House of Commons Hansard #116 of the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was industry.
Josée Verner ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned this week, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada and the government have reached an out-of-court settlement. The terms of the settlement will be kept confidential for the time being, but very shortly I will be able to disclose the details.
Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Mr. Speaker, the government is treating the anglophone linguistic minority, women, gays and lesbians, persons with disabilities, visible minorities and all other minorities like second-class citizens who are not entitled to the same treatment as everyone else.
Why is the government refusing to allow all minorities to use the program and defend their rights? Why can women, the disabled and visible minorities not use the program?
Josée Verner ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. Our government has done a great deal for all Canadians. The member should explain her new green plan to Canadians and tell them about all the taxes they will have to pay.
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Public Safety stated that an agreement had been reached between the Canadian government and the Mont Tremblant airport. I can quote him from Hansard: “today I announced that an agreement has been reached with the Mont Tremblant airport.” Yet, today it is being reported that what the minister said is false because no agreement has been reached.
Why did the minister mislead the House? Why does the government continue to confuse matters and refuse to be transparent and responsible when it comes to the Mont Tremblant airport?
Stockwell Day ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, I do not know where he is getting his information from.
It is true that we reached an agreement with the airport, with officials. We want the airport to be more competitive and to be able to welcome more international flights. We are happy with the agreement, as are they.
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Mr. Speaker, airport officials are saying the opposite. Yesterday's press release from the Canada Border Services Agency, states that the agreement with the airport includes providing border clearance services for winter chartered flights. But the Mont Tremblant dispute is about regular commercial flights.
Why would the airport work out an agreement with the agency about chartered flights when they were never part of the issue? You cannot come to an agreement about a conflict that does not exist. Can the minister clarify what he believes to be the nature of the agreement reached with the airport?
Stockwell Day ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, I will say it again. There was a situation in which the airport had to make payments. We came to an agreement that could make the airport more competitive and allow it to continue its operations. The agreement is clear.
Once again, I do not know where he is getting his information from. Maybe he would understand the situation if he spoke to the officials involved.
Jean-Yves Roy Bloc Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
Mr. Speaker, François Bourque, a columnist for Le Soleil, summed up the exasperation registered throughout Quebec by comparing the Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec's absurd decision to slash funding for non-profit organizations to a sort of scorched earth policy—scorched, blackened earth. The columnist also pointed out that all governments in Europe and the United States support such economic development organizations.
Will the “scorched earth” minister come to his senses and restore the funding for these organizations?
Jean-Pierre Blackburn ConservativeMinister of Labour and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec
Mr. Speaker, Economic Development Canada has the same budget, that is, around $200 million a year. We continue to support these organizations for one-time projects. Others have submitted transition plans. In fact, we have already signed several transition plans with several organizations.
That member would do better to ask his head office in Quebec City if the Government of Quebec did indeed receive $242 million more for the Department of Economic Development, Innovation and Export. Will they continue to support these organizations?
Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC
Mr. Speaker, representatives of the CSN in Quebec City attempted unsuccessfully to meet with the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages to ask for her support in their fight to have TQS keep its newsroom. Remstar has presented a new plan—a slap in the face to Quebec regions—offering just ten minutes of regional news, five days a week.
Does the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages intend to represent the interests of Quebec and advise the CRTC that a general interest television service must have a real news service?
Josée Verner ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, as soon we heard about the TQS situation, I went to meet the employees at TQS. I assured them of my support. The CRTC is conducting a review and we will let the CRTC do its work.
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Kelowna Accord Implementation Act received royal assent and became law. This means that the Conservatives must finally honour the accord they have shamefully ignored for the past two years.
Cancelling Kelowna has meant that improvements have not been made which would have ensured that aboriginal peoples have access to the same quality of health care, education and housing that other Canadians enjoy. Apparently that is not important to members opposite.
If the government was sincere in its apology last week, it will uphold this new law. Will the minister confirm his government will--
Chuck Strahl ConservativeMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Mr. Speaker, we have made huge progress on issues that are important to first nations, aboriginal and Inuit people. We will be celebrating National Aboriginal Day this Saturday from coast to coast.
This government has made progress on specific claims, on drinking water, on tripartite agreements on education and family services, on human rights protection, and on economic development, as well as the apology for the residential schools era.
We have made a lot of progress, but I must warn the House that a lot of that progress is at risk if the Liberals go ahead with their carbon tax. Did they consult with aboriginal people? Is there a word about aboriginal people in their document? There is not a single word. The Liberals want to get the gold mine. Aboriginal people will get the shaft.
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Mr. Speaker, the NDP has now delayed debate on its own child care bill seven times over the past six months. NDP members obviously know that it has zero support from the provinces and in fact would hurt many Canadian families. Canadian parents can see right through the NDP rhetoric on child care.
In reality, it is this Conservative government that is offering the widest range of child care options. It is this Conservative government that has given the provinces the freedom to create the types of spaces that meet their needs.
Can the Minister of Human Resources please update Canadians on the achievements of this government in child care and the effect the NDP bill would have on this progress?
Monte Solberg ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Social Development
Mr. Speaker, the NDP plan would be devastating. In fact, that is why those members have not brought it forward thus far. They have had months to bring it forward. NDP members have so little faith in it that they keep delaying the debate.
What is surprising, though, is that the Bloc members seem to accept that this is an area of federal responsibility and they actually support it. That is very strange.
However, what would not help, of course, is to implement a carbon tax and raise the heating costs in all the day care centres across the country. That is the Liberal plan. We are not going to go there.
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Speaker, an Alberta based company involved in oil sands operations refuses to hire francophones from Atlantic Canada under the pretext that they cannot understand the safety test in English. In the meantime, this same company is hiring foreign workers who do not speak either French or English and it is even providing them with interpreters.
Will this government take action against these companies that are using cheap labour and not respecting workers' rights? Why are the Conservatives accepting this practice?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I just do not buy the assertions that the hon. member is putting forward. The oil sands are one of the real centres of employment in the Canadian economy. There are jobs there for people from right across this country.
In fact, everywhere that any of us go and speak in Canada, we hear about the success stories of Canadians who have gone there, who have done well, who have succeeded, and who have gone home to their communities and made this a stronger country.
Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC
Mr. Speaker, the reason that Atlantic Canadians are being turned down is so the big oil companies can move faster on their cheap labour strategy, aided and abetted by the Conservative government.
Yesterday we learned that Chinese temporary foreign workers in the tar sands were paid one-eighth of what Canadians get for doing the same work. Another report from B.C. found that migrant workers in Canada are “under conditions that amount to indentured servitude”.
Will the government commit to halting these exploitative programs and adopt the UN convention on the rights of migrant workers? Will it stop this atrocious exploitation of workers?
Monte Solberg ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Social Development
Mr. Speaker, we are always concerned whenever there is an accusation that temporary foreign workers are having their rights abused. In law, of course, they have the same rights as all Canadians.
This government has moved in a number of ways to ensure that those rights are protected, including providing them with information in their own language so they know who they can go to for help and establishing memorandums of understanding so we can share information with the provinces. The provinces have stepped up with more monitoring.
We are there to protect the rights of all Canadians as well as those rights of temporary foreign workers.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of the Honourable Peter Kilabuk, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut.
Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC
Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and I believe you would find unanimous consent for the House now to revert to the two rubrics of questions on the order paper and petitions.