House of Commons Hansard #32 of the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was money.
Canadian Broadcasting CorporationOral Questions
Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam B.C.
Conservative
James Moore ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages
Mr. Speaker, we made a clear promise in the election campaign to maintain or increase the CBC’s budget. This year it will get more than $1 billion. That is unprecedented in Canadian history. The Conservative government is delivering the goods and the Bloc Québécois just votes against.
Carolyn Bennett Liberal St. Paul's, ON
Mr. Speaker, fetal alcohol syndrome is a totally preventable birth defect. It affects over 300,000 Canadians and their families. Sadly, according to an internal review at the Public Health Agency of Canada, the fetal alcohol syndrome initiative is now receiving only a portion of the federal dollars that had been allocated toward it.
I believe the minister cares about this issue. Could she explain why her government is refusing to fund even the $3.3 million it promised for these essential programs?
Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, our government recognizes FAS disorders as a serious issue. Our government is committed to making a strategic investment when it comes to FASD prevention, counselling and improved screening. We are taking action and will continue to work with all our partners on this very serious issue.
Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON
Mr. Speaker, the minister is taking action. She is cutting funding to FAS.
Fetal alcohol syndrome is incurable and totally preventable, and affects about 300,000 Canadians. For each afflicted child, it costs about $24,000 annually in social services costs and additional health care costs.
Since 80% of these victims will never be able to live independently or to hold down a job, I ask the minister, why has the government turned its back on these Canadians in need by cutting FAS program spending by one-third since it took office?
Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, the member's information is inaccurate. In fact, the government is committed to FASD prevention. We continue to invest in FASD research and will continue to do that.
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of State for Sport.
Four shadowy third party groups bought ads endorsing the minister during the campaign. They had the same financial officer, linking them to each other. They had the same address at the office of a senior Conservative political activist, who is on the minister's riding executive, linking them to the minister. One group disclosed that it had obtained lawn signs from the minister's campaign manager, linking them to the minister's campaign. These links are too obvious to ignore.
Can the minister explain?
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
Order. Questions about elections generally are not the administrative responsibility of the government and question period is intended for that purpose.
I do not think the question that the hon. member posed is in order from what I could hear of it. The hon. member for Burnaby—Douglas has a supplementary though if he wishes.
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Mr. Speaker, I will try again because it goes to upholding the law that all members of Parliament are required to do.
These are the facts: four unheard of third party groups linked to each other and linked to the minister, one with an explicit link to his campaign manager; advertising spending by the four groups of over $12,000 to endorse the minister's candidacy; spending that if charged to his campaign would put him over the limit.
Does the minister deny these facts? Was this an attempt to circumvent spending--
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
Order. I do not think that is in order for the minister to answer, nor is the question in order because the question does not concern the administrative responsibilities of the government. That is the administrative responsibility of Elections Canada and the member may want to pose his question to the Chief Electoral Officer in due course.
The hon. member for Crowfoot.
Kevin Sorenson Conservative Crowfoot, AB
Mr. Speaker, recent reports have stated that Canada has changed its position regarding the disputed Kashmir region. Could the Minister of Foreign Affairs please clarify Canada's position on this very important and sensitive issue?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, indeed Canada's position on Kashmir has not changed. Canada has not deviated from its approach that supports efforts by both India and Pakistan to resolve Kashmir and other issues through the composite dialogue process.
We want to see the Kashmir issue resolved through peaceful means. I was able today to reiterate that to the High Commissioner of India to Canada.
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
Mr. Speaker, my question concerns the circumstances under which Patrice Pelletier left his position as CEO of the Port of Montreal. Media reports indicate that he really was dismissed. We also know that, even if theoretically the port is independent of the government, the Conservatives indicated their preference for another candidate back when Mr. Pelletier started there 18 months ago.
Will the minister tell us why Mr. Pelletier was really dismissed?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, the Montreal Port Authority operates at arm's length from the government. Neither I nor anyone in my office had anything to do with this independent decision made by the board of directors. If the member opposite has any information whatsoever that contradicts this, I invite her to table it immediately in the House.
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Speaker, last Saturday the Prime Minister called upon all hunters to lobby their MPs to vote in favour of a private member's bill which would considerably weaken the gun registry. This bill has angered everyone in Quebec. For example, the head of the Police Brotherhood has expressed his outrage at this desire to reduce the control over firearms.
Since the Conservatives do not want this registry, are they going to follow up on the request by the Government of Quebec and transfer to it the necessary powers and resources to enable it to maintain the registry within Quebec?
Peter Van Loan ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, our government remains committed to the elimination of the long gun registry. This was our position in the previous election and we will continue to do that.
Our belief is that in terms of combatting crime, our focus should not be on those who are lawful, law-abiding hunters and farmers in possession of long guns. We believe the focus should be on criminals who possess illegal handguns.
That is why we brought in legislation to deal with that issue. That is why we brought in, in this Parliament, tough anti-gang legislation. We hope that all parties will support the legislation so we can really combat crime.
Carol Hughes NDP Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON
Mr. Speaker, this government is failing the forestry industry. Yesterday, Tembec announced that it was laying off 500 workers at its Kapuskasing plant. This will have an immediate impact and will cut the heart out of the local economy.
The forestry sector has one common request: access to reasonable credit. Tembec could be processing multi-million dollar orders instead of shutting down but the credit risk is too high.
Will the government stop the bleeding by providing access to reasonable credit to protect the vital sector?
Lisa Raitt ConservativeMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, contrary to what the hon. member has said, the government is actually taking action through the Canada economic action plan. We went across the country and spoke to those in the forestry industry and in the communities, and asked them what would be helpful.
We understand it has helped very much with innovation, marketing and indeed, financing, and that is what Canada's economic action plan delivers on. Furthermore, the government is about action, whereas the NDP is all about talk.
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Mr. Speaker, all of us in the House know the challenges many Canadians are facing with these uncertain economic times, particularly as unemployment rises. Our government has taken unprecedented steps to help Canadians by extending EI by an extra five weeks, increasing the maximum benefit period to 50 weeks, and by expanding the work-sharing program.
Would the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development share again with the House the steps our government is taking to help Canadians?
Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development
Mr. Speaker, in our economic action plan, we committed to Canadians that we would provide them with financial support through employment insurance and that we would deliver that to them as quickly as possible.
Today, I was pleased to announce $60 million of additional funds dedicated to speeding up the process of payment, including hiring new personnel, so that Canadians get the help they need when they need it.
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Mr. Speaker, Katrin Meissner is an accomplished B.C. climate scientist, but now she is packing up and moving her family to Australia, where better opportunities await. Katrin is not alone. It does not take a scientist to realize Canada will lose many more talented researchers, thanks to the Conservatives' cuts to research.
How short-sighted. At a time when President Obama is investing billions, why has the Conservative government pulled the plug on research funding to create a disastrous brain drain from Canada?
Gary Goodyear ConservativeMinister of State (Science and Technology)
The fact is, Mr. Speaker, the government has recently surpassed the $10 billion a year number for our science and tech communities. We put 5.1 billion new dollars into science and technology. We have recently announced a $2 billion knowledge infrastructure program, so those scientists have the best facilities with the best equipment.
The member fails to mention the number of scientists who are coming to Canada because of our policies.
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
Mr. Speaker, documents leaked recently from an on-campus Conservative Party workshop show that the government is actively encouraging the undermining of campus democracy with the establishment of front organizations to funnel student money to the party.
Through threats and attacks, the Conservative Party is attempting to manipulate the democratic control of student unions across Canada. This is unacceptable.
Does the government condone the overthrowing of democracy on campuses by the Conservative Party?
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
Order. Again, I am afraid the hon. member's question appears to have to do with party matters and nothing to do with government responsibilities, which question period is to be about, so we will move on to the next question.
The hon. member for La Pointe-de-l'Île.
Francine Lalonde Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the House adopted the report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development concerning Omar Khadr. Among the report's seven recommendations is one that the Government of Canada ask that Omar Khadr be released from Guantanamo and turned over to the Canadian authorities as soon as possible.
Does the government intend to abide by the will of this House?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to welcome back the hon. member. I think that everyone is very happy to have her back here with us.
The new American administration has put a process in place. The Government of Canada intends to follow that process, which basically consists in reviewing all the cases. We are well aware that the young man in question has been charged with very serious crimes, even terrorism. We are going to wait until the process has taken its course, and then we will make the appropriate decisions.