Charlie Angus

[Broadcasting Industry, March 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, as Canada's local television signals fade to black, the Conservative government is asleep on the couch. We have seen an unprecedented loss of local television coverage in communities like Ottawa, Victoria, Hamilton, Windsor, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Local broadcasters play a valuable role in our communities. They tell our stories. They build our identities. Their staff volunteer for charitable work.

These losses are not simply about economic restructuring. It is about a radical rewriting of the Canadian broadcast landscape and we are going to lose our local voices.

These losses are compounded by the long-term failure of media policy in this country. The government and the CRTC have allowed the consolidation of the media into fewer hands. They cannot sit back now and allow an economic meltdown to erase the final obligations for regional commitment to broadcasters.

It is time the government stood up for local broadcasters in our country.

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the documents completely contradict him. This issue is not about me. It is about children at risk in Attawapiskat who were involved in a project that was in an advanced state of negotiations when the minister killed it.

This House has seen a long litany of notorious pork-barrel ministers, but it has never seen a minister who would use his office to punish children in substandard schools for how their parents voted.

What steps will the government take to rein in that rogue minister so that accountability is based on health and safety and the rights of children and not on the gain of the Conservative Party of Canada?

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the President of the Treasury Board.

The allegations against the Department of Indian Affairs are very serious, because the documents are showing that they are identifying school priorities not on the issues of health and safety but on whether or not they are in opposition ridings. This would constitute a serious breach of public trust.

What steps will Treasury Board take to ensure that children who are at risk on isolated reserves are not penalized for the partisan political gain of the Conservative Party?

[Business of Supply, February 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I always love to hear my colleague from Cape Breton speak. Even though he is not always prepared, being a Cape Bretoner, he is ready to speak.

Being from Cape Breton, he has the smaller communities just like I have in northern Ontario. We know how these small communities have benefited from the gas tax. They are left out time and time again from the bigger infrastructure projects. They do not have a tax base to compete against bigger municipalities.

If this is an economic stimulus package, do we need to have, as the Conservatives are insinuating, proof of buy-ins so that the projects are worthy? Does he not think any small town in Cape Breton has enough infrastructure projects that if they were given the money immediately, just like any small community in northern Ontario, they would put it to good and immediate use rather than drag out—

[Business of Supply, February 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly support that. I would think though, if you check the record, Mr. Speaker, that the question of Mr. Magoo has been raised and it has been deemed appropriate because it is actually a term of endearment. It is not an attack.

Nonetheless I was interrupted, so I hope that does not take away from my time.

The question I am asking my hon. colleague is whether she is asking this House to believe that this money is going to move immediately because we have seen that it took them over a year to get the building Canada fund out? She tells us that she has talked to municipalities. All the municipalities we have spoken to say that this will slow down projects. It will not help the smaller communities that cannot meet their one-third--

[Business of Supply, February 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my colleague. I guess there is a fundamental problem with credibility here because we know that the present finance minister is pretty much the Mr. Magoo of the economic meltdown. First there was no recession, then we missed the recession, and then there was a technical recession. Now we are in a synchronized recession. All the way along, everything was fine. Now we hear the member telling us that the government is going to get the money out immediately when it took the government a year--

[Business of Supply, February 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague and I both share vast sections in northern Ontario and I think we understand the problems that many of our smaller communities are facing. In the past, when we have had these one-third, one-third, one-third programs, there were a few winners in every round and there were many losers. The backlog of infrastructure projects continued to grow, and especially the small communities tended to be left out.

What we are seeing with this announcement is that it is not an economic stimulus because it will be at least a year before the money flows. We saw that with the building Canada fund. Meanwhile, there are communities that are unable to access the money because they do not have the tax base to participate. It is a process that will create winners and losers, and that will happen right across Canada.

I think my hon. colleague would agree that in northern Ontario, especially with the aging populations and rural regions that we represent, our communities are going to suffer in some ways much more than larger areas that have the infrastructure dollars already and have the kind of tax base that can support this.

I would like to hear my hon. colleague's opinion on this.

[Business of Supply, February 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I was interested to read the Liberal motion today. Any criminal in this country would dream to have a parole officer like the Liberal Party. When it comes to holding the government to account, Liberal members once more brought their plastic bats in to do battle and then they will all go home. Meanwhile, the crisis in our communities across Canada continues. I am getting letters from communities in my riding asking how they can meet the requirements of the new funding model because they do not have the tax base in their communities.

The ability of many of these small and rural communities to raise taxes to meet their share is simply not possible. In the city of Sudbury, tax increases had to be turned down because of the downturn in the economy. The city could not meet its share. It is having to find other means.

However, much smaller communities are being heavily impacted and they are turning to us, believing that Parliament has to have a mechanism to allow small communities to meet the bar of this so-called stimulus package. Yet, it is clear it is not there. The government is really not all that fundamentally intent on getting the money out in any significant manner and it is setting the bar too high that it knows many municipalities cannot meet.

I would like to hear my hon. colleague's comments on that.

[Points of Order, February 25th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is an important clarification. I willingly accept that my hon. colleague is going to say what he is going to, but when he was asked to apologize, he said he would answer a factual question. I raised a question based on documents I received from his office. That is a factual question. It is a fair question, and the minister has to respond or withdraw the kind of--

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 25th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, that was absolutely shameless. He is trolling through reports.

Let us be very clear on their record. When the head of capital planning for Indian Affairs Canada was asked to provide an update on the schools in crisis and why they were not going ahead, he stated that there was no real reason holding up the money other than the fact that they were in opposition ridings.

It should not matter what ridings they were in. What should matter is that these were the most desperately poor substandard educational facilities in North America.

What steps will the minister take to take responsibility for the fact that he—