House of Commons Hansard #18 of the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was young.

Topics

2:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

It being Wednesday, we will now have the singing of the national anthem led by the hon. member for Chatham-Kent—Essex.

[Members sang the national anthem]

Liberal Party of CanadaStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Conservative

Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON

Mr. Speaker, today we see the same bad decision making from the current Liberal leader as we did from his predecessor. In 2007 the now rejected Liberal leader broke his promise by accepting back into the party, Marc-Yvan Côté, who had been banned for life for his involvement in the sponsorship scandal. Fast forward to today: new leader, same flip-flops. Beryl Wajsman was one of 10 Liberals banned for life for his involvement in the sponsorship scandal, yet he is now reinstated as an adviser to the Liberal leader. Apparently four years is a lifetime for the Liberals.

While the Liberals have forgiven the transgressions of their cronies, I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, Canadians have not.

Let me quote from the Guardian, a newspaper in the U.K. This is a description of the Liberal leader:

--a chameleon, a shifty academic difficult to pin down, but perhaps more accurately he ought to be called an egotist who is sure of his own superiority and who seems to lack any real passion for the country he intends to lead.

When will the Liberal Party learn that Canadians do not want to go back to the days of scandals, flip-flops and hypocrisy? Why does the Liberal leader love to flip-flop? When will the Liberals find real leadership?

Canadian Downhill Ski TeamStatements By Members

February 25th, 2009 / 2:05 p.m.

Liberal

Martha Hall Findlay Liberal Willowdale, ON

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start my speech by stating that I understand Canadians' enthusiasm for hockey. I like hockey.

I like hockey players just as much as the next guy.

But as a former skier, I am proud to draw attention today to the success of Canada's downhill ski team in the world championships.

Recently in France, a young Canadian, John Kucera, became the first Canadian man to become world downhill ski champion.

A week later, still at the world championships, another young Canadian, Michael Janyk, won the bronze medal in the slalom, the first Canadian man to win a medal in a world championship tech event.

None of these young skiers is from my riding, but I am well aware, from experience and knowledge of the downhill ski community, of how important these championships are and how much effort goes into a win.

I ask the House to join me in congratulating these young Canadians and to wish the entire national ski team, men and women, the best of success for the rest of the season.

Jennifer CrawfordStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Bloc

Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC

Mr. Speaker, on February 12, Jennifer Crawford, a resident of Napierville in my riding, was selected the first winner of the Yves Rocher foundation Terre des Femmes award, which recognizes women committed to the environment.

Ms. Crawford is the director of Cyclo Nord-Sud, which was set up ten years ago to collect unused bicycles. These are then repaired and send to NGOs in a dozen or so countries in Africa and South America. These bikes have an average of 20 years more use left in them and will go through another five owners.

My colleagues in the Bloc Québécois and I are delighted to draw attention to the work done by Ms. Crawford and to congratulate her on this award.

Pay EquityStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

NDP

Judy Wasylycia-Leis NDP Winnipeg North, MB

Mr. Speaker, today I rise with more sadness and concern than I have experienced in my 20 years in elected public office and my 30 years of fighting for women's equality.

Yesterday the Liberals gave a blank cheque to the Conservatives to kill pay equity. They sold out their principles. They let down the women of Canada. They decided to sacrifice pay equity on the altar of political expediency.

Pay equity goes to the heart of equality, human rights and civil liberties in this country. Equal pay for work of equal value is a fundamental right in Canada, and when that right has been denied, there has always been the option to seek justice through the courts. No more. That fundamental right is now gone with the Conservatives.

We fought for and won this battle decades ago, with the Manitoba NDP government under Howard Pawley being the first government in Canada to legislate pay equity, to proactively implement it while maintaining the human rights complaint mechanism.

For Conservative hack Tom Flanagan to compare women's rights to polyester leisure suits is beyond insulting. It is discriminatory, sexist and misogynist.

I say to the Conservatives that they should publicly renounce these offensive comments and stop their attack on women.

InfrastructureStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Conservative

Greg Rickford Conservative Kenora, ON

Mr. Speaker, last week I announced the construction of a new airport terminal for Red Lake-Balmertown as part of this government's building Canada fund, working with provincial and municipal governments as equal partners in modernizing our country with greener infrastructure.

I spent a lot of time travelling through Red Lake over the years as a nurse on my way to isolated first nations communities. I know how important this airport is to the region.

This will be no ordinary airport. It will feature a ground-sourced thermal heating and cooling system. That means no chimney, no fossil fuel and no environmental footprint.

In fact, Red Lake-Balmertown's seniors home, schools, library and municipal office are all geothermally heated and cooled. Improved air quality has made a difference in the overall health of seniors and increased attendance in schools by teachers and students. In Red Lake fossil fuels are fossil age.

Congratulations to Red Lake-Balmertown for being environmentally responsible. Hopefully more communities across Canada will embrace the concept that when it comes to constructing public buildings: no fossil fuels required, no fossil fuels desired.

Black History MonthStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Liberal

Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON

Mr. Speaker, each year, communities across Canada mark the month of February as Black History Month. This year several students at Senator O'Connor College School in my riding of Don Valley East organized a month of activities dedicated specifically to the history of the African diaspora in Canada.

The organizing committee, consisting of Marie Emmanuel, Trisha Henson, Dominique Bennett, Shendel Shand, Nikeisha Noel and Amisah Williams, have chosen themes for their month of activities including, “Deliverance From Ignorance”, “Marking History Books” and “Hallway of Heroes”.

I congratulate Marie, Trisha, Dominque, Shendel, Nikeisha and Amisah for their efforts to celebrate the contributions of Canadians of African heritage. I hope they achieve their goals of educating colleagues and classmates.

Also, tomorrow, students from across Toronto will be in Ottawa for the annual Toronto Breakfast Club Black History Month poster presentation. I invite all parliamentarians to attend.

Health CareStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Conservative

Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to speak about a very disturbing event that is happening in my riding.

On January 26 the Local Health Integrated Network, LHIN, released the results of a study it commissioned on three rural emergency departments. The study recommended the status quo at one, the closure of one and the downgrading of another to an urgent care centre. These recommendations, if implemented, would greatly decrease the quality of health care in my riding. The report's conclusions were determined by faulty data and are in direct contradiction with the recommendations of a previous report.

The community is outraged at LHIN's attack on health services. Thousands have attended rallies, written letters and made phone calls.

The results to date are that LHIN has refused to budge from its position. Meanwhile, six doctors have given notice they will leave in June if there is no emergency department.

Is this the future we can expect for rural health care in Ontario? Not if I can help it. Keep working together, Sarnia—Lambton. Hopefully together we will make a difference and convince the LHIN that we deserve health care.

Motion No. 299Statements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Bloc

Nicolas Dufour Bloc Repentigny, QC

Mr. Speaker, Motion No 299 by the hon. member for Papineau is in large part inspired by Katimavik, of which he has been chairman of the board. It reflects the same aim as that organization: the introduction in Canada of a national voluntary service policy for young people , which is nothing more or less than just one more intrusion into Quebec's areas of jurisdiction.

That said, it is not surprising for a motion that is just one more intrusion by the Liberals and federalists to come from the member for Papineau. It is an intrusion into the areas of education and manpower training, to name but a few. Education is clearly solely a Quebec jurisdiction.

Quebec already has its own youth action strategy. It also has programs for student exchanges with other provinces, as well as programs through which young people can gain volunteer experience in Quebec, in Canada, and abroad.

For the Bloc Québécois, it is absolutely clear that supporting this federalist propaganda measure is totally out of the question.

InfrastructureStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Conservative

Gary Schellenberger Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON

Mr. Speaker, our government is creating jobs and building Canada.

In my riding of Perth—Wellington, nine infrastructure projects were recently approved for a total of $24.3 million in spending. These are just some of the 289 projects across the province that will soon break ground, thanks to a federal-provincial-municipal investment of more than $1 billion.

Less than one month after the budget, our government is working with our partners at all levels to get funding out the door. This major injection of infrastructure funding will benefit the province of Ontario which has been hit especially hard by the global economic downturn.

With more than $24 million in infrastructure projects about to go ahead in my riding, I want to thank our provincial and municipal partners and especially our government for creating jobs in Perth—Wellington.

Anti-Bullying DayStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Liberal

Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC

Mr. Speaker, I first became aware of how serious bullying can be from Ms. Nasima Nastoh who lost her son to an act of bullying in his high school. Like many other children, he lived in fear because he knew he was thought of as different.

All of us at one time in our lives have been singled out, but for some kids bullying has become so serious that being attacked or assaulted is a daily risk.

Today, on February 25, wearing pink means that we stand united against bullying in our schools and workplaces.

Leader of the Bloc QuébécoisStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Conservative

Daniel Petit Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc has, for some weeks now, implicitly sanctioned hateful and violent remarks made by a group of extremists that was denouncing the re-enactment of the battle of the Plains of Abraham this summer in Quebec City.

In doing so, the Leader of the Bloc Québécois has made a serious error in judgment. His lengthy silence in response to the hateful remarks, notably by Pierre Falardeau and Patrick Bourgeois, is completely unacceptable.

But this kind of attitude from the Bloc leader was predictable given that his top priority is to divide Quebeckers, as the French president so eloquently noted last month.

What is even more unacceptable is that, as a result, the Quebec City area, my area, has to kiss millions of dollars in tourism revenue goodbye.

In the midst of an economic crisis, the Bloc leader decided to play partisan politics to the detriment of the economic interests of the citizens and businesses in my city.

Human RightsStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

NDP

Wayne Marston NDP Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON

Mr. Speaker, as the human rights critic for the NDP, I am concerned with the direction Canada has taken over the past number of years in regard to human rights both in Canada and abroad.

The United Nations Human Rights Council recently released a draft report on the Universal Periodic Review of Canada's human rights record. A disturbing thread that runs through the review is that Canada talks a good game, but we are not advancing human rights in Canada and internationally as Canadians believe their government should do.

Countries are asking why Canada is avoiding its responsibility to ratify the Optional Protocols of the Convention Against Torture. With the results of the O'Connor inquiry in the Maher Arar case and the Iacobucci review of Abdullah Almalki case and others, we know now that Canada, at the very least, has been complicit in torture by proxy.

Just who is responsible for ensuring that the recommendations coming from these reports and reviews are given proper consideration? Who is accountable for their implementation?

Canada has so much more to do. Other countries like China and Sudan give lip service to human rights. When will Canada once again—

Human RightsStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

The hon. member for Crowfoot.

The EconomyStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

Conservative

Kevin Sorenson Conservative Crowfoot, AB

Mr. Speaker, this government has a plan, a plan for its country, a plan for its people, a plan that is working. It is a plan that puts ordinary Canadians first, a plan with tax cuts for low and middle-income Canadians, extended EI benefits for the unemployed, a plan of investments in real projects that will create real jobs.

The Leader of the Opposition can muse and pontificate all he wants about the economy, but everyone knows he has no plan. The only substantive economic idea he has ever proposed was a carbon tax, a carbon tax far deeper and far more sweeping than the carbon tax proposed by his former leader, the member for Saint-Laurent—Cartierville. One other thing he wants to form is another parliamentary committee to study it.

I have spent a lot of time talking to ordinary people and business leaders and the only two people in the country who remain wedded to a job killing, recession worsening, carbon tax are the Leader of the Opposition and his former leader.

The National PostStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

Bloc

Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the National Post demonstrated utter contempt by publishing a hostile editorial directed at Quebec.

The editorial called on Ottawa to adopt a tough-love attitude toward Quebec and suggested that the Quebec chair at the Organisation internationale de la francophonie be taken away. It urged politicians to state unequivocally that there is no fiscal imbalance between Quebec and Ottawa. It also suggested that the government reinstate the re-enactment of the battle of the Plains of Abraham and, if need be, provide federal security for the event.

More outrageous still, in the same issue of the daily paper, the Conservative member for Edmonton East added his own fuel to the fire when he said that, without the battle of the Plains, a pivotal point in history, French in Quebec today would probably be like it is in Louisiana: a quaint cultural tourist attraction and possibly not even an official language.

It is a shame that the Conservative members and ministers from Quebec did not have the wherewithal to explain just how tactless the re-enactment—

The National PostStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

The hon. member for Mississauga South.

Conservative Party of CanadaStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Mr. Speaker, accountability requires that one explain and justify one's actions and decisions in a manner that is true, full and plain. However, transparency and accountability seem to be just words to the current government.

Let us consider the following: ignoring its own fixed election date law; squandering a $14 billion annual surplus; breaking its promise not to tax income trusts; failing to spend nearly half of the approved infrastructure funding for 2008; the incompetent November economic statement; breaking its promise on equalization; voting non-confidence in Elections Canada.

The latest revelation is that within the government there is systemic abuse of the Access to Information Act by the Conservatives withholding of thousands of documents from the public and with the Prime Minister's Office and the Privy Council Office being directly involved by vetting the information before it is released.

It is time for this litany of unaccountability to stop. It is time for the government to put the interests of the public ahead of its own political interests.

Finally, it is time for the government to start respecting the laws of Canada.

Leader of the OppositionStatements By Members

2:20 p.m.

Conservative

Rodney Weston Conservative Saint John, NB

Mr. Speaker, whereas this government has a plan for the country, the Leader of the Opposition only has a plan for himself. He has the audacity to come back to Canada after 36 lost years for the sole purpose of becoming prime minister. The more he tours, the more he speaks, the more profiles that are written, Canadians are increasingly realizing that he is in it for himself and not for them.

The Guardian writer summed it best, and these are his words not mine, when he said that the Leader of the Opposition is so “sure of his own superiority and seems to lack any real passion for the country he intends to lead”.

For the Leader of the Opposition, Canadians deserve better.

The EconomyOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Etobicoke—Lakeshore Ontario

Liberal

Michael Ignatieff LiberalLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, retail sales are plummeting, personal bankruptcies are rising and Canadians are losing their jobs in record numbers. They need to hear a message of hope and confidence.

Last night in Washington, Americans heard that message.

Here all the Minister of Finance can say is that the numbers “will continue to deteriorate”.

Is this all the government can offer our country, the spectacle of synchronized deterioration?

The EconomyOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Calgary Southwest Alberta

Conservative

Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, since we presented the latest steps in our economic plan, I have been in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. I will be in Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Our ministers and our members of Parliament have been making announcements across the country, which are giving hope to communities and families.

In fact, I think the government is doing such a good job of selling this plan that the Leader of the Opposition has voted for it.

The EconomyOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Etobicoke—Lakeshore Ontario

Liberal

Michael Ignatieff LiberalLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, the problem is whether the Prime Minister actually believes what he is doing, because behind closed doors he is singing a different tune.

We know from Rick Anderson, the well-known Conservative insider, that the Prime Minister is quoted as saying that his own stimulus package is “over the top”.

Does the Prime Minister actually believe in his action plan?

The EconomyOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Calgary Southwest Alberta

Conservative

Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, I do not think I have had a conversation with Mr. Anderson for some years, so he certainly is not quoting me.

I can appreciate that the Leader of the Opposition is very concerned about how the stimulus plan is being sold in the United States. In fact, he is so concerned I notice that he rented some advertising space in New York and Las Vegas to put pictures of himself and Barack Obama up for the American public.

I can assure him that President Obama can sell his plan all by himself.

The EconomyOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Etobicoke—Lakeshore Ontario

Liberal

Michael Ignatieff LiberalLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, I saw the Prime Minister walking through Times Square to make up the lost ground.

In Washington yesterday, the President gave Americans a sense of hope and confidence, but here, the Minister of Finance is telling Canadians that our economy will “continue to deteriorate”.

What does the Prime Minister think? What is he offering Canadians? Continued deterioration?

The EconomyOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Calgary Southwest Alberta

Conservative

Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, as the Leader of the Opposition will know, around the visit of President Obama, Canada received very good publicity in the United States and this government did not have to pay for it.

When I visited the United States, I saw the difficulties they are having, just as we too are experiencing difficulties. The Americans are very impressed by Canada's position. That is why we have a more optimistic atmosphere here, but we must work together to improve our situation during these tough economic times.