Debates of June 12th, 2007

No-Fly List

[Raymond Chan, Liberal, Richmond, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the no-fly list is just another ineffective Conservative headline stealing scheme. The no-fly list, as it is, will only catch the dumbest of terrorists who have not falsified their IDs before checking in for their flight.

It forces every Canadian 12 years and older to produce a government issued ID for domestic flights, which will only increase the backlog in passport offices and others. I was just told, because of questioning in the committee, that they will be changing that to 17 years and older. It will infringe on the civil liberties and rights to privacy of Canadians by passing information on to private air carriers which, in turn, can be easily ascertained by foreign governments.

Finally, one of the most fundamental problems with the no-fly list is that no one will be told why they are on the list and, thus, it will be extremely difficult to defend oneself. I call upon the government--

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for Blackstrap.

Parliamentary Life

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

Mr. Speaker, there are special requirements for any woman fulfilling the duties of a member of Parliament. As a wife and mother, I am aware of the necessary sacrifices when family events occur in the constituency and parliamentary duties keep me in Ottawa.

My daughter, Ivana, turns 18 today and I am unable to be with her or for her pre-grad events. It is difficult to be far away. I want to thank my children for their understanding and patience.

It has not always been easy for them, but they have supported me, as has my husband, through this entire time knowing that there are times when the many miles of this vast country must separate us.

Even now there are some, if not many, who may question a mother sitting in the House of Commons while there are still children at home. This lingering attitude often pushes us to stretch our lives to the limit to accommodate both Parliament and family.

I am thinking of our girls today, Ivana, this year's valedictorian who is preparing for graduation after combining athletic achievement and academic excellence, and Elaina, who has established a career as a teacher and a marriage with her husband.

My family has adjusted, coped and succeeded, despite the challenges of my parliamentary life. I am proud of their sacrifices as I am so very aware of my own.

Montcalm Regional County Municipality

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to highlight the 25th anniversary of the Montcalm Regional County Municipality.

On the evening of May 26, an anniversary celebration was held in honour of the Montcalm RCM. Some 340 citizens were present to celebrate its 25 years of service to the public. Municipal officials were present, including 30 of the 45 mayors of the RCM, in addition to several economic, cultural and community organizations. At the same time, a tribute to the memory of the mayors was a reminder of how many people shaped the future of the various municipalities.

The Montcalm RCM is now recognized in the area for its dynamism. We are confident that, in future, the RCM will continue to improve its services and to make regional development a priority.

The Environment

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at the G-8 summit in Germany, our Prime Minister invited all the countries to adopt a common strategy for fighting climate change. This initiative is consistent with our green plan, which will allow Canada to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and reduce atmospheric pollution by 50% by 2015.

Unfortunately, through their powerlessness, the Bloc members were complicit in the Liberal inaction and the 35% increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the country. While the Bloc will never actually be able to do anything about this and just keeps talking, we want and can take action and are indeed actually doing something. In fact, Quebec's environment minister recently reiterated that the $350 million from the Canada ecotrust will allow Quebec to achieve the objectives of its action plan.

Fortunately, we now have Conservative MPs from Quebec and a government that is getting things done in the interest of the country through a concrete plan, mandatory standards for all industry sectors and greenhouse gas reduction targets that are realistic and will be met.

Noble Metal Processing Canada

[Lloyd St. Amand, Liberal, Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, June 3, I was pleased to join Noble Metal Processing Canada in celebrating the 10 year anniversary of its facility in Brantford, Ontario.

Noble Metal Processing Canada, a division of Noble International, is North America's largest laser welder, providing high quality products to the North American automotive industry.

Over the past 10 years, the facility in Brantford has grown to employ 140 people, all of whom are dedicated, outstanding employees. I had the privilege of touring this facility and was greatly impressed by the high level of knowledge and innovation that have been combined at the site.

Nobel Metal Processing Canada is a justifiably very well regarded manufacturing facility in Brant. I wish it many more successful years in Brantford.

Justice Legislation

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are worried about crime. While the opposition claims that our crime rate is going down, Statistics Canada reports that serious violent crime is going up, not down. The murder rate is the highest in almost a decade. Aggravated assaults are up 10%, assaults using a weapon are up 5% and attempted murders are up a whopping 15%.

Our new Conservative government takes crime seriously. We are eliminating house arrest for violent offenders, imposing tough mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes and longer sentences for repeat sex offenders.

The opposition parties? They allow arsonists to spend their jail time in the comfort of their homes. They vote against tough minimum sentences for gun crimes. They oppose longer jail terms for repeat sexual offenders like the balcony rapist.

There is only one party that takes crime seriously and that is our new Conservative government. While the Liberals and their friends remain soft on crime, we are making sure Canada's streets and communities are safe.

World Day Against Child Labour

[Dawn Black, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, around the world, hundreds of millions of children are forced to work dangerous jobs so they and their families can survive. These tasks put children's health, safety and their very lives in jeopardy.

Today, people from every part of the globe are participating in World Day Against Child Labour to end this shame. This year the focus is on eliminating child labour in agriculture where nearly 70% of child workers are found. Over 132 million children toil from sunrise to sunset on farms sowing and harvesting crops and spreading dangerous pesticides.

Canada cannot continue to turn a blind eye to this exploitation. We are part of an international community and we committed to spending 0.7% of GNI on development. For decades, successive Liberal and Conservative governments failed to fulfill this obligation. The government must demonstrate its willingness to better the lives of children around the world and meet this goal now.

Housing

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the homes at the decommissioned Kapyong Barracks site in my riding of Winnipeg South Centre have been vacant for several years.

The government is maintaining these homes at a cost of a quarter of a million dollars annually and at the expense of the Canadian taxpayers, while it could help address the rental housing shortage in Winnipeg.

During committee of the whole on May 17, I asked the Minister of National Defence about the transfer of lands, buildings and houses on the Kapyong Barracks and the minister thought that it had already been transferred. However, that is not so.

I have written to the minister's office four times on this matter since March 3, 2006 and so far there has been no action. Three times I have requested a 10 minute meeting with the minister and so far there has been no action.

Manitoba's senior minister, the President of the Treasury Board, now says that Kapyong is not his problem. The Minister of National Defence seems to think that it is not his problem.

This is a problem for the residents of Winnipeg. Again I ask members opposite, who is minding Manitoba?

Marcel Pepin

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the City of Montreal wanted to honour Marcel Pepin by naming a street after him where dozens of affordable houses are being built in the Rosemont area.

Marcel Pepin was the president of the CSN from 1965 to 1976 and chair of the Angus revitalization committee when the plants, better known as the Angus Shops, closed their doors for good.

Marcel Pepin, a progressive union leader and sovereigntist, died in 2000. Instrumental in the Quiet Revolution, he helped build modern-day Quebec. He grew up in a modest home and became an icon in the union movement, devoting his life to the advancement of the working class. To his dying day, Marcel Pepin spoke out publicly in defence of the rights of Quebec, the less fortunate and workers, whether they were unionized or not.

As a former secretary general of the CSN, I salute his memory and the Bloc Québécois joins me in congratulating the City of Montreal on this initiative to keep the memory of this great fighter alive.

The Laval News

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on May 31, the weekly The Chomedey News changed its name to reflect its new reality. For a number of years, The Laval News has been distributed not only in Chomedey, but also all around Laval, for example, in Sainte-Dorothée, Laval-sur-le-Lac and parts of Fabreville and Laval-Ouest. This development is surely due to the excellent work of its employees.

On May 25, at its gala of excellence, the Quebec Community Newspaper Association recognized the The Laval News, giving it three awards.

Nancy Girgis won the top award for best environmental story and took third place in the best business story category. Graphic designer Bala Thanabalasingam won first place for the best advertising insert.

Congratulations to the recipients and to the whole The Laval News team for their hard work and their commitment to putting out a quality newspaper for our entire area.

The Budget

[Gary Goodyear, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Surprise, surprise, Mr. Speaker. Today another Liberal senator has said that he and his unelected, unaccountable Liberal dominated buddies will delay the passage of the budget past the June deadline.

Over $4 billion will be lost if those Liberals continue with their selfish partisan games: $1.5 billion to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution, lost; $225 million to conserve ecological sensitive lands, lost; $600 million to address patient wait times guarantees, lost; $30 million for the Rick Hansen Foundation to help those with spinal cord injuries, lost; $570 million to Ontario's labour market training, lost; and $135 million for developmental assistance in Afghanistan, lost.

The Leader of the Opposition should stand up right now and encourage his Liberal senators to pass the budget so that these investments in Canada are not lost. Canadians are waiting.

Atlantic Accord

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it is easy to make the case that the Prime Minister broke his promise to two Atlantic provinces.

Clause 4 of the Atlantic accord stipulates that “the equalization formula as it exists” is to be used in the calculations.

Yet, the budget introduces a new equalization formula that does not include the accord. Only the previous formula takes the accord into account.

In light of the evidence, will the Prime Minister—or anyone from the government—admit that he reneged on his promise and broke his word, which he gave to two Atlantic provinces?

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

Mr. Speaker, this government respects the Atlantic accords in the budget so completely that there are absolutely no changes to anything that was signed in 2005, nor has anything been taken away from the provinces. Our consultations with Nova Scotia are to address the implementation process and the advantages of budget 2007. The budget offers many advantages.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, as I have proven to the minister, he is mistaken.

Yesterday, it was doublespeak again from the Prime Minister. Yesterday in question period he said, “What we will not do is provide a new, enhanced side deal for any province”. But in the press conference just before, he said the opposite. He said that he was “--somewhat surprised by the decision that Nova Scotia has taken to put an end to such discussions”.

That is doublespeak. Is the government now, or was it ever, negotiating a deal with Nova Scotia, yes or no?

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

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear that what we have been discussing with the province of Nova Scotia are questions of implementation. It has options to consider, whether it wishes to proceed under the old Atlantic accord formula or the new enriched one.

It is really those negotiations and consultations on the new enriched formula that we had with the provinces that led to the correction of the fiscal imbalance.

That means that a province like Nova Scotia will be getting more than $2.4 billion in 2007-08 under that fiscal balance package including: $1.3 billion for equalization, $130 million for offshore accord offsets, and $639 million for the Canada health transfer, a lot of really good things for Nova Scotia.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, so we do not have an answer. We do not know if the Conservatives are negotiating, yes or no, but we will know.

Earlier this year the Conservative member for Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre said, “If you want to say we didn't fulfill the commitment or keep our promise, fair enough”.

Will the Prime Minister say “fair enough”, or “I am sorry”? At the end of the day, it is a matter of trust. Three provinces have been betrayed. Who is next? Does the Prime Minister not realize that when he breaks his word to one region, or two, or three, he breaches the trust of all Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, I think the member for Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre was referring to the fact that unlike the previous government that did not believe there was a fiscal imbalance, fair enough. We had a government here that did and was looking to change the equalization program.

For that member's province of Saskatchewan, he saw that the federal budget does a lot for Saskatchewan, $1.4 billion in total including: $226 million under new equalization, $756 million under the Canada health transfer, and $324 million under the Canadian social transfer. There is more, and more, and guess what? None of it ever came from the member for Wascana.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this is a government in disarray, reeling from the fallout of its own dishonesty. Conservatives will not even show their faces in the House.

We have a powerless minister for Nova Scotia who cannot speak up for his province. We have a desperate Minister of Finance who will do anything to avoid yet another U-turn on his budget. We have a Prime Minister who has broken his word so many times he cannot be trusted.

This is not open federalism. This is open warfare. Why will the Prime Minister not take the first step to getting control over the situation and admit that he broke his promise to Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, our government is very proud of always keeping our commitments. We are particularly proud of our program of open federalism, of correcting the fiscal imbalance, and of correcting the situation where the provinces were not well off.

Does the House know what it is? It is a real contrast with the program of the leader of the Liberal Party who said the following and I am reading from an old newspaper article here:

“Premier John Hamm's Campaign for Fairness on offshore royalties was flawed from the start”, [the] Intergovernmental Affairs Minister said Tuesday. “I suggested to stop arguing about the past,” [he] said after meeting with Hamm for more than an hour. “It's a mistake to link (the offshore) to equalization payments, because then other provinces want--”

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Etobicoke--Lakeshore.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs is supposed to be the voice of Nova Scotia in cabinet, but he was powerless when the Prime Minister's Office sabotaged negotiations with his province.

When the minister refused to sign the declaration of war written by the Prime Minister's director of communications, the Minister of Finance did so.

Is this the famous open federalism? It seems more like open war.

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

Mr. Speaker, not at all. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is a strong voice for Nova Scotia. He has delivered the goods. For example, under our budget, the province of Nova Scotia will receive more than $2.4 billion in 2007.

In fact, the people of Nova Scotia will also do very well under the budget. They will get a new $2,000 child tax credit which will save Nova Scotia parents $39.6 million. A lot of Nova Scotia parents are thanking the foreign affairs minister for delivering on that.

Expenses of the Former Lieutenant Governor of Quebec

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the reports of the two auditors general concerning the expenses of the former Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec confirm our worst fears: no accountability; no supporting documentation; meal and accommodation expenses claimed twice; skiing, golfing and fishing trips taken at taxpayers' expense; parties and receptions for friends. In short, in 10 years, Canadian Heritage paid $1.7 million to the former Lieutenant-Governor, including $700,000 for “questionable” or unjustified expenses.

Will the government comply with the main recommendation of the auditors general and demand that this money be reimbursed?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we are deeply concerned by the Auditor General's report, and we are reviewing her observations and recommendations.

Of course, Canada's new government is committed to accountability and transparency. Its goal is to produce real results and ensure that taxpayers' money is well spent.