Debates of Nov. 23rd, 2011

Public Safety

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a few days ago, the chair of the Security Intelligence Review Committee was forced to resign because of questionable financial transactions. We have learned that another committee member, the former Quebec health minister, Philippe Couillard, is also serving as an advisor to the Government of Saudi Arabia.

Can the Minister of Public Safety explain how the organization responsible for overseeing CSIS will ensure that its committee members are truly independent and free of conflict of interest?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, our government takes the security of the information relating to Canadians' national security very seriously.

Dr. Couillard practised for years as an internationally recognized neurosurgeon. He also happens to be a member of the International Advisory Board, Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This involvement predates his appointment to SIRC, and was fully disclosed.

We do not believe this to be any sort of conflict of interest.

Firearms Registry

[Jay Aspin, Conservative, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians gave our government a strong mandate to end the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry once and for all.

It is obvious to my constituents that ending the long gun registry means destroying the records. There is obviously no distinction between the records and the registry. They find it concerning that the opposition has put such a focus on their desire to keep these records on law-abiding hunters, farmers and sport shooters.

Could the minister please tell this House why he wants to destroy the records, and why he believes the opposition is so keen to keep them?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his hard work on behalf of his constituents on this matter.

It is impossible to scrap the registry without scrapping the records. Canadians find it unacceptable to hear people like big union boss and NDP insider leadership candidate Brian Topp suggesting that the will of Canadians in the last election be overthrown and the long gun registry be reinstated some time in the future.

I was pleased to see the leadership candidate from Skeena—Bulkley Valley reject that idea, and I hope he has the courage to stand up for his constituents to ensure—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup.

Asbestos

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a growing number of Conservative MPs are questioning the government's position on asbestos. The government is making them betray their own conscience and support an industry that exports disease. The Asbestos mine recovery plan is not working and the mine in Thetford Mines has closed down its operations. Tomorrow morning, no one in Quebec will be paid for handling asbestos—absolutely no one. The minister's broken record is not creating any jobs.

Will he finally realize that an economic diversification plan is urgently needed to create jobs for the people in his region?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, for more than 30 years, the Government of Canada has been supporting the safe use of chrysotile asbestos and recent scientific studies show that chrysotile fibre can be used safely in a controlled environment at the national or international level.

Justice

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Mr. Speaker, by ramming through Bill C-10 on the Criminal Code, the Government of Canada is going to impose its values on the Government of Quebec and stick it with the bill as well. Quebec's National Assembly is currently debating whether the Government of Quebec should take action to establish its own criminal code.

Will the Prime Minister respond to Quebec's requests related to the Criminal Code, if Quebec asks him to?

[Robert Goguen, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice]

Mr. Speaker, it will absolutely not be necessary for Quebec to create its own criminal code. I would like to invite the hon. member to carefully read Bill C-10, because it is designed to protect both Canadians and Quebeckers. That is what the people asked us to do and that is what we are doing.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

That concludes question period for today.

Presence in the Gallery

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of the winners of the 2011 Governor General’s Literary Awards: Patrick deWitt, Phil Hall, Erin Shields, Christopher Moore, Cybèle Young, Donald Winkley, Perrine Leblanc, Louise Dupré, Georges Leroux, Martin Fournier, Caroline Merola, Marise Warda, and Charles Foran.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The Chair has notice of a question of privilege from the hon. President of the Treasury Board.

Standing Committee on Public Accounts

[Tony Clement, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, it has come to my attention that certain changes were made to the evidence of the meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts on November 2, 2011, including my testimony. Members of the NDP opposition have alleged that I made those changes. I did not, nor did anyone in my employ. These baseless and outrageous allegations form a serious breach of my privilege, which is impeding my work as a member of this House and as a minister of the Crown.

Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask that you review this matter to determine how and why these changes were made and that you provide assurances to this House as to the reasons for any changes to the official record of this place. The suggestions from the opposition regarding any role by me are absolutely false, and I look forward to your attention to this matter.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I believe you will find all the necessary information in my letter that I provided to you before question period.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I will go to the member for Windsor—Tecumseh on the same point.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this is coming as news to us. We would want the opportunity to review or perhaps see the letter that he has forwarded to your office so that we can see whether we will take a position on this given the accusations that we are now hearing from him that we have made accusations against him. That is all new to us and we would like the opportunity to respond.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I look forward to the intervention from the member or anyone from the NDP if they do choose to make comments on this matter.

The hon. member for Vancouver Quadra on a point of order.

Oral Questions

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Vancouver South made a false statement about my social media communications and I would request that the member retract her remarks and correct the record. None of my tweets have referred to a carbon tax.

While she is at it, perhaps she could ask her colleague, the Minister of the Environment, why the government is such a dismal failure on the issue of climate change?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. As I mentioned, question period has already concluded for today.

The hon. member for Etobicoke North on a point of order.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I asked the Minister of the Environment a question and cited a response to an order paper question signed by the minister himself. The minister's response was that I should use more reliable sources. The minister's answer suggests that the minister's order paper response is wrong and has misled the House.

To give him the benefit of the doubt, I suppose the minister either misled the House in his order paper response or he is misleading the House now--

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I am sorry, but I have not heard anything to this point that is a point of order.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

She is getting to the point.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

She is not finished.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I would ask her to quickly make the point so the House can move on.