Ken Boshcoff

[Softwood Lumber, May 17th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, who does he think asked me to ask the question?

It is absolutely shameful that a Canadian company needs to sue its own government to protect our legal rights. The United States has not yet abandoned any of its litigation. Our industries are still paying $40 million a month in duties. Many are totally tapped out of capital financing and on the brink of bankruptcy. It is another stab in the back.

[Softwood Lumber, May 17th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, two major Canadian lumber industry groups have filed lawsuits against both the Government of Canada and the government of the United States. They state that the two governments are preventing Canadian private industry from finalizing the decision of the NAFTA panel that has found that Canadian softwood is not subsidized. That decision should be final and recognized. All duties which have been collected must be returned.

Why will the Prime Minister not stand up for Canadian companies and why did he give away what they had already won under NAFTA?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, May 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, if that is the hon. member's understanding of finance and history and he is in charge of the Treasury Board, that is like asking Colonel Sanders to take care of the chickens.

Clearly, history will prove that in 1993 the reason the child care program could not begin was because of the very sorry state of affairs the country had inherited. It took that many years to get out of that. The fact that we can get into a situation in our country where we are the leader of the G-7 is very significant.

For my riding, clearly child care spaces, which would have been created from the money that came from the federal government, is now being used by the provincial government to take care of the existing spaces for the next four years. It is essentially an uploading of that program.

Make no mistake about it, all municipalities are keenly aware of the hit they have taken in terms of early learning and care. They understand that those which had needs and backlogs which would have been addressed this year, in fact in January because the deal was signed, would have had those children in place. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and all people in every municipality understand what kind of hit they have taken.

In four years, after the money provinces are using to carry this through runs out and property taxes go up again, there is only one government that will take the full blame for hurting early learning and child care.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, May 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, in my address in terms of the implementation of the budget, I will show what will happen in northwestern Ontario, particularly in Thunder Bay—Rainy River. There should be several good things, and rightly so, as the government inherited one of the best financial situations of any provincial or federal government in recent memory.

Nonetheless, when we think about what is good, what is bad, what is missing or what the Conservative government has adopted in continuing previous government policies, the first thing that comes to mind is how offensive the raising of the income tax rate for the poor is. People all across the country are offended, hurt and indeed embarrassed by hurting the poorest classes.

The cancellation of the early learning and child care agreements in northwestern Ontario means the loss of 1,400 spaces that were desperately needed. Of course, Ontario and indeed all those provinces across the country that uploaded the child care support will now be facing the fact that they will have to download them again and raise property taxes in those municipalities. When that starts happening, people will really know the serious effect of this.

The slashing of the forestry agreement from $1.5 billion to $400 million is of concern to many northwestern Ontario companies that have been struggling over the past number of years, and in particular are paying the penalty of not having a chance to get that $1 billion of illegal duties paid back to them and only get 78% of that. For example, the Ontario industry has paid 12% of all the duty submitted and of that provincial portion northwestern Ontario companies have paid nearly 60% of that total. That is nearly $300 million out of the communities in and around my riding of Thunder Bay—Rainy River.

When asked about how good the softwood deal was, yes it has been rejected many, many times in the past number of years and indeed the reason the previous deal was never accepted is that it is not going to help us. For example, no money will likely be returned in less than nine months, but more important to the people of northwestern Ontario, the provincial and federal governments will not be permitted to change forestry policies in any manner that could be interpreted as assisting the forestry industries because of the terminology of the anti-circumvention measure. This means that for northwestern Ontario producers who are pushing for regional energy, as we call it, once that became implemented by the provincial government, an American company could simply overrule it and roll that back.

When we talk about the impact on tourism of the passport restrictions, there are no programs in the budget to assist border communities and no funding to educate Americans and Canadians about these changes. Indeed for communities such as Morson in my riding which depend heavily on tourism, because of the FedNor program we were recently able to expand cell tower and broadband services. This will greatly enhance tourism because tourists can use their cell phones and computers. But tourists will stop coming. That has already begun to happen and we have to be on full alert about this. Many people in the United States actually think that the passport requirement is a Canadian program. On top of all of this, significant progress had been made by American legislators, mayors and reeves of border communities, and the tourism industry, so we did not have to roll over on this one.

In terms of the Trans-Canada Highway, the previous agreement signed last year with the province of Ontario should allow us to continue with federal-provincial funding for a national highway program. We look forward to that.

In terms of agriculture, my riding has a considerable amount of agriculture as it spans a seven and a half hour drive over two time zones. The beef, dairy, and grains and oilseeds farmers are somewhat dismayed that they will get less this year than they did from the previous government. That is a concern for them, particularly when we know full well the impact on the grains and oilseeds right now during planting season.

I congratulate the government for continuing the FedNor program. I believe the Conservatives understand its value and I thank them very much for that. We hope that the program will also allow the people of the town of Fort Frances and the Rainy River district to benefit with the purchase of the privately owned bridge. With the FedNor contributions and the ministry of transport's assistance, we are looking forward to some kind of help for the town of Fort Frances.

From the health perspective, the regional cancer research centre has received support already from the municipality, the province and the private sector. All it is waiting for now is the federal contribution so hopefully that will come shortly. The minister is welcome to come to my riding and make that announcement at his convenience.

Environmentally there is a very high degree of awareness in Thunder Bay, very cost effective programs and a great deal of community buy-in. The loss of a program such as EcoSuperior was a dramatic hit. It was enlisting strong community based support for environmental programs and awareness.

When talking about the hopper car deal, the FRCC, the people of Thunder Bay, the port authority and I had been looking forward to an agreement. Now that the deal has been turned back to the railways, this will hurt all the communities along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, and particularly the port of Thunder Bay. That has been greeted with considerable dismay.

We are also concerned about the lack of identification of the continuance of regional programs for such organizations as the CBC. This would greatly take the pressure off that station which services an area larger than France and a couple of other European countries put together.

If we have a goal of becoming the most literate nation in the world, support for literacy programs is conspicuously absent in the budget, particularly support for aboriginal literacy. I am hoping that is perhaps a small print item that we will hear more about in the next little while.

Ridings such as mine have considerable distance and travel times. The Conservatives have previously campaigned on and made many overtures in the House about lowering gas prices. The fact that nothing has been mentioned about that has many of my constituents calling me. Even people who had supported that party in the last election have expressed considerable dismay and have referred to articles quoting the current Prime Minister and many members of that party about gasoline pricing.

The absence of mention of health care in the budget is something which many people have mentioned. If the government will be continuing the health care accord, then that is very significant. It would be an understanding that that was a significant achievement and that the current government understands how well the previous prime minister and former minister of health had done in bringing people together to come to an accord. It was historic and appreciated indeed by the whole nation.

I do not have time to dwell on many other topics, but there are some that I would like to mention. The government deserves credit for the apprenticeship programs for small business. If there are plans to build a prison for $500 million and $500 million worth of operating costs, please put one in my riding. We would be glad to take it.

When we talk about a budget we cannot just be negative and cynical. Every budget tries to put the government's best foot forward. I hope that I have identified some of the shortcomings, some of the good things, some of the things that are missing. I hope that members in the House today understand that when we make a point it is to try to make improvements. If there is a shortcoming, members should not get all defensive, negative and hostile. They should just know that someone is trying to make it better and I would ask hon. members to understand that.

[Canada-U.S. Border, May 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I asked a reasonable question and Canadians deserve reasonable answers. Please answer the question.

Why is nothing being done to help hard hit border communities? Time is running out. Tourism-based communities are running out of time and we really do need a clear direction from the government. Please, just answer the question.

[Canada-U.S. Border, May 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the United States is moving forward to implement the law that requires everyone crossing its borders to carry a passport. The legislation has the potential to cripple our tourism industry. Recently, both the ministers of foreign affairs and of public safety met with their American counterparts on this issue.

However, the recent federal budget gave no indication whatsoever of funding for programs to offset this serious challenge. Why has the Prime Minister refused to fight this and done absolutely nothing to lessen the huge negative impacts?

[Petitions, May 10th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, after meeting with the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association, it was encouraged that I would be presenting this petition on behalf of early learning and care for our young people. I am pleased to do that as the list grows and grows. Hundreds more people have been signing this petition on a regular basis, pleading with the government to please reconsider its position and help young people.

[Lakehead University Thunderwolves, May 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the members of the Lakehead University Thunderwolves, the 2006 Ontario University Athletic Men's Hockey champions.

Following their Queen's Cup win to become the central division champions, the Thunderwolves travelled to the CIS National University Championships in Edmonton where they fell one goal short of the national championship.

I offer my sincere congratulations to coach Pete Belliveau, captain Joel Scherban and the entire team and coaching staff.

In only five seasons, the Lakehead University Thunderwolves have risen to the top of the men's university hockey scene. In that short time they have set home game attendance records and have earned the support of all of northwestern Ontario.

I ask all members to join me in congratulating the Lakehead University Thunderwolves.

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member is aware, in the province of Ontario the social services boards essentially uploaded the cost of child services and child care back to the province. The province took the agreement it had last year and applied it over four years as opposed to creating spaces this year, which, in a three or four year process, will result probably in the downloading of services back to municipalities, thereby adding to the property tax base. That is quite unacceptable.

I have seen several other people from the municipal field who have essentially come to the House in another order of government, so there is a great deal of empathy for them.

The property taxpayers of Ontario will be the big victims of this. How will the government overcome that either this year, next year or in four years, once the money allocated to the provinces has expired?

[International Bridges and Tunnels Act, May 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I agree wholeheartedly with the questioner because it does make sense that we have those protections right in the bill. I must confess that my interest in this particular bill was to use that section in the hope that there would be some latitude for the town of Fort Frances that would actually allow the federal government to assist it. I can only agree to the nth agree with the hon. member's question.

Without elaborating on this part of the bill, it is so general that it may cause problems later on. In my case I am hoping that it will actually open the door so that the town of Fort Frances will get some assistance from the federal government and that we would find a way of financially going to the table to honour the request from northwestern Ontario for assistance.