House of Commons Hansard #180 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was environment.

Topics

HealthOral Questions

3 p.m.

Liberal

Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC

Mr. Speaker, measles and pertussis are fatal. A generation ago, diphtheria and polio caused death and disabilities. Vaccinations eradicated these diseases, but now in parts of Canada 40% of children are not vaccinated, putting themselves and others at risk.

The Prime Minister silences scientists who disagree with his ideology, so telling parents to listen to scientists and vaccinate is not credible. He must act.

Will he use some of the millions he spends on self-promotional ads towards a public education campaign on the scientific benefits of vaccination?

HealthOral Questions

3 p.m.

Edmonton—Spruce Grove Alberta

Conservative

Rona Ambrose ConservativeMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, that is a ridiculous assertion. The Prime Minister himself spoke loud and clear about the need for parents to vaccinate and the benefits of immunization, not just here at home but abroad, while at the same time announcing multi-millions of dollars for those in foreign countries where there are no public health systems.

Here in Canada basic immunizations are covered for all children. We have many, many campaigns and resources available to parents to educate them on the benefits of vaccination, and we encourage parents to vaccinate their children.

Canadian Coast GuardOral Questions

3 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have made devastating cuts to the Coast Guard in British Columbia. The Ucluelet-Tofino marine communication centre is now set to close on April 21, the same centre that just a couple of weeks ago helped save the lives of four fisherman, and the Vancouver centre is next.

Shore-based readiness, marine communication and traffic services, and search and rescue are all being cut. Why are the Conservatives closing these centres and putting the Coast Guard and mariners at risk? Why are they abandoning the B.C. coast?

Canadian Coast GuardOral Questions

3 p.m.

Egmont P.E.I.

Conservative

Gail Shea ConservativeMinister of Fisheries and Oceans

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to ensuring that the Coast Guard has the tools it needs to provide Canadians with world-class service, and that means the B.C. coast.

We will be phasing in a modernization of MCTS centres across the country as we implement new, advanced technology and better, more efficient service.

VeteransOral Questions

3 p.m.

Conservative

Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON

Mr. Speaker, the Juno Beach Centre has just informed me of the sad news that Canadian veteran Ernest Côté died last evening at the age of 101.

The Prime Minister personally honoured him 10 days ago.

Can the Minister of Veterans Affairs please comment on the passing of the valiant Ernest Côté.

VeteransOral Questions

3 p.m.

Erin O'Toole Minister of Veterans Affairs, CPC

Mr. Speaker, I just learned the sad news of the passing of the D-Day veteran 101-year-old Ernest Côté last night in Ottawa. A proud Van Doos veteran, he served in the Normandy campaign and became deputy minister of my department, Veterans Affairs, after the war.

He was one of the 50 recipients of a flag from the Prime Minister on Flag Day for his tremendous life of service to Canada.

A personal highlight of my public life was seeing Mr. Côté park his walker at the age of 101 and walk onto Juno Beach last year.

I would ask all members of the House to thank the Côté family for his tremendous record of service to Canada.

Public Works and Government ServicesOral Questions

3 p.m.

Bloc

Claude Patry Bloc Jonquière—Alma, QC

Mr. Speaker, the minister and member for Lévis—Bellechasse said that the Davie shipyard should prove itself in order to get federal contracts. The Davie company just won the Lloyd's List North American Shipyard of the Year award.

The workers made major concessions to save the company. Will the government commit to ensuring that Quebec gets its fair share of future contracts, including the contracts for the Diefenbaker icebreaker and the Canadian navy's supply ships?

Public Works and Government ServicesOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Haldimand—Norfolk Ontario

Conservative

Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Public Works and Government Services

Mr. Speaker, we have a new program, the national shipbuilding procurement strategy. This program will put an end to the boom and bust cycles.

There was a competitive bidding process that was transparent and fair. The Davie company did not qualify.

Canada PostOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Independent

André Bellavance Independent Richmond—Arthabaska, QC

Mr. Speaker, in her response to the municipalities in my riding that are speaking out against Canada Post's unilateral changes, the Minister of Transport sings her government's same old song about the volume of mail. She says nothing about the regional economies affected by the job losses and nothing about the lost services for seniors and people with limited mobility. She is completely washing her hands of this. The municipalities are simply asking to be consulted.

I am sure the minister will claim to be sensitive to the municipalities' concerns during the election campaign. Why not listen to them right away by launching a real consultation on postal services?

Canada PostOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Essex Ontario

Conservative

Jeff Watson ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, the member will know that Canada Post is an arm's-length crown corporation that makes strategic decisions about its future and its operations on a day-to-day basis independently of the government. It has a five-point plan that it is putting into place to ensure the continuance of daily mail in this country.

The municipalities spoke on this matter at a meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, where they voted two to one against a motion to restore door-to-door delivery for one third of Canadians.

Presence in GalleryOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of the hon. Valerie Docherty, Minister of Community Services and Seniors for the Province of Prince Edward Island.

Presence in GalleryOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Hear, hear!

Message from the SenateOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

I have the honour to inform the House that a message has been received from the Senate, informing this House that the Senate has passed the following bill: Bill C-22, An Act respecting Canada's offshore oil and gas operations, enacting the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act, repealing the Nuclear Liability Act and making consequential amendments to other Acts.

Business of the HouseOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC

Mr. Speaker, I have good news for all Canadians, and that is that there are only 11 sitting weeks in the life of this Parliament and in the life of this government before Canadians will actually have the opportunity to cast their judgment on the last 4 years of this government and the last 10 years of Conservative government. I know many Canadians can hardly wait to cast their ballots and change the government.

The bad news is that the intolerance of the government for democratic debate continues to grow. Earlier today we had the 89th imposition of time allocation or closure. In the history of Parliament, there has never been any government that has even come close to that in not respecting democratic debate. For the 89th time, it imposed closure or time allocation.

The government will say it is just being efficient and it does not believe in debate, but the reality is that this government has had more pieces of legislation rejected by the courts than any other government in Canadian history. Its legislation is often poorly written, often filled with holes and loopholes. It simply cannot get legislation right. To the idea that imposing time allocation and closure somehow leads to more efficiency, the reality is that it has to reintroduce bills to fix the problems caused by the previous bills that it railroaded through the House of Commons, because they are poorly crafted, often written on the back of a napkin, and poorly written.

In that context, I would simply like to ask the government House leader what is on the government's agenda for the week after the constituency week next week.

Business of the HouseOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon this afternoon we will continue debating Bill C-46, the Pipeline Safety Act, at second reading. This bill updates our laws respecting pipelines to make our legislative framework a world leader. The debate will continue—and hopefully conclude—on Monday, March 9.

Tomorrow, before we start our constituency week, we will conclude report stage debate on Bill C-2, the respect for communities act. The bill would enshrine in law the requirement for communities to be consulted when there is an application made to open a drug injection site.

I know the opposition House leader will be very interested in this. Tuesday, March 10 will be an allotted day, and we will have the House debate a New Democratic proposal. I just heard my official opposition counterpart make some comments on time allocation of government bills. Of course, Tuesday will the 79th time allocated opposition day debate of Parliament. That will be the 79th time the NDP has imposed time allocation on a motion it has brought before the House.

Our government allows generous time for debates on bills. We allow considerable time at each stage, yet every time the NDP chooses a subject for debate, it limits the debate to the minimum the rules allow, one day. The rules expressly allow it to allocate a number of its allotted days to a single subject of debate, but on 79 occasions, the NDP has chosen time allocation to the bare minimum of one day. Seventy-nine times it has imposed time allocation on the House to limit debate when it gets to choose the subject. The rules let it choose more days. The rules let it apply more time to those subjects. It chooses not to do that. I invite the hon. member, who seems to have some skepticism, to check out Standing Order 81(16)(b), which gives him that power; so if we want a preview of what could come from the NDP, based on its conduct here, I think we can see it right there.

On that day, March 10, we will finish what I am sure will be the 79th occasion of the NDP imposing time allocation on our ability to debate its ideas. Then, that evening, we will conclude debate on the fourth report of the foreign affairs committee.

On Wednesday, March 11, we will have the third day of second reading debate on Bill S-6, the Yukon and Nunavut regulatory improvement act.

Thursday, March 12 will see the House resume consideration at second reading of Bill S-7, the zero tolerance for barbaric cultural practices act. This is a bill that would demonstrate that Canada's openness and generosity will not extend to early and forced marriage, polygamy, and other similar practices.

We will have third reading of Bill C-2 on Friday, March 13. Finally, for the benefit of committees’ forward planning, I anticipate scheduling Tuesday, March 24, as the last allotted day of this supply period. I will confirm this during next week’s Thursday statement.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:10 p.m.

Conservative

James Rajotte Conservative Edmonton—Leduc, AB

Mr. Speaker, following the usual consultations among all the parties and individuals in this House, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion:

That the Eighth Report of the Standing Committee on Finance entitled “Towards Prosperity: Federal Budgetary Priorities for People, Businesses and Communities” presented to the House on December 10, 2014, be amended by replacing the following sentence on page 56:

“The Green Budget Coalition asked the government to renew the Clean Air Regulatory Agenda beyond 2016, and to increase funding to at least $45 million annually.”

With the following:

“The Green Budget Coalition asked the government to renew the Clean Air Agenda beyond 2016, and to increase its adaptation funding to at least $45 million annually”.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to present this motion?

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

(Motion agreed to)

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-46, An Act to amend the National Energy Board Act and the Canada Oil and Gas Operations Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Pipeline Safety ActGovernment Orders

3:10 p.m.

Conservative

Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Nipissing—Timiskaming.

I am delighted to speak today to the pipeline safety act. When it comes to energy supply, few countries can match Canada's enormous potential. We are the world's fifth-largest producer of oil, with the third-largest proven reserves; and we are the fifth-largest producer of natural gas, with natural gas resources estimated at up to 1,300 trillion cubic feet. Canada is indeed fortunate to have abundant oil and gas resources. However, as hon. members of the House know full well, to reach our full potential we need more than supply. We need the energy infrastructure necessary to reach new markets. Here is the problem in a nutshell.

While Canada's endowment of petroleum resources is immense, we have only one major export customer: the United States. In fact, nearly all of our oil and gas exports are to the United States. Meanwhile, here in Canada, production from the oil sands is forecast to continue to grow, apart from a temporary slowdown today, from about 1.9 million barrels per day in 2013 to more than 5 million barrels per day by 2035. These two factors—increasing Canadian production and declining American demand—mean that Canada must develop new markets and the infrastructure to reach them, including pipelines.

At the same time, global energy demand is projected to increase by 33% between 2011 and 2035. Massive new markets in Asia are fuelling new energy demands. Non-OECD countries are forecast to account for 93% of energy demand growth, with China and India alone consuming almost half of it. Canada can capably meet that need, as Canadian oil and gas production is expected to grow dramatically over the same period. However, again, without pipelines to move our products to tidewater to reach world markets, Canada's oil and gas will continue to be stranded, and the opportunity will be lost.

That is why it is critical for Canada to build new pipelines to the west, the south, and the east to open up new markets and ensure that Canada is getting top dollar for its energy resources. That is why pipeline safety is also so important.

We recognize that we cannot expand into foreign markets if we don't have the backing of the public. We understand that public safety and environmental protection are necessary conditions for energy development to proceed. Right now, despite what we hear from the other side of this House on a regular basis, Canada's pipelines are among the safest in the world. For example, between 2008 and 2013, 99.999% of oil transported on federally regulated pipelines arrived safely. In fact, the rate of spills on federally regulated pipelines in Canada was 60% lower than in both Europe and the United States over the past decade. Even given these impressive safety statistics, our government believes that it is not the time to be complacent, but rather it is the time for action. It is crucial to keep improving the technology and increasing our efforts to improve safety around pipelines.

We believe that expanding market access and protecting our environment can go hand in hand. Time and again, we have promised that no pipeline project will proceed unless it is safe for Canadians and safe for the environment. With this proposed legislation, we would build on our impressive safety record to make Canada's robust pipeline safety system even stronger.

Strengthening the safety of Canada's pipeline systems focuses on three key areas: prevention, preparedness and response, and liability and compensation.

When it comes to prevention, our goal is simple: to take action to reduce risks and prevent accidents from happening in the first place. This legislation would build on previous pipeline safety measures that increased the number of inspections and audits, and that gave the National Energy Board the authority to levy administrative monetary penalties.

For the first time, we will enshrine the polluter pays principle in law, so that polluters, not Canadian taxpayers, will be held financially responsible for the costs and damages they cause. Pipeline operators will be held responsible for incidents, irrespective of fault, and the National Energy Board will have the tools to take control of a response to an incident if a pipeline operator is unable or unwilling to do so. These costs will be recovered from industry to ensure that taxpayers are protected against any potential costs of cleanup.

We will also ensure that companies operating pipelines are responsible for them throughout their lifetime, from their construction until they are abandoned, including any related costs. To ensure full transparency, documents concerning pipeline safety will be available to the Canadian public.

We are also moving ahead with important measures that will enhance the participation of aboriginal peoples in the development and operation of pipeline safety systems. With the participation of aboriginal people and the commitment to world-class pipeline safety, Canada can harness the tremendous economic opportunities before us.

Ultimately, all of these measures are about the same thing: protecting Canadians and the environment. Emphasizing prevention, responding quickly in the event of an incident and making sure that companies, not Canadians, are liable for any costs, these measures are strengthening our pipeline safety system and making it world-class. This legislation will send a strong signal to the world that Canada is a safe and responsible supplier of energy resources, and that Canada is indeed open for business

Right now, the scale and pace of resources development in Canada remains truly remarkable. Hundreds of major natural resource projects are under construction or planned over the next ten years. This represents a total investment of as much as $675 billion. Over the next 25 years, responsible development of Canada's energy resources is expected to generate literally trillions of dollars in economic activity and hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Huge markets in the Asia-Pacific region and in Europe are ripe for business. We must not let this opportunity pass us by. The bottom line is that opening new markets for our energy products will support our government's top priority, which is creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for Canadians.

Pipeline Safety ActGovernment Orders

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON

Mr. Speaker, I largely agree with much of what the hon. member said, and I know he is shocked.

I have in my hand the parliamentary calendar. There are basically 12 sitting weeks, subject to the whims of the Prime Minister to call an election. Things do not move at lightning speed around here at the best of times and the chances of getting this into committee, out of committee and back to the House for debate, along with the budget, which may or may not be presented in April, and the rest of the stuff that goes on to get a bill out of here and into the Senate seems, to me, to be a lot of parliamentary time.

Does the hon. member think the bill will receive royal assent?

Pipeline Safety ActGovernment Orders

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for those tempered supportive remarks.

For the legislative process, we depend on the good will and consideration of all parties in the House. As this bill goes to committee, we would hope we would not see the obstructive tactics that the NDP have taken on other very important legislation before the House.

As with all of our responsible resource development legislation over the life of this Parliament, we can count on all parties opposite to support these very significant improvements in the area of pipeline safety. After all, I do not think there is an individual in the House who would disagree with the fact that the transportation of petroleum products by pipeline is by far and away the safest way to transport this immensely valuable product.