Debates of Feb. 3rd, 2009

The Environment

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of the Environment said that the Bloc position is inconsistent because it wants companies to have the opportunity to be listed on the European carbon exchange and on a potential North American exchange. The minister should know that a company can be listed on more than one exchange, that is not the problem.

Does the minister understand that it is the lack of clear rules in the Conservative plans that is keeping Quebec companies from benefiting from the major advantages of carbon exchanges?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, that is not the case and the Bloc does not understand that we must reduce our greenhouse gas emissions through new technologies. Solution CO₂, on the other hand, is a Quebec company devoted to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This company understood and applauded the budget. The member should align his opinions with that of Solution CO₂ and congratulate us.

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we prefer to side with the opinion of Quebeckers.

The Quebec government is asking the federal government to catch up. Only a real Minister of the Environment understands environmental issues, but we have a minister who is on the oil companies' payroll. That is what we have.

Does the minister, the spokesman for the oil sands, realize that it is his government's lack of absolute targets and its abandonment of 1990 as the base year that is hurting Quebec companies, Quebec's economy and the environment?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we clearly disagree, and I will talk about this with Ms. Beauchamp, the Quebec minister. Once again, the member should read the budget carefully. In this budget, there is plenty of money for clean energy projects, technologies such as carbon capture and others. That is more than any previous government has done.

Culture

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government cut programs that enabled our artists to travel abroad, but in its budget, it invented a new $25 million program, the Canada prizes for the arts and creativity, that will bring foreign artists here and give them money. That is completely ridiculous and absolutely illogical.

Does the minister fail to understand that, logically, before we spend money to bring foreign artists here, we should be funding our own artists so that they can showcase their work abroad?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague does not understand the details of the Canada prizes for the arts and creativity.

This is a huge victory for our country's cultural sector. This program is based in Toronto. Had it been based in Montreal, she would probably have been proud of the prizes. This is a huge victory for our country's cultural sector.

Internationally, we are investing over $21 million to help our artists. We are investing money to help our international artists, even though the Bloc Québécois wants to vote against it.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister can go on tooting his own horn about his budget, but despite his misrepresentations, artists will not forget that their foreign touring program was cut by $45 million.

If the minister does not want to take care of artists, if he does not want to help them travel and showcase their work abroad, then why not transfer all of those powers and budgets to the Government of Quebec?

We Quebeckers would take care of business.

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague does not understand this at all. This year, our government will invest $2.3 billion in our artists. This budget includes $276 million in new funding for our artists. That money is for theatres, libraries, small museums, the national arts training contribution program, dance, music, theatre, access to magazines, the Canadian Television Fund, historic site restoration, and the Quebec City Armoury. These are the things they are voting against.

We are keeping the promises we made to Canadian artists even though the Bloc is voting against that.

Fraudulent Long Distance Calls

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, businesses across Canada are being victimized by long distance calling scams. At least one firm has received a monthly bill in excess of $200,000. Bell Canada has indicated that customers must pay for these fraudulent calls.

In this period of economic difficulty, why has the government failed to act? What action can we now expect that the government is prepared to take in order to prevent Canadian businesses from going under and being ruined?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, what I can report to the House is that we are concerned about these actions. They are fraudulent actions. They are criminal offences. We are always concerned when we hear about cases such as this. They are fraudulent and illegal activities. They hurt consumers, and we encourage anyone affected to report this experience to their carrier or to the RCMP, so that the RCMP can make their judgment call on whether this is an offence they wish to pursue.

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, what will it take to get this government to act against this fraud?

We already have the technology to detect this type of call.

Will the government at last stop making excuses and instead make an immediate commitment to work with the communications sector to protect Canadian businesses from these frauds, the way the banks protect debit and credit cards? Those are two examples to follow.

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we are always concerned when there are cases of fraud or illicit activity, especially when they affect consumers. We encourage anyone affected to report their experience to Bell or the RCMP.

Sri Lanka

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, a telephone text message from a United Nations worker in a Red Cross hospital in northeastern Sri Lanka uses these words:

Women and kids wards shelled. God, no words. Still counting the dead bodies.

I would like to ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs, where is Canada's voice in all of this? Why have we lost our voice? Why are we not calling for an international humanitarian ceasefire, as are so many other countries in the world?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as a matter of fact we have been extremely active on this file, contrary to what the member for Toronto Centre is saying.

Actually, on Monday of this week I had the opportunity of speaking with the foreign minister from Sri Lanka to impress upon him our deep concern with what is taking place in that part of his country and to make sure that every assistance possible be given to the United Nations in their efforts to make sure the humanitarian aid is brought.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the United Nations, the European Union and the Secretary-General of the UN, and now Norway, the US and Japan, are all calling for a humanitarian ceasefire to protect people's lives.

Where is Canada's voice in this? Why has Canada not spoken out about this disaster and why is Canada not speaking out to protect these people?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague is again not mentioning everything Canada is doing. As I have said, I have had the opportunity of speaking with the foreign minister of that country. It must be kept in mind also that we have, as a government, provided assistance to the people of that country; we have done so through CIDA. We have also approached the United Nations in support of their humanitarian aid.

The Budget

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last week in Canada's economic action plan the Minister of Finance announced a new 100% capital cost allowance for computer purchases for businesses. This capital cost allowance shows yet again how the Conservative government helps to support small and medium-sized business in Canada.

Could the Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism tell us about the benefits for small and medium size businesses in Canada's economic action plan?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism)]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Abbotsford for an excellent question. Organizational Metrics, a dynamic Ottawa-based company, is an example of how businesses will benefit from the new measures allowing 100% writeoff of computer and software purchases over the next two years.

CEO Scott Murray says that this 100% CCA will allow them to hire additional staff and increase the amount they spend on marketing.

Our government is proud of this measure and others in the economic action plan to stimulate our economy, protect those hardest hit by the global recession and ensure we emerge even stronger.

Steel Industry

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister does not get it when it comes to the real problems facing Canada's steel industry. There is no sectoral strategy for steel and no procurement policy for our own industry. If the government is really concerned about protecting the Canadian steel industry, it should look into the real problem of having sweatshop steel dumped into our market from the Third World.

Will the government stand up for Canadian workers and address the real problems with the steel trade, instead of picking ideological fights with the U.S. President?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be farther from the truth. This government, through its actions in the economic plan and through its actions in the budget, is focused on our business opportunities. It is focused on making sure small and medium-sized enterprises and sectors such as steel are looked after.

That is why we have the capital cost allowance measures that the Finance Minister introduced, that is why we have the tax reductions, and that is why we have the stimulus package that is found in the budget. This budget is for our economy. It is for every constituent and component of our economy, and that is why we support this budget. Other members should too.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, why will the government not just admit that it has dropped the ball on this file?

For years we have known that the real problem with steel production is actually from the dumping of low wage steel from the third world. However, instead of bringing in a sectoral strategy, the government has chosen to wag its fingers at the U.S.

Why does the government not move to bring in measures like buy Canada to build our steel industry here in Canada?

[Stockwell Day, Conservative, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that some issues should attract some partisan support. When we are dealing with issues of trade on an international basis and protectionism, I would hope that members of the House would be a little bit more informed than what we are hearing from the member opposite.

Chinese steel products coming into Canada related to dumping issues is of great concern to us. which is precisely why we have applied the protest through the dispute settlement mechanism. We are going after them on a dispute on the dumping of steel. The member should get informed on the issues.

The Environment

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, regarding the contaminated water in Shannon, the City of Quebec wants to reassure the public and, in order to do so, it is asking the army to release the report on the state of the TCE contamination. Some concerns remain regarding the possible extent of the contamination, which could extend as far as Val-Bélair.

Will the Minister of National Defence accommodate the City of Quebec's request and allow it to release the report on the extent of the contamination?

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the report in question was not completed until the end of December 2008. Naturally, we would like to take some time to review the report's conclusions. Those conclusions will be communicated to all stakeholders, including the City of Quebec and the Province of Quebec. Since the report relies on information from third parties, they must be consulted before the report can be made public.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois has been questioning the government about the Shannon water scandal since 2001. Neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives have acknowledged their responsibility, and both have even tried covering up the whole issue. For too many years now, the situation has remained unresolved; instead, it is getting worse.

When will the government acknowledge its responsibility and take concrete action?