Debates of Dec. 14th, 2011

Foreign Affairs

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs)]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada takes such allegations of mistreatment and torture very seriously, and we are seeking the Government of Bahrain's response concerning the events that transpired during Mr. Al-Raas' detention. Canada is also urging the Government of Bahrain to review the case in light of the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, as well as urging that Mr. Al-Raas' conviction be reviewed and his sentence commuted.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, Henk Tepper has been in prison in Lebanon for 10 months without any charges being laid. Today, the government finally has an opportunity to correct its mistakes and its inaction.

According to Henk Tepper's lawyer, the file is on the desk of Lebanon's justice minister. All that is required to bring Mr. Tepper home is a letter from the government. Lawyers have even sent sample letters for the minister to use, but she remains reluctant and is still not doing anything.

Will she finally take action and send this letter so that Henk Tepper can finally come home and be with his family in New Brunswick?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs)]

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleague to listen to question period; he would already know the answer to his question. However, to repeat, the Government of Lebanon has specifically dismissed the allegation that a simple letter would bring Mr. Tepper home. It points out that it must act in accordance with Lebanon's international legal obligations when faced with a request for extradition.

We are doing everything possible to assist Mr. Tepper and will continue to do so.

Canadian Wheat Board

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as the Christmas spirit takes hold, the interim leader of the third party and his elves are in Winnipeg today to deliver lumps of coal to farmers across western Canada.

The Liberals have hitched their sleigh to the monopoly forces of the Canadian Wheat Board, who are taking further court action to halt the marketing freedom for grain farmers act from taking effect. This will disrupt the markets and create economic hardship for western Canadian farmers.

Will the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food reassure the House that our government will stand up for farmers and not let these grinches steal their Christmas?

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, the new year will be bright for western Canadian farmers. We are continuing to proceed with Bill C-18. We will move it through, and it will receive royal assent.

Farmers in western Canada, at the time of royal assent, will be able to start forward-contracting their crop. It is their property, and they will be able to move it. We will not allow the leader of the third party and his elves to steal Christmas and that great new year's present for the farmers of western of Canada.

Champlain Bridge

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, since the announcement of the construction of the new Champlain Bridge over two months ago, families in Montreal and the south shore are still in the dark and have yet to be consulted. We still do not know what the real costs of the project will be or whether there will be any rapid and efficient public transportation on the new bridge. What is most concerning is that we still have no timeline.

Will the government finally show some transparency and give us a timeline for the new Champlain Bridge?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, it was an honour for me to announce a new bridge over the St. Lawrence on October 5, thanks to the work of this government and our Prime Minister.

While the official opposition is looking to shut down bridges in Montreal, we are promising to open them and to work on them. We recently met with business people, chambers of commerce and mayors from both sides of the St. Lawrence. We will continue to work with them to come up with a plan that makes sense and that will address the needs of the public.

Federal Government

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, with Christmas fast approaching, Quebeckers have nothing to celebrate considering the federal government's actions. Reducing Quebec's political weight, withdrawing from Kyoto, scrapping the data from the gun registry, imposing a costly and regressive justice model, weakening copyright and undermining our culture, abandoning the Davie workers, appointing unilingual anglophones to key positions, and even idolizing the monarchy all fly in the face of the values of Quebeckers.

Given such a poor performance and so many affronts, will the Prime Minister admit that he has written off Quebec and that recognizing the Quebec nation was simply a smokescreen?

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

Mr. Speaker, we presented an economic action plan that has had extraordinary spinoffs for the entire country. We managed to make it through the recession and fared better than most countries. Some 600,000 net new jobs have been created in Canada. That party voted against the budget we proposed in the previous Parliament. Now they are relegated to the far corner of the House. That is a clear message from the people that they want a government that can handle the economy and create jobs. That is what we did. We also resolved the matter of harmonizing the GST and QST. Those are real issues. We are delivering the goods.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

That concludes question period for today. I know there are a couple of points of order, and we will get to them.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of the Honourable Trevor Holder, Minister of Tourism and Parks and Minister of Wellness, Culture and Sport for New Brunswick.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I would also like to draw to the attention of all hon. members that Mr. Rob Walsh, our Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, will be taking a well-deserved retirement early in the new year, after more than 20 years of faithful and dedicated service to the House, including 18 years as a table officer.

He has provided wise counsel to the House, its committees, the Board of Internal Economy, and many individual members over the years.

Mr. Walsh is sitting at the table right now and I know you will all join me in saluting his long and successful career on Parliament Hill.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

Oral Questions

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

There may be a couple of points of order. I see the hon. member for Papineau rising and I think I will recognize him first.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, during question period the Minister of the Environment chided the member of Parliament for Halifax for not having attended the conference in Durban after he prevented any members of the opposition from attending in Durban. Therefore, I lost my temper and used language that was most decidedly unparliamentary. For that I unreservedly apologize and I withdraw my remarks.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I too rise on a point of order. I understand that the third party, the Liberal rump, is somewhat out of sorts as this government corrects one of the biggest blunders the previous Liberal government ever made.

I am not particularly troubled by the unparliamentary language hurled at me by the member of Parliament for Papineau, but I believe he owes this House an abject apology--

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I believe the hon. member for Papineau just did that.

The hon. member for St. John's South—Mount Pearl.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to apologize for using a word that I have been told is unparliamentary. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans asked a question. He asked this House whether he looked like a bully. I merely answered his question. I would answer the question the same way if he asked it again.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I am afraid that is not an acceptable retraction, so the hon. member may have some difficulty getting recognized until he decides that he may want to respect the House.

Is the hon. member for Malpeque rising on a different point of order, or the same point?

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, in response to a question, spoke about the Liberal leader checking out early. The House leader knows that we are not to talk about the absence or presence of anybody in this House. In fact, we respect full well that the Prime Minister has parliamentary duties to attend to from time to time and is not here. We do not bring that up. The fact of the matter is the Liberal leader is today doing parliamentary duties, trying to argue the point of the Canadian Wheat Board and the government's lack of respect for the rule of law.

I would ask that the House leader of the reprehensible government get up and apologize for what he said in the House with respect to the Liberal leader.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

We will see if we can get through this one.

The hon. government House leader.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the member for Malpeque, I was not suggesting that the member was away on parliamentary duty or otherwise. I was referring to the fact that yesterday the leader of the Liberal Party held his end-of-session news conference and availability session. That is what I intended when I said that he checked out yesterday; he was summarizing the end of the session, and the session had not yet ended.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I see the hon. member for St. John's South—Mount Pearl. I hope he rising to withdraw his comments.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I apologize and withdraw the remark.