Debates of May 28th, 2007

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of the Hon. Lorne Calvert, Premier of Saskatchewan.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I would also like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of the Hon. Michael Murphy, Minister of Health for New Brunswick.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

Government Response to Petitions

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 64 petitions.

Justice and Human Rights

[Art Hanger, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 14th report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in relation to the judicial appointment process.

Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

[Dean Allison, Conservative, Niagara West—Glanbrook, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 17th report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.

Income Trusts

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I present this income trust broken promise petition on behalf of Mrs. Irene Corridore from Ontario who remembers the Prime Minister boasting about his apparent commitment to accountability when he said that the greatest fraud was a promise not kept.

The petitioners would remind the Prime Minister that he promised never to tax income trusts but recklessly broke the promise by imposing a 31.5% punitive tax which permanently wiped out $25 billion of hard-earned retirement savings to over two million Canadians, particularly seniors. Not only was this profoundly unfair, but expert testimony proved that the decision was based on flawed methodology and incorrect assumptions.

The petitioners, therefore, call upon the government, first, to admit that the decision to tax income trusts was based on flawed methodology and incorrect assumptions; second, to apologize to those who were unfairly harmed by this broken promise; and third, to repeal the punitive 31.5% tax on income trusts.

Gun Registry

[Mike Allen, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to present, on behalf of over 150 constituents of my riding and from outside, a petition asking the government about the waste of money in the long gun registry and pointing out that it unfairly targets law-abiding citizens, farmers, sport shooters and hunters.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to end the registration requirement for non-restricted long guns.

Asbestos Industry

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have signatures from hundreds of Canadians from all over Newfoundland and Labrador who remind the House of Commons that asbestos is the greatest industrial killer that the world has ever known and yet Canada continues to be one of the world's largest producers and exporters of asbestos.

They point out that Canada allows asbestos in construction materials, textiles and even in children's toys, and that Canada spends millions of dollars subsidizing the asbestos industry and blocking international efforts to curb its use.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to ban asbestos in all its forms, to introduce a just transition program for asbestos workers and the communities in which they live in, and to stop blocking international health and safety conventions designed to protect workers from asbestos, such as the Rotterdam Convention.

Passport Canada

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House once again to present a passport petition from people in my riding. In fact, just before I came to the House I was speaking with a resident of mine who was trying to drive the 10 hours to a passport clinic for his daughter and had his car wiped out by a moose.

It raises the issue, which is in this petition signed by hundreds of people from the Timmins region, that since we do not have walk-in services anywhere in northeastern Ontario and we are dependent on passport services because we do represent a mining region where people do a lot of international travel, we are in a situation where our region has been unfairly left out of the national service because we need to have mail-in service and obviously the mail-in service is nowhere close to what we would see at a walk-in passport office.

Therefore, given the fact that it is between a 10 and 12 hour drive for many of my residents to get to a passport office, they are looking to work with the government. The petitioners are calling for a passport service that would support not just the people of northeastern Ontario but also northwestern Quebec.

I am very proud to speak to that issue today and to bring forward this petition.

Employment Insurance

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition signed by 270 people, a vast majority of whom reside in the riding of Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord. The petitioners call upon the Conservative government to give a royal recommendation to Bill C-269, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (improvement of the employment insurance system), so it can be adopted quickly at third reading. This bill is aimed essentially at correcting flaws in the Employment Insurance Act to make it more responsive to the needs of residents of the Upper North Shore.

Visitor Visas

[Rick Casson, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I table a petition today that was presented to me by the Polish community in Lethbridge and area. It asks the government to lift the visa requirements for visitors from the Republic of Poland because Poland does not require visas for Canadian visitors to Poland.

Lifting the visitor visa requirements would increase family visits, tourism, cultural exchanges and trade missions. The Canadian Polish Congress representing 800,000 Canadians of Polish heritage strongly recommends the lifting of such visa requirements for Poland.

Banking Fees

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from the good citizens of London—Fanshawe who are concerned about record bank profits of over $19 billion by the six banks.

Unlike other countries, customers in Canada are faced with fees when they deposit, withdraw or transfer their own money using automated teller machines.

The NDP has proposed legislation that would eliminate ATM fees and my constituents call upon the government to pass this legislation and eliminate such fees.

Visitor Visas

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

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions coming from a very vibrant Polish community in my constituency, which joins with many other Polish Canadians across Canada, asking the government to lift the visa requirements for people coming from Poland.

The petitioners believe that this makes sense in terms of Poland's involvement in the European Union. They also believe that this would increase family visitation, tourism, cultural exchanges and trade missions and, therefore, would benefit both of our countries.

On behalf of all of those citizens, the petition calls upon Parliament to lift the visa requirements for the Republic of Poland.

Pet Food

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have hundreds of petitions from people from across Canada asking the government to create mandatory regulations and inspections to ensure the food that our cats and dogs are eating is safe and of high quality.

The petitioners are concerned that the contaminated pet food that was sold in Canada is causing harm to animals; that no federal department or agency is responsible for monitoring or informing the public about potentially harmful pet food; and that the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union all have regulations for the manufacture of pet food. They, therefore, call upon the government to take action.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present.

The first one is from 268 people across Canada in support of my once in a lifetime bill. The petitioners recognize that family reunification should be a key component to a fair immigration policy and that the current family class rules are too restricted and mean that many close relatives are not eligible for sponsorship.

The petitioners are calling upon Parliament to ensure that Canadian citizens and landed immigrants are given a once in a lifetime opportunity to sponsor a family member from outside the current family class as currently defined in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act by passing my private member's bill, Bill C-394.

Minimum Wage Legislation

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my second petition is signed by 340 people from my riding of Parkdale—High Park who recognize that the federal minimum wage was eliminated in 1996 by the Liberal government, that a $10 an hour minimum wage would just approach the poverty line for a single worker and that the federal government, if it established a minimum wage, would set a benchmark of best practice in labour standards right across Canada.

The petitioners are calling upon the Parliament of Canada to ensure that workers in the federal jurisdiction are paid a fair minimum wage by passing my Bill C-375 to re-establish a federal minimum wage and set it at $10 an hour.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Oral Questions

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order to respond to a point of order that was raised in the House on May 18 in response to a question during question period by the hon. member for North Vancouver. He, subsequent to question period, raised a point of order in my absence, so this is the first opportunity that I have had to respond.

In my response, I apparently said something to which he took offence. I certainly would not do so and did not suggest any criticism of the hon. member; however, if my comments may have been taken that way I want to clarify for the record and respond of course that no insult was meant.

I certainly had no knowledge of a medical condition that he revealed during that point of order. I would never have made such a comment otherwise and I would like to withdraw the offending remarks which were: “it is nice to see the hon. member here”.

Gasoline Prices

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The Chair has received notice of an application for an emergency debate from the hon. member for Scarborough—Agincourt, and I would hear him now.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask for an emergency take note debate on the price of gasoline Canadians are paying at the pumps.

Last week, the Conservatives heard from Canadians that their number one issue, overwhelmingly, was the price of gas. Canadians are saying that they are being gouged at the pumps.

Let us look at some of the figures.

Crude oil today is $64.20 a barrel. In February 2006 crude oil was the same as it is today, $64.20. The average price of gasoline today is $1.09 right across Canada, while in February 2006 the average price was 85¢. That is a difference of 24¢ per litre.

The price of crude oil on May 28, 2007 is $64.20 per barrel and the price of gasoline is $1.09. The last time that we had a price of $1.09 per litre of gasoline was July 31, 2006 and the price of crude at that time was $78 per barrel. That is a difference of $13.80 per barrel. Across Canada, an extra margin of 1¢ per litre generates an additional profit of $1 million per day.

In December 2005, gasoline prices were approximately 82¢ per litre. Today, the average price for gasoline is $1.09 per litre. This is an increase, under this government, of 32%.

Let us look at the net earnings by company.

Suncor had net earnings of $2.971 billion in 2006 and $1.158 billion in 2005. That is an increase of 156% or $1.813 billion.

Petro Canada had net earnings of $245 million in 2006 and $115 million in 2005. That is an increase of 113% or $130 million.

Husky Energy had net earnings of $2.726 billion in 2006 and $2.003 billion in 2005. That is an increase of 36%.

Let us look at net income by company.

Imperial Oil had a net income of $3.044 billion in 2006 and $2.600 billion in 2005. That is an increase of 17% or an increase overall of $444 million.

Chevron had a net income of $17.138 billion in 2006 and $14.099 billion in 2005. That is an increase of 21% or an increase overall of $3.039 billion.

Profits of $6.149 billion over one year.

When this government and this Prime Minister were in opposition, the hon. Prime Minister said on October 6, 2004:

It is time we axed the tax on tax. We would also eliminate the GST portion on gas prices that go above 85¢ per litre to prevent the government from reaping windfall profits on top of high gas prices.

Similarly, the then leader of the opposition, the Prime Minister today, on Monday, September 26, 2005, said, “Rather than continue to rake in record high revenues from record high oil prices, will the government simply cut gas taxes for consumers?”

That same day, the hon. Prime Minister continued and said, “Mr. Speaker, every time gas prices rise a cent, almost $40 million goes into the coffers of the government. It should stay in the pockets of consumers”.

The Minister of National Defence, the member at that time for Carleton—Mississippi Mills, stated on October 5, 2005:

Gasoline taxes account for an average 40% of the pump price. GST is charged on the pump price, gasoline taxes included. It is a tax on tax.

Clearly, this government, as one my constituents said, versus jumping into bed with big oil companies, should do the honourable thing: lower the price on gasoline and make sure that Canadians are not gouged every day. Or, as he put it plainly, “It is time that the government started screwing them versus being in bed with the oil companies”.

Speaker's Ruling

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I listened very patiently to the hon. member for Scarborough—Agincourt, who really seemed to have made a speech as though the debate had started rather than to try to give arguments as to why the Chair ought to allow the debate in the first place because there seemed to be a lot of quotes, if the hon. member does not mind me saying so, about what other people said rather than why this was urgent.

However, I am not satisfied that, despite all I have heard from him, the request for the emergency debate today meets the exigencies of the Standing Order at this time and, accordingly, I am not going to allow the debate to proceed on this basis.

I know the hon. member has other avenues available to him and I know he may want to pursue those with his House leader and others responsible for House time.