Debates of March 10th, 2009

Tibet

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the uprising of the Tibetan people in Lhasa. This was followed by a series of Chinese repressive measures, forcing the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and political leader of Tibetans, to seek exile in India. According to the Tibetan government in exile, these measures resulted in the deaths of 87,000 Tibetans who held to their convictions and their pride in their people.

So it has been 50 years since Tibet tried unsuccessfully to gain some measure of autonomy. The cultural fabric of the Roof of the World is weakening. Tibet's history books have been rewritten and the Tibetan language is no longer taught in secondary schools.

It is time to adopt a comprehensive approach that takes into account the interests of all parties involved, rather than taking one side or the other, so that Tibet may gain real autonomy and the commemoration of these events will not be in vain.

The Conservative Government

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' partisan appointments are raising eyebrows among immigration lawyers and the Haitian diaspora.

The Privy Council, the Prime Minister's own department, approved the appointment of Pharès Pierre as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board.

This appointment already smacks of cronyism because Mr. Pierre worked in the Conservative Party executive in the Saint-Jean riding. He was also vice-president of the Quebec wing of the Conservative Party. However, it gets worse. Mr. Pierre was the cabinet leader for Prime Minister Yvon Neptune in the regime of President Aristide, who can hardly be said to have enjoyed unanimous support.

This is clearly a new attempt by the Conservatives to influence the policy for welcoming new Canadians in order to select those likely to support the government politically.

How can we believe for even one second that Mr. Pierre's political involvement will not affect his judgment as a board member? The Prime Minister has some explaining to do.

Liberal Party of Canada

[Daryl Kramp, Conservative, Prince Edward—Hastings, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last month Warren Kinsella approached members of the Canada-Israel Committee to ask them for a favour. When they declined, he got mad.

In an email dated February 18 sent to members of the Canada-Israel Committee and the Canadian Jewish Congress, Kinsella said, “If they proceed with this, it will be a huge mistake, one they will regret profoundly”. He went on to say, “As far as the Liberal Party of Canada goes, if I am asked for my advice, and I am all the time, I will say that the Canada-Israel Committee has utterly marginalized itself, and that it is not a voice we need necessarily heed going forward”.

Is this what the Liberal leader expected when he hired Kinsella, that he would use his position to cut off access to the Liberal Party?

Whether it is his opposition to the seal hunt, or his warning that Chinese food might contain cat meat, or his support for a Liberal MP's attendance at a Tamil Tiger rally, or his threats to the Canada-Israel Committee, Warren Kinsella is offending community after community. It is time for the Liberal leader to fire him.

The Economy

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, why is the Prime Minister telling Canadians in Brampton that we will be out of this economic crisis by 2010? It is a nice forecast and I hope it is true, but he is the same Prime Minister who said, “If we were going to have a recession we would have had it by now”. That was in September 2008. His reputation for credibility has never recovered. Why should we believe his forecast now?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and his government have an economic plan for Canada, Canada's economic action plan. It is a great read. I know the members opposite want to read it. I know they have only had about five weeks to get through it. It has lots of pages and it is a big read, but I encourage the members opposite to take the time on behalf of Canada to read it. Unlike their leader, we actually have an economic action for Canada.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, Brampton, where the Prime Minister gave his speech, happens to be a place where 1,100 Chrysler workers lost their jobs in 2007 and 3,000 more jobs are hanging by a thread in 2009. The government is on a faraway planet. The Prime Minister said nothing about those workers in his speech.

When will the government stop spinning the facts about the reality of our economic situation and tell Canadians the truth?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, the Prime Minister did mention the auto sector in his remarks. I am sure the Leader of the Opposition would like to retract saying that he did not.

The reality is that in the month of December, the Premier of Ontario and the Prime Minister announced in Toronto that they would participate in trying to assist in the auto sector. Meetings have been held at the highest levels of the American administration, the former administration and the new administration of President Obama, including last Thursday in Washington, in order to try to advance this cause.

The Minister of Industry is fully engaged and we are working toward a resolution for Canadian workers.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I will try again in French. Today, in Brampton, the Prime Minister boasted about the Canadian economy being relatively healthy, but he is out in left field.

When will he admit that Canadians are now losing their jobs twice faster than the Americans? When will the Conservatives take off their rose coloured glasses about the Canadian economy and start telling it like it is?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I agree that economic times are difficult, that many Canadians are losing their jobs. That is why we have an economic plan for Canada.

We have a challenge in the Liberal dominated Senate. This is a question of leadership.

Here is a quote: ”We think it's important to pass this legislation expeditiously and I'll be talking to the Senate to make sure they get the message. We made it clear that we are not pursuing an amendment strategy here. We want this money out the door. I'll pass that message in no uncertain terms to the Senate”.

Who said that? The Leader of the Opposition. The message is not getting through. He needs to go down the hall and tell the Senate to pass the bill.

Financial Institutions

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

Mr. Speaker, at this perilous time in our economy, credit card companies are bilking Canadian business and consumers by raising their hidden fees for credit card transactions on our merchants.

We now know that these same credit card companies want to do the same thing to our low cost, effective debit card system. These fees are having a devastating impact on business and consumers at precisely the wrong time.

Will the government undertake immediately to protect consumers and business from these greedy and unnecessary hidden fees and increases, or is this business failure very much a part of the government's economic plan?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, of course Canadians need to have access to credit, not only access to credit but access on reasonable terms. That is why in the budget we introduced the extraordinary financing framework of up to $200 billion to help make sure that we have reasonable access to credit in this country.

I hope the member opposite will encourage the Liberal senators down the hall, whom he knows, to make sure they act this week and do not go off on holidays next week. They cannot say they have constituency work because they do not have constituencies.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am talking about merchants, not the political games the minister wants to play.

A discount merchant told us that prestige credit cards have made his transaction fees increase by 39%. This adds up to a loss of $800,000 in his case. The government is remarkably passive on that issue. Other countries have already started regulating credit cards.

Will the Prime Minister and his minister show initiative and do the same? What are they waiting for? For our businesses to go bankrupt under this government?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite would bother to read the budget implementation bill, he would see the provisions in the bill requiring a minimum grace period on new purchases made with a credit card, improving debt collection practices, requiring clear and timely advance notice of changes in rates and fees. All of that in terms of regulatory power would be given to the Minister of Finance under the budget implementation act.

What is important, I say to the member for Pickering—Scarborough East, is that we get that bill through the Senate and get royal assent so we can help Canadians get better credit.

Forestry Industry

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in his Brampton pep talk, the Prime Minister added nothing to his insufficient stimulus plan, but instead focused on the importance of positioning the country to ride the recovery wave. The problem is that a lot of people might end up drowning because the Conservatives still do not have a plan to help forestry companies.

Instead of remaining unresponsive, will the government finally help the forestry industry by offering loan guarantees?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, as always, our Prime Minister is playing a leadership role for the entire Canadian economy. We all know that the Canadian forestry industry has some serious problems, and the recent London ruling should prompt elected members of all parties to take a very serious look at the situation. Given that all loan guarantees provided by Quebec and Ontario are now subject to arbitration, I will not comment further at this time.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what the minister just said is unbelievable. For one thing, the London ruling has nothing to do with loan guarantees. For another, the government is paying lawyers in London to argue that loan guarantees are legal. And now the minister says that he cannot talk about it even though his lawyers are talking about it and saying that it is legal.

When will he stop bowing down before the Americans and stand up for the forestry industry, particularly Quebec's forestry industry?

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

Mr. Speaker, every day in the House, we hear about the Bloc's concerns about what lawyers working these forestry-related cases need. We do not really care about the lawyers' needs; we care about forestry industry workers' needs. That is why we have programs for them.

[Robert Bouchard, Bloc, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, at the Standing Committee on Finance, Eric Siegel, president and CEO of Export Development Canada, stated that his organization had given loan guarantees to the forestry industry, this in compliance with the NAFTA treaty and the softwood lumber agreement.

Instead of hiding his groveling by using false legal excuses, will the minister follow EDC's example, stand up for his region and provide the forestry industry with loans and loan guarantees?

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

Mr. Speaker, the majority of business leaders in the forestry industry are involved and are cooperating with Export Development Canada to get some support, some financing for their companies and workers. Once again, it is us who are concerned about workers' needs, unlike Bloc Québécois members who are concerned about the needs of bankers and lawyers.

[Serge Cardin, Bloc, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the three law firms representing Canada before the London Court of International Arbitration are unanimous that loan guarantees to the forestry industry are perfectly legal under the softwood lumber agreement.

Will the government finally abandon its ideological approach and provide loan guarantees to the forestry industry?

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

Mr. Speaker, of course we have an ideology: it is to provide support to workers, to people who are currently experiencing difficulties.

What do we hear day in and day out from Bloc members? We hear about problems with lawyers and courts. We on this side are concerned about programs that work, programs that will help companies and workers in Quebec and across Canada.

The Economy

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' reckless fiscal policies have led Canada into the worst recession in a generation, but when it comes to the economy, the best that our missing-in-action peekaboo Prime Minister can do is to hightail it out of town to point fingers of blame at everybody else instead of taking a little responsibility.

Meanwhile he is proceeding with the slow and steady death of the auto sector, forestry, mining, steel, and the list goes on. While he is in Brampton saying, “Don't worry, be happy”, the Minister of Finance is telling the Senate that things are going wrong.

Who is right, and who is in charge?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, it is pretty clear to everybody in the world, actually, except perhaps the leader of the NDP, that there is a synchronized global recession. We can look at the GDP numbers in Japan. We can look at the decline in GDP in China. We can look at the numbers, especially in eastern Europe and western Europe as well. Canada is faring relatively well. We went into this recession with the strongest fiscal position in the G7 because we had paid down $38 billion worth of debt over the first three budgets. We are in a much better position to weather this storm than other countries.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government is breaking records when it comes to economic mediocrity: the worst GDP performance in 18 years; the first trade deficit in 33 years; and, finally, our exports have gone down for a sixth consecutive semester, which is a first in 60 years!

Will the government assume a minimum of responsibility for Canada's dismal economic performance? Yes or no?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, of course we have taken on the responsibility, unlike the leader of the NDP, who did not even bother reading the economic plan for Canada before he decided to vote against it. Now, that is reckless disregard for Canadians.

This is the economic plan for Canada. We take responsibility for it. We want to implement it, and we hope the Liberal Senate will let us do that on a timely basis.