Debates of May 28th, 2009

The Economy

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. We need to have some order. I have to be able to hear the hon. member for Toronto Centre. He has the floor.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has become the expert. He going to win the Nobel Prize with respect to the financial situation. I simply want to ask the minister—

[Some hon. members]

More, more.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. There will be more, but we have to have some order so we can hear it. The hon. member for Toronto Centre has the floor. We will have some order, even if he is addressing a Nobel Prize winner.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if the Conservative Party takes pride in receiving the Nobel Prize for deficits and debts, that is fine.

We know the Prime Minister spent the last 37 days holed up in his basement watching tapes. I want to ask the minister this. What has happened in the last 37 days to so drastically change the numbers with which he is coming to the House? That is a simple question.

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, this is a serious time. Unemployment is worse than anticipated. The recession is deeper and broader than was anticipated by anyone. This is a serious time and a serious subject.

We also have the auto negotiations with respect to Chrysler and with respect to General Motors. I would be interested in knowing the member's position on that. Is he against supporting the auto industry in Ontario?

Medical Isotopes

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the shortage of medical isotopes has reached disturbing levels. Doctors and patients share the same concern and are not happy to be hostage to a shortage that was anticipated for a number of years. Faced with the human drama caused by this shortage, what does the Minister of Natural Resources do? She announces a plan to privatize part of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.

We would like the minister to tell us how the proposed privatization will put an end to the shortage of medical isotopes.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, there are two parts to the announcement today. The first one talked about how this government believes in the Canadian nuclear industry and we plan on strengthening it through the restructuring of AECL.

The second part of the announcement today was the announcement that we have appointed an expert review panel to take a look at the numerous proposals that we have received upon our call in December of last year to a response regarding medical isotopes for the future. We will be asking this expert review panel to review the submissions received and report to us in the fall.

[Paule Brunelle, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, like the Liberals before them, the Conservatives are hiding their heads in the sand. We learned this morning that the Minister of Natural Resources is getting ready to privatize Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. Thus, the government would turn over management of the Chalk River reactor, which produces medical isotopes, to the private sector. It is extremely disappointing to see this government shrug off its responsibility on an issue as vital as the health of Quebeckers and Canadians.

By handing over management of Chalk River to the private sector, is the government not admitting that it is unable to solve the isotope crisis?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for her question because a fundamental part of the restructuring is for Canada to be able to take advantage of the nuclear renaissance in selling nuclear reactors in the world that is currently happening so that we can have a better Canadian industry, with high paid, high skilled jobs, and a developing and growing industry. That is why we are restructuring AECL.

Omar Khadr

[Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the last Amnesty International report focuses on Canada and criticizes its handling of detainees in Afghanistan as well as its refusal to ask for the repatriation of Omar Khadr, the child soldier held in Guantanamo.

Does the Minister of Foreign Affairs not consider it high time to intervene on behalf of young Mr. Khadr, now that this organization has lumped Canada in with countries that violate human rights?

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I have been giving the government's position for many months in this House. Let me repeat again the government's position. There has been no change in our position in reference to Mr. Omar Khadr. Mr. Omar Khadr faces very serious charges for killing an American paramedic. Therefore, we will continue to wait for what is happening in the U.S. with President Obama's review of the detainees.

Until that time, there will be no change in the position of this government.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this same Amnesty International report criticizes Canada's lack of interest in taking action and its inability to protect aboriginal girls and women who go missing or are murdered at a rate deemed alarming by that organization.

Is the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development not embarrassed that Canada has been criticized this way on the international stage? What concrete measures does he intend to put in place to put an end to this situation?

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians]

Mr. Speaker, I think all Canadians are concerned and should be concerned about the issues of aboriginal women and disappearing aboriginal women. That is why the minister in charge of the status of women is engaged in discussions with the national organizations to decide what the best next steps may be.

However, one of the things we can do to help aboriginal women today is to move ahead with Bill C-8 to finally protect, for the first time ever, the matrimonial property rights that every other Canadian woman takes for granted. It is time to give those rights to aboriginal women.

Government Assets

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today we heard a rather stunning admission from Public Works, which was that this was not a good time to sell assets and that to do so would be no more than a fire sale.

Could the Minister of Finance please comment on his promise to add $10 billion to the government books, $2 billion in this year alone, through the sale of assets, and more specifically, in this bad time to sell assets, what, in addition to Rideau Hall silverware, is he planning to let go in the fire sale?

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and to the Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, at present we have no plans in that regard. Perhaps my colleague did not hear the minister correctly when he appeared before the committee this morning.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, “aucun projet”. That is incredible. It is in the budget: $10 billion over five years and over $2 billion in this year alone.

I will add that we actually had another stunning admission from Public Works today that the Minister of Finance has not even asked Public Works for a list of assets that could be considered for sale.

The minister will not do his homework. He cannot count. Canadians clearly cannot count on him. How on earth can he commit to generating such a large amount of money from asset sales without having a clue what they are?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, there were a lot of accusations and some information there, most of which is in error.

As we said in the budget, Canada's economic action plan, as any prudent enterprise and any prudent government would do, we will look at the assets that the government has. There will be no fire sales. Nothing would be sold at an inappropriate time, not at good value for the Canadian taxpayers.

We have started to get the work together to look at the review, which we promised in the economic action plan.

The Economy

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it seems that when the Prime Minister was telling us last fall that everything was fine, it was not. The recession was deeper. People were spending less and more people were out of work. Fewer taxes were being collected and the deficit was soaring.

The Prime Minister knew Canadians expected their prime minister to do something, but doing something on EI or infrastructure stimulus would cost money, so he announced, as if he were doing something, then did not do anything to get himself off his financial hook, even if it meant millions of Canadians had to dangle on it.

Why?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, we have invested a significant number of dollars to help those who qualify for EI and those who do not qualify for EI by investing half a billion dollars in training for long-tenured workers, helping 40,000 Canadians, and $1.5 billion in training for those on EI and those who do not qualify.

We have done a significant amount of work to ensure that those who do not have jobs can prepare for the jobs of today and the jobs of tomorrow.

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as sports fans, the Prime Minister and the finance minister know the axiom “records are made to be broken”. However, some records have seemed unbreakable, such as the Rocket's 50 goals in 50 games and Babe Ruth's 714 home runs. Outside sports it was Brian Mulroney's $39 billion deficit. Then the present Prime Minister and finance minister blew it out of the water. They did it with their ill-advised moves these past few years so that when the recession triggered this deficit on steroids, for those who really need help, they have nothing left but placebo announcements.

Why?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, since when does the member opposite take this hypocritical position? Why does he stand and criticize the government for running a deficit, as we are obliged to do in order to help unemployed people in Canada, and at the same time say that the government should spend even more money?

One does not make the playoffs that way.

Medical Isotopes

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I know there were questions about this earlier in question period but I would like the Minister of Natural Resources to clarify the situation regarding the establishment of an expert review panel to consider proposals for alternate sources of medical isotopes.

I would also like the minister to tell this House what other steps the government is taking with respect to the production of medical isotopes.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, the question is very timely. This is a situation in which we need to be clear and we need to communicate clearly. It is a situation that requires a concerted international effort as well.

Today, our government established an expert review panel to assess proposals from the private sector that we received, as well as proposals we have received from research organizations and universities.

Last week, our government led an international meeting of isotope-producing companies. We will do so again next week. In June, there will be a meeting in Toronto to discuss the issue of increasing the global supply.

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the government has stumbled from one nuclear crisis to another.

First, it runs Canada's isotope producer into the ground, causing distress and concerns for thousands of Canadian cancer patients, which, a year and a half ago, the government said was a life-and-death situation but now thinks a three month study group will be enough.

Then, in the middle of a global recession, when prices are at their lowest, the Conservatives are hell-bent on privatizing a crown corporation for which Canadians ponied up $20 billion.

Why now, during an economic crisis, do the Conservatives see an opportunity to hack up AECL for bargain basement prices?