Mr. Speaker, I am sharing my time with the hon. member for Yukon.
I heard the minister take credit again for things that were done long before the Conservatives were in office. Government members are very good at that. I want to make it very clear that we were the envy of the world long before the current government came in.
Today I would like to talk about the throne speech. I would like to talk about some of the things that are in it and some of the things that are not. I want to assure the House that I will be positive when I find positive things in it, but first I am going to talk about what is missing.
We know the Conservative Party is very big on symbolism. We looked at this speech very carefully and noticed that the cover of the throne speech booklet shows a small child waving a flag but the flag is very blurred, just like the vision the government has for this country. There is not much vision there. It is quite blurred.
I am going to talk about health care, which there is not much mention of in the throne speech, and I am going to talk about the lack of services in my riding. We hear about tax cuts for all Canadians, but we would rather have more services put into the underserviced areas of Canada.
The Kenora riding is one of the ridings that has the least amount of services. We have difficulty right in our southern communities of Dryden, Kenora, Ignace, Pickle Lake and Sioux Lookout. They all have their challenges, especially in health care. In many communities such as the community of Dryden, for example, with 8,000 people, people cannot get dialysis. They have to drive and they have to drive a long way. Therefore, a stronger recognition of health care in the throne speech would have been a strong sign to all Canadians, especially in the riding of Kenora.
As for major procedures and significant health care issues, people have to be sent out of their communities to Winnipeg or Thunder Bay. These are long distances, but in small communities we understand that. What we do not understand is a government that does not have a stronger commitment to health care and to making sure that service levels can be raised in all these ridings.
I will speak now about the northern 500 to 700 kilometres of my riding and I will talk about some of the health care issues for first nations that could have been addressed in the throne speech. Right now, many members of the House would not realize that of my 21 fly-in communities, five of them do not have proper health care to any degree. They have a nursing station or unit that basically runs five days a week. Due to weather, we average about three days a week when there is no nurse in the community at all. When these communities were very small, from 200 to 250 people, that was acceptable, but they have grown. Our populations in the north are increasing.
Let me talk about these communities: Poplar Hill, with Chief Elie Moose; Keewaywin, with Chief Joseph Meekis; Slate Falls, with Chief Glen Whiskeyjack; Muskrat Dam, with Chief Vernon Morris; and North Spirit Lake, with Chief Donald Campbell. All these chiefs fight constantly for health care. They would have taken it as a sign from the government in its throne speech if there were a commitment on a vision for Canada to make sure all Canadians can share some level of health care, but they have nothing. They have nurses who fly in, generally on Monday morning or at noon, and they leave Thursday night or Friday morning because of weather situations.
There is talk about providing tax cuts for Canadians and all these other issues, but let us talk about providing services for the residents in the areas of Canada that need it most. For these communities that do not have nurses from Friday morning to Sunday night, doctors' visits are very rare. Health care could have been addressed in a much broader agenda. I know that health care has slipped from number one on the radar screen for Canadians, but it is still number two, and it should have been identified in the throne speech.
In these fly-in communities in the north, all residents have to travel for even the most minor of procedures. There are issues. Thanks to the former government, we do have technology in the north that could have been used to make sure some services were brought into these isolated places. In fact, with the technology in place in communities such as Sandy Lake and Big Trout Lake we could actually train nurses if there were some support. The residents accept this burden, but they do not understand why we are cutting taxes for some of the most wealthy people in Canada when services are not being provided for them.
There is also the issue of residential schools, an issue inside the throne speech that I applauded. It is closure at last, but only maybe. The action initiated by the previous Liberal government led to this and delays after the election have brought us to this point. I am glad we are here at this point, but it is important that we get it done, that we start the healing process and move on with the apology, which is in this throne speech. We need this to make sure that we actually get this closed out.
I have a couple of comments on the building Canada plan. The speech mentions very clearly the Windsor-Detroit corridor and the Atlantic and Pacific gateways, but it leaves out a large section of Canada, which I happen to live on, and that is the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Trans-Canada Highway should have gotten something. It is one of the largest transportation networks we have. Any product made in the Kenora riding has to go through one of those gateways to get to one of the southern border points, and it is good to look after those, but what about the Trans-Canada Highway? It travels for 300 miles through my riding, from east to west, and there are many points where it could close down and the network between the east and the west would be cut right off. There could have been some identification about making the Trans-Canada Highway a highway we could be proud of.
There are far too many tragedies, as you are well aware, Mr. Speaker, as I know you travel on that section of highway. There are too many tragedies that could have been averted with some kind of infrastructure program which included the Trans-Canada Highway. If we cannot have pride in our national link, our national highway, what else can we do?
My municipal experience allows me to know that we need a strong, non-partisan infrastructure program. This needs to be led by the municipalities. If the federal and provincial governments get involved and dictate priorities for the municipalities, it does not work. We need to make sure that the people who are using those streets are planning the projects, making sure that they are non-partisan, making sure that they are led by the municipalities so that the projects that actually need to be done are the ones that get done.
On forestry, I will quote directly from the throne speech, where it states, “Key sectors, including forestry”. That is as much wording as forestry got.
In my riding of Kenora, we have lost thousands of jobs. Entire towns have closed. The city of Kenora closed its mill, which not that many years ago had 900 employees. The site is being taken apart as we speak. That happened since the election of the Conservative government.
The throne speech says that the government has taken action to support workers and that it is actually going to cut taxes for all Canadians. Many workers in the Kenora riding do not have jobs. One's tax burden is not too high when one is not working.
Kenora, Dryden and Ignace are all communities that have lost or have downsized plants. Plants in both Kenora and Ignace are totally closed at this point. The Dryden mill, which supported 1,100 inside workers sometime ago, is running with about 500 right now, and it is really a day to day operation.
We have workers who need support. They are going to get a tax cut, but they do not have jobs. That is the kind of challenge they face.
The throne speech contains a lot of great words but we need action. In communities like Red Lake, Pickle Lake and Bending Lake, with the diamonds that are in northern Ontario, there is a lot that can happen.
With respect to the words that are used in the throne speech, “a single window for major project approvals”, we need details. We need to get to the point where there is actually a program, so all parties in this House can take a look at it, see that it fits northern Ontario or any part of Canada and that it actually provides value on the ground, so we can make sure there are jobs for some of the forestry employees who have lost their jobs.
I am happy to see support in the throne speech for the military. I happened to be very lucky this last summer. I spent a week out in Wainwright, Alberta. It was one of the largest exercises for training of reserve forces. There were more than 1,200 there. I want to point out very clearly that in Wainwright they are training combat soldiers. Our soldiers are combat soldiers. They are able to do many other duties, but they have the pride and determination of the best of Canada and they are the best in the world.
On the environment, northern Ontario will feel the effects of climate change as quickly as anywhere in Canada, including the far north. The 21 fine communities I mentioned earlier are all served by ice roads. We are suffering more and more as the climate continues to warm, and we cannot get the goods in to service these communities.
To give an example, in a community like Keewaywin, when the ice road opens, gas drops in price from $2.75 a litre to about $1.25 a litre. We just celebrated Thanksgiving. If a truck can deliver a turkey, it is a reasonable price as it is in the south but turkeys were $85 to $95 up there on Thanksgiving weekend. The ice roads are extremely important.
No one but Canada's aboriginals will feel the effects of climate change as painfully as they will. They have lived in that area for thousands of years. They understand the situation. They need to be sure that the Canadian government is going to look after them and treat climate change as a very serious issue that has to be dealt with.
We are prepared. We have heard the throne speech. There are facts in it that we would like to see examined, but we are going to wait for solid facts and solid legislation. We need solid commitments from the Conservative government. We have heard the fancy speeches and there is posturing and rhetoric going on here now. Let us get down to the legislation. Let us get down to serving Canadians. Let us see the meat and potatoes. Let us find out what we are talking about. Let us debate it for all Canadians.
