Julian Reed

[Canada Foundation For Sustainable Development Technology Act, February 19th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to add a little correction to my friend's comments about MMT.

I was very closely involved with that legislation. The member has led us to believe that some U.S. states still outlaw MMT. In fact the U.S. supreme court overruled the EPA about a year and a half ago, making MMT legal in any state where the refiners still want it. I wanted to make that correction.

The legislation is incredibly timely when we hear reports continually about global warming and the fact that it is accelerating to a degree we did not imagine even six months ago. The challenge is how to deal with it and properly address it.

The government has introduced the bill on sustainable development technology to try to address it. It has proposed that a board be set up to look at proposals on new technologies and hopefully to assist in their development.

I heard my hon. friend say that the people making the proposals should come directly to government. I may have misunderstood what he said, but I think he said that government itself should intervene with the developers rather than an arm's length organization. Perhaps I was wrong.

I have another question for the member. Why does he say that $100 million is not enough? It may not be enough and may be a fraction of what is needed but what amount would the member suggest? Would he suggest we get into the dozens of billions of dollars? Does he have some foundation to put an accurate figure to the question?

[Crime Prevention, September 22nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada has recently reported that the national crime rate was down 5% in 1999. That makes it now eight consecutive years that the national crime rate has gone down. In fact, Canada's crime rate is at its lowest level in 20 years.

The numbers released earlier this year for youth crime were headed in the same direction, down. Youth crime was down for the seventh year in a row.

We are pleased that crime is declining but we are not satisfied. The Liberal government continues to commit $32 million a year to the National Strategy on Community Safety and Crime Prevention in order to prevent crime and attack its root causes.

We are supporting communities large and small in developing projects on the ground to prevent crime where we live. It is only when we achieve safe communities and a sense of security that Canadians can focus on their larger hopes and dreams.

[Petitions, June 14th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, in the second petition the petitioners call upon parliament to enact legislation to establish an independent governing body to develop, implement and enforce uniform and mandatory mammography quality assurance and quality control standards in Canada.

[Petitions, June 14th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to present two petitions. In the first one the petitioners urge parliament to fulfil the 1989 promise to end child poverty by the year 2000.

[Division No. 1280, May 8th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, there has been a lot of debate about Bill C-11 that did not focus on Bill C-11, but on the fairness of the $111 million human resource package that was announced in January 1999.

This funding was announced for a workforce adjustment program to deal with the loss of jobs associated with the closure of the failing mine. Unfortunately, the failing mine closed last September, about one year earlier than planned.

I think it is important that the House understand the status of this issue so that we can move on to deal with the issues surrounding Bill C-11 and the sale of Devco's assets.

In January 2000 Devco and its four unions agreed to form a joint planning committee, as per part III of the Canada Labour Code. Devco and the unions are continuing to follow the process as outlined in the labour code for resolving the workforce adjustment issues.

Recently this process led to the appointment of an arbitrator. Devco and its unions have agreed to a process to deal with the labour issues. The decision of the arbitrator will be final and binding on all parties. There is a process to deal with the labour issue.

Through a lot of effort, interest has been identified in Devco's assets. We are now at a stage where we should move forward with the process of considering Bill C-11. Now is the time to move the bill to the committee stage so that it can be examined in more detail.

The sales process announced by the government in January 1999 and initiated by the Cape Breton Development Corporation is at a stage where the private sector has come forward with definitive proposals for Devco's assets. Devco has a real opportunity to move its operations to the private sector and the step that is required by the House is to move forward with Bill C-11.

During this debate I have heard a lot of support for privatization from both sides of the House. It is important that we seize the opportunity to enable a private sector operator to acquire Devco's mining assets so that jobs can be maintained in coal mining. With the progress that Devco has made and the investments that prospective purchasers have made in carrying out their due diligence, time has now become of the essence in terms of moving forward with this bill.

The sale process will involve substantially all of Devco's assets. Subsection 90, part II of the Financial Administration Act stipulates that no crown corporation shall sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its assets unless authorized by an act of parliament. That is the reason for Bill C-11.

In addition to obtaining the authority to sell substantially all of Devco's assets, the bill will provide for the winding up of the affairs of the corporation and its eventual dissolution; provide for legal proceedings against Devco to be brought against the crown; maintain the general advantage of the Canada clause of the existing Cape Breton Development Corporation Act, thereby ensuring that the Canada Labour Code will apply to a private sector purchaser, and amend the Cape Breton Development Corporation Act to remove provisions that are no longer applicable.

This is a relatively simple straightforward bill. The first five clauses of the bill are the divestiture and dissolution authorization. Most of these clauses are standard for this type of legislation.

Next is a series of amendments to the Cape Breton Development Corporation Act that are of a housekeeping nature that reduces the number of directors on the board. Finally, there are consequential amendments to other acts.

It is now time to study these aspects of the bill in committee.

[Modernization Of Benefits And Obligations Act, April 11th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Lethbridge early in his speech raised the cost issue. He said that one of the issues involved in this bill was cost.

I wonder how he squares that with the fact that everyone in Canada is a taxpayer, whether or not they live in a same sex relationship, an opposite sex relationship, whether they live alone or whatever.

How does he square that with the fact that people who are being addressed in this bill are taxpayers? Why would he continue to want to discriminate against them?

[The Budget, March 27th, 2000]

Which ones are not deductible?

[The Budget, March 27th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, I was a farmer. It was a non-profit business but it did not start out that way. I have great sympathy for farmers in western Canada and what they are going through. I am not an accountant, but if I were an accountant at tax time, it would seem to me that the taxes farmers pay are input costs that are deductible.

[The Budget, March 27th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, the citizens of the great riding of Halton are the people who donate the money. We have the honour of having one of the highest per household incomes and therefore the highest levels of taxation in Canada. I talk to the people every election time.

[The Budget, March 27th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, I remind my hon. friend about the millennium scholarship fund which is designed to assist students to go to university, especially those who come from families with lower incomes. I am very sympathetic to the real problem the member raised. We are certainly doing everything we can within the limits of the available funding. As the Minister of Finance said, as soon as we can do more we will.