Antoine Dubé

[World Trade Organization, November 5th, 2001]

Mr. Chairman, I listened to the remarks made earlier by the parliamentary secretary and the Minister for International Trade. I am concerned about what the parliamentary secretary said because, when the member for Rimouski--Neigette-et-la Mitis asked a question about maintaining the supply management system in the dairy industry, the minister said clearly that the system would be maintained.

Now the member is talking about agricultural trade reform that would be based on liberalization, and it worries me. That is why I want to give him the opportunity to set things straight, if possible, given the position that the Minister for International Trade seemed to favour earlier.

I would remind him that this issue is extremely important to Quebecers. Our province has about 2,200 dairy farms that produce 3 billion litres of milk a year. The supply management system has worked well. If we compare it to the free market system in place in the United States, we can see that the latter causes prices to increase. Some producers are smothered by certain situations. That is when integrators come into play and, ultimately, it is the consumer who pays the price.

I would like to give the member the opportunity to indicate whether he agrees with what the Minister for International Trade said earlier about maintaining the supply management system for dairy producers in Quebec and Canada.

[World Trade Organization, November 5th, 2001]

No, to importing.

[World Trade Organization, November 5th, 2001]

Mr. Chairman, the Minister for International Trade said that he did not want to negotiate on issues related to health and education. I was less impressed when, instead of giving as his reason the fact that health and education are under provincial jurisdiction, he said that we had to remain open to the possibility of importing when it comes to health and education.

I would like him to assure me that, for the right reason, he does not intend on negotiating on behalf of Quebec, particularly on matters of education and health.

[Cable Public Affairs Channel, November 2nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, since 1992 the Cable Public Affairs Channel, or CPAC, has made it possible for the public to follow the debates of the House of Commons.

Since it has a public mandate, CPAC's licence includes a requirement to reflect the linguistic duality of Canada, to present a balance between the various points of view and to represent the variety of regional opinions.

Even though 8.6 million homes can receive this channel, many communities in which there are sizeable French language minorities do not yet have access to CPAC programming in French.

As well, CPAC recently stopped the simultaneous interpretation of its prime time programming. Hence, production and distribution of its programming is therefore essentially in English.

The Bloc Quebecois demands that distribution of the CPAC service be regulated by the CRTC in order to ensure equality of access in both official languages.

[Prebudget Consultation, November 1st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I too would like to congratulate the member for Drummond on the work she does in finance.

Last week I went with her to visit a business in her riding, as I was on my way back to Lévis. I heard from a number of people in her riding who commented on the member's effectiveness and assistance to the businesses in her riding, which until recently had a low rate of unemployment. Despite that, she is especially dedicated.

In her remarks she spoke of support for business. Despite the dynamism of business since the attacks of September 11, some industries have been affected, such as aviation and tourism. I know many people visit Drummondville to see the heritage village and to take part in the festival. These organizations are having difficulty at the moment.

I have a question for my colleague on help to small and medium sized businesses, which create 80% of jobs in Quebec. Could she talk about these measures a little?

[Prebudget Consultation, November 1st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, there is one issue that is very important to the Bloc Quebecois and that is employment insurance.

I would like the member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot to tell us if he has any suggestions for the program. I believe he does and I would like to give him the opportunity to expand on this topic.

[Prebudget Consultation, November 1st, 2001]

I want to congratulate the hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot on his speech. I think he ran out of time and would have wanted to talk longer.

He raised this, but I wonder if he could give us his opinion on the whole issue of reapportioning the tax base. As we know, in Quebec a commission on fiscal imbalance is examining this matter. I wonder if my colleague could tell us more about this.

[UNICEF Day, October 31st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, through the eyes of a child we see the beauty of the world. Unfortunately, at the moment the eyes of children reveal the misery and suffering they are growing up in.

In order to fight this sad state of affairs, people are putting their heart and soul into coming to their aid. This is what UNICEF does. Founded in 1946 and now established in 162 countries, areas and territories, the organization is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

On this UNICEF Day, and especially on Halloween when thousands of children come by with their collection box, we invite everyone to pay tribute to all the children of the world by giving generously to support the efforts of UNICEF.

[Export Development Act, October 30th, 2001]

Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the hon. member for Burnaby—Douglas for his speech. His concerns for human rights date back many years. He addressed a number of points in his speech.

Before asking my question, I would like to make some comments. I represent the riding of Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, a riding in which is located a company called Davie Industries. Despite a bankruptcy last Wednesday, there is an economic recovery project under way.

When the Minister for International Trade is questioned about projects submitted to the EDC, he or his assistants always reply “We cannot speak of them, because that is a crown corporation”. They are, when it comes down to it, merely required to table an annual report in the House. There is always the aspect of confidentiality. When the hon. member refers to the access to information aspect, I find it vital to democracy for people to be kept informed.

In closing, let us recall that Davie did eventually obtain something from the EDC, the famous Spirit of Columbus platform, after two years, when the work on it was completely done. Examination of the project took two years. I assumed that they were probably busy looking at the human rights aspect, and if it respected the environment, and the like.

Finally, I realized that was not the case. It is even worse with the changes. The corporation is not even subject to the international treaties Canada has signed. This is inconceivable. There is nothing in writing. The amendment proposed by the hon. member for Joliette was refused. So there is still the matter of transparency, environmental problems and the like.

I would ask the hon. member, with his lengthy parliamentary experience, he who says he does not understand how the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade could have changed its mind in its report, what in his opinion are the possible responses he has in mind that would cast some light on it for me, with my lesser experience in foreign trade. In my opinion, it is inconceivable. The government will not give us a reply on this.

What, according to him, are the reasons the government side is behaving in this way, doing such an about turn in its position?

In the space of only a few months, the committee members changed their position, surely under someone's influence. I would like to hear some hypotheses from him on this.

[Supply, October 29th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, concerning the last words of the government House leader, I think that he was absolutely right when he said that it was a matter of rights. Rights, duties and responsibilities go hand in hand. That is why I was drawingattention to some clauses in the United Nations charter of rights.

However, I want simply to reply by saying that, when I made the comparison I was merely referring to what I and most of the members were hearing when we went back to our ridings on the weekends. It was the conclusion that I drew from what these people told me during the weekend when they said that we have to give as much importance to humanitarian aid as to the means necessary to ensure the security of Canadians and Quebecers.

Meanwhile, what should be considered now is the possibility of making a financial contribution together with sending a military force to punish the suspected terrorists. I think we have to put the matter back into its context.

I am very happy the government House leader, now that he is aware of the issue, has thought it was sufficiently important to intervene personally in the debate, which is not his custom. I want to thank him for that and it bodes very well for tomorrow evening's vote. I hope he will persuade all the other hon. members who are a little less aware of the issue to vote in favour of the motion of the hon. member for Lac-Saint-Jean--Saguenay.