Debates of April 29th, 2008

Manufacturing Industry

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the economic strategy of the government is to pick winners and losers. Just today, as more layoffs are announced and communities are in a state of shock, Petro-Canada, while it is gouging Canadians at the pump, announced it filed a $1 billion profit in the first quarter alone.

Does the finance minister have the guts to go and visit the workers at GM and the workers at Campbell's and explain why he has billions of dollars for tax cuts to the petroleum industry and nothing for the manufacturing sectors in Canada?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that I was at this GM facility a number of months ago. I met the workers who work there.

We continue to work both with GM and with other industry leaders in the manufacturing sector and in the auto sector. We are addressing the issues of competitiveness that will make this industry successful.

To be sure, there are infrastructure issues that were left by the former government. To be sure, there are other issues of competitiveness and harmonization of standards with our American neighbours. We are dealing with all those issues. As this downturn begins to turn, the industry will be well positioned to succeed.

Afghanistan

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a very simple question for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Tomorrow, the UN representative in Afghanistan is coming to Ottawa to speak with the minister. The Manley report insisted on a change in Canada's policy with regard to aid, diplomacy and our government's political strategy.

Can the minister tell us exactly what he will say tomorrow on these very important government matters?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his question since Afghanistan is an important issue to our government and to Canadians. What is more, Canadians have to be informed of our actions in Afghanistan.

Tomorrow I will have a meeting. My colleague, the Minister of National Defence also has a meeting with the United Nations special envoy. We will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and I can assure this House that we will soon report back daily, as stipulated in the motion, on our activities in Afghanistan.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I heard something about a schedule, but I did not hear an answer. We know full well that the U.S. troops are arriving in southern Afghanistan right now and that all the international studies clearly show that a military solution—exclusively military—will not achieve stability in Afghanistan.

I will repeat the question. Can the minister tell us today what Canada's strategy is for aid, diplomacy and political change in Afghanistan?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the strategy is quite simple. I went to Bucharest with the Prime Minister and my colleague the Minister of National Defence and while we were there we adopted an entire military and political plan for a strategy to provide the Afghans with the development and economic assistance they need. We want to build a viable, reliable and safe state for the Afghans.

That is what we are doing with the help of the opposition. I want to thank the Liberal Party for voting with us in favour of the motion.

Foreign Affairs

[Bonnie Brown, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, a decade ago a Liberal government proudly led the process to ban landmines.

Next month in Dublin the global community will be taking the next step, moving to ban cluster bombs. However, the government is not even sending the foreign affairs minister, only junior note takers, and it is failing to provide funds for the projects.

Is the government simply pandering to its Republican soulmates in Washington, who are boycotting the Dublin talks?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the diplomats working in my department are very competent. Furthermore, everyone knows that one of Canada's aims is to reduce the devastating human impact of certain types of cluster bombs. We will continue to pursue that objective at the next international meeting, as at past meetings.

[Bonnie Brown, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we know the Prime Minister is on record attacking the Liberal achievement of a decade ago when he said that the Liberal government pushed forward with the treaty to ban landmines without giving due consideration to the United States' concerns.

Why is this government again taking orders from Washington, or is it simply afraid the foreign affairs minister will put his foot in his mouth again?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows full well that we have signed the Wellington declaration and that we are working with the international community to ensure effective control over these kinds of munitions. We are taking action on this side of the House and we are proud of the work being done by our diplomats. I can say that we are, at this time, destroying all the cluster bombs we may have here at home.

Department of National Defence

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Globe and Mail is reporting today that the Department of National Defence has produced a guide instructing the military how to justify censoring records. This is the complete opposite of what the Minister of Foreign Affairs just said.

The guide talks about blanking things out and withholding all the information from the public. The Conservative government has become a haven for censorship. It is muzzling the military, senior government officials and ministers. It is completely unacceptable.

How can the minister explain—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. Minister of National Defence.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, this is obviously not true. Determining whether any information released could compromise a mission is an operational decision. This decision is made by specialists and soldiers, and not by politicians. We fully understand our obligations and responsibilities under the Access to Information Act, and we abide by them.

Health

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have another example of Conservative censorship. They threw away a million dollars when they stopped distribution of an informative and educational tool on the subject of drugs, a book ordered by the Minister of Health, its original preface signed by Mr. Couillard, Quebec Minister of Health.

Will the Minister of Health admit that this case of censorship was dictated by the Conservatives' straitjacket of right wing ideology and that there is no other justification for such a decision?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I said in the House last week, that was not a good campaign. It was the doing of the former Liberal government, and an example of their bad policies for tackling drug use and improving the situation. We have a new policy for fighting drug use and we are proud to be truly dealing with this problem.

International Aid

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government has left Canada with no fiscal room to manoeuvre. It promised to keep a $3 billion contingency fund intact but it has failed.

The Conservative mismanagement of our economy has left us with no funds to help while the world is facing a food crisis. With food riots already occurring in developing countries, what will the government do to ensure that Canada is able to answer the call from the world's 800 million hungry people?

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, we know that all Canadians take very seriously the impact the price of food is having on the poorest and hungriest in the world.

Our government promised to double international assistance and we will do that. Our government promised to double assistance to Africa and we will do that. We will do what we say, not like the previous Liberal government that signed the international food convention and then shortchanged the hungry across the world by over 200,000 tonnes.

Child Care

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals promised Canadians that they would create a national child care plan, but did nothing. The current lack of child care spaces is a legacy of the Liberal record of failure.

Thankfully our government has taken concrete action to fund and support the creation of new and real child care spaces. Could the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development update the House on how many child care spaces have been created by our government, specifically in my home province of Manitoba?

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

Mr. Speaker, my friend, the member of Parliament for Selkirk—Interlake, is an outstanding MP, but beyond that, he and his wife, Kelly, are also outstanding parents to three beautiful daughters. He is someone who knows something about parenting. Unlike the Liberals who believe that parents do not know anything, we believe in parents. We offer the universal child care benefit which the Liberals would take away, but beyond that, we support the provinces. Yesterday the province of Manitoba announced 6,500 new child care spaces, bringing the number to over 60,000 spaces announced that we introduced--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.

Elections Canada

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that nothing moves in the Conservative Party without the Prime Minister's personal approval.

In 1997 it was illegal to set up an ad scheme to circumvent election spending limits and it is illegal today. When did the Prime Minister give his approval to set up this scheme to circumvent the election spending limits? Was it his idea to bilk the taxpayers for $700,000 in rebates to which the Conservative Party was not entitled? How does it feel to have to trot out the same old scandal ridden excuses that he so vehemently despised while he was in opposition?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I will read an email from the central campaign of the NDP to the NDP candidate for Saanich—Gulf Islands, Jennifer Burgis. It says:

Subject: Radio co-op proposal

Dear Lower Island Managers:

If each campaign can commit to providing us with $2,000, for a total of $6,000, we [the national party???] could match it for a total buy of $12,000. The ads would be tagged equally--i.e, would refer to each candidate--and would mean a $4,000 expense under each ceiling...

That meant they all got to claim it locally. That is the NDP in and out scheme.

The Environment

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, there are four types of harmful blue-green algae and at least two parasite species found in Devils Lake that are not found in Lake Winnipeg and yet the tap is on again at Devils Lake outlet, this time in violation of a court order.

I want to know if the government is prepared to join with Manitoba's application to find the North Dakota State Water Commission in contempt for ignoring the North Dakota supreme court ruling that restricted the operation of the Devils Lake outlet. Will the government file notice at the North Dakota supreme court--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. Minister of the Environment.

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we understand that the government of Manitoba was not successful in the American courts earlier today. We are committed to continue to work hard on this issue. It is something that is very important. We are working constructively with the Manitoba government, with the minister of water conservation. We are concerned that the previous agreement from the Liberal government did nothing to stop this from happening in the future and we are committed to find a better way.