Debates of June 3rd, 2010

Cadet Medal of Excellence

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge a young woman from the riding of Random—Burin—St. George's in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Chief Petty Officer First Class Maria Hennebury of Lord's Cove, a rural community of 140 people on the Burin Peninsula, is the coxswain of 289 Corvette Sea Cadet Corps in Lamaline.

I am told by the officers that Maria's sea cadet training and personal evaluation reports at summer training centres have been outstanding. She was recently rewarded for her hard work and dedication with the Cadet Medal of Excellence.

Maria recently participated in a tall ship excursion from Norfolk, Virginia to Halifax, Nova Scotia and performed admirably. Most recently, she was selected to participate in a foreign exchange to South Korea as one of five cadets from across Canada. Maria will represent Atlantic Canada and the Canadian Cadet Movement.

Maria is the daughter of Rosanna and Bob Hennebury.

I ask the members of the House to join me in congratulating Maria on her success and wishing her well.

Orléans Festival

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

Madam Speaker, the people of Ottawa—Orléans have always demonstrated a particular affinity for non-partisan service.

Therefore, my provincial and municipal colleagues, along with many community leaders, will welcome the community this Sunday at the first Orléans Festival.

This festival is a celebration of all that makes our community great: chefs, artists and artisans. It is the inspiration and hard work of dedicated people like Judith Cane and Nick Aitken, Janet Gray, Anita MacDonald, Louise Michaud, Jennifer Robinson, Don Roy and Christine Tremblay. They truly give selfless service.

This Sunday morning, MPP Phil McNeely and I will welcome the community for a pancake breakfast. This breakfast, in the spirit of federal-provincial co-operation, is free.

I welcome all members of the House and people from across the national capital region to celebrate with us this Sunday morning at the Shenkman Centre.

Aphasia Week in Quebec

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Madam Speaker, with June 1 marking the end of aphasia week in Quebec, I would like to bring the members' attention to this disorder, which may affect as many as 40,000 Quebeckers.

Aphasia is a language disorder that can result in difficulty speaking, understanding, reading or writing. Those with aphasia may be unable to name objects or people or even to respond to a simple question. The disorder is usually the result of a stroke or head injury.

According to the Groupe de relève pour personnes aphasiques des Laurentides, close to 20% of stroke victims will suffer from serious communication disorders.

I would like to pay tribute to the work of organizations such as the Groupe de relève pour personnes aphasiques des Laurentides in my riding of Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, which offer support, activities and services to those afflicted as well as their families.

AIDS Thunder Bay

[Bruce Hyer, NDP, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would like to highlight the vital work of a non-profit in my riding of Thunder Bay—Superior North. AIDS Thunder Bay provides important clinical care, counselling, AIDS prevention and runs Mother's Cupboard for emergency food in northwestern Ontario.

I would like to read from a letter from one of their dedicated volunteers, Mr. Wilfred Pott, who writes:

“I am a board member of AIDS Thunder Bay...and a client. I have been HIV positive for over 21 years and have lost many friends to this debilitating virus. Before I moved to this city my life was a total mess...and I lived on the street. I first walked into AIDS Thunder Bay in 2008 and with their advice and direction I have learned new skills and my life now has meaning.

Many of my peers can follow me to a better life because of AIDS Thunder Bay. Please continue funding the Canadian AIDS Society and the AIDS community action program on which we rely”.

Elgin County

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Elgin county is one of a kind and a great example of what southwestern Ontario has to offer the rest of Canada. It is very exciting that many other people are taking notice of what great opportunities Elgin has to offer.

Elgin has been approached by Today in America with Terry Bradshaw to participate in the filming of their segment “Best Places to Live, Work and Play”. Elgin county caught the eye of the producers because truly it is a place like no other, where the sky meets the water and the water meets the land, where families stay for generations and real people work together to foster a dynamic future for innovative businesses.

This program airs nationally in the United States on FOX Business Network and will be aired nationally in Canada on HGTV.

I am proud of the people of the county of Elgin and wish them all the best as we show the rest of Canada and the United States why we are truly progressive by nature. Elgin county, break a leg.

Doug Harkness

[Shawn Murphy, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Doug Harkness who for the past 40 years has been a tireless advocate for harness racing throughout Atlantic Canada. Doug died last Friday after a lengthy illness.

For the past 35-plus years, Doug has been the publisher of Atlantic Post Calls, harness racing's monthly journal in Atlantic Canada. Besides being publisher, he was also the editor, manager, photographer, advertising salesman and circulation manager. He did it all.

Every summer and fall, Doug would visit every track throughout Atlantic Canada. He would be writing articles, taking pictures and generally promoting the sport. One could say that he was a very unique type of journalist, totally involved and did it all.

Everyone involved in harness racing in Atlantic Canada will miss Doug Harkness. When the starter calls the horses to the starting gate this summer, it just simply will not be the same without Doug Harkness.

Our sympathies go out to his wife, Donna-Jo and her two children.

Veterans

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, Art Campbell of Teulon, Manitoba is an example of what Canadian veterans mean to our country.

Mr. Campbell, who served as a leading aircraftman in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II, is here today to visit the Peace Tower Memorial Chamber. This morning he witnessed the turning of the page where his brother's name, James Ambrose Campbell, is written.

James Campbell fought bravely with the Seaforth Highlanders and was killed in Italy in September 1944. He was decorated with the 1939-45 Star, Italy Star, Defence Medal, War Medal and Canadian Volunteer Service Medal.

Earlier this week, Art shared his experience with the Prime Minister.

Today is a day of remembrance for Art Campbell and his family, but it is also a celebration of the service of our veterans to our great country. Art Campbell is a shining example of this service. His wartime experience fuelled a commitment to community involvement which has endured ever since. In March, Art was made an honorary life member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 52 in Stonewall.

For their service past and present, the Campbell brothers are true Canadian heroes. I thank them, and indeed all veterans, for their unselfish service to our country.

2010 Environmental Award Program

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

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, June 4, the Partners for a Green Hill will honour one of my colleagues, the member for Vaudreuil-Soulanges, with the 2010 environmental award in the team category.

The award honours the member and her whole team for their commitment and dedication to saving the environment in the course of their work.

They found ways to promote the four Rs—reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink—in the workplace, thereby showing environmental leadership on Parliament Hill.

My colleague and her staff also changed and adapted some of their habits in addition to implementing measures to help save the environment.

The entire Bloc Québécois caucus is proud that one of its own teams will be receiving the 2010 environmental award. We heartily congratulate the member for Vaudreuil-Soulanges' team.

Ministerial Responsibility

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has a tradition of ministerial responsibility. It should not surprise anyone that the Liberal leader, a man who once called the United States his country, does not understand the history and traditions of Canada. That means that cabinet ministers are responsible for what happens in their name and to Parliament.

One would not expect a junior employee in a company to account for his or her behaviour. No, one would expect the person in charge to do that. In Parliament that is how it has always been. In fact, the tradition is as old as Canada itself. That is why Conservative cabinet ministers answer questions in question period and that is why they appear before committees to answer for their offices.

However, the Liberal leader wants to do away with this tradition. Instead he wants to import the foreign U.S. committee system that is used as a political weapon to bully, intimidate and to humiliate opponents. The Liberal leader may call himself a citizen of the world, but we call ourselves citizens of Canada and we will respect, defend and abide by our system and traditions of our country.

Official Languages

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, during the 2006 census, an anonymous email went around encouraging francophones to say they could not speak English even if they could.

At the time, heads of francophone organizations across the country told their members to respond truthfully and we have every reason to think that they did.

Four years later, the Ottawa Citizen is trying to stir up controversy. The face of Canada's francophone population is changing thanks to newcomers whose first official spoken language is French, even though it is not necessarily their mother tongue and they do not speak English.

In response to the Ottawa Citizen article, representatives from Statistics Canada have said that they never talked about a conspiracy or suggested that francophones had lied in providing census information. They also suggested that factors other than the anonymous email might explain the decrease in the number of bilingual francophones in the country between 2001 and 2006.

Justice

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, our Conservative government is proposing to cut old age security benefits for serial killers who are serving time in prison. But the Bloc would rather worry about rehabilitating criminals.

In an interview on CTV National News on March 25, 2010, the Bloc leader said that when these people are released after serving their sentence, they have no money and could end up costing the government more than if they had a pension. He added that that this was very bad for rehabilitation.

Does that mean the Bloc leader is more concerned about rehabilitating dangerous criminals than about their victims and those victims' families, whose lives were changed forever?

Only our Conservative government is really concerned about the rights of victims of crime.

The Environment

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a gathering of first nations, business, environment and community leaders that took place in Kitimat, British Columbia this past weekend.

They came together to say no to dangerous supertankers on their coast, no to 12,000 supertankers the size of the Empire State Building plying the waters and no to an 1,100 kilometre pipeline crossing many rivers and more than 50 first nations communities. They know that in Alberta in an average year, 800 failures happen in pipelines.

They said yes to creating a culture and economy based upon a clean environment and wild salmon. They said yes to a plan for building a sustainable future for our communities and yes to first nations taking their rightful place at the table.

The gulf is teaching us all an invaluable lesson. Industry cannot be allowed to self-police. When oil and water mix, the environment and the economy are devastated. The government must stop listening only to its friends in the oil lobby and start listening to the people whose very lives are on the line.

Firearms Registry

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Mr. Speaker, constituents expect that democracy will be respected and those elected to Parliament will vote on their behalf. This is why the Liberal leader's decision to whip the vote on the long gun registry is so concerning.

The public safety committee has heard time and time again from provincial ministers, police chiefs and front-line police officers that the long gun registry is wasteful and ineffective. As Yukon's minister of the environment stated at committee, “Our only vote in the Yukon is being jeopardized by a whipped vote by the Liberals”.

What will the members who voted for Bill C-391 at second reading do? Will they ignore the voices of their constituents? Will they allow their vote to be whipped by the Liberal leader?

I urge all NDP and Liberal members, who voted for Bill C-391 at second reading, to listen to their constituents and not allow their votes to be determined by the Liberal leader.

The Environment

[Christian Ouellet, Bloc, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the newspapers recently reported that a survey clearly shows that the public wants priority to be given to climate change at the next G8 and G20 summits.

46.2% of Quebeckers believe that this issue should be the priority of international summits. However, this has been rejected by the Conservative government, which believes that the environment and climate change are not important.

This pro-oil and obtuse government does not understand that any debate about the economy must necessarily include climate change, poverty and health of the populations most affected, because these issues go hand in hand.

During Canada's Environment Week, the Bloc reminds the Prime Minister that, at international meetings, he must not give priority to issues based on his right-wing ideology—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Don Valley East.

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Canadians were disappointed to see a new low in parliamentary behaviour by the transport minister at the government operations and estimates committee.

As chair of that committee, I have witnessed many of the tactics from the Conservatives' book of dirty tricks, but this was unprecedented. Sparked by his government's decision to muzzle its political aides, the transport minister tried to hijack the committee with points of order that, as a witness, he was not permitted to bring forward. His attempt to hijack a committee of the House yesterday was one of the most brazen examples of intimidation and bullying that I have ever witnessed at committee or elsewhere.

Fortunately the minister learned a lesson. We will not be intimidated by his antics. Nor will we allow him to derail the important work of this committee, no matter how hard he tries.

Liberal Party of Canada

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, during the last election the Liberal Party campaigned actively on no coalition. Then just days after being overwhelmingly rejected by Canadians at the ballot box, it cut a backroom deal with the Bloc Québécois and the NDP.

Today, Liberal Party president Alfred Apps told the Toronto Star that his party should use that coalition strategy again. In fact, he told the Toronto Star that between now and the next election, the Liberal leader will tell Canadians “it's absolutely wrong” to talk about a coalition; however, once the election is over and the Liberals have lost, “then we can deal with the issue of coalition”.

The last time the Liberals and NDP tried to form a coalition, they specifically included the Bloc Québécois as the glue that held the coalition together. While they are focused on their own political interests, our Conservative government is focusing on helping Canadians by creating jobs and building growth through Canada's economic action plan.

When the Liberal leader continues his hidden coalition agenda, he proves that he is not in it for Canadians. He is just in it for himself.

G8 and G20 Summits

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are outraged by the billion dollars that they must pay because of the Conservatives' incompetence. This billion is on top of the Conservative deficit of $56 billion, the largest in all of Canadian history. And the Conservatives want to add another $6 billion each year to that deficit by cutting corporate taxes. A billion dollars here, $56 billion there and another $6 billion on top of that.

Will they admit that they are incapable of managing public finances?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we have brought in Canada's economic action plan, designed to encourage job creation, more hope and more opportunity, and the good news is that the plan is working. We have seen the creation of more than 285,000 new jobs since last summer. That puts us in first place in the industrialized world for job creation and economic growth.

We were the last to come into this global economic downturn, and thanks to the strong leadership of the economic team in this government, we are going to be the first to come out.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Mr. Speaker, are they saying that Canadians are wrong to be outraged?

Two months ago, they said that security would cost $180 million. They told Canadians that it is normal to pay $180 million for three days. Three months later, they said that $180 million is not normal and that it would be more like $1 billion for three days.

Were they wrong in March, are they wrong now, or are they simply incapable of managing a budget?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, do not listen to me. Listen to John Kirton, the director of the University of Toronto's G8 research group. This is what he had to say:

If you want to be at the G-8 table, you can’t go to the washroom when the bill comes

The cost for each of the two Canada summits are more or less within range of what G-8 and even G-20 summits have been costing.

This is the truth.

Let us be very clear. Who also supported the location of Huntsville for the G8 summit? In fact, it was the Liberal leader.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Mr. Speaker, let us look at one example of uncontrolled spending. The industry minister is using $400,000 in G8 money to restore a vintage steamboat named, wait for it, the Bigwin. A vintage steamboat for what, to taxi the leaders from Muskoka to Toronto? Wait, it gets better. The steamboat will not even be in the water until after the G8 is over.

Why are Canadians paying for Steamboat Tony's latest ride?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, there seems to be a lot of hot air on that side of the House.

Let us look at what the Liberal leader said about Muskoka and Huntsville:

We want to make it very clear...when we are the government of Canada, the next G8 Summit will be held at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville....

You heard it from me: the G8 Summit will be in this community when we form the next government.

He went on to say:

it seems to me since this is a federal event the federal government should take the large majority of any costs.

That was what the Liberal leader said. We are proud to showcase the Muskoka region and proud to showcase Huntsville to the world.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, when Halifax played host to a very successful G7 summit, it was apparently quite a bargain. The total budget for the event was $28 million, and that covered everything from staffing to printing and security.

However, a spokesperson for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation at the time thought $28 million was too costly for a summit. He said:

There are conference facilities available, I'm sure...that could have hosted an event like this without spending several million dollars

Who was that outraged spokesperson? It was none other than the current Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism.

Where is the outrage now?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, let me very clear. Security costs money. It is expensive. We do not want to spend this money, we have to spend this money.

Since 9/11, we are living in a new environment. A lot has changed in the last 20 years since world leaders went to Halifax. Canada is being open, honest and transparent about its security costs. We will do our job to ensure not just the leaders and the thousands and thousands of delegates are kept safe, but also that people in Muskoka and Toronto can be safe too.