Bill Casey

[Question No. 166, September 26th, 2005]

With regard to the December 22, 2000 announcement by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada that a new federal multi-tenant government building, to replace the Dominion Building, would be constructed in Charlottetown and ready for occupancy by fall 2005: ( a ) how much did Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) pay for the lands and building where this proposed building will be constructed; ( b ) what was the name of the company or individual who sold the lands and building to the government; ( c ) what was the original cost for the construction of this new government building, including those estimates which were based on plans that included a parking garage, and the subsequent plan with no parking garage; ( d ) what was the market value of said lands at the time of purchase; ( e ) when the government prepared the land for construction of this new building, what procedures were undertaken to clean and/or remediate the soils found on-site; ( f ) in regards to question (e) were any of the soils found to be contaminated in any way; ( g ) in regards to question (f) if the soils were found to be contaminated in any way, were any of the soils removed or taken off-site for burial, storage or remediation; ( h ) what are the final locations for any contaminated soils taken from this construction site; ( i ) if no removal occurred, were the soils left on-site; ( j ) what reasons or explanations have officials from PWGSC given to the municipal council of Charlottetown in regards to the revision of construction plans not to include a parking garage; ( k ) in regards to question (j), once the new building is complete and ready to accept tenants what is the plan to accommodate those employees who will be driving to work and will need parking; ( l ) what is the new timetable for construction for the new building, based on the difficulties experienced by PWGSC in the tendering and re-tendering process; ( m ) what is the estimate of PWGSC on how many construction workers are to be employed at this construction site and for how long; ( n ) in regards to the tendering and re-tendering processes, what are the names of the companies that submitted a bid for this project; ( o ) in regards to question (n), what were the bid amounts submitted, by company, for this project; ( p ) has the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada ever held meetings with the Members of Parliament from Prince Edward Island in regards to the construction of this new government building; and ( q ) in regards to question (p) if meetings were held, what concerns were raised by the Liberal Members of Parliament in regards to this construction project?

(Return tabled)

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to Make Certain Payments, June 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise on this question that was raised a few days ago. I raised the question of the closure of the Nappan Experimental Farm and also the farm at Kentville. Based on documents we received through access to information, even the one at Bouctouche is now a potential victim.

Earlier today I spoke to the former manager of the Nappan Experimental Farm, a really well respected gentleman by the name of Frank Calder. He served there for decades. He was well respected. He ran a great operation. The farm provided services to the agricultural and farming community for years.

I asked him about this whole thing. He is now retired. He said that what the government is doing in moving all this research to universities and laboratories cannot work. This is the manager of the Nappan Experimental Farm talking. He was very clear. He said that we must have the fields and have the cattle in the fields. We must be able to raise them from birth to slaughter. We must be able to judge them and grade them and follow them every single step of the way. We cannot do that in a laboratory.

That is exactly what the Department of Agriculture is proposing to do with the closure of the Nappan Experimental Farm and, speculatively, the closure of Kentville and Bouctouche and so many other experimental farms.

Mr. Calder was very helpful in this debate. I am so lucky to have so much help from people like Mr. Calder. Even his son, Paul Calder, a very well respected RCMP officer now in the town of Amherst, has been very active in this.

Mr. Speaker will remember very clearly that today I tabled a petition of 2,667 names, including those of MLAs from the province of Nova Scotia. Almost 30 MLAs, including Premier John Hamm, signed this petition asking the government to maintain the facility at Nappan. It was signed by many MPs, including the hon. Minister of Human Resources. All the MPs in Nova Scotia signed, the Conservative MPs and the NDP MPs; the Liberals were not able to sign it and I can understand that because it is a government policy to close these farms. In any case, this petition had wide support. Even the warden for Cumberland County, the very distinguished Keith Hunter, signed it.

It has been an incredible effort by the Cumberland County Federation of Agriculture and their president Frank Foster, their secretary Marilyn Carter, and board members like Leon Smith, Carl Woodworth and Kurt Sherman. There has been such an effort to try to stop the government from making this terrible mistake of closing down this farm and losing this tremendous asset forever.

I asked a question about this. Let me quote the minister's answer from Hansard . Incredibly, he said:

The minister in this particular case has made a commitment there will be no diminishment of the research capacity in the province.

That turns out to be not quite true, because in seven or eight places in the access to information papers that I have received it is noted that the government is going to move the research out of the province. I will read to members from these documents. Research on 4-H diets and meat quality currently at Nappan could move to Lacombe, Alberta. The government is spending $7 million there to upgrade it.

At another place in the documents it is stated:

Nappan is one of the four original experimental farms created by legislation in the 1880s. Research here could be shifted to Lacombe, Alberta.

It also states that the beef research from Nappan would move to the University of Guelph at New Liskeard. On and on it goes, talking about how the government is going to shift research out of the province.

It states about Kentville that the research site at Kentville would be phased out and the facility donated. The food quality safety program would be moved to Charlottetown, horticulture would be moved to Quebec and plant breeding would just simply end.

This answer the government gave about how there will be no diminishment in scientific research for agriculture is absolutely 100% wrong. It is misleading and it is harmful to the whole agricultural industry when the government gives us this wrong information. This is the information it is using to justify closing Nappan. I would like to know how the government can give us this wrong information and I would like the government to correct it.

[Petitions, June 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a very substantial petition with 2,667 names on it. The signatures were gathered by the Cumberland County Federation of Agriculture in support of keeping the Nappan Experimental Farm open. The petition is signed by 30 MLAs, including Premier Hamm, many MPs, including the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, Warden Keith Hunter, and many other concerned people.

It demands that the government keep the Nappan farm open and for once support agriculture in Nova Scotia, keep the beef research and maintain this as a federal operation.

[Public Service Employment Act, June 22nd, 2005]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-417, An Act to amend the Public Service Employment Act and the Public Service Employment Act enacted by section 12 of chapter 22 of the Statutes of Canada, 2003 (area of selection).

Mr. Speaker, I want to introduce my private member's bill, which is seconded by the member for Blackstrap. We want to stop the offensive practice of the Government of Canada's only hiring people for Ottawa jobs from people with postal codes in the immediate area of Ottawa. This restricts hundreds of people across the country, everywhere from Truro, Nova Scotia to Coquitlam, B.C. from applying for these jobs, even though they are fully qualified.

It sounds like a third world policy when a country says that the citizens of the country cannot even apply for a job in their own national capital.

If this bill passes, we will resolve that problem once and for all, that practice of discrimination by postal code.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to Make Certain Payments, June 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I disagree with him wholeheartedly. There is a plan to close these facilities. Now maybe they will not go through with it after we have raised it, but there is a plan.

First, the plan says that in Nova Scotia, “The field site at Nappan would not be needed and would be divested by 2006”. That is a plan and it is happening. They have already fired the people so they cannot say it is a figment of someone's imagination. They cannot say it is just a memo. It has happened.

Step two is to close the Kentville facility, but on another page it says, “the Nappan closure would initiate the Department of Agriculture's implementation of the science strategy. Further site closures and staff reductions are planned under the strategy”.

I am tired of the Liberals saying that there is no plan to close these plants because there is. The parliamentary secretary has said that they do not want to spend the money on facilities, but yet there is a plan to spend $232 million on new facilities in places like Ottawa, $75 million and Saint-Hyacinthe, $60 million, so--

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to Make Certain Payments, June 21st, 2005]

Madam Speaker, I want to ask the very distinguished member for Central Nova a couple of questions about agriculture and what impact Bill C-48 would have on it.

There is not a word about agriculture in Bill C-48. It has not been mentioned at a time when farmers are hurting the most. In the province of Nova Scotia, in which the member and I share ridings, farmers are the part of our society who are hurting the most and facing the most challenges. Some of them are faced with losing their farms, losing their incomes, losing their profession and losing their homes, and yet there is not a word in Bill C-48 about agriculture.

To make it worse, it has been announced that the Nappan Experimental Farm in my area, which farmers depend on for science and research on our unique soils and terrain, et cetera, will be closed. We have also learned that the government is planning to close the experimental farm in Kentville.

I wonder if the member could speak a bit to that and tell us what he thinks should be in Bill C-48 to help farmers and to help agriculture.

[Question No. 152, June 21st, 2005]

With regard to those fatal and serious automobile accidents in Canada between 1995 and 2005, where alcohol or “driving under the influence” was a factor in these accidents: ( a ) how many conditional releases have been granted by the government to individuals who have caused serious or fatal automobile accidents while driving under the influence of alcohol, (i) by province, (ii) by age demographic, (iii) by gender, and (iv) by year; ( b ) is the Department of Justice considering, or will it consider reducing the legal alcohol content of blood from 0.8% to 0.5% so that there can be a further reduction of the fatality rates in Canada; and ( c ) is the Department of Justice considering the impounding of vehicles from those individuals found to be driving under the influence of alcohol?

[Agriculture, June 20th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, it is not a memo, it is not a notice and it is not a recommendation, because recommendation number one for Nova Scotia is to close Nappan and step two is to close Kentville.

The Liberals have already announced they are closing Nappan. They cannot say it is a memo and they are not paying any attention to it.

Another answer we always get is that they say they want to put money into research and not into facilities, but this document says they are putting $232 million into new buildings across the country. In Nova Scotia, they are just closing both farms.

[Agriculture, June 20th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the agriculture science strategy received under access to information last week says at eight different places that when Nappan and Kentville experimental farms close, research will be moved to other provinces.

Why did the President of the Treasury Board tell the House on Friday that there would be no diminishing of research in Nova Scotia when the plan says that both farms in Nova Scotia are going to close?

[Question No. 149, June 17th, 2005]

With respect to rail passengers communicating with the Canadian Transportation Agency regarding improvements to the Renaissance rail cars, owned and operated by VIA Rail Canada, how many: ( a ) from all parts of Canada, have concerns regarding limited amounts of space aboard the Renaissance rail car; ( b ) have originated from Atlantic Canada and travel on the Halifax to Montreal rail line; ( c ) have noted concerns about the purchase of a rail car designed for European rail networks being used on the Canadian rail network; and ( d ) are senior citizens?