Roger Valley

[Canada Pension Plan, January 29th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Oak Ridges—Markham mentioned over and over, and it needs to be repeated, about the security of today's Canada pension plan, and it took Liberals to look after the mess that was left after many years of neglect by the Conservative government.

I think he mentioned something like quite a number of years in the future that we have protection and security. My question is going to be about confidence. We all know how hard it is to keep and maintain confidence in the ridings. We face that every day.

We have heard the current comments of the so-called new Conservative government and what it will do. We have looked at some of the issues which it is going to deal with such as the Canada pension fund and whether it will use it to balance the books.

Who is he hearing that the people have more confidence in when he travels in his riding? Do they have confidence in the Liberals, the ones who looked after the mess left by the Conservatives, or do they have confidence in the Conservatives to mess it up again? I wonder what he hears from his constituents.

[Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006, December 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Winnipeg Centre for giving us all the credit for being on the right track. When we were in government, that is not what the NDP said.

Very clearly, we heard him say over and over again that the Liberal government was on the right track with softwood lumber, that we should have stayed the course and we would have finished with all the money returned back to Canada.

Therefore, we thank him for giving credit to the Liberal government.

[Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006, December 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the member and I live in northern Ontario and know the challenges it is facing. Some of the plant closures happened some time ago. We are facing Christmas now and a lot of people are running out of resources.

I have to mention a statement he made. He asked why the government would take us down this road. What did the NDP think it was going to do? It had heard all of the right-wing rhetoric and knew what great friends the Conservatives were with the current American administration. Did the NDP actually think that the Conservatives were going to stand up for the workers of the communities? That was not going to happen with this administration.

He mentioned billions in forestry and we know we were unable to deliver that. We did not have time to deliver the package that we had proposed, and we accept Canadians' judgment after it happened. However, the package was designed after listening to the very people he mentioned, community leaders, unions and the industry itself. The package had some real value. Would people in the member's riding and across northern Ontario be working had that package been delivered?

[Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006, December 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I can hear the strain in my NDP colleague's voice but he still made a very good speech despite not feeling well. However, I feel I must correct a couple of statements he made.

He mentioned that the sellout came from a Liberal minister who moved to the other side. That is absolutely not the case. We would not let the sellout happen when the minister was on our side. When he crossed the floor, he created it on that side with the Conservative Party. Clearly, we were not involved and we have opposed this.

He also mentioned that he believed in the minister. I believe the topic was the auto policy or something. I hope he has learned from his mistakes because he cannot believe in that minister. We found that out through a very difficult process.

I am not sure the hon. member heard, but I think he will understand my question. This morning the minister made a comment about the trade relationship between Canada and the United States and how bad it was. However, we know that the trading relationship between Canada and the United States is quite good. Most goods flow barrier free across the border.

However, what we did notice on this side is that the anxiety between the American administration and the trade policy seemed to escalate as the U.S. mid-terms came along. We feel that the American president really forced this deal on the Prime Minister, who fell for it, because of the pressure of the mid-terms coming up and he needed support. The Prime Minister needed a good photo op and he tried to get a deal. It is a bad deal for Canadian softwood. I am just wondering if my colleague in the NDP has an opinion on that.

[Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006, November 29th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite interesting to hear the member for Timmins—James Bay talk about what he did and what he could do. The fact is, as a member of the fourth party of the House, there is not much he can do.

He had an opportunity to support some of the work the Liberals did. He talked about a deal for training and cogeneration plants for communities to ensure they could deal with high hydro costs. He talked about research and technology to ensure that companies could move forward, and he wanted support for all that.

He got all that in a forestry package that the Liberals put together. His answer will be that we did it at the very last moment. He knows that is not the case. I announced it would be within six months and we were within two weeks of doing that.

Would he sooner have the deal that Liberals proposed, which was something and it would be on the ground, or would he sooner have the softwood deal we have now?

[Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006, November 21st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like the member to think about how many hundreds or thousands of jobs have been lost in his riding and lost in all of northern Ontario. It is not necessarily due to the softwood lumber agreement; it has something to do with the forestry industry itself.

We had the opportunity to travel to Timmins to make an announcement late last fall, just before Christmas. We talked about $1.6 billion for forestry companies, money that was going to help them stay in business, money that was going to keep jobs in northern Ontario. That money was going to make sure that families could have a good Christmas and continue to live in dignity in northern Ontario. But the member and his party at that point saw fit to side with the Conservatives and bring on an election that no Canadians wanted. It cost jobs all throughout northern Ontario.

We knew the way was not to sell out Canada on a softwood deal. We knew we had to support the companies to make sure they had the resources, to make sure they could keep those mills running, to keep the sawmills going to provide employment in northern Ontario.

My direct question is, how many jobs did the member lose in his riding and how many were lost in northern Ontario because of his sellout to the Conservative Party which forced the election and took the $1.6 billion away from the forestry companies?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2, October 27th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for recognizing that the $13 billion surplus that we had in no way should have led to the billion dollar cuts to a lot of the services that were mentioned.

The member mentioned many of the actions taken by the Liberal government back in 1993 when the Liberals threw the Conservatives out of power. She forgot to mention that the Liberals had to deal with a huge debt. They had to deal with nine years of mismanagement by the Conservative government. They had to deal with a country that was almost bankrupt. So, at that time, there were tough decisions that had to be made. Looking back, were all of them right? We do not know. Things change.

She said that the Canadian public judges on election day, and we accept that. We returned with 102 seats. That is four times what the NDP have.

I have a number of questions for the member. How does she face the forestry workers? How does she face them when thousands of jobs have been lost in my riding, right across northern Ontario in fact, and in Canada? When the NDP sided with the Conservatives to cause the election, thousands of people lost their jobs. There was $1.4 billion lined up to help forestry workers right across Canada. How does she justify that?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2, October 27th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I do need to make a comment for my colleague from the NDP.

It clearly was the NDP that stabbed us in the back, stabbed all forestry workers in the back and stabbed the child care workers in the back by siding with the Conservatives when we had plans to protect those jobs. We need to be clear about that.

My colleague and I both serve small municipalities in rural settings. When he travels to his municipality what does he hear the people saying about the absolute gall of the Conservatives when they announced the $1 billion cuts that affect those small communities on the same day that they take credit for a $13.2 billion surplus from the former Liberal government with its good fiscal planning and good management? I want to hear what my colleague has to say and what the people on the streets are saying about the gall of the Conservatives.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 27th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, in my riding, as in the rest of Canada, first nations are waiting for action on water issues. We heard in the House this week from the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development that he was aware of the health problems with poor water and sewer facilities with the Pikangikum First Nation. Being aware is not good enough. We need action.

This community, since he is aware of it, is not even on his priority list. Yet the northwestern health unit categorized this as the worst it has seen in this region. It needs help. In fact, the grand chief for Treaty No. 9, Stan Beardy, has dozens of communities with health issues due to the inaction of the minister and the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

Even yesterday we heard the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development talk about progress. Enough talk, we need some action. I urge the minister to take immediate action to provide safe, clean drinking water in every first nations community in Canada.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2, October 27th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague across the way knows the strong financial position that the government inherited from the Liberals, and as he mentioned, still the Conservatives have done nothing for veterans.

He also mentioned the string of years in which the former Liberal government had surpluses and that the surpluses were not put to some of the uses that he mentioned. I would remind him that the government of the day had to deal with the debt left by nine years of mismanagement by the Mulroney Conservative government. He has already pointed out that we have had nine months of mismanagement by the so-called new Conservative government. In his own words, they are swimming in cash and they have done nothing for the veterans.

How can any Canadians have confidence in the government when it cut the most needy in our country by $1 billion, a cut to the elderly, seniors, women's groups and the illiterate? And on the same day, the Conservatives took credit for a former surplus of $13.2 billion. How can anyone have any confidence in the so-called new Conservative government with the actions it has taken in its nine months of mismanagement?