Jacques Saada

[An Act to establish the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, November 16th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I will not be particularly political in what I am about to say.

When the asbestos issue arose and the Government of Canada had to reach a decision, I think everyone will agree that a wonderful job of raising people's awareness was done by Gérard Binet, who was a member of this House at the time. Democracy must respected, but that does not mean we have to forget history. The history is that this colleague, Gérard Binet, is the real force behind the asbestos issue.

I must also add that my predecessor at the head of Canada Economic Development, the Minister of Industry at the time, put this regional strategic initiative in place. There are others in the province, moreover. This is not the only one. The specific characteristic of an RSI is to provide assistance for economic diversification to a region in crisis or with the potential for crisis. The initiative is created according to specific regional needs, and so of course there can be differences between one region's initiative and another's.

The result of this bill is that not only can the approach be region by region, but it can also be zone by zone. There may be a specific problem that will arise in a series of villages within one region of Quebec and in another series of villages in another region of Quebec. Since these are in different regions, they would automatically not be covered by a regional definition.

With this bill, we can group together these hot spots into identified zones in order to target them with a specific point-in-time intervention to deal with a specific problem. This is possible because of the bill.

I do not understand —and I say this with all sincerity. This bill is in fact an administrative measure intended to give a federal minister, one who comes from Quebec, the mandate to work in conjunction with Quebec ministers and Quebec communities to address problems of regional development in Quebec. Apart from the major issue on which we have a difference of opinion as to the option defended by the party across the way, there is no consistent, concrete, logical and immediate argument against our having the tools in hand to work better together on regional development.

[An Act to establish the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, November 16th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that my colleague referred to his region and the Asbestos area. He will agree with me that the decision the Canadian government made regarding white asbestos was the right one. If we had agreed to the inclusion of chrysotile asbestos in the PIC procedure of the Rotterdam Convention, this would have created problems even bigger than those the region is facing today. I assume I have his support. At any rate, at the time, it was indicated to me verbally that everybody was in support of the decision we made. We did it to protect the region.

I must add that, when we made the decision, we kept in mind economic diversification, as we do for Quebec as a whole. In other words, one of the ways to provide for regional vulnerability is to foster economic diversification so as not to depend on one industry, but on several. With this in mind, in the asbestos region especially because of the problems linked to asbestos, we put in place a regional strategic initiative, or RSI, focussed on the needs of the Asbestos RCM.

We invested $3.3 million over two years in this RSI to foster the economic diversification I just mentioned. To date, a score of jobs have been created. Some 20 jobs have been saved, and we are currently working with Serres du Saint-Laurent inc. to create 54 more jobs.

I would like to know if in fact, regardless of political rhetoric, my colleague supports the decision of the Government of Canada not to include chrysotile asbestos to the list of products under the Rotterdam Convention, and also if he supports the regional strategic initiative, which, by the way, was set up in close cooperation with the industry and the provincial government.

[An Act to establish the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, November 16th, 2004]

They were not federal organizations?

[An Act to establish the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, November 16th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I would like my colleague opposite to tell us if he would have preferred to see us refuse to help Avionnerie Val-d'Or. It is in his riding. If he did not want us to help Avionnerie Val-d'Or, I would have liked to know.

However, that is not the issue. On a serious note, I would like to talk about the issues that are regularly addressed on the other side, the duplication issues. There is a very specific and simple example. About twenty years ago now, in its effort to deal with the regional disparity problems, the federal government created the CFDCs, the Community Futures Development Corporations.

These corporations work with local organizations to launch initiatives that create jobs in the surrounding environment, based on a strategy which is developed with local groups.

Several years later, the Quebec government, which was then separatist, decided that CFDCs were working well. They work well, but there is only one problem: they are federal. Imagine. A federal body present in the community and it works well. Of course, this is unacceptable. Local development centres, or LDCs, are therefore created, along the same lines as the CFDCs, with the same mandate as the CFDCs. The LDCs, by the way, are an initiative which, in and of itself, is laudable, in my view. The problem, however, is that the LDCs must not have any trace of the federal government. There is no way there can be anything federal about them. There was a federal institution, the CFDCs. There are a total of 57 of them across the province. The LDCs have been created so that the federal government is not there.

Then, who produced an overlap? Who initiated that overlap?

Contrary to what my colleagues opposite think, there is delight, all over Quebec, at the collaboration and the complementarity that can exist between a provincial action and the federal government for the benefit of communities. I wish the member opposite and his colleagues had been on hand when we announced the Sural project in Cap-Chat, in the struggling Gaspé region. We brought hope. Indeed, along with my colleague Nathalie Normandeau, of the Quebec government, with our own institution, with local people, building on a local initiative, we created hope.

Mr. Speaker, hope for the future is much more important than the battles of the past being waged by the people opposite.

[An Act to establish the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, November 16th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for the work done by the hon. member but, frankly, the reply is pathetic.

Subsection 36(1) of the Constitution is very clear: the federal government is responsible for dealing with regional disparities and for reducing them. This is the only reference in the Constitution to something that is closely or remotely related to regional development. I invite the hon. member to read the Constitution.

Second, in his speech, the hon. member said that we are not doing anything. I want to take a few minutes to discuss this point.

Take the Lower St. Lawrence region. The Centre de recherche sur les biotechnologies marines, the Corporation Québec-Maritimes, Glendyne Inc., the Jardins de Métis and the Centre interdisciplinaire de développement en cartographie des océans are among the initiatives in which we are involved. These also include the Centre techno-pneus Inc., Biotechnologies Océanova, the Camp musical Saint-Alexandre, Almar WBC Inc., and the Banc d'essai de démonstrateur sur le Saint-Laurent.

In the Abitibi, we are involved in the Avionnerie Val-d'Or, the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the COREM, the Ordre des Conquérants du Nord, the Société économique de Kitcisakik, Roberge et fils, and, once again, the Université du Québec.

For all of Quebec, the list includes Multifoam International, VisuAide Inc., the Manoir du Lac William, the Société historique d'Odanak, SIXPRO and Foresbec Inc. And we are told that we are not doing anything. Let me continue.

In the Chaudière-Appalaches region, there is OmegaChem, the Fonderie Poitras, C.G. Air Systèmes Inc., Acoustitec Inc, A.D. Boivin Design Inc., Électronique S.E.M. Inc., Fins Gourmands Inc., R.C.M. Modulaire Inc., Armoires de cuisine Milmonde Inc., Canots Esqif Inc.

As for the North Shore region, there is Tourbière Homer Bélanger, Bersaco and the Corporation Québec-Maritimes. And we are not doing anything in the region. I have more examples. There is also the Centre d'aide en technologie aux entreprises. Just a few days ago, I inaugurated the Centre des technologies de l'aluminium, in the Saguenay. We also helped the Institut Maurice-Lamontagne, in Rimouski.

We are present everywhere, and we are working in cooperation with the Quebec government. The problem is not that we are not doing anything, but that the hon. member refuses to recognize what we are doing, because what we are doing is so good that it goes against the objective of his party, which is to demonstrate that federalism does not work. Federalism does work. We are cooperating with the provinces in general and with Quebec in particular. The provinces get along very well with us. There is very good cooperation. The effects of our work in the field are being felt. Municipalities are supporting us, as are CFDCs, BDCs, CEDCs and the mayors of municipalities.

The hon. member made a speech that has nothing to do with the reality. This is totally unacceptable. How can we put a question to people who did not read the first line of a constitution that they condemn? This does not make any sense at all.

[An Act to establish the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, November 16th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I have a very simple question to ask. I would like to know if my colleague opposite can give me the exact reference to the Constitution authorizing him to say that regional development falls under provincial jurisdiction. I would like to have the exact reference.

[Economic Development, November 16th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, permit me to repeat what I said yesterday, which is that if there are no risks, then business does not need the government. The government intervenes by taking the risks it must in order to provide jobs for the people affected by these businesses.

Second, we had $80 million for this program and it appears that we had got to $50.6 million when the problems arose. At that point we stopped payments of all kinds. Thirdly, I am glad to hear the Alliance talking about Gaspé for the first time. The last time I heard anything about it, it was when the dead were going to vote in their leadership campaign.

[Economic Development, November 15th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, on an issue like this one, we do not act alone. We take coordinated and consistent action with a number of stakeholders: the Government of Quebec, the private sector, and so on.

At the end of the day, since the project did not pan out for reasons that the inquiry is or will be revealing, we will know what went wrong. Also, of course, concerning a recovery plan, we will consider and analyze any positive proposals that come our way.

For the time being, however, I find it pretty twisted to be so adamant about wanting to blame anyone for wanting to help the people in the Gaspé.

[Economic Development, November 15th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada gets involved in particular in projects where the risks are such that the industry and the private sector do not necessarily want to get involved. It is our mission to support private enterprises and those that will create jobs.

In such cases, if we do not take any risks, we can be sure of one thing: the projects will go nowhere. We have a duty to take risks and, therefore, we do so.

[Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec Act, November 5th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, if my colleague spoke to the general director of ATR, why did he not tell me about it? Maybe it means that he did not do his work as a member of Parliament?

Secondly, when they become paranoid because a bill mandates all of Quebec's representatives, federal and provincial, to work together and develop the regional economy, they get upset. I would like to know why.

Maybe they are not happy because Ms. Normandeau, who is my provincial liberal counterpart and who is well versed in those issues, and I, who believe I am also doing well, have done interesting things together for the Gaspe Peninsula and the Lower St. Lawrence as well as for young people. Of course, members opposite are disturbed by that. It is a proof that federalism works.

Finally, when we talk about interference, perhaps the hon. member would be good enough to read the Constitution before asking such a question?