Debates of Oct. 2nd, 2009

Afghanistan

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I apologize to my hon. friend for not being the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but the answer will be the same, whether it comes from me or the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

We have been cooperating with the MPCC from day one. We will continue to do that. It needs to operate within its mandate. The Federal Court has clarified its mandate. We are not obstructing anything.

We are making sure that things are carried out in accordance with the law, in the best interests of Canada, and in the best interests of the people we serve around the world, which is why people like members of the Canadian Forces who, as the member knows well, are doing their job in an extremely good way. Any allegations are simply allegations and to impugn guilt is, frankly again, obnoxious.

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Military Police Complaints Commission is being held up by stalling tactics while it tries to deal with the issue of Afghan prisoners. By bombarding the agency with motions, the Conservative government's lawyers are trying to derail an investigation that could show that the government allowed the transfer of prisoners to Afghan authorities, even though they might be tortured.

Why is the government trying to hide the truth and prevent Richard Colvin from testifying?

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, it must be teamwork over there, a true coalition in question period.

Nothing has changed. The answer will not change. There have been a number of investigations ongoing. They are all proceeding. They are all independent. They are all at arm's-length from the government and the answers will be made available.

We will make sure it is done according to the process of law, according to the process that we in the House are bound to uphold.

These are allegations only. The allegations of prisoner abuse have already been proven to be incorrect and wrong. We will continue along this path of following the course of the law in all these matters.

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in addition to holding up proceedings, the Department of National Defence is refusing to cooperate with the investigation by trying to prevent the testimony of the director of the Canadian-run Afghanistan reconstruction base in Kandahar at the time the Canadian army started transferring prisoners to the Afghan secret service. We have been following this.

Why did they do so little to protect Afghan prisoners from torture, and so much to hide the truth?

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, this is really getting boring. We are doing everything in our power to protect everybody, whether it is--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we continue to do everything in our power to protect people who depend on us for support, whether they are our own Canadian Forces members, whether they are prisoners, or anybody we deal with around the world.

This government has a very good grip on Canadian values, our attention to the rule of law and the things that are just simply right. We will continue to operate in that manner despite any allegations from across the floor.

The Economy

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Mr. Speaker, mills across Canada are closing their doors, and our communities are suffering.

That is what happened to the Tembec mill in Smooth Rock Falls, which closed three years ago. The city, the province and the community development agency are working together to revive their local industry. The Conservative government is not working with them.

How can people in northern Ontario trust a Conservative government that does not care about our rural towns?

[David Anderson, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth.

Through our economic action plan, our government is taking unprecedented steps to support forestry workers and their communities. I could go through a whole list of them but it would take a lot longer than the 30 seconds I have.

We have provided $170 million under the economic action plan to help companies develop new products and opportunities. We have put $1 billion over two years into the community adjustment fund.

The economic action plan is supporting workers and communities with $8.3 billion going into that. We have moved to reduce costs for forestry companies and have improved access to credit for the forestry sector.

We are working with forestry communities. We are proud of the action plan that we have put in place.

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Mr. Speaker, maybe that is why Smooth Rock Falls is on the verge of losing everything this week, everything the people have worked for over the years, because the government probably does not even care where Smooth Rock Falls is.

The people of Smooth Rock Falls have been abandoned by those cons. When the Conservatives promised us peace in the forest industry, what they really meant was rest in peace. Communities across northern Ontario in rural Canada deserve a government that gives them the tools and the help they need to rebuild shattered local economies.

Why has the government abandoned communities like Smooth Rock Falls? What kind of con game is the Prime Minister playing with rural Canada?

[David Anderson, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Maybe, Mr. Speaker, that riding needs a better MP who would stand up and represent his constituents rather than try to cause a useless and unnecessary election.

Perhaps that member should support us as we bring forward the $1 billion pulp and paper green transformation program. Instead, he is trying to fight us and cause an election. We need those folks to work with us but they have chosen not to.

We will work with Canadian forestry companies across this country.

Employment Insurance

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, it is very nice of the government to say that it will protect self-employed workers, but now it has to do something about it. This week, I asked the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development two questions. When will self-employed workers have access to the employment insurance system? The minister said that she would make this happen, but she did not say when.

This morning, the Globe and Mail reported that the government plans to introduce a bill this fall. The NDP has been asking for these changes for years. Now we want to see a timeline and a detailed plan.

What does the minister have to say?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, what we say we will do, we will do.

Our campaign commitment from the last election was that we would provide for maternity and parental benefits and we will do so. We will keep our commitments. We will bring forward legislation in the very near future.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, 2.7 million self-employed workers in Canada have no access to a social safety net even though the labour market is changing dramatically. This trend has been developing over the past few years. Last year alone, the number of self-employed workers rose by 3.5%, while the number of salaried workers fell by 2.7%.

Will those 2.7 million self-employed workers be getting any help by the end of the year?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, we have done a number of things to help the unemployed, some of which those members have supported and some of which they have not.

We will continue to analyze what is necessary for the unemployed. We will take steps going forward. We will be bringing in legislation in the near future.

National Defence

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Mr. Speaker, 13 years of neglect of the Canadian Forces by the former Liberal government, often referred to as the decade of darkness, left our military service men and women with rusting equipment and crumbling infrastructure on our national defence bases.

Under our government's first defence strategy, we are replacing and refurbishing 25% of our existing military infrastructure over 10 years.

Could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence tell us what infrastructure investments have been made in our military facilities across our country and how this is helping to stimulate the economy as well as protect jobs?

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, finally, a good question. I thank the member for his tremendous support of the Canadian Forces.

In line with the Canada first defence strategy, we are improving the work and housing environments by improving base infrastructure and putting people to work. This year we have announced almost $2 billion in construction projects. This illustrates our government's ongoing commitment to the Canadian Forces and solid contribution to Canada's economic well-being.

Here is a partial list of our infrastructure spending: $334 million at Trenton; $135 million at Cold Lake; $109 million in Montreal, Valcartier and Bagotville; $266 million for Esquimalt; and $66 million for 14 Wing Greenwood.

We are getting the job done for the Canadian Forces and Canada.

2010 Winter Olympic Games

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, VANOC unveiled the athlete's logo for the 2010 games. Media—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for Vancouver Centre has the floor.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

--immediately flagged its striking resemblance to the Conservative Party logo. Asked about this in the House, the minister said that there was no one in the government involved in any way, shape or form.

Well, he is the minister responsible for the 2010 Olympics. The buck stops with him. Why was there no oversight to prevent this embarrassment to VANOC, Hudson's Bay Company and the athletes?

Why was the minister not aware and, what else does he not know about his portfolio?

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the government was not involved in any way, shape or form in the design of Olympic clothing. The clothing was designed by the Hudson's Bay Company in consultation with the Canadian Olympic committee and with an athletes panel.

I would just reference, for example, Suzanne Timmins, fashion director at Hudson's Bay Company. This is good to remind the opposition. She says, “Canada starts with a C, and yes there’s a leaf” in our flag.

Steve Yzerman, former captain of the Peterborough Petes and Canada's men's hockey team executive, says that our new Olympic uniforms are “very stylish, comfortable and easy to wear”.

Now that is a great—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. member for Manicouagan.