Debates of Sept. 23rd, 2011

The Environment

[David Anderson, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP talking about jobs and the oil sands is ridiculous. Its past environment critic has called for a moratorium on oil sands development that would kill tens of thousands of Canadian jobs. We know there are over 100,000 Canadian jobs that are tied to the oil sands. The NDP wants to stop every last one of them so it is willing to sacrifice good Canadian jobs. We are not willing to do that. We will stand up and defend Canadians.

Canadian Wheat Board

[Frank Valeriote, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister declared that his new government will govern for all Canadians, but he will not even govern for Canadians who voted Conservative.

Peter Hoff, a wheat farmer in Alberta and a Crowfoot constituent, is one of thousands of western wheat farmers who did not vote Conservative to end the single desk Canadian Wheat Board.

Why is the government insisting that 39% of the vote is good enough to elect the Conservative government but 62% of farmers' votes are not good enough to preserve Mr. Hoff's livelihood? Why is the member for Crowfoot not standing up for his constituents?

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

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. The vast majority of western Canadian farmers understand the need and the requirements to market on their own behalf. They do that so well. Globally, they market canola, pulses and livestock domestically and around the world. We know they can do that with wheat as well. They just need a chance to do that. We will offer that. They can say no but, at the end of the day, this will happen.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about government hypocrisy.

On the one hand, approximately 40,000 Prairie grain farmers voted 62% to keep the Canadian Wheat Board. The Prime Minister declares that the vote means nothing, that it does not count. The Prime Minister, like the minister, says the Wheat Board must go.

The CWB vote had a 66% turnout and 62% said yes, and yet in British Columbia the HST vote had a 52% turnout and 55% said to get rid of the HST. There was no question on the validity of that one. My question for the government--

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister did an excellent job on Monday explaining to the Liberals how even they could elect more members if they use a skewed voters' list like the Wheat Board did. Of course, anybody who has to go back five years in order to prove their point is not moving forward with actual producers trying to build a future and a positive outcome to their bottom line. That is what we are acting to do. We know that value added and innovation will only follow a free market. We will deliver that free market for western Canadian farmers. The Liberals will try to keep them in shackles and chains, like they did back in 2002. We will not allow that.

Official Languages

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives on the Standing Committee on Official Languages rejected two motions to enforce the Official Languages Act. The opposition members want all subsidiaries of Air Canada to be subject to the act, which was rejected by the Conservatives. We also asked to examine the reason why Afghan detainee documents were not in both official languages, which was also rejected.

Will the government start to work with us to enforce this legislation?

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

We are happy to have started working together on the Standing Committee on Official Languages. Our government is determined to continue to protect and promote our country's two official languages. We allocated record funding to the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality.

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

Mr. Speaker, when the Conservatives refuse to consider opposition proposals and motions, official language minority communities are the ones that suffer. There are consequences for the members of these communities who do not receive services in the language of their choice.

Can the Prime Minister and the official languages minister ask the Conservative members sitting on the Standing Committee on Official Languages to show some good faith and to work with the opposition to serve all Canadians fairly?

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that we allocated record funding to the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality. This money will strengthen the country's existing official language minority communities and will bring language and culture to new communities across Canada. I hope that we can set partisanship aside and work together on this committee.

Foreign Affairs

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, later today, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is due to address the United Nations General Assembly and perhaps table a resolution calling for full member status of a Palestinian state that does not yet exist.

Given that the attention of the world is focused on the United Nations today, could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs remind the House of the long-standing position of the Government of Canada?

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the long-standing position of the Government of Canada has not changed.

The only route to peace in this conflict is a peace negotiated by both parties. One of the states must be a Jewish state and recognized as such, while the Palestinian state must be a non-militarized one.

Any unilateral action is unhelpful to the situation. We urge both parties to get back to the table to undertake constructive, peaceful talks that may one day lead to an acceptable solution for both parties.

Employment

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I asked a question yesterday in the House about the loss of jobs in Cape Breton.

The answer I got from the Service Canada minister was, “Tough luck, I am taking your jobs.”

My question is for the Minister of ACOA. If he will not stand up to the callous actions of his colleague who is stealing away our jobs, what will he do to recover the more than 10,000 jobs that have been lost, stolen, in the forestry, automotive, pharmaceutical and service industries? What will the Minister of ACOA do to help Cape Breton with those jobs that were lost under the government?

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, first, the hon. member knows full well that as much as he wants to use hyperbole in this place, it does not serve any purpose. The reality is that with NewPage alone—

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Help us. Help us.

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS]

We are trying to help. We absolutely are.

The Minister of ACOA and the Minister of National Defence have met repeatedly on this issue. They have had long and ongoing discussions on this matter.

The closure of the mill is due to a global economic downturn. Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation has assigned a representative to a committee—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River.

Aboriginal Affairs

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my constituents in Thunder Bay are agonizing over the unexplained deaths of seven first nations students in seven years. One week ago, on Pikangikum First Nation a sixth young man this summer took his own life.

Has the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development read the Ontario chief coroner's report on the Pikangikum suicides? When will the minister act on its recommendations? What is the minister doing to make life safer and brighter for first nations youth on and off reserve?

[John Duncan, Conservative, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to express condolences to the community of Pikangikum for its losses. My department has been in regular contact with the community of Pikangikum and continues to work with it and other partners to ensure lasting improvements in the community.

We are working to address the nine recommendations made to our department in the Ontario coroner's report released this month and we will do everything we can to address the situation.

The Economy

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today the finance minister is representing Canada at key meetings of the global financial leaders taking place in Washington. We all know Canada's experience and success in implementing Canada's economic action plan. Our strong fiscal fundamentals, with the lowest total government net debt to GDP ratio by far in the entire G7, and our plan to return to balanced budgets has set an example for the rest of the world.

Could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance please outline what Canada is saying today about the current global economic challenges?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as I reiterated earlier today and as Prime Minister Cameron said yesterday, Canada is indeed an example to follow. To quote the prime minister, “[Canada's] economic leadership has helped the Canadian economy to weather the global storms far better than many of [our] international competitors”.

Today, Canada will continue that economic leadership by calling on the European governments to act swiftly to fix their debt issues and all European economies must tackle their debt overhang quickly to help secure the global economic recovery. Even more, countries with long-term debt problems must put in place and implement credible fiscal consolidation plans now.

Foreign Affairs

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Tunisians living in Canada want to vote during the upcoming Tunisian general election, but it seems as though they will not be able to vote because the government is telling them that Canada cannot be an electoral constituency in a foreign assembly.

Does the minister know that Canada and the United States have elected officials in France's National Assembly? Does he know that the constituency being proposed by Tunisia includes Canada and the United States?

Will the minister take the necessary measures to allow Tunisians living in Canada to vote?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we understand full well how important it is to Canadians, especially new Canadians, to be able to exercise their democratic right to vote. However, our government is opposed to Canada being used as an electoral constituency by a foreign country.

However, we wholeheartedly support Tunisia's democratic transition, as we have from the outset.

Government Spending

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

Mr. Speaker, millions of dollars have been spent on personal travel by the former Governor General and the Chief of the Defence Staff for their vacations, by the defence minister for a fishing trip and by the Prime Minister for a hockey game, and now the CBC has revealed even more foolish spending on Challenger flights. Altogether, taxpayers paid $563,000 on unjustified air travel for the month of June alone.

Given so much wasteful spending, is the Minister of Finance not embarrassed by his little lecture to Europeans yesterday about their management of public money? Is that not the pot calling the kettle black?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we have been very prudent in the use of government aircraft. If we compare, for example, what happened under the Liberal Party when the typical use of a Challenger for cabinet ministers was 153 flights a year, we are looking at about 24 or 25 flights in a year, a significant reduction.

That being said, in the process of our deficit reduction action plan, we are looking at all options for savings because we want to see the taxpayer dollars treated with respect. We do not want to see waste in any aspect of government.