Christian Ouellet

[Committees of the House, June 14th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the hon. member for Ottawa Centre on his excellent speech.

Nonetheless, I would like him to comment on the following: we are still talking about calls for tender, but I think there is a word missing. The important word being left out is “public”. We are talking about calls for public tender: these words go together. When a government, a public agency, goes to tender it is a call for public tenders. This means that documents are made available and that anyone can consult them and submit an offer, provided they include the required fee.

The hon. member is absolutely right about everything he said. Nonetheless, in his view, can the current process lead to a call for public tenders?

I would also like him to comment on what the governing party is saying. Earlier, we heard the excuse that things could not be discussed in public, because they were working on an agreement. Since they were working on an agreement, they could not discuss it publicly.

That strikes me as wrong. When there is a call for public tenders, documents are made available and things are prepared well in advance. I totally agree with that.

I would also like my colleague to address the preliminary steps: establish the need, which is public; establish who will be the key players; establish who will do what. Every aspect—the key players, the engineers, those who will build the building or renovate it if it already exists—requires a call for tenders.

Could my colleague comment on this?

[Committees of the House, June 14th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I commend the member for Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques for her excellent speech.

For a government, everything is based of the tendering process. I have worked long enough in that kind of structure to know that, when there is no tendering for the big picture and for the smallest details of these projects, costs rise astronomically.

With my colleague, I would like to look at the alternative to tendering. What would it be? Traditionally, it is always the tendering process that ensures that we can maintain our prices. What might happen in the case where there was no tendering? How could we control prices?

[Committees of the House, June 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the hon. member for Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière that I too come from a riding that has dairy farms. Some of these milk processing farms are currently on the brink of declaring bankruptcy because they are going through extremely tough times. When he says this will be done in the near future—his words—he is not being sensitive to the producers who are currently losing their farms because milk proteins continue to flow into Canada.

I would like to ask the hon. member why we cannot use article XXVIII to change things when all the other countries are doing so at the WTO. The United States are currently challenging WTO clauses. Why is the hon. member so determined for us not to talk about because negotiations are underway? When there are negotiations at the WTO, it is vital that the House know what the government wants to do.

[Homelessness, June 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, groups that assist the homeless are waiting impatiently to find out what the government's position is on federal funding for the Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative, which expires on March 31, 2007. This is a major source of funding that the homeless cannot live without.

The program will end in nine months. Can the Prime Minister tell the poorest and least fortunate whether or not he will extend the SCPI program beyond March 31, 2007?

[Criminal Code, June 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, is the Minister of Health not somewhat naive in believing a law will solve the problem of gangs?

It is true that we had problems with gangs in Quebec. He mentioned it earlier. However, we solved them without enacting a law. Since we succeeded without the proposed legislation, what is the usefulness of this law?

He gives us examples of carnage in Toronto. Can he promise us today that there will be no more carnage in the streets because of his very effective law?

He speaks of weapons smuggled into Canada. It would be better to talk about establishing a police force to patrol the entire border rather than banning weapons and imposing longer sentences.

My question for the minister is as follows: does he believe that he can really reduce the crime rate simply by increasing sentences? Is this not 17th-century thinking?

[Committees of the House, June 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine for his very clear explanation of the problem.

I would like to say that we are also talking about a loss of community culture and a loss of revenue. This revenue, which comes from fishing, tourism and even light cabotage, must not be considered as a straight loss, but as a loss for the government.

Repairing these harbours is not an act of charity. When we invest in an industry, when we help a business get back on its feet, when things go well, the federal government also gets something out of it in taxes.

I would like the member for Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine to explain how the government is not throwing away money by investing in these harbours.

[Spa Eastman, June 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Jocelyna Dubuc founded the first spa in Quebec in my riding 30 years ago. Over the years, her establishment has become a beacon to tourism and healing in Quebec.

Spa Eastman takes it name from the picturesque village where Orford mountain shows the profile of the man of the east. This spa is on the historic Diligences road, which linked Montreal to Boston.

Ms. Dubuc continues to be the guiding spirit of this marvellous haven of regeneration that attracts people the world over.

On May 26, Ms. Dubuc received the 2006 tourism personality award from the Government of Quebec.

Today she is on Parliament Hill and she will be the only Quebec finalist to be inducted in the Tourism Hall of Fame this afternoon.

The Bloc Québécois commends her and congratulates her on this accomplishment.

[Business of Supply, June 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague for his excellent presentation on the price of oil.

I would like to add that it is a moral duty for all governments to determine how oil companies are making such enormous profits. This is nothing new. It is not something we are asking of the government and that has never been done. In 1960, OPEC began looking after the interests of its member countries. This is not a recent event. Black gold is synonymous with very large profits for certain companies.

Do the profits of companies established in Canada remain in Canada? I would like my colleague to answer this question. Unfortunately, I am pretty certain that most of the profits do not remain in Canada and do not benefit Canadians. If these profits contributed to development, to the overall Canadian economy, they could still be acceptable. But that is not even the case.

It is vital that we examine how the government could limit these huge profits so that wealth could be redistributed, particularly among the most disadvantaged in our society who must pay. I understand that there is a world price for oil, but we must at least benefit in some way. What are my colleague's thoughts on how we could keep part of these huge oil profits in Canada?

[Criminal Code, May 31st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague from Hochelaga for his very clear speech.

I would just like to ask him the following question: Does he know, or has he considered what will happen the day we have to incarcerate more people, more youths and more women? Why more women? Allow me to explain.

In my former life—I have been around for a while—I was an architect and I designed prisons. At the time, there was no talk of remission of sentence. Judges offered convicted individuals the option of serving their time on weekends only, so that women in particular could stay home and look after their children during the week.

Then what happened? We had to create huge spaces, almost as big as this one, to house all of the people who served their time on weekends. This way of doing things was very costly for prisons, because the facilities were not used during the week.

Will the hon. member for Hochelaga share his thoughts on the relationships youths and women establish and maintain in prison? We know how and where groups of friends develop. I would like to know whether he thinks that in this type of situation, groups of friends develop that are not necessarily desirable.

[Criminal Code, May 29th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague gave a very interesting and very detailed statistical picture, and I congratulate him.

He raised a basic question: the link between poverty and crime.

This government is preparing to spend money on measures that will change how Canada deals with crime. These measures will cost more because there will be more people in prison and therefore there will be more prisons. I feel that this money could be put to better use in fighting poverty.

I therefore ask my colleague from Scarborough—Rouge River whether, with his statistics or data, he could help us understand how poverty could be reduced, whether through social housing or initiatives that get people off the streets or programs that give youth gangs the chance to play sports.