Debates of June 13th, 2007

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the minister absolutely misrepresents the motion. The motion simply instructs the government to negotiate from a position of strength, a bottom line where the nation stands with our supply management sector.

Is the Prime Minister, by withdrawing the negotiator from sensitive industry discussions, ensuring the death of supply management? Is that his purpose? The government not only is trading our supply management system away, it is losing it by default.

Will the minister accept his responsibilities, support our producers, use the motion as leverage and get the job done?

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, when dairy producers asked the Liberal government to use article XXVIII to protect the industry, what happened? Not a thing. This government moved and used article XXVIII.

They asked the Liberals to move on compositional standards to protect them from the intrusion of MPCs into this country. What did that member and the rest of those guys do? Not a darn thing.

What we have done is we have said we are going to protect supply management. We stand with supply management. When we negotiate, what would the member have us do, sell out supply management? What we do is we stand solidly with the producers and we say no change to over-quota tariffs, no tariff rate expansion. We are with supply management.

International Trade

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, since the Conservatives have been in power, they have not been walking the talk, and we saw proof of this again today. The Conservatives and the Minister of International Trade are destroying an industry that does not need subsidies, but rather unwavering support to remain competitive.

When will the Minister of International Trade listen to the needs of our poultry producers and reverse his decision to allow for increased imports of poultry from outside Canada? When will the minister firmly support supply management, once and for all?

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, I have been asked this time to kind of repeat what I said last time but maybe not so quickly. I think the hon. member should listen up.

We support supply management. We campaigned to support supply management. We have instructed our negotiators to support supply management. We intend to continue to support supply management. Read my lips. They are safe. They are with us, not with you.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, clearly the minister has changed portfolios, because the question was addressed to the Minister of International Trade.

While Canadian poultry producers, including those in Madawaska—Restigouche, provide a high quality product under supply management, the Minister of International Trade, without any reason, decided to allow an additional 8.7 million kilograms of chicken to be imported from other countries.

How can this government claim to defend supply management and poultry producers when it is jeopardizing the very future of our producers, not to mention jobs that are very important to rural communities in Canada?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Secretary of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, it is very strange to hear members of that party say such things. Let us consider what has been accomplished in the last 14 months. Concrete action has been taken. We are talking about action here, and not just empty rhetoric. That is all we heard for the past 13 years, and our supply managed sectors suffered as a result. We, on the other hand, are taking action.

Public Safety

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on May 1, the Minister of Public Safety let it be known that he shared my concerns about the presence of a sexual predator, Clermont Bégin, in a halfway house located on a Government of Canada property near an elementary school. On May 23, the trustees of the Montreal school board unanimously voted in favour of a resolution demanding that pedophiles no longer be assigned to halfway houses located near schools.

Has the Minister of Public Safety directed Correctional Service Canada to cease this practice?

[Stockwell Day, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot comment specifically on this case, but in instances like these, representatives from Correctional Service engage with local officials to see if there are some things that can be done to mitigate the risks. There are things already in place. I am very concerned about these types of eventualities also.

One thing that would help is if the opposition members would support our Minister of Justice when he looks at legislation on things like making it a little more expeditious to deem dangerous offenders as dangerous offenders so they would not get out of jail in the first place. We would appreciate some support on that.

Human Resources and Social Development

[Christian Ouellet, Bloc, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there have always been significant delays in the establishment and funding of government programs for the homeless. This year, as every year, emergency transitional measures have been put in place in order to avoid an interruption of service even though the needs of the homeless increase every year.

Can the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development confirm that, this time, the new homelessness partnering strategy will be put in place on time, enabling community organizations to receive funding as of January 1, 2008?

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

Mr. Speaker, we are very concerned about the situation for homeless people. In fact, we moved very quickly to ensure that funding agreements were in place under the national homelessness initiative.

Under the new homelessness partnering strategy, we are already seeing some new programing. However, to ensure that we do not miss a beat and that people are protected, the national homelessness initiative will go forward until the projects currently under way are finished.

Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government has refused to allocate funding to extend the runways at the Saint-Hubert and Trois-Rivières airports. In both cases, the extensions are required for local economic development. These two airports are located in regions that did not elect a Conservative member.

However, the Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec was able to find millions of dollars to extend the runway at the Alma airport, which is located in his own riding.

Is the Conservative government in the process of punishing the regions of Quebec that did not elect Conservatives?

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

Mr. Speaker, indeed, the Alma airport did receive a contribution through one of the six new tools we have implemented called community economic facilities for the regions. The same goes for the others, like Sept-Îles, which enlarged its wharf.

The role—the purpose—of the Economic Development Agency of Canada is to help vulnerable regions and regions in difficulty.

The budget for Abitibi-Témiscamingue went from 4% to 7% this year; for the Eastern Townships, it went from 5% to 8%; for Quebec City, growth ranged from 7% to 22% because of the 400th anniversary and so forth. We are helping regions in difficulty.

The Budget

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, Liberal senators continue their threat to ignore the will of the House of Commons. Regarding the budget, Liberal Senator George Baker said:

—I would say I'm duty-bound not just to interfere with it but to vote against it and do whatever I could to delay it.

Last night the House of Commons voted in favour of the budget, but a delay in the Senate could result in the loss of some very important funding.

Could the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development tell the House the effect a delay in passing the budget will have on Canadian workers?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is an important question. We already know the Liberal leader said that he would take away the universal child care benefit from Canadian parents, and I cannot understand that. Now he is prepared to let unelected senators take away the 40% increase for post-secondary education, $500 million in support for training, $250 million for child care spaces, a doubling of the training program budget for aboriginals.

He might think it is unfair, but it is really his job to stand up to unelected Liberal senators.

Natural Resources

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Mr. Speaker, the June 7 speech to the natural gas conference in Ottawa by the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is creating confusion in the Northwest Territories. In his speech the minister said, “It may be necessary to reconfigure and reinvent the project”. The confusion the minister is creating through this piecemeal approach is just one more reason that Canada must have a strategy on energy security.

Will the Conservative minister clearly state once and for all what his government's real position is on the Mackenzie Valley pipeline and end this confusion?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member and his party have frequently commented about big oil and big gas. I actually recall one memorable exchange where the term “big ass” was in fact used.

The hon. member himself has repeatedly expressed his opposition to the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. To the amazement of everyone this past weekend, he called on the government to subsidize the Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

Perhaps the NDP members could explain why they are opposed to a private sector pipeline, but in favour of the same pipeline if it is publicly subsidized.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Mr. Speaker, obviously the minister does not know the difference between a subsidy and ownership, and he should learn it.

In the same speech the minister said that the Conservative government would want to do the same thing the Liberals wanted to do, give away the royalties that really belonged to the average people of the Northwest Territories.

The northern royalty rates are already so low they constitute a giveaway of the oil and gas.

Will the minister please explain how following the discredited Liberal plan to give away the royalties will benefit the working people of the north?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians]

Mr. Speaker, the government will follow a Conservative plan. I have made it very clear that this project is a piece of basin opening, private infrastructure. It is an important project to the country, but it is one that must be constructed by the private sector. It must make sense to the shareholders of the companies that construct it. That is the way this project must proceed.

Business of the House

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

Mr. Speaker, there have been extensive consultations and I believe you would find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move:

That, in relation to the proceedings for Wednesday, June 13, and notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practices of the House:

1. the ways and means motion number 21 be deemed adopted;

2. at 5:20 p.m. the member for Burlington and sponsor of Bill C-279 may make a statement of not more than ten minutes in relation to the said bill and following the statement Bill C-279 shall be withdrawn from the order paper and government orders shall be taken up during the time provided for private members' business;

3. after 5:30 p.m., the Chair shall not receive any quorum calls, dilatory motions or requests for unanimous consent, provided that at 9 p.m. the House shall adjourn to the next sitting day or when the debate on all of the following is completed: Bills S-6, C-51, C-61, C-59, C-23 and C-11, whichever comes first; and

4. when no member rises to speak to the motion relating to the amendments made by the Senate to Bill C-11 the question shall be deemed put, a recorded division deemed requested and deferred to Thursday, June 14, at 3 p.m.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Does the hon. the government House leader have the unanimous consent of the House to propose the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

(Motion agreed to)

(On the Order: Ways and Means:)

June 12, 2007—Consideration of a Ways and Means motion to introduce an Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, the Wage Earner Protection Program Act and chapter 47 of the Statutes of Canada, 2005—The Minister of Labour

(Motion deemed adopted)