Debates of Jan. 26th, 2015

Red Tape Reduction Act

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time, not the two minutes, but what is left of it thereafter.

I am pleased to rise and speak for a few minutes on Bill C-21. I have listened to much of the debate. It is interesting to note that it is always said that if regulation and red tape were removed, that would be of benefit to small business.

Regulations, like laws, have been established to protect our economy and our communities and to ensure the proper operation of our economy and our communities to the benefit of small and large businesses and individual citizens, and to try to ensure their safety through the administration of our food and transportation systems, and others.

If the government is not paying attention to regulations and to ensuring that counter-productive, wrong-headed, and inefficient ones are not dealt with, then it is not doing its job. Wrapping up that commitment under a cute little title called “one for one” is not going to make any difference. Many of the small business people that I talk to in my riding of Dartmouth—Cole Harbour are not easily fooled by this kind of sloganeering and campaigning.

All the government wants to be able to do with Bill C-21 is to ensure that when the election is called, it is able to put up a sign repeating the slogan that it has reduced red tape. The government should be doing its job and making sure that it gets rid of inefficient regulations while ensuring the protection of Canadians.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

The hon. member will have eight minutes when the debate resumes on this legislation.

The House resumed from December 12, 2014, consideration of the motion that Bill C-40, An Act respecting the Rouge National Urban Park, be read the third time and passed.

Rouge National Urban Park Act

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

It being 6:30 p.m., the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at third reading stage of Bill C-40.

Call in the members.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #311

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

I declare the motion carried.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

Health

[Raymond Côté, NDP, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to revisit a subject I have raised many times in the House over the past two years. Ever since the famous red dust episode at the Port of Québec in October 2012, nothing has been done. I have received at best cursory answers from the government, first from the transport minister at the time, who is now the Minister of Infrastructure, but those answers were not enough for Canadians.

Last fall, Véronique Lalande, the leader of the citizen movement denouncing the pollution problems caused by dust from the Port of Québec, appeared before the Standing Committee on Finance to describe how serious the consequences have been for the community.

Another very troubling aspect of this matter is the government's attitude, as well as Transport Canada's vagueness about its involvement. Government officials do not even seem to know whether they bear some responsibility for this matter or whether Transport Canada has nothing to do with it and the Quebec Port Authority must bear full responsibility.

To illustrate this vagueness, I will quote the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport on December 5, 2014:

I understand that the Quebec Port Authority has been working with tenants to reduce those dust emissions.

This response from just a few weeks ago is far from satisfactory two years after this affair began, when there is ample evidence of the extent of the contamination from the nickel dust and the dust from the Port of Québec. I want to remind hon. members that the government admitted that Quebec Stevedoring was responsible for the high level of contamination from the nickel dust that falls on Limoilou and Quebec City's lower town in general.

Just today, I received certain documents following an access to information request. I have not had the chance to go over them, but other documents were provided to me after more than a year and a half of waiting. They show that, in the three months following the red dust incident, Transport Canada consistently followed the lead of the Port of Québec. In fact, Transport Canada officials seemed to be overwhelmed by the events and did not seem to have any guidance or instruction on to how to deal with the situation. Everything was based on what the CEO of the Port of Québec reported and what the Port of Québec was willing to provide to Transport Canada; Transport Canada did nothing to get to the bottom of the problem and actually become involved in the case.

I have often questioned the Conservative government about its failure to act in this case. Such inaction has tremendous and direct consequences for public health and quality of life. This causes concern.

I want to know what it is going to take for the government to be a real player alongside the Port of Québec and Quebec Stevedoring in coming up with a solution to this problem.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, first of all I would like to thank the member for Beauport—Limoilou for the question.

I would like to repeat that Transport Canada takes this matter very seriously and, consequently, constantly monitors all information and updates about dust pollution caused by activities at the Port of Québec. It is important to remind the member for Beauport—Limoilou that the Quebec Port Authority is solely responsible for the administration, management and operation of the infrastructure under its authority.

From what we have consistently seen to date, the Quebec Port Authority continues to take this issue very seriously, is managing the situation in a responsible manner and continues to work in a spirit of co-operation. The Quebec Port Authority has committed to providing resources to reduce dust emissions resulting from transshipment operations. Furthermore, once this issue was brought to its attention, the Port of Québec worked very closely with its tenants to ensure that practical mitigation measures were implemented in order to minimize dust emissions resulting from port operations.

Some tenants of the port conducted a complete review of their operations. These reviews led to the implementation of practical mitigation measures, including the installation of sprinklers, dust detectors and washing stations and the optimization of operational procedures. These tenants also hired resources to help prevent and deal with air emissions. The Quebec Port Authority committed to monitoring the measures implemented to ensure that they were achieving the desired results and to taking into account the potential impacts on the community.

It is also important to note that the Quebec Port Authority worked closely with all levels of government: federal, provincial and municipal. More specifically, we have found that the Quebec Port Authority works regularly with Environment Canada and Quebec's ministry for sustainable development, the environment and the fight against climate change by keeping them informed on how it is working with its tenants to implement its environmental action plan.

Since Transport Canada has been monitoring the situation, we have been pleased to see that the Quebec Port Authority is taking responsible and timely action when any potential issues related to air emissions are brought to its attention. We are confident that the Quebec Port Authority will maintain this approach and spirit of co-operation when doing business. This will allow this key player in the Quebec City region to continue playing its vital role as an instrument of economic development, while addressing the issues brought to its attention that could affect the quality of life of its own community.

[Raymond Côté, NDP, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière for his response. However, all he did was repeat what I have been hearing for two years. His answer was completely unsatisfactory. My colleague, the Minister of Transport and the parliamentary secretary are all incapable of addressing the public's concerns.

Where is the proof that the measures taken have resulted in a real reduction in dust emissions? Where is the proof that the air has been cleaned and that the Port of Québec and Quebec Stevedoring were successful? We are still in the dark, and not just because of the dust cloud over Quebec City's lower town. We are in the dark because the Conservative government, along with the Port of Québec and Quebec Stevedoring, have done absolutely nothing and refuse to do anything.

Where is the proof that these wonderful measures have had a positive impact on the public? I have yet to see any evidence, and I am sure that I will not see any this evening.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, Transport Canada continues to monitor this matter closely. In my opinion, the degree of co-operation exhibited by the port authority and the other stakeholders shows just how seriously this problem has been taken. In light of the various concrete measures that various stakeholders have implemented over the past year, I am confident that the issues that were identified are now better understood and better managed.

Canada's Minister of Transport understands that Canadian port authorities are important to our country's economic development. Working with various partners, port authorities know how to implement the necessary measures to support their development while respecting the environment.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

Order. The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:07 p.m.)