House of Commons Hansard #106 of the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was c-50.

Topics

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

Order. Order. The hon. member for Toronto—Danforth has the floor. Please, we will have some order.

The hon. member for Toronto—Danforth.

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Jack Layton NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON

Mr. Speaker, the result is that any money that American companies might save by not paying Canadian taxes, they give to the U.S. treasury. That policy is shortchanging the Canadian treasury. This is a new study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives which says that $4 billion to $6 billion are being lost from the Canadian treasury under this plan. They make clear it is not good for Canadians. Why are the Conservatives giving tax dollars away and charging HST to Canadian--

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

The hon. Minister of Industry.

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Parry Sound—Muskoka Ontario

Conservative

Tony Clement ConservativeMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, the fact that the hon. member fails to understand consistently is that if we overtax, we lose jobs, we lose opportunity, we lose economic development. We have realized that. That is why we are proud to be a low tax jurisdiction while still making sure that the services Canadians demand from the federal government are taking place. We have two people to thank for this, the Prime Minister and our Minister of Finance.

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Jack Layton NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON

Mr. Speaker, we can thank the same two people for the HST that will be coming for B.C. and Ontario families in the next few months.

Let us compare and contrast. In Nova Scotia the NDP government is taking the HST off home heating fuel. The Prime Minister is slapping home heating fuel with a new tax in B.C. and in Ontario. Why is he doing this? If he is not willing to listen to working families, will he at least listen to his old friends from the National Citizens Coalition who are saying “no” to the HST, or is he abandoning them as well?

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam B.C.

Conservative

James Moore ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that through four budgets and through two minority Parliaments, this Conservative government has lowered taxes in every single budget we put before Canadians.

The member talks about the importance of low sales tax. The reality is that this Conservative government lowered the GST twice. Those members voted against it every single time. The inverse reality is equally true. When the NDP was in power in British Columbia, all it did was raise taxes constantly and take the fastest growing economy in British Columbia and put it from first to worst. That is the record of the NDP.

I will stand proudly with the Prime Minister and compare our record of low taxes against the high tax record of the NDP.

HealthOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Liberal

Bernard Patry Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC

Mr. Speaker, our neighbours to the south ordered H1N1 vaccines from five different suppliers. Why did this government choose a single supplier? Did they not realize that this would lead to a shortage?

HealthOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Parry Sound—Muskoka Ontario

Conservative

Tony Clement ConservativeMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, once again, 6 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine have already been sent to the provinces and territories. That is now the reality.

The hon. member has a question to ask about the contract. It was signed in 2001. Maybe he should ask members of that government.

HealthOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Liberal

Bernard Patry Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC

Mr. Speaker, not only did they order the vaccine from a single supplier, but they also ordered it three months late. They did nothing in May, June or July.

The inaction of this Conservative government is directly responsible for the current shortage. What measures have they taken to increase production of the vaccine?

HealthOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Parry Sound—Muskoka Ontario

Conservative

Tony Clement ConservativeMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that Canada has more doses per capita than any other country in the world. That is the reality.

That is the reality on the ground. That is what Canadians care about. That is what they should care about. That is why we are working with public health officials, the provinces and territories to deal with this situation to the best of our ability. The hon. member is simply playing politics if he wishes to dispute that.

HealthOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

Carolyn Bennett Liberal St. Paul's, ON

Mr. Speaker, the role of pandemic planning is backup, backup, backup.

The U.S. government ordered vaccine from five companies: Sanofi Aventis, CSL Limited, Novartis AG, GlaxoSmithKline and MedImmune.

Why did the Conservative government order two different vaccines and limit Canada to just one supplier? Why did the government make things worse by interfering in the supplier's production plan?

HealthOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Parry Sound—Muskoka Ontario

Conservative

Tony Clement ConservativeMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member and her caucus still refuse to accept the reality on the ground that we have more vaccine per capita than the United States, than the U.K., than Japan, than anywhere else in the world.

Six million doses have been distributed to date. That is the reality on the ground. That is what Canadians care about. That is what we care about and that is what we will continue to care about.

HealthOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

Carolyn Bennett Liberal St. Paul's, ON

Mr. Speaker, the government claims six million vaccines have been shipped, but Canadians are wondering where they are. The anxiety they face would be greatly alleviated if these six million vaccines meant six million Canadians had been vaccinated, but something has gone wrong, because the federal government failed to live up to its federal responsibility when faced with a pandemic.

When will the Conservatives release the $400 million set aside for pandemic response to get Canadians vaccinated as fast as possible?

HealthOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Parry Sound—Muskoka Ontario

Conservative

Tony Clement ConservativeMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know better than most that this is week one of the largest mass immunization campaign in the country's history, week one. The hon. member knows better than most that it takes eight to twelve weeks to distribute, deliver and access that vaccine for all 33 million Canadians. Those are the facts on the ground.

We have allowed to be distributed six million doses. That is more than enough for the priority groups that are the first groups in week one and week two. The member should be applauding the public health officials rather than criticizing this program.

HealthOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Bloc

Luc Malo Bloc Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC

Mr. Speaker, federal authorities have acknowledged that they were poorly prepared and that some clinics will have to close because of a lack of vaccine. My question is for the Minister of Natural Resources who, speaking about the current Minister of Health, said: “I really hope she never gets anything hot”.

Would the Minister of Natural Resources not agree that the Minister of Health's behaviour is confirming her worst fears?

HealthOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Parry Sound—Muskoka Ontario

Conservative

Tony Clement ConservativeMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, once again, 6 million doses of the vaccine have now been sent to the provinces and territories for public health. That is now the reality in Canada. Canada has more doses of the vaccine per capita than any other country in the world. That is the reality.

We are proud to work with all public health officials and public health agencies across the country and with all provinces and territories to protect the health and safety of Canadians.

HealthOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Bloc

Luc Malo Bloc Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC

Mr. Speaker, while the government pretends to have a handle on the H1N1 crisis, the Auditor General is criticizing the government for not having an emergency response plan for things like pandemics. Since 2004, the federal government has failed to produce an emergency response plan that allows the departments to communicate with one another.

Will the Conservatives admit that, in the case of the current crisis, they have been caught with their pants down?

HealthOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Parry Sound—Muskoka Ontario

Conservative

Tony Clement ConservativeMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, the reality is, once again, that our government announced a new action plan in 2006 to deal with the flu and pandemics. This is our record.

We have done this in consultation with the provinces, the territories and public health officials. We did that back in 2006. We are proud of that record. However, right now we are focused on ensuring that all parts of the country get the vaccine they need.

The EnvironmentOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Bloc

Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC

Mr. Speaker, Canada is once again under fire from the executive secretary of the Rio climate convention, Yvo de Boer, who has accused developed countries of not being ambitious enough with their greenhouse gas reduction targets. Canada is the worst of the bunch, with a reduction target of only 3% by 2020.

How can Canada be happy with such pathetic reduction targets, when we need reductions of 25% to 40% by 2020 in order to prevent the dramatic and irreversible effects of global warming?

The EnvironmentOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Calgary Centre-North Alberta

Conservative

Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, that is not the case. If there is an isolationist party in this House, it is the Bloc Québécois. It proposes an emission exchange, a carbon exchange with European targets, when we know that the Americans are not interested. Experts agree that a carbon exchange without the United States is doomed to failure. The Bloc Québécois should work with the government to combat climate change.

The EnvironmentOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Bloc

Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC

Mr. Speaker, we do not need any lectures from a government that received a Fossil of the Day award today in Barcelona. That is quite something.

African nations have issued an ultimatum, demanding that developed countries set specific greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2012-20. Instead of toadying up to the oil companies, which think Canada is already doing too much to reduce greenhouse gases, why is the minister not instead listening to those who think that Canada is not doing enough?

The EnvironmentOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Calgary Centre-North Alberta

Conservative

Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, these are some of the toughest environmental negotiations with which Canada has ever been involved. Canada wants to see a successful international treaty negotiated in Copenhagen. This government will have tough, capable negotiators at the table. We will not be boy scouts. The Liberals tried that. That is how we ended up with a Kyoto protocol with unattainable targets.

HealthOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Brian Murphy Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' inaction on H1N1 speaks volumes about their priorities. Spending $45 million on 6,000 propaganda posters is more important to them than the influenza. This is backwards. People should come before politics.

Why are the Conservatives putting politics ahead of the health of Canadians?

HealthOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Parry Sound—Muskoka Ontario

Conservative

Tony Clement ConservativeMinister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, again, from coast to coast to coast in Canada, 6 million doses of H1N1 vaccine have now been sent to the provinces and territories.

That is the reality on the ground. We have been working and constantly conveying our messages to the people of Canada about the importance of preparing for this second part of the outbreak. That has been the responsibility of the Minister of Health and she has been doing that, along with the Chief Public Health Officer. They have been working on behalf of Canadians. The hon. members opposite should do so as well.