House of Commons Hansard #12 of the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was documents.
Rodger Cuzner Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
Mr. Speaker, those with 17,000 pounds did not benefit quite as much as those with 250,000 pounds.
There is another injustice served up the government. The co-management plan clearly identified that no new entrants would be allowed in this fishery, yet the minister's predecessor, against strong recommendations from the department, allowed a licence for Tim Rhyno.
Will the minister revoke this licence and honour the 2005 agreement?
Gail Shea ConservativeMinister of Fisheries and Oceans
Mr. Speaker, as I said, sharing allocation decisions are always difficult decisions. I was not here when the licence was issued. Our main focus, our main priority, is conservation of the stocks for the future. That is why we have stabilized this industry.
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday the government acknowledged that it was wrong for leaving safety in the hands of business jet owners. I am glad they are taking back the responsibility for safety, something the NDP and safety advocates have been pushing for, for many years.
However, most Canadians do not fly on business jets but on major carriers like Air Canada and WestJet, where Transport Canada has also gotten out of the safety business.
Will the minister do for the major carriers what he has done for business aircraft and take back responsibility for safety?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, like the New Democratic Party and my friend opposite, when I reviewed the issue I, too, was a bit surprised that the previous Liberal government put the fox in charge of the henhouse.
We did a lot of listening, not just to our NDP friends but indeed to our various employees at the Department of Transport. We will ensure that the strong public interest in safety is done by members of the hard-working public service.
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
Mr. Speaker, in its report on the crash of a medevac flight at Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan, the Transport Safety Board said that the department was so busy getting out of safety oversight that it really did not know what was going on with the airline involved. The problem is that inspectors must be inspecting, not checking paperwork.
Will the minister put the inspectors back in the field, right now, ensuring the safety of all Canadians when we fly across this great country?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, at Transport Canada one of our most important priorities is to ensure the safety of the travelling public.
We are working hard with our employees. We are working hard with industry. We are working hard with advocates on this important issue. We have a new director general for aviation security who is working hard with our team in every part of the country.
We are going to do everything we can to ensure that all reasonable measures are taken to ensure that the travelling public is safe when people board a commercial aircraft.
James Rajotte Conservative Edmonton—Leduc, AB
Mr. Speaker, our government has shown real leadership when it comes to promoting and defending Canada's Arctic.
Could the Minister of Foreign Affairs inform this House what our government is doing to defend Canada's sovereignty in the north?
Lawrence Cannon ConservativeMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. No previous government can match the Conservative government's commitment to Arctic sovereignty.
Our claim is long-standing. Our claim is well-established and based on historic title. I will personally be able to reassert Canada's sovereignty at a meeting on the Arctic with the Arctic foreign ministers next week here in Gatineau.
This government is taking real action. We have taken real action with our new Arctic patrol ships. We are doing the mapping. We are doing what we had announced.
Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON
Mr. Speaker, Conservative ministers normally comment without hesitation on sentencing in provincial courts. Just this week the immigration minister sent out a press release lauding a B.C. court decision saying, “It sends a message, they will be caught and they will be punished”.
Strangely in the case of a past Conservative MP, we hear nothing but silence. The government's “do the crime, do the time” mantra seems to change to “do the crime, pay the fine”, when it comes to one of its own.
Why the silence in this case when the government is so anxious to speak on every other?
Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, in fact, we are very careful about commenting on any case. One of the things I have commented on continuously is the Liberal record or lack of record of standing up for victims and law-abiding Canadians.
I invite the hon. member, if he has any suggestions to pursue and to help us in our criminal law agenda, to come forward with those as soon as possible.
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Mr. Speaker, Val-D'Or may be excluded from the food mail program. Hundreds of jobs and significant economic spinoffs are at stake.
The Valpiro workers, the Kepa Transport truckers, those who work for ADL and Ben Deshaies are worried. Local elected officials and the Cree are asking the federal government to consider the economic impact of this program on the Abitibi—Témiscamingue—Nord-du-Québec region.
Will the minister promise to bring the people from the region before a parliamentary committee before making a decision?
Chuck Strahl ConservativeMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Mr. Speaker, we have had over 70 different hearings in communities all across the north and northern Quebec, everywhere that food mail has been used. We heard a consistent message. People want some sort of food nutrition program for the north. Our government has not only supported that in theory, but in the budget we came forward with an additional $45 million to add to that. That is the key part of funding any food program for the north, and the Bloc members voted against it.
It is a little rich to ask for specifics about how they might preserve jobs in Val-d'Or now.
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Speaker, in 2008, two full-time Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice positions, which had been occupied by bilingual justices, were filled with unilingual anglophone justices. There is now only a single bilingual justice in the court.
Two other positions will need to be filled soon in Yarmouth and Sydney, which have a significant proportion of francophones.
Will the Minister of Justice ensure that representatives of the francophone and Acadian communities in Nova Scotia are part of the nominating committee, and will he promise to appoint two bilingual justices to the court?
Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, the government continues to support the promotion of both official languages, and particularly on the bench. We have regular discussions with chief justices to make sure that we meet the linguistic needs of every province.
We encourage minority language communities to apply for judicial appointments. It is very important to this country and certainly to the judiciary itself.
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Mr. Speaker, in the 1990s the Liberal Party decided to slash transfers to the provinces for health and education. Now senior Liberals are calling for government to raise taxes on the one hand, but on the other hand they are questioning a plan endorsed by the C.D. Howe Institute, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.
Could the President of the Treasury Board tell members of the House if our government will take the misguided Liberal approach?
Stockwell Day ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway
Mr. Speaker, I regret that my colleague was shouted down by the members opposite. He has raised an important point.
We will not be following the Liberal pattern of slashing health care and social transfers or raising taxes. In fact, what we will be doing is continuing our economic plan for this year. We will also be freezing the salaries of MPs. For the next three years, all departmental spending will be frozen. We will not be raising taxes.
We agree with the recent evaluation of our plan. If I may quickly say, in hindsight the Chrétien government cut too much and hurt people--
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
Mr. Speaker, this is the Thursday question, seeking information from the government about what it plans to have on the order paper for the rest of this week and next week.
I would remind the government that the House was subject to prorogation for a very long time so that the government could engage in recalibration, but so far, in looking at the agenda, only four or five recycled bills have been put on the order paper and it seems what we have now is procrastination.
I wonder if the government could beef up the agenda a bit so we could get on with the business the government considers to be important.
Jay Hill ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, let me begin by saying how much I appreciate your sending me the photocopy of the rules that govern our operations in the House, in particular the rules on the scope and asking of the Thursday question and my response.
Hence, I am going to hesitate this week from launching into a full-blown debate with my hon. colleague about prorogation and the fact that so many of his colleagues seem not to understand that prorogation is over and the House is back in business.
When it comes to the business leading up to next Thursday, I would note that we will continue today with the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne.
Tomorrow we will begin debate on second reading of Bill C-4, An Act to amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act , known as Sébastien's Law.
Monday, March 22, will be day three of the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne.
Tuesday will be the last supply day for the opposition. Hopefully, we will get some meaningful motions put forward by the official opposition and they will show up for the debate.
We will continue with the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne, followed by Bill C-2, the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement.
If time permits, we could start Bill C-3, An Act to promote gender equity in Indian registration by responding to the Court of Appeal for British Columbia decision in McIvor v. Canada (Registrar of Indian and Northern Affairs).
Jay Hill ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, in addition, I might conclude by stating there have been consultations among all parties on, and I believe you will find unanimous consent for, the following motion. I move:
That, in the Supplementary Estimates (C) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, laid upon the Table Wednesday, March 3, 2010 by the President of the Treasury Board, Vote L37c under FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE — Canadian International Development Agency be deemed to have been designated as Vote 32c.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
Does the hon. government House leader have the unanimous consent of the House to propose this motion?
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?