Lost his last election, in 2006, with 38% of the vote.
Agriculture May 13th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, what we have asked for today, in conjunction with the United States, Argentina, Egypt and several other countries, is merely that the European Union not implement its GMO legislation, and we wish that EU member countries would respect their own laws and stop blocking the process. That is all we are asking.
Softwood Lumber May 13th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, for two and a half years we have adopted a very clear strategy, one which was challenging the U.S. allegations that we were giving any sort of subsidies to our softwood lumber producers. Let me tell the hon. member that we are not, we will not and we have not done so in the past.
However, given the long time it takes before the courts, we have said that with the support of industry all over the country and all of the provinces we should sit down with the Department of Commerce. As to those policy bulletins, the provinces and the Government of Canada have contributed substantially to their elaboration and I believe they can be very helpful in the future.
Softwood Lumber May 13th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, that is a conspiracy theory put forward by suspicious and slighty paranoid individuals.
On the softwood lumber issue, if there is a government that has stood up for producers, it is ours.
The fact that we are making progress in Washington seems to bother certain members of the Bloc Quebecois who are not concerned about the real interests of lumber producers in Quebec, but would like to make political mileage on a sensitive issue. We have been working with all the provinces and industries across the country for the past two and a half years, and they will continue to be consulted as closely as they have been in the past.
Softwood Lumber May 13th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, they do not even care to listen to the answer. All they want to do is chat.
Softwood Lumber May 13th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, I would be very surprised if the industry had been informed today that the negotiations were to resume this week, because they will not be resuming this week.
On Thursday, the coordinators for this matter will be visiting the U.S. Department of Commerce, as they have been doing on a regular basis for two and a half years. These are regular meetings that do not qualify as negotiations.
The point I am making is that the negotiations will not be resuming this week. A meeting is scheduled between the coordinator—
Question No. 181 May 12th, 2003
The Office of the Ethics Counsellor maintains an electronic lobbyist registration service for lobbyists in Canada. Lobbyists are individuals paid to communicate with federal public office holders in an attempt to influence government decisions. They are required under the Lobbyists Registration Act and regulations to register their activities, which are displayed in the public registry. Currently, the following list of organizations and individuals have been registered during the past five years to lobby the government regarding the removal of trade sanctions with Iraq:
Licences, Legislation and Regulations Lobbyists Registration
http://Strategis.gc.ca
Softwood Lumber May 12th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, for two and a half years we have worked as a united country, industry east and west, Quebec and British Columbia, the provinces as well, and I think that we are going places.
The member is raising a hypothesis of 15% or 25%. I do not know about what he is talking.
I will never stand for an export tax that would not be a ramp up toward total free trade in softwood lumber. We are talking sometimes about a transition and transitory measures but it would be something that would last for months, certainly not forever.
Softwood Lumber May 12th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of this difficult situation with softwood lumber, I have had the support of the Quebec government, even at the time when it was run by the head office, the party that is now in opposition. Quebec has stood firmly behind the strategy we had discussed.
I realize that in the Bloc Quebecois, members may be feeling freer now that they do not have to answer to their head office in Quebec City, but I can tell members this: in solidarity, we are sticking to the line adopted by the industry and the provinces two and a half years ago, because it works.
Softwood Lumber May 12th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, it is well known that we have worked closely with the associations to which we have provided financial assistance.
We have been extremely vigilant, acting through the Department of Human Resources Development and the Department of Natural Resources. To say that we have done nothing is just plain wrong. And to suggest that we are weakening the industry when, for the first time in 25 years, a government stands up to the Americans, gets them to negotiate and hold real discussions on Canada's forestry plans and does not operate on preconceived ideas because we are working on crown land, where subsidies were—
Softwood Lumber May 12th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, the objective of our government is precisely that: to obtain resolution, but a lasting resolution. We are very much aware that winning our case before the courts is extremely advantageous to us, which is why we are before the courts. This strengthens our negotiating position with the United States.
However, what we have obtained with the interpretation bulletins to be released shortly by the American Department of Commerce is precisely to have an advance indication of which forestry practices are problematic to them, so that we can see the problem coming and not suddenly meet it head on, as we do every time.