Debates of March 26th, 2010

Project Hero

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Project Hero is a great program which provides scholarships to the children of our Canadian heroes who have sacrificed their lives while serving our country.

I would like to thank honorary Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Reed, along with retired General Rick Hillier who started this program which will benefit the families of our fallen heroes.

Needless to say, I was shocked earlier this week when a group of radical professors from the University of Regina signed a letter opposing this program. Shockingly, this group of 16 even includes a former provincial NDP candidate.

On this side of the House, we honour our men and women in uniform and we welcome programs that benefit the lives of their families.

I call upon these 16 so-called academics who are currently enjoying their comfort and security thanks to the work of the same people whom they are now opposing to reconsider their outrageous insensitive position, to join their fellow Canadians by showing their true patriot love and support Project Hero.

Don Anderson

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of my colleagues and myself to pay tribute to Don Anderson.

Don ran the family farm in St. Peter's Bay. It grew to become a 500-acre mixed farming operation.

Don was very active in the farming community. Throughout his life he served as director of the P.E.I. potato marketing board. He was a member of the Canadian Dairy Commission. He was chairman of the P.E.I. potato committee. He played a major role in the P.E.I. Rural Beautification Society. He was inducted into the Atlantic Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1998.

His warm greetings and firm handshakes were well known among fellow Island producers, and he was a strong supporter of the Prince Edward Island potato industry.

Don Anderson's name became synonymous with the Island spuds in many countries around the world. No matter what Don Anderson was involved in, whether it was his church, his community or the agricultural community, he gave it his all.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Anderson family in St. Peter's Bay today.

Maureen Vodrey

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today we wish to thank and pay homage to someone who has truly etched the fabric of Canada's democracy. Maureen Vodrey, who we spoke of yesterday, the longest-serving interpreter in Canadian history, will retire today after 37 consecutive years of serving Parliament and Canadians.

Ms. Vodrey began her interpretation career on Parliament Hill in 1973. She has worked for nine governments, eight prime ministers, eight governors general and eight Speakers of the House of Commons and for yours truly as well.

Ms. Vodrey specializes in parliamentary procedure. She has taught at the University of Ottawa and has received numerous awards, including the award of excellence in teaching in 2007 and the Translation Bureau quality service award in 2009.

Today we pay tribute to her, to her husband Robert, a corporal in the RCMP, and to their son Simon.

Ms. Vodrey's contribution to democracy will be felt for years to come. We pay tribute to her today.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the New Democrats and all parliamentarians, we also join in congratulating and thanking Maureen Vodrey after 39 years of service to the House of Commons, 37 years as the House of Commons' longest-serving interpreter, even interpreting me, and that is a remarkable achievement in itself.

She was known as the female English voice of René Lévesque during the debates of the Meech Lake accord. She has been here for an incredible, wonderfully long time, and it is because of her service to this country and to all of us that our work has been much easier to do.

We want to pay special tribute to her husband, Robert, and her son, Simon. We thank them very much for sharing Maureen with all of us. She has done a tremendous job. She will be greatly missed.

On behalf of all of us in the House of Commons, we salute Maureen Vodrey for her great service and wish her the very best in her future endeavours. God bless her.

Bloc Québécois

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, our government wants to protect families and ensure that Canadians can sleep well at night.

Honest citizens are already paying enough to rehabilitate criminals who are serving sentences in prison.

I cannot believe that the leader of the Bloc thinks that Clifford Olson should keep receiving his federal government pension in addition to the guaranteed income supplement.

We already knew that the Bloc Québécois was in favour of lenient sentences for criminals who traffic in young children, but Quebeckers cannot believe this.

Now Quebeckers know that the Bloc and its leader have only one goal: to block the Conservative government's initiatives to fight crime and protect victims.

World Theatre Day

[Roger Pomerleau, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow is World Theatre Day, created in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute. Every year, an internationally renowned artist releases a message to mark this day. These artists have included Robert Lepage and Michel Tremblay.

In Quebec, this year's message is from Suzanne Lebeau, a playwright who specializes in youth theatre and a recipient of many international awards. Here is an excerpt from her message:

These are times of crisis, and public support is being cut back...And yet... We have never seen a new generation as courageous...invading private and public spaces to reach out to these audiences. By the twos, the fours, the dozens, theatre artists bring alive and make vibrant lobbies, passageways, seats that are upright and hard. Temporary in the means that it receives, temporary in how it reinvents itself night after night, as temporary as life and daily moods, theatre is definitive in expressing the need that we have to speak and to share.

We must support the theatre; it feeds our souls.

Transportation

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, members will be aware that rail has played a major role in the history of Canadian nation building. Today, commuter and intercity rail must be a major part of a transportation plan that deals with two major challenges facing Canadians: urban congestion and air pollution.

The good news is that in several ridings in the GTA, within the Georgetown corridor, plans are in effect that would see the expansion of GO Transit and an integration of light rail and heavy rail services. The bad news is that residents like those in York South—Weston are concerned about increased risks to health and safety and noise from diesel locomotives.

It is unquestionable that Canada should follow the lead of European countries that have chosen electrified transit systems, both light and heavy rail. I would therefore ask the House to call upon the federal Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and the Minister of the Environment to work with their provincial counterparts to ensure that electrified rail technologies and retrofits be a high priority in Canada's national transportation strategy.

Liberal Party Conference

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Mr. Speaker, today the Liberal leader's spenders conference gets under way in Montreal.

The Ottawa Sun is reporting this morning that after not inviting MPs to the spenders conference, the Liberal Party scrambled to invite a few MPs at the very last minute for optics. Apparently, they are now being invited but are actually being discouraged from taking part.

The spenders conference is hardly reflective of Canada. Forty-three of more than fifty guest speakers are from Ontario and Quebec, and the United States and Australia have more representation than four provinces.

While the Liberal leader is off in academic fantasyland this weekend, our Conservative government is focused on the concerns of today, leading the way on creating jobs and building the economy.

At the end of the day, Canadians know that the spenders conference will only propose grandiose spending proposals that Canadians do not want.

Afghanistan

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the government continued its cover-up with respect to torture in Afghanistan. The papers it dumped on the table were three months late, incoherent, incomplete and calculated to mislead.

It was a gimmick to get thousands of rabbits running to a thousand different dead ends, anywhere but the truth. The whole scam is an insult to the government's new lawyer, Mr. Iacobucci.

When will the Conservatives realize that this issue goes to Canada's global reputation for integrity, and a cover-up will not work?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the government has always said that officials will provide all legally available documents. Officials have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Redactions are done by independent, non-partisan public servants whose only interest is the application of the law and protection of national security.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the government literally dumped 2,500 pages of redacted documents concerning torture.

Many of these redacted documents are not even pertinent. We were given 2,500 pages of completely disorganized documents.

The Conservatives are literally obstructing the work of parliamentarians and increasing our impression that they have something to hide.

When will they stop this censorship? When will they call the public enquiry that Canadians want?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the government has always maintained that our representatives would provide all legally available documents. That is exactly what they have always done and what we will continue to do.

Retired Justice Iacobucci will also begin an independent and comprehensive review of the censorship of the documents concerning the detainees. As I have said, these documents were tabled without prejudice.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to read an excerpt from one of the documents tabled yesterday.

Oh, I am sorry. As we can see, that would be impossible.

Yesterday the Prime Minister said that the tabling of these documents was proof of their transparency. This does not seem very transparent to me.

Transparency means answering for one's actions. It does not mean dumping boxes of redacted documents, without prior notice, to delay the work of parliamentarians.

Why such contempt for Parliament? Why this provocation? Why hide the truth from Canadians?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I repeat, the members across the floor asked us to table the documents. We tabled them and we will continue to provide all legally available documents. We have also added the independent report of Justice Iacobucci, who will verify the work of the independent committee.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Todd Russell, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Mr. Speaker, at first the government said that First Nations University students were simply out of luck, no more funding. Then came a glimmer of hope, first from the University of Regina and the Province of Saskatchewan and now with the federal government perhaps softening its hard line.

While the government says it is looking at its options, the students and faculty need certainty.

Can the Conservatives tell hundreds of First Nations University students whether it will be part of the solution that all the other parties are working on before the end of this fiscal year?

[John Duncan, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, our priority is to make sure the First Nations University students have the same educational opportunities as other Canadians. That is our priority. We want to make sure they finish their school year, and we will continue to work with people who are working hard to make this happen.

We are fully engaged.

[Todd Russell, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Mr. Speaker, everyone understands that this university had problems in the past, but everyone also understands that that was the past.

With commitments from the University of Regina, from the Saskatchewan government and from first nations leaders, the school is ready to turn a new page. This is now about the future.

The students are anxiously waiting. The faculty is waiting. Will the federal government get to the table and be part of the solution?

[John Duncan, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, to say we are not at the table is inappropriate.

As I said, the university has now submitted a proposal under the same program that every other university in the country submits when dealing with first nations students. We are encouraged by the changes we have seen.

We are going to make sure that our priority is helping those students finish their school year. That is our most immediate priority.

Afghanistan

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the confusion, or should I say shambles, surrounding the government's tabling of heavily censored documents on torture in Afghanistan is clearly not a proper response to the House's order of December 10, 2009.

Does the government understand that, in order to avoid being found in contempt of the House, it must immediately submit all the documents in their original, unredacted version, as required by the motion adopted by the House?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the members of the opposition have asked us for the documents many times. We have made these documents public. We have transferred the documents that we are allowed to make public by law. Such documents have been made public in the past and we will continue to make them public.

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this is a joke. The government cannot be the judge of its own case. It is up to the members of the House to decide what the government must hand over.

Despite Conservative censorship, the documents show that the soldiers were aware of the allegations of torture and that they proposed alternatives, but the government clearly indicated that the only possible option was to transfer the detainees to Afghan authorities, even though that violated international conventions.

Is the government not trying to hide the fact that it was responsible for violating international conventions such as the Geneva convention?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, that is absolutely not the case. Almost three years ago, we corrected a situation and replaced the existing agreement on the transfer of detainees. The Canadian process of transferring Taliban detainees to the authorities has evolved and improved over the years.

Let us not forget how much this was criticized when the Liberals were in power. We replaced that system with a more robust and rigorous system that allows transferred detainees to be visited at any time.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, among the few unredacted documents the government let slip through, there is an email dated January 19, 2006 in which colonel Gauthier said that several Canadian soldiers had witnessed the abuse of detainees in Afghan army custody. This means that, as early as January 2006, the Canadian government was aware of the risk of torture.

Why did the government turn a blind eye to the risk of torture? Why did it not shoulder its responsibilities under the Geneva convention?

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, our government and the Canadian Forces have never turned a blind eye to that.

Of course, January 19, 2006, was before this government was elected.

The Canadian Forces take all allegations seriously. They have from the start. They fully investigate any allegations that have come to their attention. In every case, the Canadian Forces' members have been absolved of any wrongdoing. They continue to do an exceptional job for us and our allies in Afghanistan.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives had the information. They know very well what we are talking about.

According to the testimony of captain Steve Moore, the word put out by the Canadian government was to transfer detainees as quickly as possible to the Afghan forces. Regardless of consequences, the word was to get rid of detainees ASAP, as they say.

Testimony provided by the military, which was released on Thursday, echo that of diplomat Richard Colvin: the Conservative government turned a blind eye to the torture of Afghan detainees.

Is that why the government is refusing to be transparent?