Christian Simard

[Foreign Affairs, October 29th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, it has been 18 months since the announcement of a France-Quebec economic mission to Mexico. Quebec entrepreneurs have already bought the 100 seats available. This event is less than three weeks away, but Ottawa has yet to give its agreement so that Jean Charest can meet with Vicente Fox.

Considering that the government was very quick to authorize a meeting between Ralph Klein and President Fox, two years ago, how does the Minister of Foreign Affairs explain that, when it comes to Quebec, things get extremely complicated?

[Supply, October 28th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague across the way thinks that people have different views. We would love to be a nation, to have all our instruments of development and to take care of all that. Unfortunately, I do not think that Quebeckers would benefit from an increase in their deficit or an end put to the balanced budgets in Quebec, because they have chosen, without any discussion about it, to apply the whole surplus to the debt. We are not against the idea of applying part of the federal surplus to the debt, but we should first know how big it is.

We know the scope of these surpluses. My colleague from Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, our finance critic, has for a few years now, been able to forecast the surpluses, to within 10%. We now know that surpluses are being accumulated after two quarters. It is a fact. It cannot be denied.

I come from the community and housing sector. In 1993, the Minister of Finance, who is our current Prime Minister, cut all funding for social housing. The employment insurance surplus was stolen. The deficits were transferred to the provinces. Was all that done to slightly reduce the debt of the federal government? No. This surplus was not obtained at the expense of efficiency and respect for the minister's own qualifications, but at the expense of the unemployed and the people in need of housing, on the backs of the provinces, at the expense of their responsibilities. It is totally shameful. I feel that we must correct that.

Year after year, we give in under this kind of arguments. I think that we are going nowhere with that. I abhor this government's self-satisfaction and the fact that it is not in touch with the reality of Canadians and the needs of the people in Quebec and the other provinces.

I think that the government must recognize what everybody sees, that is, the existence of an incredible fiscal imbalance and the fact that there are never any discussion on the use of hidden surpluses. All that discourages people about politics. I have an extremely difficult time accepting the confusion between the work done by opposition MPs or by honest Bloc Quebecois members and what the government is doing. Often, were are put in the same bag as politicians, who go from cynicism to cynicism and refuse to admit a reality obvious to all economists, to all the people who have to pay their rent and to all low-income workers from Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. There is a fiscal imbalance, which an arrogant government refuses to distribute. Instead, it continues to misspend and mismanage and, above all, to steal its brother's toys.

[Supply, October 28th, 2004]

I thank my colleagues. I knew I would get help in this respect. What is happening here is that we have this astronomical surplus, while Quebeckers and Canadians in the other provinces are suffering and have real needs. We must speak out with one voice against the arrogant and stubborn attitude of this government, which refuses to see reality and keeps money which does not belong to it. The money belongs to taxpayers and must be returned to them, the provinces and Quebec. It is extremely important .

Since I have only two minutes left, I will conclude. When we talk about Quebec being financially strangled and we compare that to the hidden surpluses, the mistakes that have been made are shocking. Right now, as we speak, a fake budget is being put in place. We are talking about $12 billion in hidden surpluses, or $10 billion to $12 billion according to the experts, which are accumulating, and we cannot even discuss how to use this surplus because it is hidden in a calculated, premeditated fashion.

The government cannot pretend it is a mistake, a miscalculation. For years, since 1997 as a matter of fact, it has erred by 500% to 600%. It is a disgrace. In the meantime, it tells Quebec and the other provinces that there is no money. It stubbornly refuses to give them more arguing there is no money. No one, no Canadian, no Quebecker believes this government which has a huge credibility deficit into which it is plunging deeper.

It managed to eliminate its deficit not by being more efficient in the areas under its jurisdiction, not by spending more wisely, but simply by strangling the unemployed and smothering Quebec and the provinces under en extremely disgraceful fiscal imbalance. That is the reason why I will enthusiastically vote in favour the Bloc Québécois motion—and I hope my colleagues from the other opposition parties will follow suit—to force this government to listen to the people who timidly elected it.

[Supply, October 28th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, this is a very important day in the House of Commons, because the Bloc Québécois has presented a motion on the fiscal imbalance. I will not read the motion again. The Liberals have heard it, but whether they have listened or not is another thing, as they insist on denying the evidence, correcting the facts, correcting a fundamental injustice.

What is fiscal imbalance? It is the realization that the basic needs of people and families are not being met, whether for health, education or whatever. These needs remain unmet because a huge surplus is concentrated in Ottawa, while the needs are in the provinces and in Quebec.

The provinces and Quebec are being impoverished bit by bit, and the funds are instead often being misspent, spent inefficiently, or used to sell a government that is centralizing and ineffective. Now we are seeing the abuses, just as we did with the firearms registry, the sponsorship scandal and the Canadian unity fund.

The attitude of this government reminds me of Harry Potter's cousin, for those who are literate. This cousin took everything that belonged to Harry Potter, just like a spoiled child who takes everything from his brother, all his toys, clothes, even sometimes the food from his plate. I am sure that no one likes to be treated like that.

Ideally, we would like to be a respected brother country to the United States, to Canada, to France. This country would not have to put up with the spoiled child who, rather than meet his own obligations, prefers to spend money on what are really the other's obligations, to spend unwisely, and still to keep huge amounts for himself.

It is unbelievable. We see that this year Quebec will get, in all, $800 million. The member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie has talked about fiscal dyslexia, because the forecasted figure for the surplus was $1.9 billion when it was really $9.1 billion. If we had had a share of that surplus in Quebec, we would have got $2 billion. When we are told that they are giving us $800 million, we have to remember that there is another $1.2 billion we are not getting.

The government will say that it is putting the money toward the debt and that this will be good for our children. But the reason people are often cynical about politics is because the federal government is crushing the provinces and Quebec under a huge debt, accumulating and hiding surpluses, refusing to hold debates on their use, and proposing complex equalization formulas that give practically nothing more to the provinces and Quebec.

Often, when a policy cannot be explained in simple terms, it is because it is not all that it is made out to be. People can smell a stunt being pulled with the equalization. The average is calculated using five provinces instead of ten. Certain figures are factored in and adjusted. Indexation or no indexation, an injustice remains an injustice.

That is what the Minister of Finance has planned and announced. This does not address in any way the basic fact that Ottawa has a huge amount of money to fulfil obligations which are, all in all, limited, while there is very little money for provinces struggling to respond to the needs in health and education.

The Government of Quebec has been forced, by lack of money, to cut a program designed to provide libraries in Quebec with new books. This affects our children, their education and their ability to learn that the world has changed. In many instances, geography books date back to before the cold war. That is a disgrace. And the reason for this is because the money is in Ottawa. The fiscal imbalance is such that the provinces cannot afford to fulfil their important obligations, and neither can Quebec.

It is not financial pressures but a total imbalance that is creating inequities and having a concrete impact on the voters of Beauport—Limoilou among others. I think of the single parent families which get together every week in the northern part of Beauport, in my riding. These get-togethers have a cute name, Matinée frimousses, and are an opportunity for these families to share on various topics.

They are too rich to qualify for some social programs and too poor to make it on their own. So they share amongst themselves. These single mothers need a helping hand. But what happens? Programs like child care do not get implemented and every year we lose enormous sums of money in parental leave.

It is not possible to create a program that helps these families balance work and family life, because the money for that, too, is in Ottawa. It is being poorly spent and sometimes wasted in a scandalous manner. We see it every day in oral question period. And in the end, what do we have? In the end, we have an imbalance that affects families directly. The problem is not in the structure, whether provincial or central. It is in the duplication and intrusion, using money that does not belong to Ottawa, but to Quebec and the provinces. It is a shameful thing and it hides behind all kinds of complicated mathematics and tricks to fool the people of Quebec.

My colleague from Richmond—Arthabaska presented clearly, in black and white—he also quoted the Conference Board, which is not noted for being a sovereignist organization— forecasts of the fiscal imbalance for the provinces, that is, their growing deficits, compared to the surplus of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves. I do not know how many members there are on the other side—

[Canadian Heritage Act, October 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the comments by my colleague make a lot of sense. They say they want to reduce the debt. Rather, they do not say so, they just change policy as they go. That is to say, they announce a little surplus and then say it is too late to put it toward the debt, but there is no debating it. They say that a given amount cannot go toward the debt, but do they have to always do the calculations wrong, come up with a huge surplus, and then put that toward the debt without debate?

They talk of reducing the debt for the sake of our children, but perhaps our children need to have endangered areas and species protected for their sake as well. This is also part of what we will be handing down to them. What they inherit is not only monetary; there is also a physical heritage. The member is absolutely right to raise this issue.

This morning, I was listening to the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Johanne Gélinas, a woman of much vigour and much rigour. I came to know her when she was commissioner of Quebec's environmental public hearings office. Her report covered strategic policy assessments, assessments of progress. Was there any assessment when Parks Canada became an agency? Were the consequences of the budget cuts assessed? Was there any assessment of the impact on this and future generations? No there was not. The answer is no. No assessment, for instance, of the consequences of tax cuts for oil and gas companies, who really do not need them and are amassing huge profits because of the use of hydrocarbons. No assessment of the environmental consequences of subsidies to polluting industries. Was this assessed? No it was not. In this case, the Minister of Finance even adds insult to injury by saying that he will not do so and will not consider the commissioner's recommendations. She says such a reaction is virtually without precedent.

So, when it comes to making fundamental changes without any assessment, I have seen instances in the micromanagement of parks of people doing things first and then assessing them afterwards, which is not the way it is done.

[Canadian Heritage Act, October 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's question. This is very important right now, as the creation of a park network is being considered. It is a good idea to take that into account, as well as considerations relating to private lands.

I was an assistant to the president of the Fondation de la faune du Québec. This organization asked urban populations to create, in their backyards, gardens to attract birds, using fruit trees for instance to allow migrating species to stop over on their way to truly protected areas. Such protected areas were managed at the municipal level or at the provincial level—by Quebec, in our case—or were located in federal parks.

This needs to be well understood. This too is new. It is the kind of thing that organizations like the Union québécoise pour la conservation de la nature and the World Wide Fund For Nature stand up for, pursuant to the principles set out by the World Conservation Union.

The Quebec park network currently has that concern in mind. However, until now, the notion of conservation was not really viewed in these terms. These concerns are taken into consideration in the studies to create new parks and new areas. We try to determine who will be the winners and, eventually, who will be the losers in the creation of these parks, or in the awarding of related supply contracts. All these issues impact on the protection of species.

It is unfortunate that municipal governments, which come under Quebec's jurisdiction, do not speak at the level of the Quebec government when it comes to the creation of natural areas. It is unfortunate that park networks are suffering, as are other sectors in Quebec, from this duplication. It will be extremely difficult to think about conservation on the basis of the protection of species and ecosystems, and of sustainable use.

Quebec areas cannot all be fully protected. We do not live in a huge garden. People have to live in these areas. However, when we protect natural areas, we ensure that species living there can migrate and be protected during that process. This is what new tendencies in the conservation of protected areas are suggesting.

Then there is the issue of sustainable development and the hon. member will agree that this also applies to people. If we do not invest in national parks or in historic places, which are, more often than not, located in the regions—and I am speaking euphemistically here—we will not have many seasonal workers or naturalists. We will not have many people who work enough hours to qualify for employment insurance benefits. These people then leave their region to settle in the city. They are not so proud of their region, because the government did not invest in it.

Unless I am mistaken, the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve is still not a national park, after all these years. I am referring to the famous Mingan Islands that were taken away from Quebec. However, the government never lived up to its commitment in terms of investment. Local people, who must make a living with two months of tourism at best, were disappointed. Up there, it is very cold in June and September, and there is often fog in August. So, the situation is really not ideal for these people.

Parks are tools of economic development, pride and human development. That is not taken into consideration by an agency that is centralizing, that is broke and that does not really fulfill its mandate.

[Canadian Heritage Act, October 26th, 2004]

As proud as a peacock, indeed; he was proud of himself. He never mentioned conservation. He never mentioned improving access. He never mentioned protecting the land for future generations. No, what he talked about was capturing those islands from Quebec, like the spoils of war.

If it had only happened one time, I could have said it was just once, but even at that, it was one time too many. And yet, in the case of the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park , there was the same kind of friction. And for a long time, there were quarrels that delayed the creation of a Quebec park I am also familiar with, the Parc national des Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie.

All these quarrels and, unfortunately, the entire history of Parks Canada are tainted in Quebec by expropriations of the people, as with Forillon Park with, unfortunately, the complicity of the Quebec government. There was a desire to create a park without people, despite the example of the town of Banff right in the middle of Banff National Park. Thus, Quebec has been the Parks Canada laboratory for testing centralization and testing interference, but certainly not a laboratory for testing investments and conservation for future generations.

The federal government did not think about environmental integrity. It did not think about what is now called migration corridors, the natural areas to be protected on the basis of the migration of animals, whether they are birds or mammals, which may find in one park or another a level of conservation that will maintain minimal level of viability. This is unfortunate. However, there was a time, before the Parks Canada Agency was created, when investments were made. Since this agency was created, the government has continued to create reserves and historic sites, but budgets are almost nonexistent and, in fact, shrinking.

Quebec employees of Parks Canada used to get some satisfaction. It must be said that it is Quebeckers, proud professionals who manage these parks, and we pay them with 25% of our taxes. These professionals were proud and happy of the work they were doing. I met with Parks Canada employees recently. They were less proud after several years within the Parks Canada Agency. They told me that there was an abusive tendency toward centralization in the agency; that budgets were allocated to research projects at the central level; that there was no money in the parks and historic sites; and that an extraordinary expertise was being lost in Quebec, both in interpretation and historical research.

This is quite serious. Indeed, in Parks Canada, Quebec's history is being told. Interpretation is done. Unfortunately, this interpretation is beginning to be done by people who do not belong to this culture, who do not live by this culture. They can then impose a certain interpretation of history on us. For example, they may choose between promoting fortifications following the conquest or ruins of the Montcalm redoubt, which is in my riding. So choices will be made. These choices may be made to the detriment of Quebec's heritage.

What I would like, of course, is for us to have our own country. Indeed, Quebec is loved for its cultural diversity, its people, its history and also its physical surroundings, including its mountains, rivers, flora and fauna. Quebeckers are extremely proud of their province.

I believe this comes from our origins. The love of the woods, the freedom our ancestors had when they arrived from France—where they had less freedom—is in our collective consciousness. It is this freedom of open spaces that Victor-Lévy Beaulieu described so well in most of his books and television productions: the big blue sky, the open spaces that make an impression on us and mark our lives and our collective spirit.

With this bill, what we are saying is that perhaps Parks Canada should be the responsibility of Environment Canada instead. Then maybe the federal government would realize that Parks Canada exists. Professionals from Quebec are trying to motivate them. If the parks were in the spotlight a little more, maybe there would be more money available.

It is a shame, but true that we are far from an integrated system of protected lands for which Quebeckers would set priorities, and harmonize and integrate everything in an ecological approach. Our country has overlaps and, unfortunately, in this area, the overlap help in the conservation of land or the species that live there. It is extremely unfortunate.

I would like to quote what I read on the Canadian Nature Federation site—which cannot to be accused of having separatist or sovereignist ideas—concerning the underlying problems cited by the current management of Parks Canada.

The number of parks has increased and worsening environmental problems are posing serious threats to the parks in the system. Yet the Parks Canada budget has not increased to meet these growing challenges. In fact, the government has not even reversed the cuts it made to Parks Canada in the early 1990s, when the agency lost 25 per cent of its annual budget.

The result is that Parks Canada has been unable to ensure basic health and safety standards for its crumbling infrastructure, let alone monitor and mitigate the threats to nature within the park system.

And I read on:

In 2000, the Panel on the Ecological Integrity of Canada’s National Parks estimated the agency would need $328 million over 5 years to restore our national parks—none of that funding has materialized, despite the Canadian Heritage Minister’s commitment to implement all of the panel recommendations.

One has to wonder if the intention is really to erase Ms. Copps' legacy everywhere. She had planned the creation of parks and the related funding. Perhaps the former Liberal ministers will soon be included on the list of endangered species.

Seriously, the sad thing is that the federal government has a $9.1 billion surplus but it is not investing in the right places. It is ignoring the protection of places in Quebec, of its own parks. Making additions, creating park reserves or identifying future historic sites will not solve anything. It will simply encroach further on Quebec's territory.

This lack of funding is demotivating for the workers. Workers at La Mauricie Park have told me that they no longer issue tickets. They no longer patrol the back country. The undergrowth has become so thick that they have lost canoes, and backcountry campsites are no longer visited. Our parks are being neglected because of budget cuts.

By “our parks”, I mean those in Quebec. They may be designated as Park Canada property, but the fact remains that they are located in Quebec. The Quebec workers who used to be so proud of the conservation work they were involved in are now truly depressed by the lack of funding, the centralization within the agency and the loss of pride and trust.

I have seen these workers. I have visited many parks and worked in Quebec's network of parks. There were workers who were somewhat envious of the funding the federal government allocated to its parks, figuring that some of the money ought to be invested in theirs. The situation is reversed now: funds have started to be reinvested in Quebec's parks. I hope that, one day, we will have an integrated network in a country with all the necessary powers. I hope that we will be able to get the job done without having to resort to fighting or relying on the misplaced pride of ministers like André Ouellet and his successors. Real consideration must be given to the ecosystem, the environment and its preservation.

My riding of Beauport—Limoilou may not be as big or spread out as that of the Yukon or those in Abitibi and Northern Quebec or again those not situated in the Saguenay—St-Lawrence Marine Park. It is however a beautiful riding, which is part of Quebec City and host to federal infrastructures. People in my riding regularly go to the plains of Abraham—by day—they also like to take a stroll along the Dufferin boardwalk.

There is in my riding as well a historic site I would like to talk about for a while. It is the Cartier-Brébeuf Park. It is a disgrace. It is a national historic site. Jacques Cartier spent his second winter there in 1535. It is in a shameful state of repair for lack of money and interest on the part of the government, which would rather create new sites and encroach on provincial jurisdiction rather than look after the sites it already owns.

A replica of Jacques Cartier's ship the Grande Hermine , was allowed to rot in that park. It had to be demolished because it had become dangerous. There are now huge Frost fences across the small park because the sewer outfall under this historical site is collapsing. Big Frost fences were installed, criss-crossing the park, to protect people. This is the place where Jacques Cartier spent the winter in 1535. It is an important site. There is an interpretation centre there that looks more like an old garage. In the centre, there is an exhibition, which has not been updated since its creation. It is a real shame. The park is located near the St.Charles river in Quebec City. The city is trying to clean up the river and bring it back to its natural state.

Soon we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of Quebec City, and nothing indicates that money will be invested in the park. I must admit that my riding may not be the most beautiful, but it is not a reason to humiliate its residents by letting a site of such historical significance deteriorate to such a degree.

Now, I hope that this bill will not be only a structural and administrative change and that the government will not continue with this same philosophy of hoping that an agency will be profitable. It is really a somewhat absurd vision to try to make the conservation of nature and wildlife profitable and to try to have it be cost effective by itself.

There are sectors where the state must intervene, protect land and invest public funds. The government must stop selling the environment short or making it a tourism sector that is not even ecological. One of the problems raised by major environmental agencies is this way of marketing natural areas intensively without planning their conservation or without planning enough staff to ensure that it does not harm the areas and the sensitive ecological zones and to ensure to have enough equipment to welcome them.

I am a former environment worker, an environmental supporter and I am always an active participant. I worked at the Rivière Vivante foundation, an agency dedicated to the cleanup and naturalization of the St. Charles river, in my riding.

As an environmentalist and former director of the Union québécoise pour la conservation de la nature, of which the conservation of natural areas was an important priority, I must add that I became a little cynical with time about park management. I saw proud people become unmotivated. It is not pleasant to see people, at the end of successful careers as interpreters, historians, naturalists, finish it in disillusion and indigence. This is unfortunate. It is too bad for Canada's image. It is unfortunate that this image has been tarnished. In Quebec, we want to have a country, but we also want Canada to have its own and to stop neglecting its parks.

My love of the parks is nothing new. I especially love Forillon National Park. When I went there this summer, I noticed that the facilities were not properly maintained and in very bad shape. As a testimony of my love for the natural beauty of Quebec, and despite all the pains we had to go through to establish this park, to celebrate the year 2000, my in-laws, my friends and I all gathered at the tip of Cap Desrosiers, at the eastern tip of the Gaspe Peninsula, at 6 o'clock in the morning to see the sun rise over Quebec. It was magnificent, and very cold. We drank to the future of Quebec next to the magnificent lighthouse in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We hoped that one day the sun would rise over a country that was independent and proud to be so. My remarks are intended to show that the very essence of a nation often lies in the way its culture and spaces are protected and passed on from one generation to the next.

I wholeheartedly hope that the various levels of government and the federal government realize that the creation of parks is more than just cutting ribbons and scoring victories at the expense of the provinces. It is about preserving historical, natural and human sites for the next generations of Quebeckers.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I admit that I am in love with Quebec as a whole. I love Quebec's culture, the diversity of its inhabitants, but I am concerned about those who have gone to such lengths to encroach on Quebec's territory, abandoning Quebec and not doing the minimum required of them. I hope that funding will be allocated in the budget.

There are no ifs or buts about it; we will not oppose this bill. Perhaps it will enlighten the new minister on the natural spaces in Quebec and Canada. This is a minister who appears to have great designs for himself, no doubt, but also for the park network. Hopefully, adequate funding will follow. We will be watching. We will pass this bill and see whether it helps the Canadian government do a better job. Rest assured that, as members of the opposition and the Bloc Québécois, we will be watching.

[Canadian Heritage Act, October 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise on the bill before us today. In my career and in the rest of my life it has been my good fortune to take a keen interest in the issues of conservation lands and parks.

This issue is close to my heart. I once was director general of the Union québécoise pour la conservation de la nature and I have taken part in coalitions to ask not only for better protection of natural spaces and ecosystems, but also the resources needed to truly protect them.

Long before that, as a student I worked in Forillon National Park. That was in 1982. I remember the dramas and tragi-comedies as the Quebec and Canadian governments each raced to create parks faster than the other, not to protect ecosystems, improve access to them or welcome visitors, but to get a foothold on Quebec territory.

I remember one employee meeting held in Forillon Park. The minister at the time, a Mr. André Ouellet, had come to address the employees, who had all left their tasks, and boast about how he stole the Mingan Archipelago from Quebec, where the Quebec government had been planning to put a park. He was as proud as a boy who has just played a great practical joke.

[Housing, October 20th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, is the minister aware that, because of the loss of revenue suffered by Quebec, there is a need to catch up in social housing? Consequently, when the transfer takes place, does he intend to compensate Quebec in full for its losses?

[Housing, October 20th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to social housing, Quebec and the federal government are negotiating the transfer of affordable housing and co-op units built before 1994. The Quebec minister, Jean-Marc Fournier, estimates that Quebec is also entitled to compensation at least equal to 24% of the federal investments in this sector, in view of the federal government's withdrawal in 1994.

Does the federal government intend to meet Quebec's requests by transferring not only responsibility for social housing but also the money that goes with it?