Debates of June 9th, 2008

The conomy

[Luc Harvey, Conservative, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in this time of economic uncertainty, the Liberal leader is considering a tax on production. I remember that, on October 10, 2007, in a speech to the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, he declared, “—there will be no carbon tax—”. That is further proof that the Liberal leader has changed his mind and his policy.

That is the height of hypocrisy. On the one hand, the Liberals say that gasoline is too expensive and then, on the other, they want to add a tax that would increase the price by 60%. What do the Liberals want? These days, it is hard to follow them or understand their reasoning.

I can assure Canadians that the Conservative government will continue to build a vigorous economy for Canadians who work hard, pay their taxes and respect the law.

New Minas

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

Mr. Speaker, the village of New Minas in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

New Minas is the soccer capital of Atlantic Canada and the shopping capital of the valley, with over 300 commercial outlets.

Its motto, “A Good Place to Live”, explains why it continues to grow and expand.

The chairman of the village commission, Dave Chaulk, and commissioners Maynard Stevens, Dean Hatt, Les Barrett, Dale Pineo and recreation director Vince Forrestall and all the village staff and the events sponsors are to be congratulated for planning and supporting a tremendous year round celebration.

A 40th anniversary New Year's levee kicked off the festivities. Last Saturday we had a “Marathon of Memories” family fun day celebrating Terry Fox and his “Marathon of Hope”. I was proud to join Fred Fox and New Minas citizens in celebrating New Minas on Saturday.

I wish New Minas continued success and prosperity.

Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it has been seven days since the Liberal leader has failed to repay his hundreds of thousands of dollars in leadership loans, yet he continues to ignore calls to come clean with Canadians and table his agreement with Elections Canada and his debt repayment plan.

However, last Friday the member for Cape Breton—Canso said something very interesting in the House. He said:

Last Monday was a significant date. Those leadership candidates had to have their repayment schedules tendered with Elections Canada as we go forward. They all complied with that rule. They all complied with those conditions. Those repayment plans have been put forward and approved by Elections Canada.

If that is true, then when does the Liberal leader plan on revealing the truth to Canadians? Who are the wealthy elites who lent him hundreds of thousands of dollars? Who is really pulling his strings?

Will the Liberal leader table his agreement with Elections Canada and his debt repayment plan right now and prove the member for Cape Breton—Canso was telling the truth?

Members-Pages Soccer Game

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the House of some good news. This Wednesday select members of Parliament will be playing a select group of ambassadors at 7 o'clock at Ashbury College in a great game of soccer. Hopefully the MPs can be victorious.

However, I regret to inform the House that the MPs' House of Commons soccer club let its fellow members down. On May 8, we played the invincible pages of the House of Commons. For the first time in six years, the mighty MPs went down to defeat. It was a terrific game. I personally have to admit that it was the fault of the goaltender for the MPs.

I also want to mention that two players, one member from the Liberals and one of the pages, received most valuable player awards.

It was an awful lot of fun.

On behalf of the entire House of Commons, I thank the pages for their service to us this year. We wish them the very best of luck in their future.

Official Development Assistance Accountability Act

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on May 29, Bill C-293, the better aid bill, received royal assent. It was passed unanimously by the House.

Many people and organizations have been fulsome in their praise for this significant achievement. There are many people to be thanked, especially those who have written, emailed, petitioned, demonstrated, phoned and shown up at MPs offices to voice their support for the bill. It could not have happened without them.

Now the task is to have Canada's official development assistance consistent with the bill. Business as usual is not an option. It is reasonable to expect that ministers and departments will spell out in detail how they expect to adhere to the principles and accountability mechanisms in Bill C-293. The principle and concessional aid should be easily achieved, however, large multinational organizations will require special vigilance. The last thing we want is policy incoherence.

Parliament will be watching.

100th Birthday of Salvador Allende

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Salvador Allende was born in Valparaiso in 1908. He earned a medical degree at the University of Chile. He began his political career by co-founding the Socialist Party of Chile. He then became a member of parliament, minister of health and a senator. His political involvement continued all the way to the presidency of Chile in 1970. He died during the coup d'état on September 11, 1973.

Despite the difficulties that followed his election, he implemented an extensive government program by distributing wealth and creating a socialist economic context.

Here, as elsewhere, the Chilean community—some 12,000 people in Quebec—will come together to celebrate the 100th birthday of this exceptional defender of human, economic, social and cultural rights.

By acknowledging the presence on the Hill of Michelle Bachelet, the President of Chile, my colleagues from the Bloc Québécois and I add our voices to those of the Chilean community in saluting this 100th birthday.

Conservative Party of Canada

[Susan Kadis, Liberal, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there are so many Conservative scandals out there, that it is hard to choose where to start.

First is the so-called Mulroney-Schreiber public inquiry that the Prime Minister promised seven months ago and still nothing.

Not to be outdone by NAFTA-gate, the government investigated itself in this matter and surprise, surprise, it was found innocent.

Then there was the security breach of the former foreign affairs minister. The Prime Minister and ex-minister refused to appear before the committee to testify on this issue. What are they trying to hide?

Just when we think the Conservatives could not get into any more trouble, they bring back the Cadman affair, where Dona Cadman confirms, in an affidavit, that financial considerations were made to Chuck.

That is the only party in the history of our country that brings up old scandals to detract from its new scandals.

My list of Conservative scandals could go on with the in and out scheme, the Ottawa light rail project, income trusts and untendered finance contracts, but unfortunately I only have 60 seconds.

The Environment

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I picked up this quote up over the weekend and I just had to read it in the House today. It states:

A carbon tax is less effective than a carbon market at reducing emissions. Some of my opponents for the Liberal leadership have suggested that a carbon tax would be the most effective measure to curb climate pollution. This is simply bad policy...

A carbon tax “is simply bad policy”. Who said that? It was not someone in our party. It was the flip-flopping Liberal leader. He said that he was completely opposed to a carbon tax. Now he wants to impose the mother of all taxes on Canadians.

However, we know one thing. We know there is one party that has always said no to higher taxes for Canadians. There is one party that will not make seniors and Canadians on fixed income pay more for gas, heat and electricity. That is this party, this government. Leadership is all about that.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, recently I called for an honest and much needed national debate on carbon pricing to fight climate change. Instead of taking this seriously, what do the Conservatives offer Canadians? They offer a cartoon, a talking grease spot.

When are the Conservatives going to stop insulting Canadians and offer a real plan to tackle climate change instead of cartoons and a campaign of lies?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity)]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we are calling for, honesty and truth in advertising from the leader of the Liberal Party, who has a plan to impose a multi-billion dollar tax on just about everything for Canadians. Even while gas prices are going up, he wants to force them up higher with higher taxes in order to pay for the billions of dollars of unbudgeted Liberal electoral promises.

We know that it is a tax trick on Canadians and we are not going to let the Liberals get away with it. When they use weasel words like “revenue neutrality”, we are going to say, “Hold on to your wallets because he wants to raise your taxes”.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we are going to expose the lie.

In the Conservatives' so-called climate change plan, we read, and I quote, that this plan will create “higher energy prices, particularly with respect to electricity and natural gas”.

Will they admit that their so-called climate change plan will lead to higher energy costs for Canadians?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity)]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about lies.

Last year, in a speech in Edmonton, the leader of the Liberal Party said that under a Liberal government, there would be no carbon tax. He said that. Now, we know that the Liberal Party has a secret plan to tax Canadians on everything. Using a carbon tax, he wants to raise the price of gasoline, the price of everything, but Canadian taxpayers will not be mistreated by the Liberal Party. They do not want such a tax.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we will see how much the attack ads are misleading and are a lie.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order. I know the word was not used in relation to hon. members, but I think it is unnecessary to use this kind of language in debate in the House on either side. I would urge hon. members to show restraint.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal plan, our plan, will affect energy costs with tax cuts. Their plan will not. The Conservatives admit that their so-called plan will increase energy costs. I want an answer to my question, which is, what tax cuts are they offering to offset their higher energy costs to Canadians?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity)]

Mr. Speaker, the leader opposite talks about lies. I would like to talk about the truth.

He said last year, “There will be no carbon tax”. He said also:

A carbon tax is less effective...at reducing emissions. Some...have suggested that a carbon tax would be the most effective measure to curb climate pollution. This is simply bad policy--

Even now the Liberal website states, “We do not favour a carbon tax where money is transferred from companies to the federal government and is lost in general revenue”. We agree with the leader of the Liberal Party last year.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, deep in the pages of the government's regulatory framework for greenhouse gas emissions, there is the admission that its plan will result in higher energy costs and these costs will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. Nowhere does the Conservative plan propose to help seniors and low income Canadians bear those costs. Our plan will.

How can Canadians have a real debate about climate change policy if the government will not level with Canadians about what its plan will do with energy prices? When will the little grease spot start telling the truth?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order. I do not know what the grease spots have to do with this. The hon. secretary of state though has the floor. Order, order.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity)]

Mr. Speaker, we can hear just a little bit of anxiety on the other side. We have begun to tell the truth about their secret plan to impose a massive new tax on just about everything on Canadians to pay for the Liberal Party's unbudgeted promises. But at least the deputy leader has been more honest about this than his boss has been, because the deputy leader of the Liberal Party said two years ago:

We've also got to have popular, practical, believable policies that may involve some form of carbon tax.

That means one thing and one thing only: higher prices for Canadians, higher prices on gas, higher prices on home heating fuel, higher prices for low income Canadians. They are--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Etobicoke--Lakeshore.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, he forgot to mention the tax cuts.

The government is forced to admit that its environmental plan will lead to higher costs for consumers.

How can Canadians have a real debate on this issue if the government is not honest about these costs? When will their little grease spot tell the truth?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity)]

Yes, it is true, Mr. Speaker, that I did not refer to the tax cuts this government has made in spite of opposition from the Liberal Party. Let us be clear: the Liberal Party promised to eliminate the GST but did not do so. A Liberal government in Ontario promised not to raise taxes, yet imposed the biggest tax increase in Ontario's history.

Now, we are hearing about another plan to raise taxes: the carbon tax. This is a Liberal Party scheme that Canadians will not go for.

Regional Economic Development

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

Mr. Speaker, Quebec's economic development minister, Raymond Bachand, has given a number of interviews in which he condemns his federal counterpart's decision to stop funding non-profit economic development organizations. In an interview on the program Les coulisses du pouvoir, Mr. Bachand stated: “This is a decision the minister made all on his own. It was not something recommended by his officials or his colleagues. It is an ideological decision.”

Does the Prime Minister realize that his Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec is doing nothing less than destroying an important component of economic development in Quebec for purely ideological reasons?