Debates of May 28th, 2007

Corporate Takeovers

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the minister does not think we have to change the Investment Canada Act. In fact we do and we should be listening to the experts and the business leaders like Gord Nixon who is saying that it is scary to let the country go 100% foreign owned, or Dominic D'Alessandro who is saying that ownership matters a lot. “I...worry that we may all wake up one day and find that...we have lost control of our [economic] affairs”.

Will the minister listen to these business leaders and appoint an expert panel to review the Investment Canada Act? Will he listen to Canadians who want to keep the Canada in Bell Canada and will he stop listening to the Montreal Economic Institute where he is taking his orders from to just eliminate the foreign ownership rules altogether?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, we will listen to the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada. It said today that the intake and economic productivity is all together. It is saying that the sponsorship scandal by the former government was very disturbing to our economy.

That is why we have legislation that is accountable and transparent. We do not have any scandal in this government.

I want to add it is why Canadians said to the former government that it was time to change. We have changed the policy here--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for La Pointe-de-l'Île.

Afghanistan

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when we asked the government about allegations of torture on Afghan detainees, we were told that these allegations were unfounded. However, today we learned that these serious allegations were never verified by Canadian authorities.

How can the government justify this laissez-faire attitude and not following up on such serious allegations? Why did it not take its responsibilities, rather than merely playing the role of informant to Afghan authorities?

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

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, our government took many steps regarding this issue.

We immediately took steps to enhance the agreement that was put in place by the previous government. We have been working very closely with officials on the ground in Afghanistan. Our new ambassador there has assumed an important leadership role in coordinating not only with the government but also with the independent organizations that are also given increased powers to investigate with respect to allegations of abuse.

We continue to work very closely with all of those organizations to improve the atmosphere with respect to this issue.

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to legal scholar Amir Attaran, there is another explanation for Ottawa's silence, namely that:

Canada is well aware that there are serious problems with detainees, and that it could be accused of war crimes...That is why it does not want to know.

Is this not the real reason behind the government's silence?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is wrong. This government is taking a lot of steps. Making such allegations of torture and war crimes does not help promote progress in Afghanistan.

We are working with the other organizations and with the Government of Afghanistan. The atmosphere is more productive, and we feel it is necessary to continue making progress in Afghanistan.

Ministerial Expenses

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we learned today that the Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec granted a speech-writing contract worth $24,804 to a full time staffer in his constituency office. Yet, federal law clearly prohibits granting contracts to government employees. And that is not all. The employee, Daniel Giguère, maintains that he was asked to write speeches that were not related to the minister's duties.

Why should taxpayers pay for such speeches? Will the minister promise to pay back the money paid to this constituency office employee?

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

Mr. Speaker, all actions were perfectly legitimate. We were following a departmental recommendation and it was approved by the department's financial controller.

Justice

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last week this country was yet again gripped by another school shooting. A young boy of 15 was senselessly shot and killed and another school was placed under a lockdown order.

Can the Minister of Justice tell the House what our government is doing to address these needless tragedies?

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

Mr. Speaker, all Canadians mourn when they hear of the death of a young person in these circumstances.

Our crime fighting agenda has been very clear. We have taken aim at the illegal use of firearms. We introduced almost a year ago Bill C-10 which would give mandatory penalties for people who commit crimes with firearms. I urge all hon. members to work expeditiously to get these bills passed before summer so that police will have the tools they need to keep our streets safer and our schoolyards safer.

Festivals and Special Events

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage had a very simple task: to make sure funding would be available for summer festivals. But as a result of her interference and incompetence, summer festivals will not be receiving the promised funding and will suffer the consequences. It is still possible to fix this debacle.

Will the minister get to work, meet with festival organizers and make the $30 million available now?

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

Mr. Speaker, in fact that is exactly what I am doing. I met with a group of people in Winnipeg just this past week. They were quite eager and enthusiastic that they also have input to make sure that the new funds for a new program are going to benefit them and their communities. This is not only for large festivals. It is for small and medium size festivals that really have a meaningful place in bringing communities together right across this country.

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

Mr. Speaker, after all the games the minister played with this fund, it is unacceptable that she comes in now and says “the dog ate my homework”. Big deal that she is going to have a plan in place for the fall. Eighty per cent of the festivals take place in the summer. We need some leadership at Canadian Heritage. We do not need more grade school excuses.

Is the minister trying to stall on the summer fund so that she will have a $30 million honey pot to deliver for all the back to school sidewalk sales in every Conservative riding across this country?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated earlier, there are programs that exist right now that are supporting festivals. Those programs were in existence last year. They will be in existence this year and next.

This is a new program. It did not exist last year. That is why I say there are many festival organizations that are quite eager. They are supportive of the fact that we are listening to them and we are going to make sure that the criteria are accountable and transparent.

Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, while the minister is awarding questionable contracts to his friends, the Laiterie de l'Outaouais is trying to obtain crucial funding, which the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec is still refusing to give it. The dairy does not need the minister's little political games, it needs the agency's commitment in order to go ahead.

Could the Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec give the dairy the $300,000 it needs for its project, or has the money already been spent on contracts of questionable value?

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

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to regional economic development, this is how we have to work. We have to consider how this province and this country operate.

As minister responsible for regional economic expansion, I can say that the Laiterie de l'Outaouais application is under study. Yes, we will support secondary and tertiary processing. No, we will not support primary processing. We are trying to find ways to help the Laiterie de l'Outaouais. We need to let the application take its course within our department.

Goods and Services Tax

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal tax and spend philosophy has Canadians worried. Apparently, the Liberals think Canadians do not pay enough taxes and they want them to pay more.

The Liberals, who once promised to scrap the GST, have shockingly revealed their plan to increase the GST should they ever, I repeat ever, get back into power. Constituents in my riding and across Canada are worried.

Will the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance please inform the House how much this Liberal tax increase would cost every hard-working Canadian in this country?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question and also for his outstanding work on the House finance committee.

We know that the Liberal philosophy has been a tax and spend philosophy. That is why Canadians took very seriously the Liberals' comment just recently that raising the GST would be consistent with the Liberal approach. We know that is true.

The fact of the matter is that reductions in the GST have helped the poorest Canadians and many seniors who do not pay any other tax. If our GST cuts were reversed, it would actually cost Canadians $10 billion.

Telcommunications

[Louise Thibault, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, new pricing rules for local telephone services announced by the CRTC are quite simply unacceptable because they enact increases in rural areas. They represent a real obstacle to the development and occupation of rural areas. Once again, rural areas are penalized.

How could the Conservative government ignore such a vital reality as the rural areas? When will it reverse this decision and thus show that it truly cares about the rural as well as the urban population?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that this government does have the interests of rural areas at heart, contrary to what she just said.

Why? In our plan, only major urban centres will be deregulated in the near future. The status quo is in effect for rural centres and remote areas of Canada. We believe that these regions must have competitive rates. We did not deregulate these regions because there is no competition in these regions at present.

Equalization

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, later this afternoon the premier of Saskatchewan will appear before the finance committee to explain his deep disappointment in the 2007 federal budget and especially the broken Conservative promise about equalization. The government has boasted that complaints from provinces would be ended, but that is not true. At least five provinces are very angry.

Will the government confirm that it never once mentioned to Saskatchewan that the Conservative equalization promise to Saskatchewan would be capped and therefore killed?

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)]

Mr. Speaker, what a banner day for the residents of Saskatchewan. The member for Wascana has had an epiphany on his way to retirement in Florida. So what? That is what they say. He had the job for a whole year. He wrote three different budgets. He did not address the fiscal imbalance at all. We will take no lessons from that member.

We have listened to the premier of Saskatchewan. He is getting the best deal of any premier in this country, more new dollars per capita than anyone else.

Employment Insurance

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court has found that the trade unions' argument that surpluses in the employment insurance account should be used exclusively for EI contributors was worth hearing.

Could the Conservative Party, which has always professed support for an independent account, not go ahead and immediately establish such an independent employment insurance account?

[Monte Solberg, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for this important question. Obviously, I will not comment on the court case. I will simply reiterate something the Prime Minister has said in this place, which is that we are interested in ideas regarding an independent employment insurance account and are prepared to consider any and all ideas on this issue.