Debates of March 2nd, 2011

Quebec City Arena

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, by all accounts, the sum invested by the private sector under the agreement concluded between the Quebecor group and Mayor Labeaume is clearly inadequate. That being said, as the Rousseau report indicates, the project has a very significant revitalization component and following conversations with my colleague, Sam Hamad, I can say that we will be delighted to contribute to that important component of the project.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister supposedly responsible for the Quebec City region repeatedly demanded a business plan for the arena.

Less than an hour after the business plan was presented, the minister closed the door on the project.

Either it took her less than an hour to grasp all the ins and outs of the business plan drafted by the mayor of Quebec City and Quebecor, which we doubt, or the Conservatives never had any intention of contributing funding to this project.

Is that not the real story? They never had any intention of funding the project.

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as we have said many times, the government wanted the private sector to have a significant stake in this project and the agreement concluded between the Quebecor group and Mayor Labeaume falls short of the mark.

I want to take this opportunity to point out to the hon. member for Québec, who called me “supposedly” responsible for the Quebec City region, that I still have my responsibilities, whereas she has been replaced by her colleague from Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord.

Government Spending

[Daniel Paillé, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to the 2011-12 estimates, the Conservatives plan to make significant budget cuts, particularly in the areas of environment and culture. Even the contribution to the International Criminal Court has been decreased by 64%. And yet the Conservatives still want the court to look into the actions of the Libyan dictator! This is typical of their ideology. Nevertheless, they do not hesitate to expand prisons. Who knows? Perhaps it is so that they will have somewhere to put Conservative fraudsters.

How can the government claim to be addressing Quebeckers' priorities when it is cutting the budgets for environment and culture? These estimates are really not good for Quebec.

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the allegations that the government is trying to reduce its obligations to the International Criminal Court are false. Facts are facts and so I would simply ask the hon. member to take a closer look at the funding mechanism. Canada is respecting its obligations to this court.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the tabling of the estimates confirms what the Bloc Québécois has been saying. The Minister of Canadian Heritage has falsely boasted to the media that his government has increased grants for arts and culture. However, a document submitted by his deputy minister to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage shows that the opposite is true: grants and contributions for arts and culture decreased by 7% in 2010-11.

Does the minister realize that, contrary to his claims, funding for arts and culture decreased last year and that, if we are to believe the most recent spending estimates, these ideological cuts will continue next year ?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Bloc Québécois critics do not understand the figures presented here in the House of Commons. Canada is the only G8 country that decided not to cut, not to maintain, but to increase its investment in arts and culture across the country.

From the Liberal Party of Canada's last budget in 2005-06 until 2010, we have increased our investments in culture, official languages and festivals by 18.4% across Canada. We are spending more money on culture than any other government in the history of Canada.

International Co-operation

[Bonnie Crombie, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of International Cooperation has now dodged dozens of questions about her conduct. She has failed to perform even the most basic duty of a minister, to be accountable to Parliament for her actions. Yet she continues to enjoy all the rights, all the privileges and all the entitlements of her office. Her actions and the cover-ups are disgraceful and her refusal to be held accountable is offensive.

The minister has a choice. Will she stand up and answer, or will she stand up and leave?

[John Baird, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, let me tell the member about the work of the Minister of International Cooperation.

She has played not just an important but an instrumental role in helping women and young girls in Afghanistan as we seek to redevelop that country. She has played an outstanding role in dealing with the aftermath of the consequences in Haiti. She has also played an instrumental role in the child and newborn maternal health initiative led by the Prime Minister for this will save the lives of literally millions of women and children in Africa. She has done an outstanding job for Canadians.

[Bonnie Crombie, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister continues to defend the minister. He continues to defend the indefensible. He continues to pay her quarter million dollar salary and her limousine.

The Prime Minister's directive to his ministers states that they must be accountable to Parliament and must answer honestly and accurately about their areas of responsibility.

I will ask again. Will the Minister of International Cooperation stand up, do her job, and answer questions in this House?

[John Baird, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, as a matter of fact the Minister of International Cooperation has neither a quarter million dollar salary nor a limousine.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister officially asked for over three billion taxpayer dollars in spending for CIDA in the next fiscal year, but we see no real evidence that she is even in charge of this agency.

Will the minister commit now in this House to come before committee to at least answer questions somewhere about her job, or is she just a minister in name only?

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy that under this government the international assistance is the highest ever in the history of Canada.

This morning I announced help for Haiti in its reconstruction. This means that there will be six hospitals reconstructed, 54,000 Haitians will receive free health care, 500 new health professionals will be trained, 3,000 families will receive housing and 15,000 Haitians will receive water. This is our foreign aid policy. It—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. The hon. member for Winnipeg South Centre.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

At last, Mr. Speaker. Now that she is finally on her feet, finally willing to be heard and not just seen, will the minister simply explain herself? Who told her to cut KAIROS' funding? We know it was not CIDA. And why did the funding request sit ignored on her desk for months?

Will she stand up again, assert her independence from the Prime Minister's control and finally do what is right; tell the truth?

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, here are some interesting facts. Under the Liberals, the world's hungry were shortchanged by tens of thousands of tonnes of promised food. We have made up that shortfall and we fulfilled our promise to the world's hungry.

In 2008, we untied our aid, putting even more food on their plates. Now, as chair of the Food Aid Convention, we are doing what the previous government could not do. We have all members now talking about how to update our aid assistance. In fact, our government will make sure that the world's hungry get the food they need to thrive and—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Lévis—Bellechasse.

Libya

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Mr. Speaker, given the violence in Libya and the growing number of people crossing the borders into Egypt and Tunisia, it is obvious that humanitarian aid is required for those affected by the uprising in recent days.

Can the Prime Minister tell the House what measures are being taken to help these victims and to address the situation?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce today that our government will respond immediately to the humanitarian crisis in Libya with up to $5 million in humanitarian aid for medical care, food and shelter.

Of course, in order to resolve this growing crisis, we will continue to repeat our calls on the Libyan authorities to end their violence and Mr. Gadhafi to renounce his position and authority.

Air Canada

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Mr. Speaker, Air Canada maintenance workers in Winnipeg, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are worried they will lose their jobs to Central America despite the fact this airline is legislated to maintain these jobs in Canada. It is planning to send our jobs to El Salvador regardless of the legal guarantees in the Air Canada Public Participation Act.

Will the Minister of Finance uphold the law? Is he content to say adios to these jobs?

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, of course Air Canada continues to maintain its overhaul centres in Montreal, Winnipeg and elsewhere, as it is required to under the legislation. What is more, not only before the standing committee but in response to enquiries from my office, it has assured us that there will be no job losses. It will be expected to uphold the letter of the law and the spirit of the law and it has promised that it is going to do exactly that.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what the minister just said is untrue. He is not even the minister responsible for the act in question; that is the Minister of Finance.

The Conservatives claim that jobs are a priority for them. The law is clear: Air Canada is required to keep all its centres in Canada. Yet Transport Canada has just authorized jobs in Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal to be outsourced—exported—to El Salvador.

It was his department that authorized this. How does he explain that to the 3,000 families who will lose their jobs?

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I explain it like this. There will not be any job losses. Air Canada has said that it is going to maintain the overhaul centres in Winnipeg, Mississauga and in Montreal. It has to do so by legislation. It has promised both before the standing committee of the House and to me in my office that there will not be job losses. No job losses is a good thing.

The nice thing about it is that this government in this economy has created 460,000 new jobs since the lowest part of the recession. No thanks to the NDP, but those jobs are secure both at Air Canada and elsewhere.

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

Mr. Speaker, since 2007, Air Canada has been trying to export its technical services by handing them off to a separate company called Aveos. This could be finalized by April. But the Air Canada Public Participation Act officially prohibits Air Canada from exporting its operational and overhaul facilities in Montreal, Mississauga and Winnipeg.

Can the Minister of Finance guarantee that he will ensure that the legislation passed in 1985 by the Conservative government is enforced and that Air Canada is prohibited from exporting its operational and overhaul centres?

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I just answered that question, but I had better go to my briefing notes because it is important that I read it out exactly.

Employees would be given an option of transition to Aveos or remaining with Air Canada; either one. Further discussions would be required with the union, but the employees from Air Canada that elect to transition will receive the same salary, vacation benefits, pension and seniority benefits that they currently are entitled to. Once more, it promises that there will be no job losses.

I wish I could say this in both official languages, but the facts will not change. There are no job losses.