Debates of Feb. 6th, 2008

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, the question is very simply what does the Liberal Party have to hide? Why will the Liberals not allow this investigation they want to apply to their party? Why will they not open up their books? When there is affidavit evidence documenting exactly their spending habits, why do they prevent that from being considered by the committee?

We want all the books open. We want every party investigated. We know why the Liberals do not want it. They saw what happened the last time their party was investigated: $40 million went missing and they lost government. They do not like that.

Afghanistan

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we learned that millions of dollars sent from Canada for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan are in fact in private banks and impossible to trace. Yet in budget 2007, the Conservative government promised greater accountability.

The truth is, nothing has been done. How can the government explain that, despite its promises, it is still impossible to know exactly where the money intended for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan is going?

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, there are full processes for full audits, monitoring, reports and site visits. What do those results bring? They bring more children in school. They bring an increase in income. It means that seven million more children have been immunized for polio. Infant mortality is 22%.

That is where Canadian dollars are going and that is why Canadians support our efforts in Afghanistan.

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is easy to tell us how much money was promised for schools, for children and for which children. But this still does not give us an answer, an exact answer, to our question.

Furthermore, the Prime Minister said he accepted the main points of the Manley report. That means that he agrees with the recommendation to ensure greater accountability.

Does the government intend to implement that recommendation any faster than it plans to make good on the promise in its own budget?

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, we do provide the information. In fact, this government provided $60 million to the Afghan government to support the education system. The results that we are going to see from that are thousands of schools, hundreds of female teachers being trained, school books, and curriculum development. The results are there, the numbers are there, and $60 million will go a long way to improving the education system in Afghanistan.

The Francophonie

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is Minister for la Francophonie and a francophone Quebecker no less, spoke solely in English at the gala of the Canada-Arab Business Council. Does he not know that in several Arab countries, French is used as a second language, and that a number of them are part of the Francophonie?

Does the minister realize that it is shocking for him to use only English, as Minister for la Francophonie, to address an audience for whom French is not a foreign language?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is trying to make something out of nothing. He is exaggerating. His comments are exaggerated.

What has the Bloc Québécois done for the French fact here in Ottawa in over 13 years? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we speak French. The minister, who boasts about recognizing the Quebec nation, is not able to use his own language to greet his audience.

Does he realize the image that he is sending to the international community, as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for la Francophonie? Does he not think that under the circumstances, the least he could do is apologize?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, if I were the hon. member, I would be ashamed. I would be ashamed of asking such a question in this House. I would be ashamed of questioning my personal attachment to my mother tongue. I am a proud Quebecker and a passionate Canadian.

Canadian Grain Commission

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

Mr. Speaker, this vindictive, dishonest, incompetent government will stop at nothing to silence the voices of dissent. The latest attempt is a gag order issued to Canadian Grain Commission employees. The gag order says employees are allowed to express their views, but only as long as they do not criticize the Conservative government.

Given the numerous firings by the government, the union representing these workers is taking the gag order as a threat.

Will the government let these employees speak to the issues that affect them and put an end to this Conservative reign of terror?

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

Mr. Speaker, those are more baseless allegations. There is absolutely nothing to this. The memo had nothing to do with this government. It is an internal document by the Canadian Grain Commission.

If the member thinks the allegations are serious, he should take them outside. I know my lawyer would welcome the opportunity to send her son to university.

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' vindictive, dishonest and incompetent attitude persists. Linda Keen was fired for putting the nuclear safety of Canadians ahead of the wishes of this government. The government was dishonest about the medical crisis. Its own medical advisor even said that the government had exaggerated the situation.

Why did the Prime Minister fire Ms. Keen, who was doing her job, instead of firing his own incompetent ministers?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Health and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, that is not true. There was a problem facing Canadians and we had to take action to protect their health.

I can only quote Chris O'Brien, who is the head of the Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine. He said this on the very day that we were debating the bill before Parliament:

Last week, I guess you could describe it as struggling. This week it's devastating, and next week potentially catastrophic.

That is what he said. This was a crisis. We acted on behalf of Canadians. We are proud we did.

Softwood Lumber

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, when this vindictive, dishonest, incompetent government signed the softwood lumber agreement, we told the government that it was flawed.

The Minister of International Trade claimed that it would end years of litigation. He was wrong. American lobby groups are using the billion dollar tip left by the Conservative government to sue us and now they have threatened to take us to court over the Conservative band-aid trust fund.

Why is the Conservative government more worried about funding American lobbyists than helping Canadian workers?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics]

Mr. Speaker, I had the occasion to meet with some of the Canadian forest industry this week. I have to say that they are very happy to have the protection that the softwood lumber agreement provides them, because without the softwood lumber agreement, there would be more vicious, more damaging trade actions and they would not have the over $5 billion in cash that was put into those companies' treasuries as a result of the softwood lumber agreement.

The Environment

[Tina Keeper, Liberal, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, Environment Canada's website says that temperature increases associated with the climate change crisis “could also be within acceptable limits for natural temperature variation”.

The Prime Minister claims to support the science, yet his plan and his government's information does not reflect global scientific consensus.

This vindictive, dishonest and incompetent government is still skeptical about the science. Is this the reason the minister is muzzling Environment Canada's scientists?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

No, Mr. Speaker.

Justice

[Merv Tweed, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition has never really been serious about getting tough on crime.

While the list of Canadians demanding speedy passage of the tackling violent crime act continues to grow, the Liberal leader is content to sit on his hands. His refusal to urge his Liberal senators to expedite the passage of the bill is a clear indication that fighting crime and protecting Canadians is not a priority for the Liberal leader.

In the absence of Liberal leadership, can the justice minister inform the House what he will do to get the Senate to move quickly on this very important bill?

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for that timely question.

As a matter of fact, I will be appearing before the Senate this afternoon. I will do something that the Leader of the Opposition is unable or refuses to do, which is to ask the Senate to expedite the passage of the tackling violent crime act.

If the Liberals will not listen to me or their friends at Queen's Park, maybe they will listen to some other groups, like the Canadian Crime Victims Foundation, MADD Canada, the Canadian Centre for Abuse Awareness. They are all calling upon the Senate to do the right thing and expedite passage of Bill C-2. Canadians deserve no less.

Government Contracts

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance broke the rules and he admits it. He awarded a contract to a friend to write a lame speech on a bad budget. Even Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister of sponsorships, fired Art Eggleton for paying $36,000 for 14 pages. In this case we are talking about $122,000 for 20 pages.

Does the Prime Minister realize that if he does not dismiss his Minister of Finance, he is proving that he has an even lower ethical standard than the sponsorship gang?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier this week, value for money was provided. The work was performed for the Canadian people. The administrative function was not followed and that has been corrected.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the illicit contracting question went to a Conservative loyalist and long-time political organizer for the finance minister.

We do know that Mr. MacPhie was not the finance minister's ex-girlfriend, but surely the Conservatives will want to be at least as ethical as the Liberals who are responsible for the sponsorship scandal.

Just last week the same finance minister publicly attacked his own local town council for a similar untendered contract for $134,000, saying “heads should roll”.

When is the Prime Minister going to get rid of his finance minister?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I will not repeat the answer I have already given, but I will say that when combined with the initiatives that we took in budget 2006, this year there will be more than $21 billion in new tax relief for Canadians. In a time of slowing economy, this is equivalent to about 1.4% of Canada's economy. This will be delivered to Canadians in this year.

Child Care

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, before the break, I told members of speaking to child care providers in Napanee, Ontario.

In Halifax-Dartmouth recently, I asked child care providers the same thing: “With the taxable allowance now available to their parents, how many more spaces are there?” “None”, they said. “Then spaces with better facilities?” “None”. “Then more of their parents are now staying home with their kids?” “None”. I asked them again, “You say it is much worse than before, so you say 'none' when you really mean 'not many'? “No,” they said, “None. Zero”.

Who is telling the truth, the minister or the people of Halifax-Dartmouth?

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

Mr. Speaker, the facts are clear. The truth is that by working with the provinces, they are committing to create 33,000 new child care spaces, something that never occurred under the previous government.

The more important fact is that the opposition has told Canadians it is prepared to take back the universal child care benefit which benefits 1.5 million families, which gives families the money they need so they can make decisions for their own children. Shame on those members.