Debates of Feb. 26th, 2009

Justice

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in general, the time an inmate spends in jail while waiting for sentencing is deducted twofold from the sentence to be served.The difficult situation in his province, with street gangs and organized crime, has brought the British Columbia Minister of Justice here today to ask the federal government to put a stop to this practice that undermines the credibility of the justice system.

Will the Minister of Justice respond to this request, as called for by the Bloc since 2006?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to welcome the Bloc Québécois to this issue. This is a very important issue for Canadians and I am glad finally that members of the Bloc have woken up to that fact. We introduced legislation today that will address gang-related murders, drive-by shootings, and assault on police officers. That is what I told our guests who came here to Ottawa. I said this is exactly what we need.

I want to know where the Bloc Québécois stands. Are they for change, are Bloc members going to support us on this kind of legislation? Let us find out.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are losing their jobs by the thousands but the minister wants to bring in tens of thousands of temporary foreign workers, workers with no rights. According to his own department, these workers are often exploited and drive down Canadian wages. It takes up to eight years to bring someone's mother from overseas, but temporary workers are fast-tracked in one month.

Will the minister finally get his priorities straight, speed up family reunification and limit the intake of temporary foreign workers?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, I think just about every sentence in that question was factually wrong. First of all, this government has sped up the processing of family reunification sponsorship applications. We are pleased that this is the first year in a generation, with thanks to the actions of my predecessor, we are seeing waiting times and the inventory for immigration go down rather than up, including for family reunification.

The temporary foreign worker program is limited. It is limited according to the demand. We only approve those applications where Canadians are not filling the jobs. Every single job must be paid at the Canadian prevailing wage rate.

Natural Resources

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this week my premier, Dalton McGuinty, announced a plan to boost investment in green energy and deliver green jobs. Ontario's green energy act will create growth in renewable energy sources like wind, solar, hydro and biomass. It will promote energy efficiency and encourage businesses to build green.

My question for the Minister of Natural Resources is, what is this Conservative government doing to work with the provinces, including Ontario, to make Canada the destination for green energy development?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Kitchener Centre for his question and all of his hard work on the file.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate my premier, Premier McGuinty, and Mr. Smitherman who are joining with our Conservative government in supporting clean renewable energy. As hon. members know, our Conservative government is taking early concrete action to clean up Canada's energy supply and realize our potential as an energy super power.

We are investing in renewable energy, supporting development in biofuels, and strengthening Canada's nuclear advantage. I am pleased that Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Smitherman are following our government's lead and have come to the table--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley.

The Environment

[Bill Casey, Independent, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the 2007 United Nations Panel on Global Warming identified the Bay of Fundy as one of only two regions in all of North America most vulnerable to rising sea levels from global warming. In late December, the area near Advocate Harbour, Nova Scotia, suffered the worst erosion damage in living memory. This is just the beginning according to the United Nations Panel on Global Warming.

Now that we know that this is a global situation and a global problem, will the federal government agree to partner with the provinces involved in building protective structures to prevent disastrous effects of the predicted rising sea levels from this global warming situation?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has previously raised this issue with myself and my department. He raises really two good policy questions: one is combatting climate change which we are committed to and the other is our cooperative working relationship with the province.

I would point out for his benefit that Minister Morse of his province has developed a very good working relationship with us as has his New Brunswick colleague. In addition, although she does not share the same geography, Minister Heppner also shares that same desire to work together with the government.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. We have a number of recognitions today.

I wish to draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of a number of ministers. First, the Honourable John van Dongen, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, and the Honourable Wally Oppal, Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism in British Columbia

Also, the Honourable Lloyd Snelgrove, President of the Treasury Board for Alberta and the Honourable Nancy Heppner, Minister of the Environment of Saskatchewan.

I would also like to draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of Dr. Arnold Koller, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forum of Federations.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

Committees of the House

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary for Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday you cautioned all members about the use of abusive language and personal attacks. As a new member, I want to thank you for that.

I was astonished yesterday, however, by the conduct of the Bloc Québécois member for Drummond during the meetings of the heritage committee, who interrupted the proceedings with language that I am unable to repeat in the House or in my home, in fact. There were repeated references to bovine excrement and I will say no more.

May I ask you, Mr. Speaker, to use your good offices with committee members to urge them to apply the same restraint that you placed on the House yesterday?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I am sure the hon. member will raise the matter in committee. Committee matters are not normally the preserve of the House unless there is a report from the committee. None has been received, so I suggest the hon. member deal with the matter there.

Oral Questions

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Standing Order 18 provides that no member may use offensive language in this House.

In response to a question I put to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, she said that threats and calls for violence “are not part of Quebec's values. That is more like the Bloc's ideology.”

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

I see the member for Nepean—Carleton applauding these remarks. I might also raise a point of order regarding the applause for these remarks.

The matter is very—

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

The member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, too.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

The matter is very serious. We consider these offensive remarks. To accuse the Bloc of supporting threats and acts of violence are remarks that cannot be made in this House. I would thus like a ruling on this from you on such remarks.

Accordingly, I call on the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, if you consider this to be the case, Mr. Speaker, to withdraw her offensive remarks, which are in contravention of Standing Order 18.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I have documents in my hand that the House should see, because it is, unfortunately, the Parliament of Canada that has, through a Bloc decision, paid for this really disgusting material unacceptable to Canadians.

I have here a paper known as Le Québécois. The editor called for violence and threatened Quebeckers, as well as the Quebec media. In a single edition, I count some five advertisements by the Bloc. Supported by its friends in the PQ, the Bloc Québécois has provided some 80% of the advertising revenues of this paper. The latest edition contains remarks against immigrants and refers to a plot by immigrants to make Quebeckers a minority, which is not true. There is a comment here comparing President Obama to Lassie.

This is the paper that threatened Quebeckers in recent months. It is funded totally by the Bloc Québécois and its elected members.

I should add that our minister has criticized violence, while the Bloc has funded threats. That is the truth.

I would ask for the unanimous consent of the House to table these documents here in the House so that the House and the Parliament of Canada can see the evidence.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Is there unanimous consent in the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Clearly, there is not unanimous consent.

Does the hon. chief government whip wish to speak to the same point of order?

[Gordon O'Connor, Conservative, Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the member for Timmins—James Bay made outrageous comments to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and today he topped it off. He referred—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I hesitate to interrupt the chief government whip, but we finished with the first point of order and I would like to deal with it briefly. I will just say I will take the matter under advisement and come back to the House, and review the comments made by the hon. member for Ottawa West—Nepean.

I assure the hon. whip of the Bloc Québécois that I will listen as well to the comments made by the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs during oral question period.

I can now hear another point of order, that of the chief government whip.

Comments of Member for Timmins--James Bay

[Gordon O'Connor, Conservative, Minister of State and Chief Government Whip]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Timmins—James Bay made outrageous comments with respect to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development yesterday and he carried on today. The allusions have to do with the utter disregard of children. I am not going to repeat the words.

I would ask you, Mr. Speaker, to refer to Hansard to check those words. I believe the member should be admonished. He cannot make these outrageous statements day after day.