Herb Dhaliwal

[The Environment, March 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, last night, the Minister of the Environment and I attended the sixth annual leadership awards ceremony of Canada's Climate Change Voluntary Challenge and Registry. This year's awards went to 22 Canadian companies, education institutions and individuals from across the country. For example, ALPAC, Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc., the winner of the forest products award, reduced its emissions by over 36% since 1994 through innovative practices, such as the commencement of new forests by planting hybrid poplars on agricultural land.

[Agriculture, February 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we are not withdrawing programs. In fact, we have a new framework to improve the programs. We are having a transition period to move from the current programs to the better, more improved programs to provide better protection. The transition period will be over the next three years. The hon. member should take that into consideration when she asks her question.

[Agriculture, February 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food announced a program worth $5.3 billion to help farmers across this country.

This is the amount of money we have provided to support farmers. The Alliance Party members said that farmers should not be provided with support and that they should not be subsidized. They should stand up and congratulate the good work that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has been doing for many years.

[The Environment, February 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, we agree with the principles outlined in the Cartagena biosafety agreement. We must ensure that we consult with farmers and have their views. Nothing has changed. We are also working on a bilateral agreement so that we can ensure that we comply with those principles.

I am sure the hon. member will want to ensure that we take into consideration the views and concerns of farmers, and that we continue to work with them. We very much support the principles outlined in Cartagena and our position has not changed.

[The Environment, February 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the government is looking at the Cartagena agreement. At this time we are working with farmers who have certain concerns. We want to ensure that we make a well informed decision, and work with the stakeholders and farmers of this country. We are working at other ways to ensure we comply with the principles of that agreement and we will continue to work in that way.

[Softwood Lumber, February 25th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we have always said that we will be looking at other programs if we do not get an agreement, but we need to make sure we let the process work. We have made a huge commitment, both in phase one and in phase two, of $350 million. That is a huge commitment by the government to support industry, to support workers, and to make sure we have research and development. We look for new markets around the world.

We will continue to monitor the situation. If more needs to be done, members can be assured that we will make sure we do it.

[Softwood Lumber, February 25th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the government announced close to $350 million for research and development, looking for new markets and making sure we help those communities that are hurt. We have also said we would monitor the situation very closely and if additional programs are required, we would look at it.

What we should do is let the process work. We have had discussions. We hope we can get back to the table. It is very important to make sure we resolve this issue and that is where our efforts are.

We have come a long way in supporting communities and we will continue to monitor. If more needs to be done, we will do it.

[The Environment, February 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we are doing a lot of those things already in terms of promoting renewable energy.

The hon. member should congratulate the government for spending $260 million to promote wind energy and to make sure that we look at all sorts of renewable energy. Our climate change fund of $1.6 billion is exactly the type of thing the member is talking about.

I thank the member for his support. We will continue to work on this to make sure that we tap all the renewable energy and make sure we do things to protect our climate.

[Oil and Gas Industry, January 31st, 2003]

In fact, Mr. Speaker, those in the oil and gas industry are not eligible for the recent reduction in the corporate taxes that we introduced. Every other industry has and they have made representations saying that they should also be able to get a reduction on their corporate taxes, from 28% to the 23%, to which we are now moving.

The hon. member, if she would do her research, would actually understand that the oil and gas, and mining industries actually have not benefited from the tax reductions announced--

[Oil and Gas Industry, January 31st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we believe that we need a dynamic industry and we are working with it to ensure that happens. We think that a strong industry is very important for energy and for our exports.

We export $58 billion. That helps Canada. As a federal government we get $9 billion of revenue. Is the hon. member saying that we should not be collecting that? Is the hon. member saying that we should not have a competitive industry because if she is, then she is wrong.