Debates of Nov. 24th, 2008

Ukraine

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this weekend we memorialized the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor, the famine-genocide of Ukraine's rural population in 1932-33. Millions starved to death in the very breadbasket of Europe.

In 1932-33, Moscow put in place a master plan for the Ukrainians. Behind barbed wire, Ukraine became a hell on earth, her lush countryside denuded of leaves and grasses as people ate anything that grew. It became a land where no birds sang, where no grasses rustled, where the deathly silence in villages was broken only by wagons picking up the dead.

One by one, hundred after hundred, thousand after thousand, million after million laid their skin-and-bone bodies down onto Ukraine's fertile black soil and became one with their land, their lives extinguished.

Today, let us pledge to those millions of innocent victims from humanity's tragic and common past a pledge of two simple words: never again.

[Member spoke in Ukrainian]

Olympic Torch

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today I wish to celebrate the Canadian spirit that will be manifested in a year's time when the Olympic torch crosses Canada, passing through such places as Victoria, Alert, Point Pelee and Cape Spear, not to mention the beautiful province of Quebec.

Thousands of Canadians will take part in the 45,000 kilometre relay and millions of others will come together in communities, from coast to coast, to celebrate the Canadian Olympic spirit.

Thanks to the federal government's support for the Olympic torch relay and such programs as Own the Podium, Canada will be proud, in 2010, to have the world witness British Columbia's moment of glory.

I am proud that the torch will soon be arriving in Charlesbourg, in Quebec's beautiful national capital region, and we can hardly wait to see it light up the opening of the Olympic Games in Canada.

The Economy

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the people of the northwest of British Columbia in Skeena—Bulkley Valley who for years have been living through a recession of their own. With the downturn of the fishing industry and the forestry sector, for more than eight years we have seen unemployment rates of greater than 80% in some of our communities, yet this has become a story of innovation and courage. In fact, it holds lessons for the rest of our country and the world about innovating in mining and bringing forward investment in the container port of Prince Rupert and the cooperative abattoir in Telkwa, B.C. People have risen up and banded together; first nations and non-first nations have joined in a common interest which is rebuilding our economy.

These lessons can be brought to a greater scope on the national level. The government must be willing to collaborate and to innovate and build an economy for the future, not one of the past.

Ukraine

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

Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 75th anniversary of one of the most heinous crimes in modern history: the state sponsored famine genocide of 1932-33 perpetrated by the Soviet communist regime of Joseph Stalin against the Ukrainian people.

This deliberate famine was devised to destroy Ukrainian nationalists' aspirations for a free and independent Ukraine. It was a terrible genocide that killed millions of Ukrainians, and for decades the truth about this horrific crime was suppressed by Soviet authorities and her western allies.

November 22 marked the first national Holodomor Memorial Day in Canada. I am humbled that Bill C-459 received unanimous support during the last Parliament and established this annual day of remembrance in Canada for the Holodomor.

More important, the act recognizes the great famine of 1932-33 for what it really was: a genocide. Numerous ceremonies took place across Canada in honour of Holodomor survivors, and of course, to remember the millions and millions of victims. Let their memories be eternal.

[Member spoke in Ukrainian as follows:]

Vichna yim pamyat.

Laval University's Rouge et Or

[Pascal-Pierre Paillé, Bloc, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, with an exciting 44-21 victory over the University of Western Ontario Mustangs, Laval University's Rouge et Or captured the 2008 Vanier Cup, the symbol of supremacy in Canadian university football.

This is the fifth Vanier Cup in the short history of the team from Quebec City. This was a magnificent ending to a perfect season, another feat that few teams can boast about.

The Bloc Québécois would like to congratulate everyone who contributed to their success: players, coaches, owners and supporters were all part of the winning formula. Laval University has every reason to be proud of its football team and its success has brought honour to all Quebec.

High Tech Industry

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in 1951, 3M Innovation first began transforming Canadian technology in its London, Ontario operation. Since then the London branch has grown to become a major high tech and green employer in our city, with tremendous spinoff business for the entire southwestern Ontario region.

On Friday, 3M had to announce that it would be laying off 140 full time positions. This will undoubtedly have an enormous impact on the lives of Londoners and other residents of the southwestern Ontario region.

We in this place must commit to increasing investment in our precious high tech sector now more than ever. This is the key to our prosperity as a country and what will define Canada as a global leader. We simply cannot afford to be laggards when it comes to investing in green technology.

Member for Kingston and the Islands

[Gord Brown, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, It is my distinct privilege on behalf of every hon. member in this House to take at least a minute today to recognize an important anniversary that took place on Friday, November 21. For it was on that day in 1988 that you, Mr. Speaker, were first elected to represent the people in the riding of Kingston and the Islands. Twenty years is a long time to serve, indeed.

A little research tells me that your first speech in this place was on December 16, 1988, and your first question to the government of the day was regarding procedure. A biographer might call this foreshadowing for the role you are most well known for today.

Along the road, I understand that you served in a number of positions, many of them involving procedure, roles such as parliamentary secretary to the House leader, chair of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, and deputy chair of the committee of the whole House.

On January 29, 2001, you were elected the 34th Speaker of the House of Commons, only the third Speaker in our history to be chosen by a secret ballot cast by fellow members of the House of Commons.

In the spirit of cooperation that now rules in this place, and on behalf of the members of this House, I wish to offer you congratulations on your 20 years of service to the people of Kingston and the Islands and to the people of Canada.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I thank the hon. member for Leeds--Grenville.

The Economy

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, two months ago, the Prime Minister said that there would be no recession if the Conservatives were elected. He said that creating a deficit would be stupid. Those were his own words. Now that the election is over, he is saying exactly the opposite. Canada will be in a Conservative recession and we will have a Conservative deficit.

In light of this double deception, how can Canadians believe a single word that comes out of the Conservative Prime Minister's mouth?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I would hate to think where we would be if we had actually elected a Liberal government, because we would have an increased tax on Canadians at a time when they can least afford it. The Liberals were going to raise the GST. They were also going to add a carbon tax.

We need to continue cutting taxes where possible, and we need to face the reality that we are in difficult economic times worldwide.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the question was about ethics, not economics, especially not the nonsense economics we just heard.

Canadians want to know the unvarnished truth about the economy, not sugar coating and deception. Only yesterday, Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, confirmed that of course the Prime Minister knew about the deficit during the election.

Why, in the Prime Minister's own words, did the idea of a deficit go all the way from stupid to essential in just a few short weeks?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, those are pretty harsh words coming from someone on the Liberal side, which actually lost the last election because the Liberals ran an election on a carbon tax that would have cost Canadians billions of dollars.

The leadership of our Prime Minister will take us through what we all know will be some difficult times.

We are looking forward to our finance minister giving us an update on Thursday as to where we are going.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, “stupid” and “essential” are the Prime Minister's own words.

The economy is in recession when it shrinks for two quarters in a row, so why does the Prime Minister insist on talking about a technical recession? Does he think a technical recession is less scary? Is he telling a laid-off worker to be happy because he is only technically unemployed? Does the Prime Minister think that misleading Canadians on the economy is a mere technicality?

Why will he not stop the sugar coating, cut the jargon and call a recession a recession?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, thank you for allowing the member to finish his question.

When we have been talking on this side of the House of what stimulates the economy, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said today, “To prevent the recession deepening, we also need to take action to put money into the economy immediately....the best and fairest approach is a measure which will help everyone.... A much needed injection of spending”--by reducing the value added tax--“will make goods and services cheaper and, by encouraging spending, will help stimulate growth”.

That is exactly what the Conservative government did a year ago.

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

Mr. Speaker, first the Parliamentary Budget Officer blames the new Conservative deficit on “previous [Conservative] policy decisions as opposed to weakened economic conditions”. Now, Tom Flanagan, the Prime Minister's former chief of staff, says that they have squandered the surplus on purpose, to justify “ideologically driven, neo-conservative cuts”.

Why did the Conservatives kill the contingency reserve during the good times, gutting the fiscal capacity to help Canadians during these tough times? Was it incompetence, or was it ideology?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, it is ironic that the hon. member would once again raise the contingency fund, the fictional contingency fund. That actually was never legislated in the House.

The Liberals, if they did not just pass on all of the costs to the provinces through reduced transfer payments, would build up a slush fund for their March madness, of which we are all too tired. That is why Canadians elected a Conservative government, for prudent and frugal budgeting.

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

Mr. Speaker, it was a real contingency fund and it was a real $13 billion surplus that the Conservative government inherited from the Liberal government.

What did the Conservatives do with that surplus? They savagely attacked investments in literacy, women's equality, access to the courts, and arts and culture programs, just to name a few.

Now, after gutting Canada's fiscal security, the finance minister is about to introduce Canada's new Conservative deficit.

Canadians deserve to know what kind of ideologically driven, neo-conservative cuts should vulnerable Canadians brace themselves for next?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we have heard a number of accusations.

I would like to remind the House that we have heard about this fictional contingency fund. We have heard about the fictional Kelowna accord and the fictional child care plan.

What is not fictional is the fact that the Liberals denied that there was fiscal imbalance with the provinces. We fixed that. We fixed that because it needed to be fixed. We needed to inject money into the provinces so they could continue to offer the services to Canadians that they need.

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

Mr. Speaker, last week, the Prime Minister acknowledged that we could expect a deficit in the next year. On the weekend, he and the Minister of Finance both admitted that we were on the verge of a recession. So, while all OECD countries are taking measures to stimulate the economy and help their citizens, the Minister of Finance is telling us to wait for the next budget.

Does the Prime Minister not realize that he must act now, and not in three months?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I might remind the hon. member that I just referred to today's announcement by the United Kingdom of $38 billion in tax cuts, a reduction of 1.5% in its value-added tax.

We took those pre-emptive moves in our fall economic update a year ago. That was $37 billion back in Canadians' pockets so they could prepare themselves for this downturn in the economy.

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

Any money that came back went into the pockets of the oil companies.

According to Sherry Cooper, the lead economist at the Bank of Montreal, now is the time for the government to take action and introduce measures to stimulate the economy. The Bloc Québécois presented a recovery plan to help the manufacturing and forestry industries and to help the people. In all, twenty or so suggestions were made to stimulate the economy. All that is missing is some political will. What is the Prime Minister waiting for?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said on many occasions, we took pre-emptive moves that put money back into Canadians' pockets.

We also established a $1 billion community development trust fund that was specifically set up for communities that were impacted by layoffs, many of them in Quebec and many in northern Ontario. That is money that communities have had to invest in their infrastructure.

We put in place a $33 billion infrastructure fund that will be spread out across this country. That is stimulus.

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the Prime Minister said he was willing to listen to our suggestions for dealing with the crisis in the manufacturing industry. Given the lack of real measures in the throne speech, the Bloc gave him some suggestions this morning, including a refundable tax credit for research and development.

Will the Minister of Finance finally understand the urgency of the situation and act now, or will he just tell us that he is going to sit back and wait for the next budget?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome those suggestions from the Bloc this morning.

The minister and the Prime Minister have been asking for some constructive observations, some suggestions as Bloc members put forward this morning as to what they feel they need in their communities.

I would encourage all members in the House to approach the Prime Minister and the finance minister with some suggestions rather than just the heckling we are hearing from the other side.