Peter Adams

[Post-Secondary Education, February 18th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the government has delivered more in the area of post-secondary education than any federal government in history. Indirectly, through transfers to the provinces, it is in the order of $8 billion or $9 billion.

Directly through scholarship programs and research programs, which help students and universities to cover the indirect cost of research, last year for the first time, it was possible to say in Canada that the federal and provincial governments equally supported the colleges and universities of this country.

[Parental Leave, February 18th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we are very conscious of the fact that these negotiations have reached a very important stage. They have been conducted in good faith. Our offer has been an excellent one. We believe there is a solution that will be good for the Government of Canada and, in particular, good for the parents of the province of Quebec.

[Parental Leave, February 18th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, our objective in these negotiations is to reach a fair and equitable solution, a solution that will help the parents of the province of Quebec, and we have every hope we will reach such a solution.

[Parental Leave, February 18th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we have been very supportive of the negotiations and we know the negotiations are reaching a critical stage. We believe our offer will allow the Government of Quebec to develop its own program. We are looking forward to a successful conclusion to the negotiations.

[Parental Leave, February 18th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the government has been very supportive of the negotiations with the Government of Quebec with respect to parental leave. Our current offer is financially much more advantageous than the offer of 1997. We have high hopes of a successful conclusion to these negotiations.

[Official Languages Act, February 17th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I know it is inappropriate for me to say that the member is a liar and I am not going to say that. However, if he goes out and talks to people and says that the cost of registration is $1 billion and then asks them what they would do with that $1 billion, he is going to get a certain response. That is wrong. It is completely wrong and if he listened to the figures, he would know it is wrong.

The firearms registry has never cost $1 billion. Even in the full 10 years of startup it was nowhere near it. Members heard my figure of $25 million. If the member gives false information, he is going to get a very different response than if he gave the real information.

The police associations support the registration of firearms.

The government has also invested $112 million to fight organized crime, $100 million to update the criminal record and fingerprint analysis technology, $34 million to address criminal exploitation of children, and $27 million for the DNA data bank alone. These are expenditures for law enforcement which help the RCMP and the people the member was talking about.

[Official Languages Act, February 17th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP has a long-standing reputation for providing Canadians with policing services at the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal levels in over 750 detachments across the country. The government has made a significant investment in the RCMP on the federal side, as well as by meeting our contracts with the provinces. Indeed, the RCMP is now recognized internationally as a modern, sophisticated police force.

We provide the RCMP with a spending authority of almost $3 billion. In fact, since 1999-2000, the RCMP's annual spending authority has increased by about $850 million, from just under $2 billion to more than $2.8 billion.

The funding provided permits the RCMP to fulfill its obligations under the various police services agreements. Under these agreements, the provinces are responsible for the appropriate level of policing service in consultation with the commanding officers. The provincial police services agreement includes a cost share formula, 70% provincial, 30% federal.

Since 1999-2000, the RCMP has been authorized to spend an additional $505 million amount for the provision of contract policing services, an increase on the federal side alone of $225 million.

For the upcoming fiscal year, we will support the RCMP with additional spending authority of $88 million and more than 500 new officers for contract policing services. The federal share of this increase is $33 million, with the remainder being paid by our contract partners.

The RCMP is also a responsible partner with the provinces. The force addresses vacancies in consultation with the provinces and municipalities for detachments across Canada on a continuing basis. In fact, the RCMP is processing requests for more than 180 additional contract officers in Alberta and 142 new municipal police officers in British Columbia. In addition, the RCMP continuously works with provincial governments and municipalities to address resource issues.

In Saskatchewan there are currently 1,100 RCMP members providing contract policing services.

The RCMP is committed to ensuring that necessary resources are available and allocated to fulfill its policing requirements.

As has been previously indicated in this House, the RCMP's Depot Division in Regina, Saskatchewan is training a record number of cadets this year. In comparison with the 586 newly hired RCMP members in 2001-02, the RCMP has hired well in excess of that number of regular members every year since: in 2002-03, 649; in 2003-04, 839; and a total of 850 regular members to be hired in 2004-05.

In addition, the RCMP is currently conducting a review of all recruiting processes to identify strategic improvements to its recruiting program to ensure that the RCMP continues to meet its law enforcement commitments.

There is strong public support from local and national public health and community safety organizations and workers for all aspects of the firearms program. This government is committed to providing the RCMP with the tools it needs to do their work. This speaks directly to the reference to the Canadian Firearms Registry. The registry is an important tool for the RCMP. It queries it on average 2,000 times a day.

The Canada Firearms Centre costs have been coming down for several years. In 2004 the government announced improvement to the firearms program and measures to control costs, with a commitment to the centre's annual funding of approximately $85 million starting next fiscal year, including a cap of $25 million on registration related costs. This is half of what the funding of the centre was in 2000-01. In fact, there have been major improvements in terms of the organization of the firearms centre and the firearms program in recent years.

In addition, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the Canadian Professional Police Association support the licensing of all firearms owners and the registering of all firearms. Indeed, the police association passed a motion in 2004 saying just that.

[Official Languages Act, February 17th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague has pointed out, the minister has said that she has no discretion as to who can access the compassionate benefits. The legislation, which is still relatively new an which passed by the House, clearly states that these benefits are open to eligible workers providing care or support to a gravely ill child, spouse or parent who has a significant risk of death.

As I have mentioned, it is still new legislation, but already an evaluation is being conducted and part of that evaluation will include an assessment of the adequacy and scope of the benefits prescribed in the legislation.

I repeat again, I feel strongly personally and as does the minister with respect to the case described by my colleague. He has done fine work on that behalf. We are dealing with a prescription of legislation.

[Official Languages Act, February 17th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada and the minister and I understand the distress experienced by anyone who has a family member with a serious illness, the sort of case described by my colleague. That is why we are committed to supporting working Canadians to ensure that they are not forced to choose between their jobs and caring for their family during a serious medical crisis.

It is for these very humanitarian reasons that the government introduced the compassionate care benefits program in the year 2004 to help Canadian workers faced by these situations, the program to which my colleague refers.

Research shows the vast majority of Canadians facing these types of crises are caring for a spouse, parent or child. These benefits ensure that eligible workers can take a temporary leave of absence from work to provide care or support for a gravely ill child, spouse or parent who are at a significant risk of death.

The six weeks of benefits can be shared among family members and can be taken consecutively, concurrently or one week at a time by family members over a 26 week period. This provides families with greater choice so that they will contribute to quality care of gravely ill Canadians.

The six week benefit was found to represent a balanced approach that would meet the needs of Canadian families and establish a sound foundation for the compassionate care benefits.

In determining an appropriate duration for the leave, a variety of evidence was examined, including medical evidence on the duration and cause of grave illnesses, as well as best practices in the public and private sectors.

However my colleague will be glad to know that an evaluation is being conducted in 2005-06 and part of this evaluation will include an assessment of the adequacy and scope of the benefits. As of December 31, 2004, 5,383 workers had filed a claim for compassionate care benefits, an average of 449 a month.

The Canada Labour Code and most provincial and territorial labour codes already provide job protection for workers in this type of situation. Even in those provinces that do not, workers can still receive the federal compassionate care benefit.

Employers recognize the importance of providing a balance between work and family. Of the firms surveyed on this question in 2001, 73% indicated that they did not have to change their practices or operations to accommodate the enhanced leave.

This is a relatively new benefit. It is too early to know if the initial pattern of demand will continue. As I said, we are working to ensure that Canadians are aware of the program. We will work in consultation with the health care community to ensure that patients and their families are aware of the compassionate care benefit, and aware that it is a resource that they can call on.

Evidence based analysis and ongoing monitoring and assessment will ensure the compassionate care benefit responds to the pressures faced by workers caring for a gravely ill family member, such as the tragic case mentioned by my colleague.

[Supply, February 17th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, with respect to my colleague's remarks, I suspect that anything can be a poison if it is taken at the wrong time, in the wrong place or in the wrong quantity. However he is talking about smog.

I am the member for Peterborough which is downwind of the general Toronto area. Many years ago, smog was a phenomenon of downtown Toronto. It no longer is. The air in downtown Toronto is quite clean. It moved out to the suburbs and for quite a long time there was smog in the suburbs. However, today in Ontario, where I live, on several occasions the peak smog, the peak pollution has been in Peterborough and villages like Omemee and Lakefield, places which perhaps my colleague does not know. These are tiny rural communities. One of the reasons for that is that we are downwind of Highway 401. Ground level ozone, which he mentioned and which he knows is a poison, now develops around our lakes where we have cottages and things of this type.

I know he is tied to the oil industry, but would it not be better environmentally and better economically for the oil industry, which he so well represents, to use oil as a base in the petrochemical industry rather than simply burning it and polluting the environment?