Lost his last election, in 2006, with 40% of the vote.
Food Inspection Agency December 2nd, 1999
Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the inspections were carried out and the process did take place. If the member would read the full auditor general's report, the auditor general said clearly that the food inspection agency had a very different recollection of the events that occurred, and the auditor general put that right in the report.
Food Inspection Agency December 2nd, 1999
Quite the contrary, Mr. Speaker. The food inspection agency is not being influenced by the minister. It carried out its inspection in the way that it should and the case was handled appropriately.
Rural Development November 26th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely essential that government undertake policies and measures in a way that makes sense for rural Canadians.
We believe it is important to give rural Canadians themselves the tools they need to make the decisions that work best for their particular communities. That is why we undertook a very extensive rural dialogue with rural Canadians, speaking to over 7,000 of them, ending with a conference in Belleville earlier this year.
I am pleased to advise the House today that we will have a follow-up to that conference in Magog, Quebec on April 28, 29 and 30.
Genetically Modified Foods November 26th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, this is a very important issue. It is one that both the Minister of Health and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food have been spending a great deal of time working on. It is important that we consult with Canadians. The ministers are undertaking consultations with Canadians and they will deal with this issue in due course.
Agriculture November 26th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food travelled to Saskatchewan last week. He had an opportunity to meet with farmers, to talk with them, to deal with them, and to understand the conditions of what they are going through.
He made it very clear that he made a commitment that the 1998 AIDA payments would be in the hands of farmers before Christmas.
Fednor November 2nd, 1999
Mr. Speaker, last June the Minister of Industry announced a $20 million increase to FedNor, doubling the budget, allowing us to create an environment within which individual businesses can be successful in creating wealth and creating jobs and giving us an opportunity to build strong communities in the north.
Since that time, we have undertaken extensive consultation as members of parliament and as a cabinet with individuals. I am pleased to to say that next next Monday, November 8, in Sudbury we will be announcing new programming that reflects this increasing budget.
Speech From The Throne October 15th, 1999
Madam Speaker, I had the opportunity as the chair of the natural resources committee to author a report called “Think Rural” which outlined many of the issues in rural Canada. Even though the hon. member was not a member of that committee, he took the time, effort and energy to provide input into the development of that report. He is committed to his rural area.
In terms of the issues in HRDC, I know that he and the minister have had debates in the House and that they continue to have discussions. The member forgets to talk about the other parts of the HRDC regime. He forgets to talk about active measures and all the other labour market adjustment type of initiatives that are undertaken by HRDC and which certainly help rural areas.
I had the opportunity not too long ago to travel to his part of the country. Their concern was not particularly over jurisdiction. There was not a concern over nationalism in Quebec. There was a concern about improving the quality of life of rural Canadians no matter where they live. That is what I am trying to, that is what the government is trying to do and that is what we will accomplish. We will improve the quality of life for all rural Canadians.
Speech From The Throne October 15th, 1999
Madam Speaker, part of what we see here, from the comments made by the hon. member who represents the Tory Party, is a good example of how its inability to deal with two separate issues at the same time led to an administration in the country from 1984 to 1993 that resulted in record deficits, increased unemployment and lower economic growth.
The reality is that we are dealing with all the issues that the hon. member mentioned. He talked about nothing being done in terms of the farm income prices.
Let me make it very clear for the hon. member, who seems to have missed it, and for other hon. members in the House and obviously for Canadians, that there was $900 million, when combined with provincial contributions of another $600 million, meant there was a $1.5 billion package to assist Canadian farmers through an income crisis they are experiencing right now. That work is ongoing and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has indicated his willingness to continue to work with his provincial counterparts, with the industry and with others to do the things that are necessary to help.
Beyond just simply helping in the income crisis, as important as that is, we must also ensure the long term viability of rural Canada. That is what the hon. member and his party have missed. We cannot just simply deal with the issues of the day, although we must and it is important. We must also ensure the long term viability of rural Canada and rural Canadians.
We must make sure that there is a future for rural Canadians. We must make sure there is a future for our children so that they can choose to live in rural Canada. It means more than simply identifying or dealing with one specific industry. It means more than just simply identifying with any one specific problem. It means dealing with the broad issues that face rural Canadians. It means understanding that rural Canada has separate challenges and separate needs and to respond to them.
That is what the government committed to do in the throne speech. As the minister responsible, I will attempt to ensure that those commitments come to reality and fruition.
Speech From The Throne October 15th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to respond to the vision set out by the government in its Speech from the Throne. I particularly want to expand on what that vision means for rural and remote Canada.
This is a very exciting time in the history of our country. The Speech from the Throne is the last for this millennium and lays out the government's vision as we move into an exciting era of the 21st century. By investing our resources in focused ways, we intend to make sure that we have an infrastructure in place that will further the well-being of all Canadians. This includes not only the physical infrastructure so crucial to the renewal and development of rural communities, but also investments in children and youth, in innovation, in further tax relief and debt reduction, in health and in the environment.
Our agenda will create opportunity and prosperity for Canadians no matter where they live. One of every three Canadians lives outside a major centre, whether it is a small community near an urban centre or a more remote community, be it a farming town, a forestry or mining community, or one based on tourism or manufacturing. The government recognizes the special circumstances of rural Canadians and it specifically addressed rural Canada in its Speech from the Throne.
We know that rural Canadians have faced numerous challenges. Like all Canadians they have faced those challenges with ingenuity and an inspiring commitment to their families and their communities. Hailing as I do from a rural area of central and northern Ontario, I have seen firsthand the dynamism of our rural areas, our towns, our villages and the entrepreneurialism and energy of those who live there.
The Speech from the Throne has clearly laid out the direction in which the government intends to go in the coming months. This direction applies very much to rural Canada.
The government continues to believe that vibrant communities and a sustainable resource base are the foundations for a strong rural Canada. It is a rural Canada where residents have access to the tools, information and skills they need to make informed decisions and to take full advantage of opportunities for personal and community development. It is a rural Canada where citizens have access to science and technology, infrastructure and services to be full partners in Canada's knowledge based economy and society.
As the throne speech said, we know that technology can open new doors to all Canadians, tearing down the old barriers of distance or access and allowing rural as well as urban communities to compete globally. We have made a commitment to encourage the development and adaptation of new technologies, recognizing that they hold the promise of greater economic stability for rural communities traditionally dominated by single industries like mining, fishing, forestry, or agriculture. In other words, investments in new technologies are a critical tool in the bid to strengthen rural communities and enable them to break out of the cyclical economies. We will make those investments.
The government has also committed to work with its partners in other levels of government, in the private sector, in the voluntary sector and with citizens in general to build a better quality of life for Canadians everywhere. As the Speech from the Throne indicated, this includes rural Canadians.
I would like to point out that my appointment as Secretary of State for Rural Development is in itself a strong signal of the importance the government attaches to rural Canada. The purpose of creating a separate additional Secretary of State for Rural Development is to bolster and reinforce the government's focus on rural Canada. I am deeply honoured to serve in that position.
In my new role I plan to lead the government's efforts in improving the quality of life for Canadians who live in rural and remote Canada. I intend to work with my colleagues on both sides of the House. Most important, I intend to work with individual Canadians to ensure that we take a co-ordinated approach to rural Canada and that we work together for common priorities which have been identified by rural Canadians themselves.
In the months ahead I will be concentrating on three particular areas.
First is the rural lens. This is essentially a way of making sure the potential impact on rural Canada is taken into consideration before federal policy decisions are made.
Second is to help Canadians who live outside our cities have better access to all the resources that are available to them. That means making sure they know what programs and services are out there, as well as making sure they are able to use them.
The third area I will be focusing on is the task of turning our strong commitments into specific tangible actions that truly help rural citizens.
As I have said, rural Canadians face many challenges, a number of them quite similar from community to community, for example, the challenges presented by distance from markets, low population density and the cyclical nature of resource based industries. Depending on where one lives in rural Canada, whether it is a remote Newfoundland outport, a small rural municipality in Saskatchewan, or a community in the far north, circumstances and cultures can also be quite different.
The Government of Canada is committed to reflecting those differences and those realities in our policy decisions. In adopting the principle of the rural lens, cabinet has made a commitment to ensure that the challenges and priorities of rural Canadians are understood and taken into account, both in current initiatives and in long term planning. As Secretary of State for Rural Development, I look forward to the opportunity to work with my cabinet colleagues in applying the rural lens.
This brings me back to my second priority which is to improve the communications and information flow between the government and rural citizens. As well as sharpening our focus on rural concerns within the government, it is also critically important that we do more to let rural Canadians know what assistance or programming is already available. We have made a good start. This year for example, our departments and agencies worked together to provide information on programs and services for rural Canadians in a booklet that went out to two and a half million households in rural and remote Canada.
We also need to inform rural Canadians about the progress being made toward meeting their priorities. One key way of doing this is by producing an annual report which measures our achievements in dealing with rural issues and challenges. Not only is the government committed to helping rural Canadians, it also expects to be held accountable for doing so. Early next year I will table this report in parliament, thereby providing an opportunity both for my colleagues in the House of Commons and for all Canadians to engage in a public discussion on how we chart the future of rural Canada.
Developing rural Canada and assisting rural Canadians will be a transparent process, one that is bottom up and not top down driven. That is why at the end of April I will host a national rural conference inviting individual rural Canadians from across Canada to come to Magog in the province of Quebec. The conference will promote and showcase rural Canada. More than that it will be an opportunity to discuss our successes, our challenges, our vision, and most important the specific actions we need to take to ensure the future of rural Canada.
The third area I want to talk about and the most important part of what I am charged to do relates to specific actions to be taken to bring about tangible developments and improvements for rural Canadians.
The direction set out in the Speech from the Throne will guide us as we work to deliver the results in rural Canada. Rural communities will be involved in drafting a five year plan for improving physical infrastructure. They will also be key partners in our efforts to make Canada a nation that is highly connected through the information highway so that rural citizens have ready access to the education, technology, skills and other tools that will allow them to share in the country's wealth and opportunities.
Our focus must now shift from process to results to take the steps necessary to develop action items into specific deliverables in rural Canada and make concrete progress on the priorities of rural Canadians.
In some cases this may simply mean bringing together different departments that do similar programs to focus resources in one area. In other cases we may need something new in addition to what is already being undertaken. For example, Health Canada through the office of rural health is taking the lead on the development of a rural health strategy to ensure that Canadians in rural and remote areas have access to quality health care. In another initiative a number of service Canada projects are being tried out in rural areas as a possible way to improve access to government programs and services.
Before closing I would like to mention that I wear another hat, that of Secretary of State for Federal Economic Development Initiative in Northern Ontario, more commonly known as the FedNor program. That brings with it a responsibility for community futures which plays a role in providing access to capital and facilitating business development for rural Canadians.
The community futures development corporations are administered by four different entities within the federal government: three regional development agencies, plus Industry Canada. The program works very well. It is an excellent example of one community level program which works across several different agencies, yet is very rurally focused.
Over the next few weeks I will be discussing with my ministerial colleagues other co-operative initiatives that involve their departments or agencies. Those initiatives will be directly targeted at the priorities set forward in the Speech from the Throne, and the federal framework for action in rural Canada which rural Canadians themselves helped to write and helped to develop.
The Speech from the Throne lays out a vision and opportunity for prosperity for Canadians. It is my personal commitment to ensure that rural Canadians are equal partners in that vision, that they have the technologies, the tools and the infrastructure to build a better quality of life for their chosen communities.
Rural Canada is the foundation on which a large part of our economic wealth is built. It is a place of great energy and great ingenuity. It is our past, it is our present and it is our future. It is a way of life, a way of unique traditions and a specific social structure. Most important, rural Canada is home. It is home to my family and other members' families. It is home to our friends, it is home to my constituents and it is home to nine million Canadians. It is a place with a great future. This government is working to make sure that that future for rural Canadians is as bright as possible.
Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 May 12th, 1999
moved:
Motion No. 122
That Bill C-32, in Clause 95, be amended by replacing, in the French version, lines 13 and 14 on page 69 with the following:
«violation d'un règlement pris en vertu des articles 92.1 ou 93 ou d'un arrêté pris»