Raymond Simard

[The Budget, March 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, as a matter of fact, I probably identified about five things that were good. Obviously, Liberals did not put them in place. We are the opposition and the Conservatives are the government. It is their responsibility to get it done. Liberals are here to keep an eye on those guys. It is the responsibility of the Conservatives to get things done.

[The Budget, March 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, please, a little order.

Number four: Providing funding to hire more police. On March 14, 2007, the Leader of the Opposition said:

We will provide funds to provinces to hire more municipal police officers, starting immediately. The Conservatives promised 2,500 more police in our cities - then didn't do it.

Police officers told us that. They came to lobby us here in Ottawa and told us exactly that.

The quote continues:

We will give the RCMP an extra $200 million for an extra 400 officers as part of a new rapid enforcement team, that will be mandated to provide immediate help to local police departments to combat guns and gang activity, as well as organized crime and drug trafficking.

Of course we never did it. We are not in power. The Conservatives are the ones in power. We were committed to doing this but they stole our idea. The government, which is void of ideas, has been listening to the Liberal Party.

The last major initiative is the investment in R and D and reversing the previous cuts. I think that R and D is probably the future of Canada. We have all seen what has been going with jobs being shopped overseas, so we must really focus on research and development. That was done under the last Liberal government but when the Conservatives came into power they cut everything when it comes to research and development. When it comes to innovation, they are like dinosaurs.

On January 18 in Hamilton, the leader of the official opposition said:

...a Liberal Government will make the SR&ED Tax Credit partially refundable. That means that companies will be able to take advantage of the credit, even if they are not profitable in the short-term. We want every company that puts money into R&D to be rewarded for innovating.

There are a lot of things that are not in the budget that should be there.

The first one is health care. Health care is still number one, two or three on the minds of most Canadians. There is nothing in the budget to reduce wait times. Provinces are still not being held accountable for wait times. Some $41 billion approximately was given to the provinces over a period of several years with certain conditions respecting wait times. There is absolutely no accountability. The government transfers the money to the provinces and lets them worry about the results.

On the environment, Canada continues to be seen as a laggard on the environment. We would have thought the government had been embarrassed in Bali. It was probably the worst pony show we could imagine. Our minister was cruising around attending little cocktail parties, while other countries were discussing serious issues. Our international reputation has been sullied probably for a long time. The foreign affairs minister for one of our allies, France, indicated that France no longer recognized Canada. This is the kind of reputation we are starting to get overseas.

On affordable housing and homelessness, when I do my round tables in Saint Boniface, Winnipeg, it is probably one of the issues that comes up most. We bring in immigrants, as we should. However, 30, 40 or 50 families come to Winnipeg every month, but they have no place to stay. We have invested absolutely nothing in affordable housing, which is ridiculous. Something has to be done about that.

In the aboriginal community in Winnipeg, it is a huge issue. Members from Winnipeg, Manitoba or Saskatchewan will know it is a huge social issue for us. Eight out of the ten kids in Agassiz Youth Centre are from the aboriginal community. That does not make any sense. Sure, we have a crime issue, but we also have a social problem. Those are the things we should address. In Stoney Mountain, our maximum capacity prison, 32% of prisoners have fetal alcohol syndrome. There is an issue. Why do we not deal with the fetal alcohol syndrome issue?

On child care, the Conservatives have promised to deliver 125,000 spaces. We have asked them to table a report showing where they have set up these spaces. Show me 10 or 20 spaces. In Manitoba they could not show me 10 new spaces created by the government. There is a demand right now on that.

Personally, I think that the worst part is their treatment of official languages. They made commitments, they talked to francophones across the country, they held consultations for months and months, they made promises, and they told francophones living in minority communities that they would come up with a new plan, a better plan specifically designed for communities.

But the budget came, and there was no plan. What does that mean? I think official language communities are very disappointed in their government's lack of commitment. This is just like the elimination of the court challenges program. It shows the same vision and the same lack of respect for our minority communities.

My time is running out, which is unfortunate because I am having a lot of fun. The last thing I want to mention is the disastrous fiscal record of the government. I have mentioned it before. Some of my colleagues on the other side of the House do not believe this. The last time the Conservatives had a surplus, prior to inheriting the surpluses from the Liberal Party, was 1912. That is a fact.

The Conservatives have been trying to spin that they are good fiscal managers, that they can manage a downturn in the economy. They are creating the downturn in the economy. The Conservatives have been in government for two years. They create instability in the marketplace and all of a sudden we are back in deficit, and here we go again. The Liberals will have to come back in to clean up the mess. That is a fact of life. Hon. members do not have to take my word for it, they should look at the record. It says 1912. That is a long time. I would put my money on the Liberals. We will be back eventually and we will have to clean up this mess once again.

Overall, it took 13 years to build a solid economic structure in Canada. It took the Conservatives two years to destroy it.

[The Budget, March 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here today and to speak to the budget which affects all Canadians. The budget contained some good things because the five major initiatives that were actually good came out of the Liberal handbook.

I know the Conservatives love to quote and, in particular, the Minister of the Environment, so I figured I would do the same thing to support my arguments.

The first major initiative, which I think is important, is making the gas tax for municipalities permanent. We brought that in under the leadership of the former prime minister, the member for LaSalle—Émard. If we were to speak with people from the municipalities, I think they would say that is probably the one thing that has allowed them to plan long term. Making it permanent was the next step.

I would like to quote from the speech by the leader of the official opposition given in Toronto on February 27. He states:

I will make the $2 billion per year gas tax transfer to municipalities permanent, through legislation.

We are very pleased that the Conservatives were listening to our leader at that time.

The second issue is on help for the auto sector. Weeks before the budget, the Minister of Finance said that he would not help the auto sector or any other industry for that matter, any manufacturing industry. He thought that we could let the market take its course and things would weed themselves out type of thing.

In the budget, all of a sudden the Conservatives announced some funding for the auto sector. Again I would like to quote the speech given by the Leader of the Opposition in Hamilton on January 18. He said:

--a Liberal Government will create the $1 billion Advance Manufacturing Prosperity Fund--the AMP Fund. This fund will support major investments in manufacturing and R&D facilities that will serve as an anchor for clusters of economic activity.

Here we go again, the Conservatives were listening. They have nobody looking at this stuff or planning this stuff but it is nice to see that they at least are listening to the Liberals.

On the third issue, they stole our issue on the idea for job creation through infrastructure. I will go right to the quote.

On February 15, 2008 in Ottawa, the leader of the official opposition said:

We would make this investment through the Gas Tax Transfer agreements for sustainable municipal infrastructure. Public transit, water treatment, waste management, and cleaning up contaminated sites are the most pressing needs.

That was another Liberal Party platform issue that was taken out of our handbook by the current government that is void of all ideas.

[Ethics, February 29th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister did not ask himself whether it was moral, ethical or even legal to offer a $1 million insurance policy to a dying man in exchange for his vote in the House. The Prime Minister did not ask himself if it was his duty to try to prevent his closest confidants from taking such action. The Prime Minister did not ask himself if he should report this to the police.

Why is it that the Prime Minister's only question was whether this was going to be published?

[Ethics, February 29th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister, who likes to cloak himself in the Federal Accountability Act, obviously did not take his responsibilities seriously. A recording made at the home of former MP Cadman clearly proves this. The Prime Minister knew that high-ranking officials in his party had visited Mr. Cadman to offer him a shameful bribe in exchange for his vote in the House. The Prime Minister failed to assume his responsibilities by allowing them to undertake such illegal activity.

Why did the Prime Minister fail to do everything in his power to prevent this crime?

[Committees of the House, February 27th, 2008]

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

He is absolutely right. First of all, I was told that the lawyers defending this case in Fredericton are working for free. It truly is the ultimate insult for the government to also ask for its costs to be paid. That is completely unacceptable.

Naturally, this is quite in keeping with the government's recent conduct. In the matter of rights, cost should not matter. There was mention of $5 million over two years. For the government, it is a question of ideology. It bothers them a great deal because they believe it is a waste of money and that no one should challenge its actions.

This is evident in the Conservatives' every move. If someone disagrees, the Conservatives ignore them, fire them and get rid of them.

[Committees of the House, February 27th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot wait to see the member explain this to his constituents, who are primarily francophone. That would be interesting. I would even like to be there, because I can assure you that all the promises his party made will be thrown back in their faces. It will not be long.

The member mentioned $30 million. We are talking about a commitment of $751 million over five years, and the funds increased. So in the financial structure, we are talking about nearly $1 billion in the last year; not $30 million. The Conservatives are laughing at francophones.

My colleague will hear about the calls I made today to minority francophone communities. I can assure him that they are very disappointed about all the promises made, all the consultations done by Mr. Lord and the big show they put on. I can assure him that there will be major consequences.

[Committees of the House, February 27th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe.

It is a pleasure for me to rise and speak in the debate this evening. I was told it would be this evening and I definitely wanted to participate, even though I am no longer on the Standing Committee on Official Languages. I have had personal experiences that enable me to attest to the effects of the court challenges program on our community in St. Boniface.

I was on the Standing Committee on Official Languages for the last five years and greatly miss it. I thought I would do something different this year and am now on the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. However, I try to replace that as much as possible because this is a subject that is really close to my heart.

The community in St. Boniface is the largest francophone community west of the Outaouais. It is actually quite impressive and quite unique in western Canada. About 45,000 people in Manitoba are native French speakers, which may not be a lot, but there are 110,000 people who speak French. There are more francophiles, therefore, than native francophones thanks to immersion programs that have been very successful in our region.

For example, we have such institutions as the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface, which has an international reputation and attracts people from all over. We have economic development corporations that are the envy of other communities all across Canada. There is the Centre culturel franco-manitobain and the Festival du Voyageur in the riding next to mine, which you represent, Mr. Speaker. I hope you had a chance to sample it last week. It is something that is very special to us. These institutions did not arise by accident but because people fought for them.

Not that long ago, maybe 25 or 30 years ago, Manitoba was not so sympathetic to our cause. There is a real difference today. Twenty-five or 30 years ago, however, they burned down the Société franco-manitobaine building in St. Boniface and threatened to kill the director. This was not 100 years ago but a mere 25. For a minority that is just 4% of the population of Manitoba, programs that put us on an even footing with the government when it comes time to defend our cause are very important to us. I can tell the House personally that our community has benefited greatly from these programs.

For four years, I was the only francophone member west of Sudbury. This is not something to brag about; it is really something to be embarrassed about. That is how it was. Today, we have a new francophone colleague with us, the NDP member for Victoria. It would be nice to have more, from any party. This is something on which progress absolutely has to be made in western Canada.

I also participated in the cross-Canada tour with Mr. Godin. I did not visit every city, but I took part in the meetings in about half of them. People did talk about cutbacks in literacy and all sorts of programs. But the most important one for francophones in minority communities was the court challenges program. It was the first topic raised every time, but the government did not want to talk about it. They said they were not talking about it because it was finished.

The problem is certainly not one of money, because the program costs no more than $5 million over two years, or $2.5 million a year. It was not hundreds of millions of dollars. So this is a question of ideology. This is the government violating the rights not only of francophones, but also of persons with a disability, women and multicultural communities. You cannot just eliminate programs because you think, ideologically, that this is not in line with our thinking. When it is a question of fundamental rights, we absolutely have to preserve them and fight for them. I think that is what we are doing here tonight.

The Conservatives cannot know what the repercussions of all this are for us in Manitoba. I would like to talk about a few cases that have arisen.

In 1890, the government decided to eliminate section 23, which protected both official languages in Manitoba. I do not know whether people know it, but at the time of Louis Riel, two official languages had been negotiated and instituted in Manitoba. That was something absolutely extraordinary, and everyone agreed to it. In 1890, however, the government of the day—I believe it was the Greenway government—decided to abolish French. Unilaterally, the government decided to abolish French in Manitoba. For 90 years, we had to deal with that injustice.

Finally, in 1979, Georges Forest, a Manitoban from St. Boniface, got a ticket and decided to fight it in court, to say that you could not have a ticket in English only and that he had a right to a trial in French. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. I am sure that everyone in this House knows about the case. In any event, he is someone who is very respected and very well known to us in Manitoba.

Mr. Forest ultimately won his case. At the time, however, there was no court challenges program, and Mr. Forest ended up spending more than $150,000 of his own money on the case. That was truly a shame. We cannot say that Mr. Forest went bankrupt, but he was never able to recoup what he had spent.

In addition, Mr. Forest had an insurance company. He received threats. People stopped working with him, and as a result he lost a lot of business, but to us he is a hero. We can imagine what would have happened if the Court Challenges Program had existed. Ultimately, after our rights had been violated for 90 years, Mr. Forest rectified the situation, and so both official languages are now respected in Manitoba.

There was also the Bilodeau case in 1986. Once again, Mr. Bilodeau was not funded because the program did not start until 1994. Mr. Bilodeau fought a ticket and we dealt with the consequences of the Government of Manitoba not wanting to allow a challenge in French. So we spoke about the consequences of the Bilodeau case.

We also had the Rémillard case, which just ended this year. Once again, it dealt with the responsibilities of the Government of Manitoba. These are all very important things.

The most important is probably the case of the Franco-Manitoban School Division, or DSFM. After their rights had been trampled on for 90 years, people said they had a right to their own school divisions and education system and were entitled to control their own curriculum in French. The courts decided in our favour.

Finally, after all these years, the DSFM used the court challenges program. I do not know how an institution without a lot of money could have taken on the government with its unlimited funding. Once again, the DSFM won.

There have also been some very famous cases outside Manitoba: the Beaulac case, the Mahé case and the Arsenault-Cameron case. All these cases are extremely important. They were funded by the court challenges program and would not have gone as far as they did without it.

When I found out that the Conservative government had decided to discontinue this program—a large sign behind us said that the surplus was $14 billion and they were going in front of the microphones to announce the elimination of this program costing $2.5 million a year in a step that trampled on the rights of minorities in Canada—I thought it was totally unacceptable. It made my heart sink.

When the Treasury Board president appeared before the committee, we asked him about it. He said it was not money well spent and the lawyers had really taken advantage of it. That is totally false and unacceptable. The lawyers who worked on these cases did so for next to nothing. I agree entirely, therefore, with my colleague from Acadie—Bathurst on this issue.

There is also some talk about possibly reinstating the program. A member from the Conservative Party said that maybe it could be reinstated only for language issues. I do not approve of that, not at all. I consider that it would be unacceptable for us, as francophones who have been oppressed and whose rights have been abused during all those years, to accept that without taking into account the women, the handicapped persons and the multicultural communities. I for one would not vote for that. I want the Court Challenges Program reinstated for all minority groups. That is a point I wanted to emphasize today.

In concluding, I will say that in yesterday's budget, in spite of all consultations in all parts of Canada by Mr. Bernard Lord and in spite of all the fanfare about the renewal of the official languages action plan the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages has been bragging about, we can see the true nature of the Conservative Party's commitment to official languages.

There is nothing at all in the budget. It remains to be determined. We can see the true colours of the Conservatives when the issue of official languages comes up.

I am pleased to have spoken to that subject tonight.

[Infrastructure, February 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the President of the Treasury Board failed to say that the Manitoba government is refusing to sign on to the second phase of the floodway expansion project because he reneged on a major commitment to Manitobans.

Last February, the minister promised Manitobans that $170 million would come from a national fund and would not affect Manitoba's share of infrastructure funding. Now he says he cannot deliver on his promise. Manitobans have a right to know why they are being robbed of $170 million by that minister and that promise-breaking Conservative government.

[Curling, February 25th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, Manitoba's curling supremacy is once more bolstered by yesterday's results at the Scottie's Tournament of Hearts held in Regina.

The Jennifer Jones foursome, which hails from the St. Vital Curling Club in my riding of Saint Boniface, demonstrated why they are the best female curlers in the world.

Joining Ms. Jones on the podium are third Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin. They played brilliantly and emerged victoriously from a classic on-ice battle of wits to win their second Canadian curling championship.

Jennifer and her teammates will take advantage of that strong momentum when they compete in the world championship in Vernon, British Columbia, next month.

With yesterday's triumph comes not only an automatic return to the 2009 Scottie's as team Canada, but it also guarantees the foursome a much coveted berth in the Canadian Olympic trials to take place in October 2009.

I would ask all my colleagues in the House to congratulate Ms. Jones and her teammates on this extraordinary accomplishment and join me in wishing them the best of luck representing Canada in next month's world championships in Vernon, B.C.