Gerald Keddy

[Committees of the House, May 29th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans on the main estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008.

[Interparliamentary Delegations, May 29th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the annual visit by the co-chairs of the Canada-Japan Inter-Parliamentary Group, held in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Miyajima, Japan, from March 10-16, 2007.

[The Environment, May 9th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday our government announced a major step forward in efforts to ensure that Canadians have clean water and that our oceans and lakes are protected. We announced consolidated national regulations for pollution from ships, which will apply to all boats in all waters in Canada.

Could the Minister of Transport tell the House how these regulations will benefit Canadians and how the government is taking action against marine pollution?

[Senate Appointment Consultations Act, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the debate over the Senate is certainly getting vigorous. I listened to the hon. member as closely as I could. I did not want to listen too closely because I know that tomorrow he will have a totally different story on a totally different subject, and the next day it will be whatever direction the political wind is blowing.

I have a serious question for the hon. member for Malpeque. We have to look at Senate reform. We know what the challenges are with the Constitution. The reality is that it is going to be extremely difficult to reform the Senate. However, would the member for Malpeque consider an even Senate?

Never mind the difficulty of getting there with 10 senators, one from each province. Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and New Brunswick have a certain advantage now, but what would be wrong with equal representation for all provinces in the Senate? In reality, what would be wrong with that?

[Senate Appointment Consultations Act, May 7th, 2007]

That has a lot to do with it, Wayne.

[Lloyd Crouse, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great Lunenburg native, a great Nova Scotian and an honourable member of this place for 32 years, the Hon. Lloyd Crouse.

Lloyd Crouse was first elected to Queens--Lunenburg in 1957 during the Diefenbaker sweep and was re-elected 10 times, serving the riding for a total of 32 years.

Prior to politics, Lloyd Crouse ran a fishery business, and the fishery was always near and dear to his heart.

Lloyd Crouse had an outstanding career. He was a pilot in World War II. He was a member of the House of Commons and was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council. He served Nova Scotia as Lieutenant Governor from 1989 to 1994 and was the third ever recipient of the Order of Nova Scotia in 2002.

To Lloyd's family and his wife Marion, we offer our sincere condolences. Lloyd was both a dedicated politician and a dedicated family man. He was greatly respected and will be greatly missed.

[Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand today in the House and speak about a Canadian organization which has developed a domestic and international reputation as the centre of excellence in international affairs, the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre.

I listened to the member for West Nova, but I am not quite sure what he was speaking about. I think it was partially about the things that he participated in and now, as a member of the official opposition, wished he had not participated in. I am talking about allowing the ferry from St. John's to Digby to be divested to a private organization. I am talking about the wharf in Digby being divested to a private organization. I am talking about a continual lessening of funding dollars for the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre under the previous government.

I am not sure if the member said anything of relevance about the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, but he did say a number of things about a lot of other issues that he was directly involved in, such as the icebreakers that were scheduled under a previous Liberal government in 1999 being moved to Newfoundland in 2008-09 also alluded to by the member from Dartmouth. I really question how he can rewrite history because the member represented that area when the cuts were made. Now all of a sudden he takes history out of context. It is really mind boggling.

Let me get back to the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. Created in 1994, the centre has built a global reputation in research, training and capacity building for peacekeeping. The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre was born in the tumultuous period in the wake of the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War. The war in the Balkans was raging and increasing demands were being made on peacekeepers. The increasing demands were not just in the numbers of peacekeeping troops required, but also in the complexity of the peacekeeping challenge.

Peacekeeping was no longer a matter of observing a ceasefire across no man's land. It now required the involvement of soldiers, police officers, and an array of civilian officials such as diplomats, corrections officers, judges and lawyers, and human rights and elections monitors to stabilize and reconstruct war-torn societies. Modern conflict resolution also now involves addressing humanitarian issues and failed civil societies through the intervention of international and non-governmental organizations.

The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre led the way in developing the now internationally accepted integrated multi-disciplinary approach to conflict resolution and post-conflict stabilization and reconstruction.

Let me give the House a sample of the impressive international reach and scope of the work of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. NATO is a huge player in international peace operations. It contributes troops and expertise to the peace operations in Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as to the international security assistance force in Afghanistan where Canada is significantly involved. NATO gets its peace operations training from the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre.

The Pearson exercise training unit in Nova Scotia regularly trains two NATO rapid deployment corps headquarters, the German-Netherlands corps and the NATO rapid deployment corps-Turkey. These are big, well resourced organizations and it a testament to the professionalism of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre team that they source their peace operations training from this Canadian organization.

The European Union is playing an increasingly important role in contributing to peace operations, for example, in the Balkans and in Africa. The EU has contracted the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre to conduct the certification exercise for the deployment of the EU battle group headquarters, which is on standby for deployment to Darfur.

In July the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre has been contracted to conduct validation exercises for the doctrine supporting an initiative to eliminate child soldiers. This event will be conducted in Ghana, Africa, a continent where children have been the tragic victims of armed conflict due to child recruiting.

In February, the Pearson Centre, with federal government assistant, conducted a conference in Brasilia on developing an integrated approach to the critical Haiti peace operation called MINUSTAH. Brazil was a major contributor of troops to MINUSTAH and Canada has some 80 to 100 Canadian police officers serving, as well as corrections officers to bring stability to that troubled country.

The Pearson Centre took the initiative to partner with Brazil and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs to bring together government ministers and officials, UN headquarters officers and MINUSTAH officials.

All concerned expressed their satisfaction with the outcomes. Most noteworthy was the statement by the Haitian minister that in his experience it was a useful opportunity for the Haitian government to interact with MINUSTAH officials and other stakeholders to discuss the country's future.

I also want to say a word about the scope of the impact that the Pearson Centre has within Canada, something in which the hon. member for West Nova might actually be interested.

It is of note that as we speak the Pearson Centre is conducting a round table on United Nations peacekeeping doctrine, which is drawing to Ottawa UN officials, peacekeeping petitioners, government officials from foreign affairs, national defence, CIDA and other departments, as well as academics and eminent Canadians in the peacekeeping world. Doctrine development is an important dimension of UN peacekeeping reform.

In March of this year, at the Canadian War Museum, and again with federal government assistance, the Pearson Centre conducted a model mission of a typical UN peace operation. The event served to introduce some 130 university students from across Canada to the complexities of the processes and the diversity of the players in modern UN peace operations.

Eminent Canadian peacekeeper, General Lewis MacKenzie, was the lead participant. The event was highly successful and the centre is considering repeating the event to reach even more students.

I trust that in the last few minutes I have been able to give members some idea of why I am honoured to speak on the subject of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. It is an exciting and innovative Canadian institution that is doing important work and is directly relevant to Canada's foreign policy priorities. Its work resonates with Canadians who are interested in Canada's place in the world.

[Green Party Leader, May 2nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the Green Party leader still does not get it. Elizabeth May will not offer a clear apology for her irresponsible comparison of Canadian public policy to Chamberlain's appeasement.

Ed Morgan, President of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said, “Elizabeth May shows insensitivity to context and history”, but no apology by May.

Frank Diamant of B'nai Brith Canada said, “The evoking of the Nazi era by the Green Party leader in order to score political points is insensitive to those who lived through this dark time”, and still no apology by May.

The Liberal member for London North Centre called her comments “beyond the pale”, and still no apology by May.

Liberal Senator Tommy Banks said, “Ms. May's comments were a bit over the top, if not a lot over the top”, and still no apology by May.

Since the Green Party leader will not apologize or withdraw her comments, will the Liberal leader withdraw his endorsement of her candidacy in Central Nova?

[Committees of the House, April 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, entitled, “Ensuring a Sustainable and Humane Seal Harvest”. I would note that the report is a unanimous one, supported by all the parties on the fisheries committee.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to the report.

[Fisheries and Oceans, April 24th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal and NDP opponents of the new fisheries act have been touring Atlantic Canada, intentionally fearmongering. They say that the new act will prevent fishers from transferring their licences.

Could the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans assure hard-working fishers that the existing process for transferring their licences will remain absolutely 100% unchanged in the new fisheries act?