Debates of June 11th, 2009

The Environment

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I wish the opposition would stop playing petty politics and get behind us. For instance, I would remind the House about wind energy. Yesterday we outlined the regulatory framework for the carbon exchange system. This system is very important for Quebec and the Montreal stock exchange. Yesterday's announcement concerning the offset system is a clear sign to the rest of the world of our commitment to fight climate change.

Medical Isotopes

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if I am a person affected by cancer, I want to know how all this will affect me.

The minister tells us that next week we will receive over 50% of our orders. Which means that next week we will also not receive nearly 50% of our orders. If I am a cancer patient, what does that mean for me?

She said the Dutch are increasing production by 50%, the South Africans by 30%, and the Australians ramping up sooner. Forget the dispute over numbers. Take their numbers. Will that help get to me? How soon? What does that mean for me?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, in terms of the increases in both the Petten reactor and the South African reactor, it is indeed based on those increases that we are able to say that we are receiving 50% of the orders next week. It has trickled through. We are going to be receiving technetium generators from those global operators in Canada and we will continue to work with the global reactors in order to do so.

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if I am that person at home, that does not answer my question.

The minister talks about all she is doing. The Minister of Health talks about using alternative treatments. They make it sound as if one plus the other is the answer, not just the best answer they have but the full answer for me, the patient.

However, the medical experts tell us in spite of what they are doing, we have a crisis, that the one plus one of the ministers does not equal two. And I, as the cancer patient at home, have to live in the shortfall. As that patient, tell me, tell me where I stand?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the medical experts have provided alternative options that are available for physicians. Of the alternatives that are available now, over 50% of the Tc99 isotopes are for heart scans, and thallium can be used as an alternative in many of these cases. The next largest use of Tc99 isotopes is for bone scanning. Again, there is an alternative, sodium fluoride, which is available now. We have approved clinical trials and special access program requests. This provides Canadians with greater access to alternatives.

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about thallium as an option. We have learned today that the supply of thallium is running out. At Brantford General Hospital, 75 patients right now are waiting for the tests that they need.

I want to ask the minister a simple question. What is her plan and when is she going to release the plan to enable Canadians to have access to isotopes and the thallium that they need for the tests that they require to save their lives?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, Lantheus has publicly announced that it is able to meet the thallium demands for all Canadians. I understand it has been in contact with other suppliers, as well as hospitals, as to how it could provide assistance. I encourage both private suppliers, as well as hospitals, to work together to ensure a steady supply of thallium.

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the House and the Canadian public have no idea from the government what the shortfall is or what the costs are. There is no plan from the government. On top of that, the government closed down what the National Academy of Sciences said was the only real solution to deal with the isotope crisis and that was keeping MAPLE-1 and MAPLE-2 open.

Why is the government not producing the solutions and the plans for the Canadian public? Why is it so incompetent? This gets to the heart of competence to be able to save the lives of Canadians and it is failing.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, when the hon. member said that Canadians did not want more rhetoric, I thought he actually meant it. What we are having now is a lot of rhetoric.

AECL has world class scientists who worked for 12 years to get the MAPLEs reactors working. After 12 years and over $.5 billion not one single isotope was actually produced.

There was also careful deliberation by American and Argentinian experts and it was fully studied by the panel. Indeed, the key for this is that the minister of natural resources for five of these 12 years was the member for Wascana.

The Economy

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, while the Liberal leader went to Cambridge and said, “We will have to raise taxes”, our Prime Minister went to the city of Cambridge today to tell Canadians that we have lowered their taxes and we have a plan to protect Canada's economy during the global economic downturn, a plan that we have been aggressively implementing.

Can the finance minister update the House on how far we have come in implementing our plan?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly can. After 10 weeks, we have about 80% of the measures and initiatives in the plan being implemented across Canada. This is a vast set of aggressive initiatives being implemented in record time, an unprecedented accomplishment by the public service in co-operation with the provinces and territories across the country that understand the need for this stimulus activity for these thousands of projects. I only hope the opposition can also understand.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, today marks the first anniversary of the apology to students of Indian residential schools. Sadly, since that historic day, little has changed for aboriginal peoples. Many still live in overcrowded housing, have little access to proper medical care and violence against indigenous women is increasing. Most symbolic, the Conservative government still refuses to sign the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

When will the government's actions match the apology? When will it act to meet the basic human rights of first peoples?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to be on my feet today on this important day of national reconciliation to encourage people to look at pages 120 to 122 of the latest report by the finance minister, in which we detail over 13 schools and 18 first nations water and waste water projects that have been announced this year alone.

In the first budget, the minister brought in $300 million for market housing, $300 million for housing in the north and $400 million for off-reserve housing. Then in the last budget, there was more, with $200 million more for housing and more money for off-reserve.

We are getting the job done.

Health

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, today the World Health Organization announced H1N1 as a full-blown pandemic. In Manitoba over half of the people in intensive care are aboriginal, many from Nunavut.

The government insists that H1N1 affects all Canadians equally, even after the WHO and Manitoba's medical officer agreed that it was hitting aboriginal Canadians the hardest. Of course it is. Garden Hill, a community that I represent with two cases confirmed already, still lacks face masks and hand sanitizers. This is a catastrophe.

When will the government implement—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. Minister of Health.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, again, we have a plan and we are implementing that plan in partnership with the provincial health ministry. This morning I had a conversation with Minister Oswald. We are working together in addressing the community issues.

What the member should be explaining to her constituents and the first nations community is why she voted against $400 million that increased the capacity for health care delivered in our budget.

The Environment

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

Mr. Speaker, the cat was let out of the bag yesterday. The Minister of Natural Resources stated that the Minister of the Environment had redirected monies earmarked for the wind sector to the oil sector. How shameful!

Will the Minister of the Environment confirm his colleague's statements?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, that is not the case, Yesterday, I made an announcement with regard to this subject that is very important to the Bloc. The opposition is again headed in the wrong direction. Fortunately, we are here. Yesterday's announcement of an offset credit system is an important step in developing an emissions trading system in line with the international system. We are taking steps in the right direction and the Bloc's support for this is very important.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have one thing to say to the minister. When funds are earmarked for wind power, Quebeckers expect that they will go to wind power and not be used by the government's friends, the oil companies,

I will turn to the Minister of Natural Resources. Did she state on tape that her colleague redirected funds earmarked for renewable energy to the oil industry?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, that is not the case. I invited my colleague to a number of international conferences. I also asked him to study the Alberta tar sands. He has always refused. He prefers to remain sitting on his hands in the House of Commons.

It is obvious that the Bloc is not behind the environment.

Finance

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the budget report card states clearly that the Canadian secured credit facility has already provided $11 billion in funding, yet the man in charge of this program told the Standing Committee on Finance today that not one cent has so far been paid out.

Can the minister explain this huge contradiction, an $11 billion contradiction?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, all of the pieces of the extraordinary financing framework are in place. Credit is flowing. In fact, because of the actions of the government, we have been able to drive down mortgage rates in the country. Residential mortgage rates are at their lowest level since the second world war, and that makes a difference. We are now seeing that stimulus create demand for housing, which means jobs in our country.

This is the economic action plan. This is what it accomplishes.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, according to the president of BDC, not a penny has been paid out.

Americans can go online and find, for example, that the U.S. stimulus has created 40,000 actual jobs in Oklahoma, or spent an additional actual $25 billion paving roads.

Rather than feeding Canadians meaningless weasel words like “commitments” and “implementation”, could the minister follow Obama's example and tell Canadians how much money has actually gone out the door and how many jobs have actually been created?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we are actually ahead of President Obama in our economic action plan. January 27 was the day they sponsored it.

On job creation, using the calculations of the FCM, or the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, at $1 billion and 11,000 jobs, given what has flowed so far, that is 132,000 jobs. Not only that, there are 120,000 jobs being protected by work-share. That is over 200,000 already this year, which is more than we said we would do in the economic action plan.

Asbestos Industry

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, more Canadians die from asbestos than from all other occupational diseases combined, yet Canada continues to be one of the largest producers and exporters of asbestos in the world. We will not use it ourselves, yet we dump over 200,000 tonnes per year into underdeveloped nations.

Without exaggeration, we are exporting human misery on a monumental scale. Canada's asbestos policy is morally and ethically reprehensible. How, in all good conscience, can the Minister of Natural Resources continue to promote and subsidize this deadly industry?