House of Commons Hansard #107 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was provisions.
Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have a clear choice to make. On this side, the Liberal leader knows that eliminating megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions will lead to megatonnes of wealth and prosperity. On the other side, the Minister of the Environment's only environmental plan is to wear green ties.
When will the Conservatives realize that their environmental policy means missed opportunities and job losses for Canadians?
Mark Warawa ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, wearing a green jacket also does not get the job done.
This is what the media is saying about the Liberals' Kyoto plan. Jeffrey Simpson says:
Why I'm laughing at the Liberals' Kyoto motion...There is no conceivable way that Canada can meet its Kyoto targets “in their entirety.” If [the leader of the Liberals] or the opposition MPs who agreed with him don't know this, they should be sent to a special cram school on Kyoto. If they do know this--and chances are, they do--they are being political[ly] disingenuous or intellectually dishonest or, worse, both.
Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are not as naive as this government believes them to be. They clearly see the strategy of this stone-age government. It is now waging a campaign of fear. It is saying that our economy will start to resemble that of the Soviet Union if we assume our environmental responsibilities.
Rather than drawing questionable conclusions from the past, should the minister not be more concerned with the economy of the future and the state of the planet that future generations will inherit?
Mark Warawa ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, talking about Russia, it was that party that wanted to send billions of dollars to buy hot air credits.
Professor David Boyd told the legislative committee that “to achieve that kind of [Kyoto] target through domestic reductions would require a rate of emissions decline unmatched by any modern nation in the history of the world, except those which have suffered economic collapse, such as Russia and Ukraine”.
That party did not get it done and Canadians have lost confidence.
This government is getting it done.
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages congratulated her colleague, the Minister of National Defence, for having drawn up a plan that supposedly demonstrates the government's intention to promote official languages in the military.
How can any minister, let alone a francophone minister, be a party to a plan that, upon closer inspection, will set bilingualism in the Canadian armed forces back by 40 years?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, we have to look at the facts. The facts in this matter are very telling.
The former Commissioner of Official Languages began an inquiry when the Liberal Party of Canada was in power. She found that the Canadian Forces were not increasing the size of their bilingual contingent fast enough under the old government.
The new model in place is based on recommendations made by the Minister of Official Languages, and we are following up on those recommendations—
Official LanguagesOral Questions
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, that is disinformation and it makes no sense.
By praising her colleague's plan, the minister is agreeing to downgrade the importance of French in the armed forces. Why does she not instead put all of her energy into implementing the recommendations of the former Commissioner of Official Languages, who criticized the army for being slow to respect its official language obligations?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, there is actually not a very big difference of opinion because we agree with what my colleague said. The former Commissioner of Official Languages criticized the former government's inaction.
We are acting. We have taken the recommendations in the report and we are implementing them. In that sense, we are meeting the objectives set out by the Commissioner of Official Languages.
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, as well as being detrimental for francophone soldiers, the abandonment of bilingualism for top military brass will have a negative impact on the Canadian Forces Language School in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, since the cuts could eventually lead to the school's closure.
Will the Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages be open to the arguments made by the school's union, which fears that the army's recent ill-advised decisions will do nothing except gradually force the school to close?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, I would again like to point out the fact that the members of the Bloc Québécois, despite their long-windedness, are unable to take any action whatsoever.
We, on the other hand, have implemented a plan based on recommendations made by the Commissioner of Official Languages. And that is what we are doing. We are taking action.
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, it is a plan that will set back the official languages. Less stringent requirements for bilingualism among the top brass means less demand for language courses. That makes perfect sense and does not take a genius to understand.
If National Defence goes through with its plan, does the minister realize that the school's existence is ultimately on the line?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, once again, I must repeat that my hon. colleague talks a lot, but when it comes to delivering the goods, he is completely incapable of getting anything done.
Consider the following example. During the previous session, Bill S-3 was before the Senate. That bill aimed to defend the interests of francophones outside Quebec, and was supported by all members of this House, except the Bloc Québécois. Where were they? They were not on the same page.
Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC
Mr. Speaker, the NDP victory in the Ontario byelection yesterday showed how strongly the voters want action for livable wages, but not one province in Canada has a minimum wage that provides for this.
The NDP member for Parkdale—High Park has a bill that would reinstate the federal minimum wage and set it at $10 an hour. The Liberals killed the federal minimum wage in 1996.
Will the government reinstate the federal minimum wage so that workers do not have to live in poverty?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, on this issue as well as other issues the government is tackling the economic challenges that the country faces. We are doing it with a balanced budget approach. We are doing it with an economic update. The Minister of Finance has been extremely active on this file.
We are creating jobs in the country. We will continue to create jobs in the country. That is what sustains our quality of life and that is what sustains of course our economic forecasting perspective.
Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC
Mr. Speaker, maybe the minister can explain how a federal bank employee in Vancouver can live on $8 an hour. It cannot happen. One can barely support oneself, let alone one's family on that. There is a choice here. The government can stand by and watch people drown in debt or it can create decent public policy for a minimum wage.
At a time when the business elites are raking in profits and the government has handed out billions in big oil subsidies, how can it refuse to set a decent living wage for its own workers under federal jurisdiction?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, as everyone is aware, in the last budget we were able to cut personal income tax for a period of four years to the tune of roughly $20 billion. We have alleviated a large number of people who were paying income tax and they do not pay income tax any more.
We have also reduced the GST by 1%. We have helped companies in terms of their personal income tax and corporate tax. When the member asks us what the government is doing in terms of helping the economy, those are specific actions.
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Mr. Speaker, the environment minister's uninformed testimony before committee yesterday suggests that the government believes that over the next five years making our businesses and homes more efficient will apparently cause economic collapse; that substantially increasing renewable energy power production in this country will cause economic collapse; and that investing in exciting new technologies and rapidly expanding international carbon markets will apparently cause economic collapse.
Can the government confirm to Canadians that this is indeed its position?
Mark Warawa ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, the minister quoted Professor Boyd from UBC. It is unfortunate that the member was in a bad mood yesterday. He attacked the minister. He attacked the Auditor General at the committee. He must have got up on the wrong side of the bed.
The government is committed to working with all parties, including the opposition. We need to have a real plan. The plan is Bill C-30, not Bill C-288. I encourage the member to start working and stop obstructing.
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Mr. Speaker, should we be surprised? This is the Minister of the Environment who oversaw a 125% increase in CO2 emissions in Ontario in his time as Ontario energy minister.
It is clear we have a second Conservative environment minister who is not only a defeatist but who also sees environmental concerns as an economic nuisance. Should we be surprised again? The government slashed $5.6 billion in climate change programs.
The environment minister got caught cheating at committee yesterday, but he could not answer dozens and dozens of questions on the basics of his file. When will the Prime Minister appoint an environment minister who does his basic homework and gets on with the job?
Mark Warawa ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, it appears he is still in a bad mood.
The previous Liberal government misled Canadians when it announced $6 billion in climate change announcements but only spent $1.3 billion. What did Canadians get from that? Zero.
This government is taking action on the environment. We announced $230 million for clean technology in ecoenergy, $300 million for smarter energy for Canadians through the energy initiative, $1.5 billion for renewable energy technologies, $200 million to fight the pine beetle, and $30 million for the Great Bear Rainforest.
We are getting it done.
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
Mr. Speaker, the environment minister falsely pretended that former U.S. vice-president Al Gore endorsed Conservative climate change policies. Several on this side actually know the former vice-president and let me say, the environment minister is no Al Gore.
Far from commending Conservatives, Mr. Gore told them to get with the program, get with Kyoto, not to mimic George Bush, and to catch on to the green agenda to drive prosperity and growth. That is what Al Gore really said.
Why did the environment minister mislead the House?
Mark Warawa ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, the inconvenient truth is that the Liberals did nothing for 10 years.
The deputy leader of the Liberal Party said he thought his party got into a mess on the environment. The leader asked whether it was easy to set priorities. He said it was not fair.
What is not fair is the mess that the Liberals created. We are getting it done. They did not. We are.
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
Mr. Speaker, clearly he cannot answer the question. The environment minister increased Ontario's dependence on coal. He was in the government that brought Ontario the Walkerton tragedy. At Treasury Board he slashed over $5.6 billion from climate change action plans.
Here is what Al Gore told CTV News not long ago:
--I just refuse to believe that the Canadian people will go along with what the minority government here seems to want to do.
Instead of misrepresenting Mr. Gore, will the government simply embrace his real advice?
Mark Warawa ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, I guess the question is, who misled the House in the last Parliament? Was it that member or was it the environment minister, but the House was misled. Al Gore said,
My friends in Canada tell me that across party lines and in all regions there is very strong support for Canada, once again providing leadership in the world, fighting above its weight class and showing moral authority to the rest of the world.
We are getting it done.
