Debates of June 1st, 2007

Corporate Takeovers

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

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the NDP policy now is that people cannot even sell their shares in a company. Stelco has not even been sold yet to anybody. It is just up for sale.

While we share the member's concerns and hope that Stelco will continue to be viable, we do not want to see that to be its priority. The law provides that any investment decision by a foreign takeover is approved on the basis of the best interests of Canada.

We should look on the bright side. Unemployment is now at its lowest in 33 years. Since the Conservative Party became the government, almost half a million new jobs have been created and, guess what, that is 1,000 new jobs a day. That is a pretty good record for working people.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I should ask the House leader to come to Windsor to find out what the unemployment rate is there.

In the last 16 months alone, over 600 Canadian firms worth over $156 billion have been taken over by foreign interests. Not one was disallowed. That is up from $43 billion just two years ago, a whopping 365% increase. At this pace, our natural resources will be 100% owned by foreign companies. We will be mere tenants in our own country.

Will the government commit to the working families at Stelco to protect their jobs and their pensions, and will it commit to emergency hearings on foreign takeovers?

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

Mr. Speaker, I heard good news from Windsor. I heard that the Lakeshore industrial park near Windsor, Ontario has attracted more than a dozen new manufacturing plants in recent years, resulting in 6,000 jobs. That is because the Canadian economy is on fire in a good way.

Economic growth in the first quarter of this year on an annual basis is 3.7%. When we compare that with our big neighbours next door, the economic powerhouse of the United States with 0.6%, we are six times stronger than the American economy today.

The Environment

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the President of the United States proposed that talks on climate change be postponed to the fall. He stated that he would refuse to attempt to limit global warming to 2^o C and that he will refuse to work within the framework of the Kyoto protocol.

While Canadians worry about the direction being taken by the United States, the Prime Minister remains silent. On the eve of the G-8 summit we need a definite answer from this Prime Minister. Does he support the U.S. position, yes or no?

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the answer to the member's question is that this government is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. How much, he might ask? Twenty per cent by 2020. It is huge.

After 13 years of Liberal inaction, we are getting it done.

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have bad news for the parliamentary secretary. Yesterday, a Deutsche bank report concluded that the government's climate change plan would lead directly to increased GHG emissions and that its numbers are fundamentally flawed.

Now President Bush is talking about huge delays, weak targets and abandoning the Kyoto framework.

The Prime Minister continues to hide his agenda, hide the fact that he is supporting Bush behind the scenes and is hoping no one will notice. Everyone is noticing. When will he show some backbone and at least be honest with Canadians about his collusion with Bush at the G-8?

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, let us look at the facts.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. The parliamentary secretary's invitation is not one that was designed to provoke a lot of yelling on the other side. He simply wanted to have a look and now we will hear the hon. parliamentary secretary and perhaps be able to hear his answer.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the facts are that the deputy leader of the Liberal Party said “we didn't get it done”. The member for York Centre said “why didn't we get it done?” The leader said “I'll be part of Kyoto but I say to the world I don't think I'll make it”.

That defeatist attitude is what caused the environmental mess. We are not defeatists. We are getting it done. We will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Africa

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, at the upcoming G-8 meeting, aid to Africa will be discussed because it is widely agreed that not enough is being done.

The previous Liberal government had a comprehensive plan responding to the new partnership for Africa's development and money was flowing out.

The government has yet to act on its promises to Africa and is no doubt set to make more empty promises.

When will the government stop talking about Africa and start acting and keep its promises?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade and Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, we all know that the empty promises came from the former Liberal government. In fact, our Prime Minister at the last G-8 summit announced an investment of $450 million over 10 years to help victims in Africa. Not only that, this year we announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fight HIV-AIDS, most of that being in Africa, of $120 million. That is getting it done.

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, that is not so. The government makes announcements but the money is not actually going out.

At the 2006 G-8 meeting, the Prime Minister committed $250 million in new funding for AIDS but only $50 million was allocated in the estimates. We do not even see if the money is flowing.

Why is Africa taking a back seat with the government?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade and Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, we can prove this with evidence. I was in Africa last summer in Mozambique. Eleven and a half million children in primary schools are receiving textbooks. That is very important. When those children think of textbooks, they think of Canada. That is delivering the goods.

The Environment

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, following Minister Beauchamp, the president of the Montreal exchange, Luc Bertrand, is the latest person to express disappointment over the government's green plan. He feels that the targets are not strict enough, which will do nothing to encourage Canadian companies to trade carbon credits. Visibly furious, Luc Bertrand went as far as to say that, like a policy, a government can be changed.

Will the Minister of the Environment recognize that his plan's lack of scope is compromising the establishment of a carbon exchange, one of the most efficient tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we announced our commitment to a domestic carbon market and a regulatory framework. The detailed regulations are currently being worked out with the industry.

I am wondering what the member does not understand about yes.

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

What we do not understand, Mr. Speaker, is that the federal government is not creating conditions favourable to the establishment of such an exchange. That is the truth.

The G-8 will meet soon, and climate change is on the agenda. The Prime Minister said he would be bringing along his green plan, a plan decried by everyone.

Will the minister recognize that, with the proposal as it is, the Prime Minister's suitcase will not weigh much, the same way that his credibility does not weigh much internationally when it comes to his commitment to set ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets?

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, a domestic carbon market is very much part of our plan. Yes, we will be going to Berlin to the G8+5, the global forum, to discuss with our international partners the carbon market.

However, Canada now has a framework plan that includes a domestic carbon market. The answer is yes, oui.

I also want to wish the member a happy birthday.

Festivals and Special Events

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is on the funding of festivals. First, it was the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, and now it is the Minister of Industry, who said yesterday that his government does not throw money away.

The government justifies its refusal by saying that it wants to avoid another sponsorship scandal. This is ridiculous. It is not the festivals that were responsible for the scandal: it is the Liberals. Quebec is offering to the minister, as a temporary solution, to apply its own criteria. Are we to understand that, by turning down Quebec's solution, the minister is suggesting she does not trust Quebec's ability to save the festivals?

[Jim Abbott, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, our government has announced new funding of $60 million over two years. We are in the process of developing the framework to ensure the funding gets to the people who deserve the funding and who require the funding. It is that simple. It is a work in progress. The funding will be available once we know that we have proper control over the people being able to get the funds.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, organizers of major festivals and smaller ones are all panicking. Why target festivals? After all, they are a source of money, through taxes, for the state. This is taxpayers' money. When will the government give them their money?

Instead of creating another fiasco, as it did with the summer career placement program, why does the government not apply the existing Quebec criteria, and thus save the festivals while there is still time?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec is very close to the festivals. We have an annual budget of about $7 million to support festivals, including, among others, those of Montreal, the Quebec City major festivals, and those of the various regions of Quebec. In recent days and weeks, I have had the opportunity to meet Gilbert Rozon, and also Alain Simard. We told these gentlemen that Canada Economic Development would maintain their current envelope, that is about $700,000 for each of these two festivals, in addition to $300,000 in repayable loans, to support the 25^th anniversary of the Just for Laughs Festival

Corporate Takeovers

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

Mr. Speaker, on May 28, the Prime Minister said “...the budget did promise the government would review...foreign investment legislation”.

Two days later, yesterday, he reversed himself when he said “I don't think players who are involved in takeovers...can expect the government to change rules”.

If the Prime Minister does not intend to change any of the rules, is this just another broken promise, flip-flop from the budget?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, absolutely not. As the member knows, the Minister of Industry did state that we would be putting forward a panel on that. I want to thank the member for his support on the industry committee and for looking at this in greater detail in the fall.

Unfortunately, his own leader does not have such a responsible outlook. Let us hear what the National Post had to say about the Leader of the Opposition:

Now [the Leader of the Opposition] is making matters worse. How bizarre and sad it is that the Liberal party's egghead-in-chief--an academic by training and disposition--is giving lip service to policies that haven't been in vogue among educated people since the age of disco.

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member can take his economic advice from Terence Corcoran, who is responsible for one job, his own. We will take our economic advice from industry leaders like Laurent Beaudoin, Gord Nixon and Dominic D'Alessandro who are responsible for thousands of Canadian jobs and who believe that his government is failing to protect Canadian economic sovereignty.

The fact is that the Minister of Industry already prejudged any panel's findings when he said that eliminating foreign ownership restrictions would be good for Canada. The fact is that he has already given the green light to giant takeover firms to take over Bell Canada. When will he admit that he is selling Canada out?