people of Halton will not be without their member of Parliament for a few weeks, then I will lay my seat on the line today.

Will he do that, yes or no, and will he tell the member for Mississauga--Streetsville to get with the program?

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

Mr. Speaker, I continue to be impressed but not surprised by the enthusiasm of the Liberal Party over the resignation of the member for Halton, but I think his 15 minutes of fame are over. If he wishes to have a byelection, that is 100% in his control.

The question is not why he changed his mind or how he explains his change in position, we need to know the answer to that. I do not know why he is asking us why we changed our mind. He is the one who has changed his position on these issues.

Industry

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Minister of Industry is siding with telecommunications giants against consumers and is refusing to apply the principle of net neutrality, which guarantees identical upload or download speeds for anonymous blogs and big business websites alike. Real competition for sure.

Can the minister make a commitment, here in this House, not to make any decisions that would favour big businesses at the expense of consumers, thus ensuring that the Internet remains a democratic tool?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, once again, I would like to tell my Bloc Québécois colleague that, unlike the Bloc Québécois, we listen to consumers and we protect Quebeckers. We have here an Ipsos-Reid poll saying that 75% of Quebeckers support telecommunications reform. Not 50%, not 60%, but 75% of Quebeckers support telecommunications reform. Why? Because they know that competition will lead to better prices and better services.

Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the science centres network came to the Hill on Monday to ask for recurring funding for, among other things, the exhibits at the 43 existing science interpretation centres in Canada.

In Quebec, we are still urging the federal government for funding in order to create such a centre.

Can the Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec assure us that the federal government is ready to provide funding for Quebec City's Boîte à science project, in order to contribute to the first stage in the development of such a centre?

[Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Conservative, Minister of Labour and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, in response to the hon. member's question, I would like to inform this House that the hon. members from our party spoke a number of times, during the election campaign, of the importance of having the Boîte à science in the Quebec City and Lévis area. The authorities at the Boîte à science are well aware of our position.

The matter is currently under review. We are being asked for $450,000 in order to proceed with the project's financing and our intention is not to be insensitive to this request.

Northern Climate Exchange

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, the greatest impact of climate change in the world is on Canada's Arctic.

The Conservatives have claimed they are now finally concerned about the impacts of climate change, but on March 31 the government will close the Northern Climate Exchange which does important tracking and research both nationally and internationally. Why is the government again turning its back on the north?

There is still time for the minister to reverse his ridiculous decision. Will he commit to do that today?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the government recognizes the importance to act on greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change is having a huge effect not just on Canada, but particularly in our Arctic.

However, this government believes that the time has finished to talk about things, to study things, to reach into promoting things. The time has come to act. That is why this government is taking real action on climate change reduction. We introduced equal energy initiatives, more energy efficiency and more clean energy.

We have announced our intention to regulate both on greenhouse gases and on clean air. We are very proud of that.

Chemicals Management Plan

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, part of our plan for a healthier environment for Canadians includes the chemicals management plan which challenges industry to provide the government with information about how it is safely managing 200 chemical substances.

Earlier today the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Health announced that we are moving forward on collecting this information as quickly as possible.

Could the Minister of Health update the House on the government's initiative to address the health of Canadians?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Health and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to do so. Indeed, earlier today, through the challenge to industry, the new Government of Canada is moving on with separating 15 to 30 substances every three or four months and publishing the list in the Canada Gazette.

Industry is required to provide information on any of these substances in its possession within six months. The onus is on the industry to do this to show that these substances are safe for the environment and for human health.

This government is acting to protect the health of Canadians and to protect our environment, and we are proud to do so.

Tobacco Manufacturers' Surtax

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

Mr. Speaker, the government can huff and puff all it wants, yet it goes ahead and proposes a tobacco tax credit to help only one person, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. We know this big tobacco tax cut is being doled out for only one reason, to get the minister re-elected.

Why can the Conservatives not just admit that they are playing pork with their friends and cancel the tax cuts for big tobacco?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I believe the member is referring to the tobacco manufacturers' surtax. This is an issue of tax fairness. The manufacturers' tax is just for that; it is for manufacturers of cigarettes and cigars. It is not designed for leaf processors. As a result, we have made a minor technical amendment to accomplish the goal. This tax ought not to have been imposed in the first place. It was a mistake and we have corrected that.

I can add that we maintain our policy against smoking. In fact, when we reduced the GST by one percentage point, we ensured that we raised the excise taxes so that the price of smoking would remain a deterrent in Canada.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is not about health and stopping tobacco; it is about pork politics. The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has to stand in the House today and explain how she had a tax break directed at only one federal riding, hers. That is quite an accomplishment. Some of us would like to know how she did it.

The only answer is that the minister is scared for her re-election efforts and padded her election war chest with a handy, too good to be true tax cut. She will remind people of that every day, every chance she gets.

How do ordinary Canadians benefit from this tax break?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, this is an issue of tax fairness. This is a tax that was designed for manufacturers of cigarettes and cigars.

I might add that I thank the Liberal member for Brant for his support on this issue.