Debates of March 23rd, 2010

Broadcasting Industry

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, did my colleague hurt himself?

As we have said on many occasions and as the Prime Minister just stated, our government made specific promises during the last election campaign, including some to CBC/Radio-Canada. We promised to increase or maintain its budgets. That is what we have done. We have increased the funding for the corporation thanks to our action plan to fight the economic crisis.

When the Liberals were in power, they cut the corporation’s budgets by 40%. They are the ones who are not on the side of CBC/Radio-Canada.

Justice

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, youth centres in Quebec remind us that the Quebec model, based on the rehabilitation and reintegration of young offenders, is an exemplary model cited around the world. Social workers and lawyers agree. Yet Bill C-4 goes against Quebec's approach and promotes repression, denunciation, deterrence and exemplary sentences.

Will the government amend its bill and respect Quebec's rehabilitation model?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the changes we have introduced to the Youth Criminal Justice Act would give complete discretion to the provinces, as the act does now. Our approach is a balanced one. It includes prevention, enforcement and rehabilitation.

If the hon. member really wants to start talking about children, perhaps he could speak about why his party would vote against a bill that was directed at child trafficking. Perhaps he could answer that for the House.

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is because it was not a bill about child trafficking but exploitation of minors.

In addition to youth centres, two Quebec lawyers who specialize in youth justice say that the government already has all of the tools needed to deal with young offenders. As well, professors Rachel Grondin and Nicholas Bala are critical of the fact that deterrence is overriding rehabilitation, especially given that deterrence is unrealistic with youth.

Why is the Conservative government not willing to respect Quebec's approach, which has proven its worth?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I direct the hon. member to the details of the bill. It has complete provincial jurisdiction, as the act does now.

One thing we will never do as a government is stop talking about child exploitation. We will always support legislation that cracks down on that kind of activity, unlike the Bloc.

Quebec City Armoury

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a unanimous motion from the Quebec National Assembly calls on the federal government to include Quebec's national capital commission in discussions regarding the restoration of the Quebec City armoury. In response to one of our questions, the minister responsible for the Quebec City region said that the commission had been consulted. But the Quebec National Assembly is not talking about consultation. It wants the commission to be involved in the process of rebuilding the armoury.

Will the minister agree to this request?

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat for my colleague that when the two consultations were held, with both Jean Baillargeon and the building expert, the national capital commission was consulted. It even had the opportunity to submit a brief. That said, our government is committed to rebuilding the armoury, but the Bloc voted against it.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in order to proceed with development work on Quebec City's parliament hill, which is currently delayed because of the federal government's dithering, the commission must “participate in the discussions” and be involved in the rebuilding process, and not just be consulted.

When will the minister stop operating in a vacuum and respond to the request of the Quebec National Assembly, our national assembly?

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the member that I am a Quebecker as well, and the future of the Quebec City armoury is very important to me. That said, the national capital commission had the opportunity to make itself heard. We asked its opinion.

The government is on top of the rebuilding of the armoury, and it will soon inform the public of what happens next. That said, the Bloc voted against our goal. They excluded themselves from the process.

The Environment

[Alexandra Mendes, Liberal, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the St. Lawrence River is part of our collective wealth. May I remind the minister that the St. Lawrence is a river, not a Great Lake. It is an invaluable natural asset that has been at the heart of Canada's history and economy since Confederation, yet the Conservative government does not seem interested in keeping it clean for Canadians.

The funding for the protection of the St. Lawrence will expire this year, next week in fact, and the minister still will not say whether the government has a program to replace it.

Is there or is there not funding for the sustainable development of the St. Lawrence River?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for taking me to task for not advising of the government's full investment and taking full credit for the investments we have made in both the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence.

I would like to thank her for pointing out that the government invests not only $54 million annually in the environmental protection of the Great Lakes but an additional $15 million in the St. Lawrence. That is an annual investment of $69 million in the health of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence. I promise the hon. member I will not make that error again.

[Alexandra Mendes, Liberal, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this does not tell us what will happen next week.

The St. Lawrence River, which is not a Great Lake, is a collective treasure that is at the heart of the history, the geography and the lives of Quebeckers.

Yet funding for the St. Lawrence plan for a sustainable development will expire next week, and the government seems to want to let it die in silence.

The Conservatives' laissez-faire approach will not clean the St. Lawrence River. It cannot clean itself. Quebeckers want to know who will do it.

Will the government renew funding to protect the St. Lawrence, yes or no?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we are going to act on this.

Environment Canada and other federal government departments have injected an average of $15 million annually into the St. Lawrence action plan. The government will soon be negotiating with the Quebec government to renew the agreement that is coming to an end.

Funding for the ZIP program has been extended to 2010-11 in order to cover the transition period.

Taxation

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government has just imposed a tax on research by eliminating the tax exemption granted to post-doctoral students.

Let us call a spade a spade: the government just imposed a new tax that will negatively affect research in Canada.

After creating grants, supposedly to fund post-doctoral research, the government decided to tax all post-doctoral students, supposedly to pay for those grants.

Does the government understand what it has done?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, there has been no change in the tax policy in Canada with respect to post-doctoral fellowships. It is exactly the tax policy that was followed by the Liberal government.

We made a big change several budgets ago and that is with regard to scholarships. Pure scholarships are not taxable in Canada. However as we know, post-doctoral fellows work. Just as the Liberal government recognized, they are going to be paid through the fellowships, $70,000 a year. As I said earlier, they should pay their fair share of taxes in Canada.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, most researchers recognize that the most productive phase in research begins at the post-doctoral level when a person has acquired the necessary research skills and knows where he or she wants to focus. This is where a researcher has the greatest potential to make important contributions. This is not the time to clobber post-doctoral students with taxes that will reduce their already-meagre incomes.

Does the government recognize that it is suffocating research and innovation in this country?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, only a Liberal could stand up in this place and say to Canadians that $70,000 a year is meagre income. Only a Liberal could do that in this place.

The member opposite is so out of step. Here is what the presidents of 13 Canadian universities said, including the hon. Allan Rock, the president of the University of Ottawa:

For that vote of confidence on higher education and advanced research, we are indeed grateful to the Government of Canada and to the taxpayers of Canada.

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, we have said that the recovery remains fragile and that our focus is ensuring that Canadians who have lost their jobs find work again.

Recently, the Conference Board of Canada indicated that Canada's economic action plan, along with provincial stimulus, has created 70,000 jobs or preserved them, in Ontario alone, and in the next year it predicts that 40,000 jobs will be created or preserved in Ontario.

Can the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities tell the House why it is so important that we continue with year two of Canada's economic action plan?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, working with the Government of Ontario, municipalities and community groups right across the province, we have seen the creation of some 70,000 jobs. That is not a government number. That is a number that was released by the Conference Board of Canada. It shows the great partnership we have on infrastructure. We are able to go three times farther and three times faster.

Thank goodness for our economic action plan, because had we sat back and done nothing, we would see great despair in this country. However, we see a lot of hope. We see a lot of opportunity and a lot of hope for the future.

Haiti

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government is asking Haiti to be accountable. It is also asking NGOs working on the ground to be accountable. Yet the government awarded an untendered contract to ATCO, a company that is a known friend of the Conservatives.

Why the double standard? Why are the rules for their party's friends different from those for Haitians and NGOs?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, when the Haitian government asked for our help, we were able to deliver. This was an emergency situation. We used our emergency contracting authorities so that we could respond within days as opposed to months. We are proud that we were able to do this and respond to the Government of Haiti in its time of need.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, when the earthquake struck Haiti, Canadians came together to help. They were generous and they continue to support Haiti's rebuilding. However, we are now learning that public funds aimed at helping Haitians rebuild their own country are being handed out in untendered contracts to Conservative-friendly companies.

This is a slap in the faces of Canadians who opened their hearts and their wallets to help Haiti. When will the government tell Parliament when the contracts were given and under what circumstances? Why did it ignore the tendering process that we have established in this country? Why the double standard?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I can tell the hon. member that we acted within days as opposed to months. We were able to do this because it was an emergency situation, and we acted by using our emergency contracting authorities.

However he should know that, like any contract, it will follow all government contracting regulations, including comparing costs, verifying supplier capacity and conducting post-contract audits. He should also know that this company has been identified as the only supplier with the world expertise in delivering on a priority basis in an emergency situation.

International Cooperation

[Johanne Deschamps, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after clearly stating that they did not want the G8 to provide funding for family planning, the Minister of International Cooperation and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have tried to convince us otherwise. This about-face was too sudden to not be suspicious.

The Prime Minister himself only added to the confusion by not specifying whether abortion would be part of the measures he would agree to fund.

Can the government clarify this, once and for all? Will contraception and abortion be part of the options offered to women in developing countries?