Debates of April 17th, 2008

Gasoline Prices

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

Mr. Speaker, we took action to reduce the cost of fuel for families when we lowered the GST from 7% to 6% to 5%. I know the NDP has a very different plan, a plan to raise the tax on fuels. I read the following:

Green Taxation Reforms: The NDP has emphasized the need to change existing tax laws and tax credits that artificially lower the true costs of fossil fuels...

That is from the NDP action plan, previously posted on the NDP site. Apparently its has taken it off now that this is a hot issue it wants to pursue.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, prices are going through the roof at the gas pumps. The gas companies have long since gobbled up any GST cut that the government gave. It gave a GST reduction and the oil and gas companies grabbed it.

Here are the prices: $1.19 in Toronto; $1.26 in the Lower Mainland; and $1.29 in Bonavista. Because there is not adequate transit, the average working family is forced to use its car to go to day care, or to take its kids to hockey, or to go to work. Yet what we get from the government are subsidies to the big oil and gas companies.

When will we see a plan to protect the consumers of our country?

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

Mr. Speaker, he just said it. He believes that oil and gas are unreasonably subsidized. He thinks the prices should be higher. Do not take it from me; take it from the NDP Kyoto plan, which states:

Stop tilting the marketplace towards unsustainable fuel and, over four years, shift... subsidies away from unsustainable fuels towards renewable ones. The first step is to reverse the tax reductions for fossil fuel industries...

NDP members want higher taxes. We are cutting out the tax breaks for big oil. They voted against that. However, what we are doing is lowering the GST, while they are proposing higher fuel taxes for all—

Elections Canada

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the government will not explain what Elections Canada and the RCMP were looking for at Conservative Party headquarters. The Conservatives were clearly asked for certain documents. They obviously failed to cooperate because Elections Canada then had to take the extraordinary step of getting a warrant. That warrant was authorized by a judge and executed by the RCMP. Canadians have a right to know what the search warrant did say they were looking for.

Will the government consent today to a court order to release the warrant and the affidavit that convinced the judge to issue it?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have said several times that we have not seen the affidavit. Apparently, he has not heard that. The search is a mystery for us.

What the Liberal House Leader said is wrong. We have cooperated and provided every document that Elections Canada has sought with regard to our lawsuit.

Our view is we simply want the same treatment that others have received. For example, the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, in 2004, received $16,132.93 from the Liberal Party to pay for advertising. Then after the campaign, she transferred back $16,132.93. It is the same—

[The Speaker, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Wascana.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it is just not credible for Conservatives to say that they are victims in the police raid on their party headquarters. They appointed the Chief Electoral Officer. They appointed the Elections commissioner. They appointed the head of the RCMP. It is their own hand-picked people who are pursuing this investigation.

However, here is a different question. Was the Prime Minister personally present at his party's headquarters at any point on the morning this raid began? Was he there and did he have access to any material the police were about to seize?

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

Mr. Speaker, the questions get more absurd and factually false. I am surprised the Liberal House leader does not realize that a commissioner of elections is not appointed by the government, but by the chair of Elections Canada. He laughs now. He laughs at his own mistakes. I find that not surprising.

However, we know one group was at our headquarters the day the search was undertaken. It was the Liberal Party with its camera crew in tow.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister's answers are vacuous. The Conservative Party is suing taxpayers in a civil, private proceeding to put more cash in the pockets of its local Conservative candidates. That is a civil action.

In civil cases there are no search warrants, no police raids. The warrant and the raid are part of something different and bigger, a quasi-criminal investigation into Conservative overspending at the national level.

Why is the minister so desperate to mislead Canadians away from the truth?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine just had an opportunity to get up and explain to the House her actions in 2004, where she accepted $16,000 from the Liberal Party, gave it back and then claimed a rebate on it. She did exactly what she says is criminal behaviour by the Conservative Party.

Guess what? She did that and now she claims it is wrong when we do it. That is our concern. We believe all parties should be treated the same. We believe this behaviour is legal, and we do not know why different standards should apply to different parties.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my statements for the 2004 and 2006 elections passed the test. Theirs did not.

Since the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons gives us nothing but doublespeak, I have a question for the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. During his election campaign, he personally authorized the advertising on which his party spent thousands of dollars.

How was this advertising able to help him in Pontiac, when it was only used in the Quebec City area, 500 km away?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine pointed out exactly the problem with the situation. Her return was cleared. The Liberal Party of Canada transferred $16,000, which she used on her campaign. She received it on May 29, 2004. She returned that $16,000 to the Liberal Party in October 2004 and she claimed a rebate from the taxpayers.

It is the exact same structure that has been used by all parties. We do not understand that when the Conservatives did it, it became inappropriate.

Broadcasting and Telecommunications

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

Mr. Speaker, culture is the cornerstone of the Quebec nation, and broadcasting and telecommunications content should be regulated in Quebec City. This power can be transferred by means of an administrative agreement, without a constitutional amendment.

If recognizing that Quebec is a nation really means something to the Conservatives, then what is the government waiting for to walk the talk and allow Quebec to create its own broadcasting and telecommunications commission?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I understood that my hon. colleague would like there to be a CRTC in Quebec City.

Personally, I would like to see another federal institution installed in Quebec City. Honestly, why not send a Bloc Québécois to Quebec City? The Bloc members have become the senators of the sovereigntist cause here in this House, honorary sovereigntists who blow a lot of hot air. Like Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, it is probably time to—

[The Speaker, Peter Milliken]

The member for Saint-Maurice—Champlain.

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

Mr. Speaker, I do not think that the minister's answer will do anything to satisfy the groups that defend Quebec's cultural interests.

Moreover, when he was Minister of Communications in Robert Bourassa's cabinet in Quebec City, the current Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities asked for the power to regulate broadcasting and telecommunications because the Quebec nation was vulnerable within North America. That has not changed. Yesterday, the same minister said exactly the opposite.

Are we to understand that once he got to Ottawa, the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities forgot all about Quebec and decided to serve his own interests and those of the rest—

[The Speaker, Peter Milliken]

The hon. Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I referred to the Supreme Court decision in the Guèvremont case, which put an end to the claim that Quebec has authority over telecommunications. In April 1994, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Government of Canada.

We know that André Jolicœur handled the case. He was an amicus curiae, and the Parti Québécois candidate in the 2007 provincial election, and the person who defended—

[The Speaker, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin.

Public Safety

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec opposed the federal-government-supported police intervention in January 2004 on the Mohawk territory of Kanesatake. The Quebec government even distanced itself from the operation, which ended with several peacekeepers being held in the police station, and the home of the grand chief at the time, James Gabriel, being burned by arsonists.

Will the Minister of Public Safety admit that the federal government's stubbornness in proceeding despite Quebec's opposition triggered a crisis, and that the Government of Quebec is still dealing with the consequences of that crisis?

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, our government will not tolerate mismanagement of Canadian taxpayers' money and unlike the previous government, any allegation of mismanagement is a matter that our government takes seriously. That is why we launched a forensic audit.

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question for the government is this: will you pay or not?

Since the failed operation, security provided by the Quebec provincial police has cost Quebec taxpayers $30 million, and now, four years later, Quebec is still absorbing the costs, which go up every month.

The Government of Quebec wants Ottawa to pay a portion of the Quebec provincial police's bill, but the federal government is ignoring the request. Will the federal government pay its share or not?

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, the government will not tolerate mismanagement of Canadian taxpayers' money. The forensic audit followed up on the observation made by auditors working on a financial audit regarding the management of financial activities at Kanesatake between April 2003 and March 2005, while the other party was in power, as well as the expenses incurred by the Mohawk Police Service.

Ethics

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Chuck Cadman's wife, his daughter and his son-in-law have each confirmed that Mr. Cadman was offered a bribe by Conservative Party officials. The Prime Minister was caught on tape saying: “the offer to Chuck was that it was only to replace financial considerations he might lose due to an election”.

What were these financial considerations and why does the Prime Minister refuse to explain the tape?

[James Moore, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics]

t'Mr. Speaker, I have answered this question a number of times as has the Prime Minister. I went to my colleague from Vancouver Quadra's website and it says:

Canada’s federal government must continue to invest in research and quality post secondary education and I will make that a priority when elected as your Member of Parliament.

She has been a member of Parliament for a few weeks now. Where is the question on higher education? Where is her commitment to the people of Vancouver Quadra to raise substantive issues?

She is lost in fantasyland, but she has an opportunity with her supplementary question to either ask the question she said she was going to during the campaign, or read the question that was given to her by her leader. Let us see what she does.