Debates of May 6th, 2010

Status of Women

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, as we have said, this is not about ideology. This is not about entitlement. This is about getting the best value out of taxpayer dollars. This means that for every one of our international dollars we provide, we want to get more health, more education, more economy and more people out of poverty. That is how this government will use our international assistance dollars.

Ethics

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, let me get this straight. There are some very serious allegations from a very credible third party, and we have to believe the Bank of Montreal is a more credible third party than a private investigator, suggesting that the Conservative member of Parliament from Calgary Northeast is linked to what is believed to be, at $100 million, the largest bank fraud in Canadian history.

What is the difference between him and member for Simcoe—Grey? Why did the government not call in the RCMP? Why is the member still sitting in the Conservative caucus?

[Jay Hill, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, despite the hon. member's penchant for always believing the banks about everything, clearly this is a personal, civil matter concerning the member for Calgary Northeast. It has absolutely nothing to do with the business of the Government of Canada.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is clearly a double standard.

Speaking of double standards, the government needs to explain its approach to funding for women's groups.

Why the cuts to the Conseil d'intervention pour l'accès des femmes au travail after 25 years of good work? What is wrong with the Réseau des tables régionales de groupes de femmes du Québec? What did the Centre de documentation sur l'éducation des adultes et la condition féminine do wrong?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear. This government is giving a record amount of funding to women's groups in every region of the country. We want to ensure that we get value for money.

We should also be very clear that funding is not automatic and it is not forever. We want to ensure that women's groups from all over Canada, from time to time, can get support. That is exactly what the government has done.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives keep pretending they are giving more money than ever, but we know what is really going on. They are systematically denying the funding to groups of women that are advocating for the rights of women in our country. That is what is going on.

Why are the Conservatives so keen on meeting with an unregistered lobbyist like Rahim Jaffer when they will not even meet with the groups of women whose funding they are cancelling and whose good works they are putting the brakes on? They will not even take the time to discuss it with them.

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, let me tell the leader of the NDP what the government is doing.

In New Brunswick we have assisted entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and develop leadership skills that will help them become future business leaders.

In Manitoba we funded a program to increase the awareness and prevention on the important issue of human trafficking and the exploitation of women.

We have also funded a national women's shelter program to improve the access to quality services for women who are in abusive situations, with a focus on aboriginal, immigrant and rural women.

Our Minister for Status of Women is doing great work, and the House should be proud of it.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the government maintains it has turned over all documents concerning privileged access granted Rahim Jaffer and Patrick Glémaud.

However, a Liberal access to information request has fleshed out unreleased documents at the Department of Natural Resources. The request asked for any records relating to Glémaud going back to November 2008, the same month he founded Green Power Generation.

The government first denied and now it is withholding information it promised to make public. Yesterday the Minister of Natural Resources and his predecessor dodged the committee. What are they hiding?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear. Public servants at the Department of Natural Resources have revealed that the documents in question pertain to Mr. Glémaud's role as a public servant and have nothing to do with either Mr. Jaffer or with Green Power Generation.

I trust the public servants at Natural Resources Canada when they say that.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the request was pretty clear. It had to do with GPG and Patrick Glémaud and Rahim Jaffer.

The government operations committee specifically asked the Department of Natural Resources for records related to Jaffer, Glémaud and GPG. The department has confirmed these records exist. However, in a letter to the committee, the former minister says that there are no records, while the current minister says that records have already been turned over. We know that nothing produced so far has come from the Department of Natural Resources.

Why the continued stonewalling? Why the denying? What is the government afraid of?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we had an effort in Parliament yesterday to expend the Lobbying Act. We were only too happy to support it and said “let's go even farther. Let's include all members of Parliament in that effort”. One Liberal member of Parliament is quoted in the paper as saying, “I have to provide some confidentiality”.

For our friend, the member for Scarborough—Rouge River, I was reading the World Wide Web today and, lo and behold, the Liberal MP for Scarborough—Rouge River is advertising himself as a lobbyist.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities has said several times in the House that all the documents related to Rahim Jaffer, Patrick Glémaud and Green Power Generation have been made public.

Last Friday, he said that his government had released all the documents in question.

The minister is in trouble now that we know he is sitting on a pile of documents from Human Resources Canada.

Will he admit he was trying to mislead this House?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, on the World Wide Web, the Liberal member of Parliament is advertising himself as lobbyist. What does he do for his clients?

He reviews policies and the conduct of the Canadian Security Intelligence Services. He assists foreign and offshore organizations in obtaining operating licences. He advises government bodies on international issues, regarding cross-border tax collection. The Liberal Party member of Parliament is advertising that he can “lobbying government on policy issues as well as facilitating inter-governmental relationships”.

What exactly does the Liberal Party have to—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. The hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government is hiding thousands and thousands of pages of documents on the detainee torture scandal and on the green power energy fund.

Last Thursday, that minister said that the government released all documents. On Monday, he said that the government made all the documents public. We know that is not the case.

First it was one Conservative minister, then two, then seven and now it is eight. When will the current government stop stonewalling and denying and release all the information?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to release a copy of the Sun & Partners website, where the Liberal member for Scarborough—Rouge River advertises himself as a lobbyist. This raises a number of questions about the Liberal Party.

Who is the Liberal Party's member of Parliament lobbying for? When he says that he secures regulatory government approvals for mergers and acquisitions, who is he talking about? When he advises government bodies on cross-border tax collection, when he lobbies government on policy issues, when he calls a minister's office, who is he fighting for? Is he fighting for his constituents or some foreign well-paid interest?

Firearms Registry

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Mr. Speaker, for the first time, three police associations, including the Canadian Police Association, which represents 41,000 officers, are banding together to call on the government to maintain the firearms registry. These three police associations are clear: the registry saves lives.

Instead of turning it into an ideological debate, why does the government not listen to those who are on the front lines and who are calling for the firearms registry to remain unchanged?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to report that just a little while ago, someone said that the problem was that we are using the registry too often, because there have been other mass killings since École Polytechnique, and the registry cannot stop someone with a mental illness from deciding to get a gun and killing someone.

That was said by Jean-Pierre Charbonneau, the former speaker of the Quebec National Assembly and a former minister in the head office of the party opposite.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Mr. Speaker, he also said that we should maintain the registry.

The Conservatives are taking an ideological stance and are ignoring the truth. This was clear in the comments made by the member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, who denies that the École Polytechnique tragedy played a role in the creation of the registry. Not only is that untrue and unacceptable, but it also negates all the work done by the Coalition for Gun Control.

Why refuse to listen to the École Polytechnique survivors, who are also calling for the firearms registry to be maintained?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, the tragedy at École Polytechnique will be forever etched in the memories of all Canadians. The Bloc is once again using this tragedy as a political ploy to put pressure on the government. Our government supports the abolition of the firearms registry because it does not think that being tough on crime means being tough on farmers and hunters. Everyone knows that criminals do not register their firearms.

Financial Institutions

[Daniel Paillé, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the President of the European Union, José Manuel Barroso, demolished the Prime Minister's arguments about a bank tax. He pointed out that all countries are feeling the impacts of the financial crisis.

The American Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, said that it is possible to implement this type of tax while limiting the negative effects on consumers.

Why is the Conservative government going it alone and refusing to help out with efforts to stabilize the financial markets?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is our financial system in Canada is a model for the world and our regulation system is a model for the world. No Canadian taxpayer moneys went into Canadian banks. Would that it were so for the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries in western Europe. Those countries had to put taxpayer money into their banks. Now they are going back to the banks and taxing them, or proposing to, to get their money back for their taxpayers. That is not the Canadian situation. We have one of the best banking systems in the world.

[Daniel Paillé, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, instead of rolling up the rim and spending time at Tim Horton's, he should be spending time with Tim Geithner.

From 2007 to 2009, chartered banks made $46 billion net, post-tax. They saved $6 billion in tax havens. That is $52 billion, which is equivalent to the Conservative deficit.

Why does the Minister of Finance keep giving his banking friends preferential treatment at the expense of Canadian consumers?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I know the member opposite wants to follow the American lead. I know his leader wants to invest continually in the oil sands. However, I did not know he had anything against Tim Hortons. This is a great Canadian exporting business. Our banks and our insurance companies were well regulated by the Government of Canada, and the agencies of Canada have shown themselves to be a model for the world. He should be proud of our Canadian financial systems, including the National Bank in Montreal.

Ethics

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are having trouble figuring out where Conservatives draw the ethical lines. Apparently, if someone leaves behind security documents at a girlfriend's place, he stays in caucus. However, if a shady gumshoe makes second-hand allegations, which we still do not know, about a minister of the Crown, she gets kicked out of cabinet, kicked out of the party and the Mounties are called in.

How are Canadians supposed to understand where ethics end and political expediency begins?