House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was saskatchewan.

Last in Parliament October 2019, as Independent MP for Regina—Lewvan (Saskatchewan)

Won his last election, in 2015, with 35% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Business of Supply October 19th, 2017

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague, the member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou.

When we think of forestry, Saskatchewan is not necessarily the first province to come to mind. However, the northern half of our province is almost completely forested, as is very well represented on our provincial flag. My grandfather, Mike Kalmakoff, was the general manager of the Saskatchewan Timber Board under the government of Premier Tommy Douglas. The goal of that provincial timber board was to get the best possible price for Saskatchewan's resource and also to encourage processing in the province, such as sawmills and also the development of a pulp mill.

I would like to talk about the importance of forestry to Canada in terms of those same two concepts, collecting revenue for the people who own the resource and also encouraging processing activity and the good jobs associated with that.

Under the first point of revenues from forestry, provincial governments charge stumpage fees for the timber. Of course the systems vary a bit from province to province. It is subject to provincial jurisdiction. However, certainly as Canadians, we would want to be collecting the best possible return for this resource. Stumpage fees are also at the heart of the current softwood lumber trade dispute. The American allegation is that Canadian stumpage fees are too low, that they are below the market value of the timber, and that they are an unfair subsidy to our industry.

Anytime this has been adjudicated by an international trade tribunal, Canada has won. Canada needs to be prepared to stand up to the United States on this issue. It was disappointing when the former Conservative government capitulated to the United States after all these tribunals victories.

However, the bigger point I want to make is that the reason we should want to optimize our stumpage fees is not actually to make the Americans happy in a trade dispute. First and foremost, the reason to ensure we have the best possible system of stumpage fees is to ensure that the Canadians who own the resource are getting the best possible return on it.

A side benefit of doing that might be to satisfy the Americans, although it is not clear the Americans will ever be totally satisfied. They probably have a desire to try to protect their own industry regardless of what Canada does.

Our first goal should be to ensure we collect as much revenue as possible from this resource that belongs to Canadian citizens through our provincial governments. Different provinces have tried different things in this area. Some have better systems than others. The federal government definitely needs to respect provincial jurisdiction.

We also need to recognize that having stumpage fees in provincial jurisdictions creates the risk of competition between the provinces and a race to the bottom on stumpage fees, where provinces are giving away their timber at lower and lower prices to try to attract investment away from other provinces. Inn the end, this does not increase the total pool of investment. It simply shifts investments and jobs around between provinces, ultimately leaving all provinces with less revenue from that economic activity.

There is a role for the federal government to try to coordinate between the provinces to maintain stumpage fees at some sort of reasonable level, and to try to discourage this sort of race to the bottom among provincial governments. There is a constructive role for the federal government to play in ensuring that all Canadians, regardless of which province they live in, derive the greatest possible revenue from our timber resources.

The second thing I want to talk about is the benefit we derive from forestry, not simply as revenue but also through processing that timber into lumber or into pulp and paper products. This is a major contribution to Canada's manufacturing sector as well. It is worth recognizing that it is a particularly important contribution to many forestry communities. There are many rural communities where the forest industry accounts for a majority of the local economy.

Therefore, it is important nationally but it is really important locally in some instances, and we need to have policies in place that encourage the processing of timber in Canada.

One major problem has been raw log exports, timber being taken out of our country in raw form, processed offshore and then maybe sold back to us as a finished product. To some extent, provincial governments can address this by putting processing requirements on the timber at source. The Government of B.C. had not been doing this. I am optimistic that now we have a progressive government in power in B.C., it will start requiring more and better processing of timber and that this problem may be resolved.

However, another aspect of this whole question of raw log exports, which is very relevant to us at the federal level, is the environmental question. Clearly, it is not very good for the environment to be shipping raw logs across the ocean, processing them in China or in some other offshore jurisdiction with lower environmental standards, and then using a bunch more energy to ship them back to North America as finished products. This obviously is increasing greenhouse gas emissions and worsening climate change. One of the potential unintended consequences of the federal government requiring a carbon price in all provinces would be to create a further incentive for that processing activity to happen in some other jurisdiction that fails to price carbon.

Fortunately, there is a policy solution to this problem, and that is for the federal government to also extend its carbon price to the carbon content of imports from countries that do not have carbon pricing and rebate it on Canadian exports. Right now, sawmills and pulp mills in Canada will have to pay a carbon price. That does create an incentive for them to reduce their emissions. The problem is that lumber or paper products coming in from the United States, or from China or from other jurisdictions will not be paying that same carbon price. However, the federal government has jurisdiction over international trade and the federal government can and should apply that same carbon price to the carbon content of these products coming into our country.

Of course, our forestry industry is not just about serving the Canadian market; it is also an important export industry. Therefore, another aspect of the border adjustment I am talking about would be for the federal government to rebate that carbon price on exports from Canada to ensure our forest products are competitive and have a level playing field when they are sold in other parts of the world.

Ensuring that the federal government's carbon price is adjusted at the border would allow us to use it as a tool to reduce emissions in Canada, while at the same time ensuring it would not create an incentive for industry, including the processing of timber, to simply relocate to other jurisdictions that fail to put a price on emissions.

We have seen a major challenge with raw log exports. That challenge could actually be aggravated by putting a price on carbon in Canada that may not exist in other jurisdictions. The federal government can and should solve that problem by extending its carbon price to the carbon content of imports and rebate it on exports. This is a solution that would allow us to ensure that carbon pricing reduces emissions in Canada, without pushing jobs and pushing industry outside of the country.

What have I talked about today? Forestry is an extremely important industry to Canada. One aspect of that is collecting revenue from our timber resources. This is done through provincial stumpage fees. The federal government can and should play a role in coordinating between provinces to ensure there is no race to the bottom, to ensure that all provinces are collecting the best possible return from their forest resources.

Second, we have talked about encouraging the manufacturing and processing of timber in Canada. There are things that can and will be done at the provincial level to require processing. The federal government also needs to ensure that its carbon pricing system does not create an incentive for that processing to leave the country and apply the carbon price fairly at the border.

Business of Supply October 19th, 2017

Madam Speaker, we all knew that the softwood lumber agreement was set to expire in October 2015, so it is certainly reasonable to criticize the Liberal government for failing to negotiate a new agreement in the two years since then. However, I would like to ask my colleague why the former Conservative government did not negotiate a new agreement before leaving office.

Public Services and Procurement October 17th, 2017

Mr. Speaker, it has been a year since the current government's self-imposed deadline to fix the Phoenix boondoggle came and went. Last weekend, when asked for a new deadline, the Treasury Board president said, “I could pull a figure out of the air and give it to you, but I'd rather tell the truth.”

Of course, the truth is that the government does not have a plan to fix Phoenix. Therefore, my question for the minister is simple. We know you do not have a plan to fix Phoenix, but when will you have a plan to have a plan?

Federal Sustainable Development Act October 6th, 2017

Mr. Speaker, the member for Abbotsford repeatedly stated that the government's proposed tax reforms for private corporations would result in a tax rate of 73%, but repetition is not a form of evidence. Could the member for Abbotsford explain for this House under what circumstances an incorporated Canadian would pay a tax rate of 73%?

Canada Post October 5th, 2017

Mr. Speaker, I really do want to thank the member across the way for his kind words. However, I do have to say that his suggestion that the government has kept its commitment to put a moratorium on community mailboxes is not very reassuring. In fact, the Liberal Party committed to much more than that. It committed to returning to door-to-door delivery. Liberal members of the government operations committee also recommended that. Therefore, we need to see the government actually move forward on that commitment.

We did not hear a clear statement from the parliamentary secretary on putting the Canada Post pension plan on a going-concern basis, like the pension plan of the rest of the federal public service. Also, we have really not heard a lot of specifics about what new business lines the government sees Canada Post taking on, particularly given that the Liberals seemed to have ruled out postal banking, which I would suggest was the most—

Canada Post October 5th, 2017

Mr. Speaker, at the end of last week I asked when the government would respond to the report on the future of Canada Post that our government operations committee tabled in the House more than nine months ago. What I would like to do this evening is to discuss three key elements of the report that I believe the government needs to address.

The first point is the Liberal election promise to restore door-to-door mail delivery. This was a key promise in the Liberal platform. When this issue came up at our committee, the Liberal members of the committee were only willing to recommend restoring door-to-door mail delivery in neighbourhoods that had lost it after the last federal election campaign began, meaning after August 3, 2015. In the NDP's view, that falls a little short of what was promised during the election. Nonetheless, it would be a big step in the right direction of ensuring that Canadians enjoy a service that is available in the rest of the industrialized world, and that is particularly important to seniors and people with mobility impairments.

We have heard nothing from the government on this since the election, nor have we heard anything since our report.

It has been brought to my attention that in various places in Regina, Canada Post has established new community mailboxes in neighbourhoods that still have door-to-door delivery. Ostensibly, they are to provide service to businesses or multi-unit buildings. However, it seems that in some cases these community box installations are far larger than warranted by the number of businesses nearby, which makes citizens wonder whether Canada Post management might still be committed to the idea of converting neighbourhoods away from door-to-door service to community boxes. Therefore, we need clarity from the government on that point.

The second point I want to mention is about the Canada Post pension plan. There is a notion that Canada Post has this huge unfunded pension liability and cannot do anything about it. The government has used that justification to demand concessions from employees. However, the whole reason for this perceived pension deficit is that Canada Post is required to value its pension on a solvency basis, which really does not make sense for a public enterprise. The federal public service has its pensions valued on a going-concern basis. If Canada Post did the same, it would not have this pension deficit, which is exactly what our committee recommended.

The third point is about new business lines for Canada Post. There has been a decline in the volume of letter mail, which has not quite been made up by the increase in parcel service. We need to get Canada Post into new areas of business to make good use of its infrastructure across the country. Our committee recommended that, and we need to hear a response on it from the government.

Infrastructure October 2nd, 2017

Mr. Speaker, it was a big weekend. Saturday was National Seniors Day and Sunday was pretty exciting too.

However, the Saskatchewan Party's elimination of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company stranded many seniors, leaving them without transport to medical appointments and family gatherings. This is unacceptable.

Will the Liberal government make some of its transit infrastructure fund available to restore needed bus service between Saskatchewan's towns and cities?

Canada Post September 29th, 2017

Madam Speaker, the new Minister of Public Services and Procurement has yet to agree to appear before the government operations committee.

As vice-chair of that committee, I am wondering when the government will respond to the all-party report we tabled more than nine months ago, calling on Canada Post to restore door-to-door mail delivery, or should Canadians instead write “return to sender” on the Liberal platform as broken promises pile up faster than junk mail around a community mailbox?

Oceans Act September 29th, 2017

Madam Speaker, could the member tell us what percentage of Canada's ocean area warrants protection? It is currently only around 1%. By comparison, in the United States and Australia, it is more than 30%.

Oceans Act September 29th, 2017

Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciate that my colleague from Barrie—Innisfil was not a member of the former Conservative government. However, I note that government protected only 1% of Canada's oceans in these marine protected areas. Does the member believe that is adequate?