House of Commons Hansard #19 of the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was money.
Vic Toews ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, again, that member is misleading the public.
In fact, in 2007-08 the government processed a record number of requests, an increase of 38% over the last five years. The reason is we have opened up the books. We have opened up the Wheat Board, despite the fact that members like the member for Wascana or the member for Malpeque opposed the opening up of the Wheat Board. They wanted that money spent in private. We want farmers and others to know how their money is being spent.
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
Mr. Speaker, last December, the Minister of National Defence decided to recommend to cabinet that Canada purchase 17 C-27J search and rescue aircraft from the Italian firm Alenia. He promised that the official announcement would be made early in the new year. However, it seems the minister does not have his colleagues' approval. Several reporters on the Hill and elsewhere already know that his colleagues are pressuring him to change his recommendation.
Why is the minister stubbornly recommending an aircraft that the Minister of Industry rejects? Why are the criteria his department set being questioned?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway
Mr. Speaker, as is sadly so often the case with the defence critic, that is patently false.
This need, the mission-specific aircraft for search and rescue in the country, is not determined by myself as a minister. It is determined in a full, open and transparent process where companies, Canadian and otherwise, can offer on this contract. It is done in conjunction with the Department of Public Works as well as the Department of Industry. We want the best aircraft so we can supply that equipment to the best people to do the job to save the lives of Canadians.
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
Mr. Speaker, he needs to work on his French.
We know there is a delay caused by the industry minister. We already know the former minister of defence worked for Hill & Knowlton, the lobby firm that promoted the EADS CASA C-295, a competitor of Alenia's C-27J.
Interestingly enough, the current chief of staff of the minister, William King, has been senior vice-president for the very same firm.
Would the Minister of Industry assure the House that his chief of staff was not involved in any meetings with the Departments of Public Works and National Defence for that bid and that he recused himself from that file?
Tony Clement ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, I have only been in the House for just over three years. That is the lowest of the low. That is outrageous. I demand he retract it and apologize. He is skimming the bottom of the barrel.
The member should say that outside the House and then we will talk about the lawsuit that will prevail, I am sure.
Jean-Yves Laforest Bloc Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance has admitted that there will be mistakes in the way the money earmarked for tackling the economic crisis will be used.
Does the minister not understand that he has already made serious mistakes in his budget by offering mere crumbs to the manufacturing and forestry sectors as well as to the unemployed and by not reinstating the funding cut from culture?
Ted Menzies ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I think we had a discussion a few minutes ago about mistakes. Need I remind all hon. members of the two mistakes, one being the Bloc, the other one being the NDP. They do not care about Canadians?
We have put a stimulus package in place, an economic action plan that over two years will stimulate 3.2% of GDP. The hon. member has the audacity to suggest that this will not help Canadians.
Jean-Yves Laforest Bloc Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Mr. Speaker, it was the Minister of Finance himself who said that there would be mistakes.
And while he was saying there will be mistakes, the President of the Treasury Board tabled the Main Estimates, which contain a special credit of $3 billion that he can distribute as he sees fit.
How can the government have the gall to ask for a blank cheque from Parliament when it is admitting it is incapable of being truly accountable?
Vic Toews ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, first, let us put the statement of the Minister of Finance in context. He was referring to the comments of the Auditor General, who acknowledged that in these kinds of exceptional situations there may well be mistakes.
However, I can reassure Canadians that we have a plan in place to ensure the money is followed closely and yet is in the hands of Canadians so there is a real stimulus to our economy, no thanks to the Bloc and NDP, who are voting against these initiatives.
Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC
Mr. Speaker, the controversy surrounding the re-enactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham is entirely due to the lack of judgment by André Juneau, chair of the National Battlefields Commission, and the complicity of Conservatives blinded by their ideology.
Will the minister fire André Juneau or continue to sanction the Liberal sponsorship legacy?
Josée Verner ConservativeMinister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, the answer is obvious. The answer is no, especially not after the threats and calls to violence that we have witnessed in the Quebec City region since the Bloc and the Parti Québécois stirred up controversy about the situation.
Everyone knows full well that threats and calls to violence are not part of Quebec's values. That is more like the Bloc's ideology.
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, just one minute. The truth must be told. I want to set the record straight. The Bloc Québécois has always denounced all calls for violence of any kind. Is that clear?
And in case the minister did not understand, I repeat: denounced and condemned. Is that clear?
We know the Conservatives are very quick to condemn others, but they were less quick when it came to shedding some light on the in and out scandal denounced by the Chief Electoral Officer—
Josée Verner ConservativeMinister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, clearly, we do not have the same notion of denunciation. Here is an advertisement from the hon. member for Québec and the hon. member for Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord—
Josée Verner Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
I would ask the leader of the Bloc Québécois to be quiet, Mr. Speaker, so I can reply. We live in a democracy here.
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
Mr. Speaker, for several years in British Columbia, we have been waiting desperately for federal action on gang violence and gun crime. The record for the government has so far been cuts to the community crime prevention programs and three years to put more RCMP officers on the ground.
Is the government prepared to put more RCMP officers on the ground right now in metro Vancouver to deal with this emergency?
Peter Van Loan ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, when we became government, we said that tackling crime was one of our major priorities, and we have delivered. We have delivered more police officers because that had been neglected too long by the previous government. We committed 1,000 new RCMP officers and we delivered over 1,500. We have provided money to the provinces for more municipal and provincial police officers.
As a result, the solicitor general of British Columbia and his premier were able to announce last week more police on the street to fight crime. We are getting the job done where it was not done before.
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Mr. Speaker, the minister is obviously strong on spin, though weak on crime.
At a time of escalating gang violence in B.C., unfortunately we do have a Conservative government that is weak on crime. On the Conservatives' watch, the situation has become worse. They have been three years in power and communities are experiencing the reeling from their failure.
The Conservatives have weakened prevention programs, weakened the gun registry and killed a number of important crime bills that the Liberals were supporting.
Why is the minister not giving my community of Vancouver and all Canadians the tools and the resources they--
Peter Van Loan ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, today the Minister of Justice had to stand in the House and introduce a bill to combat gang crime with new penalties precisely because it had not been done by the previous government.
In the previous House, he had to press for mandatory prison sentences for gun crimes, and as House leader, I had to make that a confidence matter three times before the Liberals would agree to allow it to pass.
We have taken action to fight crime. We have been doing it on the prevention side with new programs. I did not see the hon. member there when I announced five of them in Vancouver in January. Where were the Liberals? They were in the same place they have been for 13 years in government: ignoring the problem. We are taking action.
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Mr. Speaker, the natural resources minister said in a speech last night that we need more “transparent public communication” on the nuclear energy file. However, she prefers to keep Canadians in the dark about the government's plans to sell off AECL.
Will the minister follow her own advice? Will she tell Canadians the government has put a “for sale” sign on AECL?
Lisa Raitt ConservativeMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, we are always looking at options to strengthen this great nuclear industry we have here in Canada.
One of the options we took on last year was to start the process of looking at better ways to deliver this great Canadian nuclear industry to the rest of the world. We have commissioned a report from National Bank to look at options. We are in the process and we are looking forward to studying it and making good sound decisions for the Canadian public.
