Debates of Oct. 30th, 2009

Government Advertising

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, our government has worked tremendously hard with our economic action plan. We are seeing an unprecedented global economic downturn. We are beginning to see some positive signs of an economic recovery. We have an important responsibility to report back to Canadians on our economic action plan.

He talks about the many tax benefits which they are eligible for. We have an opportunity to inform them of the status of our infrastructure investments in every corner of the province. We have an important responsibility to let them know that the government is responding to this unprecedented economic challenge and working for them.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I think the minister thinks that this a game. He thinks it is okay to abuse taxpayers' dollars and brush off questions of accountability with a smirk and a wave of the hand.

Who would have thought that when the Conservatives said they would invest in public transit, it meant plastering partisan propaganda on Toronto's GO trains?

Why does the Conservative Party believe it can do or say anything, and get away with it? When will it return the money it used to pay for its 2009 self-promotion tour?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I will tell the House what we have done. When I tour the country, I am working with the NDP Premier of Nova Scotia, Darrel Dexter. We are making important investments in his own hometown.

I was recently with the NDP Premier of Nova Scotia and we made an $18 million investment in Halifax for a new library, something that has been fought for, for many, many years.

We are making significant investments that we announced with the NDP Government of Nova Scotia in Cape Breton Island. We are very proud of that. We are helping to build regional roads around rural Nova Scotia. We are very proud of that.

We have put politics aside. We are working with NDP, Liberal and Conservative governments, and we are getting the job done.

Arts and Culture

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, every time the Conservatives cut cultural funding, they attack our quality of life and our identity. First, they cut programs supporting theatre, dance and opera. Now they are cutting funding for music. What will they cut next?

In contrast, this week, the Liberal Party committed to doubling funding for the Canada Council for the Arts. Two parties, two completely different visions. It is often said that ignorance breeds suspicion and rejection of that which is not understood.

Is ignorance the reason that they are once again attacking culture?

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

Mr. Speaker, do members know what Canadian artists do not need? More Liberal doublespeak, that is what they do not need. What they need is a government that has demonstrated a commitment to arts and culture in this country, and that is what they have.

Once again the Liberal leader was in Montreal and announced billions of dollars of new spending again this week, billions tacked on to the billions he has spoken about before. Nobody believes it. It is just pandering.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when I hear answers like that, I feel sorry for the Conservatives. I do. They just do not get it. Our culture is what makes us sing, dance, laugh and sometimes cry.

Try to imagine one day in our lives without culture, without books, without music, without poetry. Try to imagine that, just one day in our lives. It is impossible. It proves one point: culture needs more support, not more cuts. Why can the Conservatives not get it?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am actually encouraged about one thing today. I am encouraged that the hon. member is back on his file after being missing for 148 days on the heritage file. I am glad he has rediscovered the heritage file. That is good.

Our government has been working hard, supporting Canadian artists since long before the economic action plan. The economic action plan specifically remembered arts and culture in this country, committing more money than any government has ever committed because we understood the challenges that artists would face in this country, and we stood behind them four-square.

I am proud of the result of this government's support of art and culture.

Canadian Forces

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Mr. Speaker, every day our Canadian Forces are making the world a safer place to live. In the face of great personal danger and away from their friends, family and loved ones, these brave men and women are examples of all the good that Canadians are capable of. Our largest overseas deployment is serving in Afghanistan and this winter they will be celebrating the holidays without the comforts of home.

Would the Minister of State for Transport please tell the House what program is in place to help families stay connected with our troops during the holiday season?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Minister of State (Transport)]

Mr. Speaker, it is really amazing what our troops do overseas for us every day of the year and particularly during the holiday season. They leave the comforts of home and country to do this outstanding work for us.

It is a great pleasure for me to inform the House that Canada Post again will be allowing free parcel delivery for Canadian Forces overseas. This is the fourth year in a row. This is an amazing thing.

We should be proud of our troops and proud that an institution like Canada Post is able to do this. We certainly hope that Canadians from coast to coast will exercise the opportunity to support our troops.

Health

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians from coast to coast to coast are slowly becoming comfortable with the importance of getting the H1N1 vaccine. While millions of vaccines have been produced and are being distributed, obviously we are seeing major lineups and a lot of people concerned about not being able to get the vaccine. Clinics are being flooded and people are waiting.

This could very well be the largest immunization process in Canada, but does the government have a plan to facilitate and make the access to the vaccine a lot greater and a lot faster?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we are working to ensure that the vaccine is both safe and effective for Canadians. We have six million doses out in every corner of the country. That is more per capita than any other country.

I thought one of our colleagues in the House said it very well this morning in the Ottawa Sun when he said:

This is a very large undertaking here. We've never tried anything quite this size on such a rapid timeline. I'm not sure that it would have been necessarily feasible to have got it out sooner.

That was our colleague, the member for Toronto—Danforth, the leader of the New Democratic Party.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Surely, however, we can keep going and do a lot more, Mr. Speaker.

We were too late in informing people about the vaccine and we were too slow in getting it out. Now we need the vaccine administered as quickly as possible. The need for action is no less urgent and the concern is not lessened.

Has the government explored every possible opportunity to make it accessible in a much quicker way?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we will work with the Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Butler-Jones, and the provinces and territories on this. Again, her own leader said, “I'm not sure that it would have been necessarily feasible to have got it out sooner”.

I would not want to not use this opportunity to say to the member for Churchill that on November 4 there will be an incredibly important vote in the House of Commons with respect to the long gun registry. I hope she will join those of us on this side of the House and stand with her constituents, and stop a wasteful expenditure of money, so we have more money to put into priorities that Canadians care about.

Foreign Affairs

[Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the director of Human Rights Watch has condemned the fact that the Conservatives' foreign policy seems to have lost its bearings. He emphasized the erosion of Canadian leadership on the international scene. In many ways, American policy has become more progressive than the Conservatives'.

Does the government realize that most Quebeckers agree with this assessment and that they no longer identify with the government's foreign policy?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas)]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure exactly what the question was, but I can assure this House that Canada is back on the international stage and Canadians know that this government brought Canada back.

[Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleague opposite to listen to my second question.

The federal government's shameful handling of the case of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, proves that it has turned its back on its international responsibilities.

Recently released photos suggest that Omar Khadr is innocent, so why did the government willingly spend more than $1.3 million on lawyers to keep him languishing in Guantanamo for years?

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, our position on Omar Khadr has not changed. Omar Khadr continues to face serious charges, including murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, and material support for terrorism and spying.

We continue to closely monitor the situation, including the work of the American committee formed by President Obama to study the fate of Guantanamo detainees, including Mr. Khadr.

Crown Corporations

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Mr. Speaker, when a problem arises with a crown corporation, the government washes its hands of any responsibility. It tells us that crown corporations are at arm's length, they have nothing to do with the minister. But the Conservatives insist on sitting in on private meetings of crown corporations. They fired the chief nuclear regulator and rid themselves of the commissioners of elections, of information, of ethics.

When are they going to tell Canadians the truth, that there is no such thing as independence for crown corporations with this Conservative government?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Minister of State (Transport)]

Yes, Mr. Speaker, as the hon. colleague knows and everyone in the House knows, crown corporations serve their day-to-day functions at arm's length from the government.

If there is information that comes to the House for individuals, they have the full right, and I will set up any meetings that are needed for them, to do the functions of their job here in the House. I will do this not only for the hon. member but any of the opposition members at any time they would like.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Mr. Speaker, this is a serious issue. The government picks and chooses the crown corporations it gets involved with. This raises further questions about the allegations linking Conservative Senator Housakos with the awarding of the bridge contracts.

If a crown corporation cannot so much as meet with a member of Parliament without a ministerial escort, how can we be expected to believe that it will award major contracts without Conservative meddling?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite has an important responsibility. If she has any evidence, facts or anything whatsoever that she could bring forward to the House, I would encourage her to do so.

The fact that she stands in this place, maligns a member of the other chamber and presents no facts and no specific allegations, is not serving her constituents well in my judgment.

Forestry Industry

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, West Fraser Timber announced that it is closing the Eurocan mill in Kitimat, British Columbia. More than 500 people will lose their jobs and as many as 3,000 others in related industries will also be out of work in the Terrace and Kitimat region.

Despite the closure, West Fraser will still receive a $30 million subsidy from the government for the very same mill that it is mothballing.

Could the minister explain why West Fraser is getting a subsidy at the same time that it is dealing a crippling blow to the workers and their families that put their blood, sweat and tears into this operation for more than 40 years?

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

Mr. Speaker, our government remains extremely concerned about the difficulties that are facing the forestry sector and, through our economic action plan, the government has supplied the forestry industry with a $1 billion pulp and paper green transformational program. West Fraser qualified for more than $88 million in those credits to be used at any mill in Canada.

I think the question that needs to be asked of the member, however, relates to Bill C-391 and what he will do next week when that bill comes to a vote in front of the House. Will he stand and represent his constituents for once in the House and get rid of the long run registry?

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, apparently the government is unable to use the tool called Google to find out that I will be supporting the bill next week when it comes to a vote.

In this unprecedented crisis in the forestry industry, we were told that this very program, this subsidy, would keep our mills open and our forestry towns alive but the program is deeply flawed.

Could the minister explain why a program that was supposed to protect our mills is, instead, helping to shut them down? What answer can the government offer to the 3,000 families affected and the many tens of thousands of families that may face the same fate across this country?

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

Mr. Speaker, just as he has been late to the long gun registry file, he has been late to this one as well.

This government has supported the forestry sector across this country for years. We put $1 billion into the community adjustment fund and $1 billion in to the community development fund. We spent $170 million to help the forestry sector with innovation and marketing. I could go on and on because this government has stood behind our forestry sector, and we will continue to stand there.

I would ask him if he will speak to his colleagues and convince them that they should be supporting Bill C-391 as well and getting rid of the long gun registry. Will he do that with us?