House of Commons Hansard #114 of the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was copenhagen.
Mark Warawa ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, the member is absolutely wrong. This government has made it very clear. Canada wants an international binding treaty that includes all the major emitters. All of the major emitters have to be part of the solution.
One hundred and ninety-two countries will be at that table in Copenhagen. This government will ensure that any treaty will include Canada's economic, geographic and industrial realities. We will not sign a deal that would be bad for Canada.
Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is moving a motion today demanding that Canada commit to reducing, through absolute reduction targets, greenhouse gas emissions to 25% lower than 1990 levels, by 2020. This is an excellent opportunity for this government to demonstrate that it understands the urgent need to tackle climate change.
My question is simple. Do the Conservatives intend to vote in favour of the Bloc Québécois motion and to implement it?
Mark Warawa ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, the minister just returned from Copenhagen. He was one of 20 people who were invited to Copenhagen to prepare for the Copenhagen process. We are a constructive player on the international stage. We have one of the toughest targets in the world. We are working constructively with the Obama administration on a continental approach.
One thing we will never do is what the Liberals used to do. They did nothing on the environment and were supported by the Bloc. The Bloc has never supported good environmental policy. We will not do what the Liberals did.
André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food adopted a motion recommending that the government include income support as a component of the agricultural flexibility program, as called for by the Ontario-Quebec Grain Farmers' Coalition.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food did not keep the promises he made during the election campaign and before the last budget. Will he make amends and put in place a real agricultural flexibility program that includes income support?
Pierre Lemieux ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture
Mr. Speaker, our government is working closely with farmers. The agricultural flexibility program is a very strong program and we are providing $500 million for innovation in agriculture.
André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Mr. Speaker, the government cannot be working closely with Quebec producers because UPA's president has said that every time that the pressing needs of certain farmers in crisis must be addressed or when the specific nature of Quebec agriculture must be taken into account, the federal government drags its feet.
Will the Minister of Agriculture listen to us and put a program in place to support Quebec programs, such as ASRA, its farm income stabilization insurance program?
Pierre Lemieux ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture
Mr. Speaker, our government has many initiatives to help our agriculture sector. For example, we have invested $500 million to kickstart the AgriStability, AgriRecovery, AgriInvest and AgriInsurance programs.
We have also delivered $1.2 billion to our livestock sector, through business risk management. We have provided $50 million in slaughterhouse funding to help our slaughterhouse capacity. Of course, there is the pork transition program that we put in place to help the pork sector.
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Mr. Speaker, yesterday it was revealed that in the past 12 months alone, the Conservatives handed out government appointments to 233 identifiable Conservatives. Instead of being focused on Canadians who are losing their jobs, all they cared about was getting jobs for their friends.
The Prime Minister broke his solemn promise to have all appointees reviewed by an independent public appointments commission. Given that this commission does not exist, why do the public accounts show that the Conservatives managed to waste $1.4 million on a phantom office?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to highlight the fact that this government makes all of its appointments based on merit.
In fact,Transparency International recognized the improvements in this country as we have moved on an international scale from 14th under the Liberals to 8th under this government. We are now first in the western hemisphere, first in the G7. The Transparency International report says that Canada is an inspiration to the Americas.
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Mr. Speaker, the cross-funding between the ADQ and Senator Housakos' Conservatives is good news for some.
Nick Katalifos, Jean-Martin Masse, Jean Depelteau and Luc Moreau all received federal appointments for their generous gifts to the two parties.
Taxpayers are on the hook for this partisan return on investment.
Is it not fair to say that Claude Carignan and André Beaudet also won the lottery?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of Transport
That was another fact-free question, Mr. Speaker.
We make appointments based on qualifications and based on merit. I will put the Prime Minister's four years in office and the integrity of his administration with respect to appointments up against any Liberal government in the past.
John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON
Mr. Speaker, a new report shows that the Conservatives have accumulated roughly 10,000 flight hours in their private, taxpayer-funded planes. On average, that means on any given day there is a Conservative in the air for eight hours. There is probably one up there right now. Worse, they claim they do not even keep track of who is on board.
Why are Canadians not entitled to know who flies in these planes?
Deepak Obhrai ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, the department does provide--
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
Order, order. The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs has the floor. Order, please.
Deepak Obhrai Conservative Calgary East, AB
Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Transport has said, this government is very transparent. Any flight use by the ministers is publicly disclosed each month and is contained in publicly posted travel expense reports.
This is an absolutely transparent issue. I would like to tell the hon. member, if he has any questions, he is most welcome to check every month the postings of which flights have been taken by ministers.
John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON
Mr. Speaker, when I was responsible for those jets, the government kept track of every passenger and we told taxpayers who the passengers were.
I notice that the cost of meals on these jets has jumped by 80% in the past three years. Have the meals become 80% more lavish or does that increased cost reflect all the Conservative cronies who are hitching rides and eating well?
Deepak Obhrai ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, as I have stated very clearly, this government is very transparent.
I will repeat that any flights used by the ministers are publicly disclosed each month and are contained in publicly posted travel report. We are absolutely transparent and I am happy to state that this government is working hard to ensure, unlike the Liberals when he was down there, this is a transparent government.
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health has been very clear. Over 20% of Canadians have been vaccinated. By the end of this week, over 10 million doses will have been delivered to the provinces and the territories.
Could the Minister of Health please update the House on what supplies will be delivered to the provinces and the territories next week?
Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, this week I spoke of how proud we should be as Canadians of the way all partners have worked together in this pandemic.
I am pleased to say that by the end of next week the provinces and territories will have received another 4.8 million doses. This puts us above a total of 15 million doses and represents almost half of our population.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the front line workers for all their hard work and compassion in helping to get as many people vaccinated as possible.
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Mr. Speaker, the one thing all Canadians can agree on about the government's HST scheme is that it is punitive and will hurt families and small businesses.
Now, in Ontario and B.C., piece by piece and doughnut by doughnut, the provinces are making exemptions. From restaurants to new homes, the tax may no longer apply.
The government forked over billions of dollars in bribe money to get its tax. With all these exemptions, what is the point?
Ted Menzies ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, she did mention doughnuts so I might mention that the Ontario government this week, whose jurisdiction it is and whose decision it is whether or not to move to a harmonized sales tax, actually exempted doughnuts. I think a lot of our constituents will be happy about that.
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Mr. Speaker, if the government wants to stand here and deny its obvious role in the HST, that is one thing, but now we hear that it is also trying to deny its responsibility to first nations.
The Ontario finance minister said this week that the Conservatives will kill the first nations' point of sale tax exemption when the HST kicks in next July.
Why will the government not keep the point of sale tax exemption in place for first nations, or are we supposed to believe that is not its problem either?
Ted Menzies ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, this is a bit of a unique issue with on reserve exemptions from HST and GST.
Businesses across the country are required to charge and collect GST and HST. This includes businesses on reserves, and all currently harmonized provinces are following that framework. It is Ontario's decision what it wants to do.
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
Mr. Speaker, the government is clearly in over its head when it comes to tobacco smuggling. There are about a hundred criminal organizations that smuggle cigarettes to launder money or to increase their earnings. Because of the government's laissez-faire attitude, cigarette smuggling is now as profitable as drug trafficking.
Does the government realize that its strategy to combat smuggling is a failure?