Guy St-Julien

[Budget Implementation Act, 2001, February 7th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise on Bill C-49, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on December 10, 2001.

I could mention all of the ridings one by one to show that my own riding covers an area of 802,000 square kilometres, compared to some other ridings with an area of only 10 to 14 square kilometres. Coming back to the bill, I intend to criticize it. And if I intend to mention all of the ridings one by one, I am sure, Mr. Speaker, that you will stop me once I get to the opposition ridings.

I will be speaking on behalf of taxpayers of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik and certain regions of Quebec. Even though I represent a very remote area of Quebec, if members take a close look at the bill, in particular from page 70 on, they will see that we are being penalized in terms of air security fees charged in airports. There is no problem in major centres, but if members look at the list of airports on page 70, they will see that some are located in remote areas.

On January 30, the Liberal member for Nunavut asked a question to the Minister of Finance, and I quote:

How will the Minister of Finance protect northerners from these added costs? Is he prepared to reconsider the charges in the North?

The Minister gave an excellent answer. In the second paragraph of his answer, he stated, and I quote:

In that context, I am very pleased to confirm that the charge will not be applied to direct flights to or from the smaller and remote airports that make up the vast majority of the airports in the North.

[Young Offenders, February 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-7 on Canada's young offenders was passed, following an amendment proposed by the Senate regarding sentencing for aboriginal offenders.

The Liberal Minister of Justice and member for Outremont stated that once it receives royal assent, this bill will provide all of the flexibility required to allow Quebec to maintain its own system, which emphasizes rehabilitation rather than incarceration.

Only 19 Bloc Quebecois members out of 38 voted against the bill. I repeat, only 19 of the 38 Bloc Quebecois members voted against the bill.

[Cirque du Monde, January 31st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the Cirque du Monde, a subsidiary of the Cirque du Soleil, will be in Purvirnituq and in Inukjuak, Nunavik, in March 2002.

The Cirque de Monde is a program introduced by the Cirque du Soleil with the co-operation of the Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau-Québec, the Caisse d'économie des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec and the Kativik school board.

The aim of the Cirque du Monde is to help young people between the ages of 15 and 24 develop their self-esteem, and thus prevent, among other things, youth suicide and violence. It is not professional training as such.

Currently, there are 35 similar programs sponsored by the Cirque du Soleil under way in 18 different countries. The Cirque du Soleil invests 1% of the revenue from its annual ticket sales in its social action programs. This represents a considerable sum of money.

The director of these programs, Paul Laporte, maintains that these projects have a long term impact on communities, because the projects started by the Cirque du Soleil can be kept going for many years.

[*Question No. 82—, January 30th, 2002]

Can Natural Resources Canada provide a breakdown by province of each of the department's votes in the 2001-02 Supplementary Estimates (A), for each of the following industrial sectors: ( a ) energy; ( b ) forests; ( c ) minerals; ( d ) metals; and ( e ) geomatics?

[*Question No. 81—, January 30th, 2002]

Can Natural Resources Canada provide a breakdown by province of each of the department's votes in the 2001-02 Main Estimates, for each of the following industrial sectors: ( a ) energy; ( b ) forests; ( c ) minerals; ( d ) metals; and ( e ) geomatics?

[Mining, December 14th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the McWatters mining company of Val-d'Or filed its official plan of arrangement to restructure and reorganize its debt, liabilities and capital.

This plan will allow the company to attain long term financial stability. All involved stakeholders will benefit from the plan's implementation.

The company's president, Claire Derome, stated that “For the region of Val-d'Or, this is an exceptional opportunity both for employees and for the community to allow McWatters to gradually recover its role as a major contributor to the local economy. In the coming years, the number of people employed by McWatters will rise from the current level of 157, to more than 320 employees in 2004”.

After reading the plan, I am convinced that with its new partner Soquem, and financial assistance from the governments of Canada and Quebec, McWatters will receive a vote of confidence on January 23, 2002 to resume operations at the Sigma-Lamaque complex in 2002.

[Nuclear Fuel Waste Act, December 14th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am very happy to see that the Bloc Quebecois member has finally recognized my presence in the House just before Christmas.

[Remote Regions, December 12th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, according to an article by Hélène Baril that appeared in La Presse on December 9, 2001, Professor Fernand Martin of the University of Montreal believes that remote regions and the rest of the country are definitely not on the same wavelength.

The resource rich regions supply the big cities. Wood from the regions provides work for people in the cities: 67% of the secondary processing of wood is done in Montreal.

Savings from the remote regions are invested in large part in the big cities. The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec gets $20 million from Abitibi-Témiscamingue and invests none of it there. The Fonds de solidarité of the FTQ gets $14 million in savings, and it invests barely $1 million there.

There is still a future in the remote regions and this future can be found in the quality of life and pure air of Canada's north.

[Question No. 80—, December 10th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a comment and ask a question.

First, I would like to thank the Liberal member for Pickering—Ajax—Uxbridge for his skill and hard work. We are aware of the fact that he has been working in the field of competition for several years now. He is the driving force behind this bill and numerous reforms of the Competition Act in general.

Will Canadian consumers be well served by these changes? Could the Liberal member give us his thoughts on gas prices in Canada today?

[Dairy Industry, December 4th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian dairy industry has just won an important victory.

The WTO has reversed a decision made earlier this year by a special panel of that body which, as the result of a complaint by the United States and New Zealand, held that Canada was subsidizing its dairy exports.

This decision, according to some, posed a long term threat to the entire system of supply management so dear to agriculture.

The Minister for International Trade and Liberal member for Papineau—Saint-Denis had no qualms about calling this a victory, saying “This decision is very favourable to Canada, which will be able to continue exporting its dairy products”.

I thank the dairy industry and the producers and processors who joined with the Government of Canada in presenting a solid case and bringing about this success.

I thank them for their work.