Gord Brown

[Foreign Affairs, October 18th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is reported that Chinese border guards fired on a group of about 70 unarmed Tibetans who were attempting to cross the border from China into Nepal. A 17-year-old nun was killed. The guards also reportedly took some Tibetans into custody, mostly children aged six to eight.

Could the Minister of Foreign Affairs tell the House what representation has been made to the Chinese government and what measures are being taken to have these children returned to their families?

[Volunteerism, June 14th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, on May 27, six students turned the sod in front of community supporters of the Thousand Islands Secondary School community track project in Brockville in my riding of Leeds--Grenville. The track will be a one-of-a-kind venue. It will enable TISS to host high level meets and major competitions.

The fundraising committee surpassed its original goal to raise a million dollars by better than 20%. To be thanked especially are David and Ann Beatty, Don and Shirley Green, DLK Insurance Brokers, Jan Shroy of Procter & Gamble, Burnbrae Farms, and the Upper Canada District School Board.

This project has been a terrific example of a community coming together to deliver a project that is both worthwhile and needed. I salute the group of volunteers, led by co-chairs Mary Jean McFall and Steve Clark, as well as principal Arlie Kirkland, who worked tirelessly to bring this project together.

[Business of Supply, May 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I did not catch all of the question from the hon. member for Ottawa—Vanier but we are in favour of continued support and working with the CBC to ensure that it does serve Canadians.

The fact is that much of this motion will stagnate culture in our country. We cannot support the motion because it does not allow for that innovation. Had it allowed for that, obviously we would have had much more ability to support it.

[Business of Supply, May 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that Quebec did not want that power. We heard the Bloc and the Liberals say that they do not support Quebec having a role at UNESCO.

[Business of Supply, May 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question because it goes to the heart of what the CBC is about, which is the stories in terms of television and radio. It has some excellent programming that otherwise would not be told. Extending the service to some of the more remote parts of Canada would definitely be an important part of that mandate.

I sat on the heritage committee last year and we heard from the president and various vice-presidents of the CBC a number of times. We asked them how much money they would need to improve the service but they could not really tell us. They obviously wanted more money but we needed to review it. That is an important part of where we go with the CBC and this government is committed to reviewing that.

Studies have been undertaken in the past but I do not think the CBC is serving Canadians as well as it might. We should get to the heart of what it should be doing, defining its role and ensuring it can do it well, and doing exactly what the hon. member on the other side is talking about.

[Business of Supply, May 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to rise in the House today to address the issues raised in the motion now before us.

I sat here through most of the day and listened with interest to the many points the member for Ottawa--Vanier and his colleagues opposite have made. They told interesting stories and raised lots of red herrings, but I would like to get to the key issues that the motion raises.

I think those issues are simple. On one side we have the member for Ottawa-Vanier who believes in the old policy framework: old ideas from a generation of Liberal rule. There is nothing new in this document. In fact, it is all about rejecting the new and the innovative. It seeks to deny the government the tools it needs to build new policy and programs. It seeks to keep Canadian culture safe in its little corner. The member wants our culture to stagnate.

The government rejects those arguments. We are committed to generating new ideas that will allow Canadian culture to compete in the new media order. In the digitally wired world we need new policies and new programs to encourage our artists. The government is committed to making Canada's artistic and cultural sector more successful and more vibrant. We will not be satisfied with the status quo when there is so much more to do. The member's vision is locked in the past.

I listened to the success stories by the members opposite and I applaud our artists for them, but I do not want to stand in the House in five years and hear the same stories being told again. I want to stand in this place and hear stories of bigger successes.

Let me speak for a moment about what the government has already done. In the budget there were two major moves that would affect the arts. The first one is traditional. We provided $50 million in new funding for the Canada Council for the Arts and the money will go to artists and no doubt it will bear fruit. I hope the member opposite will join me in applauding that commitment. The government received very good media for that move.

However, there was another initiative that did not get as much media ink. We made a tax change which means donations of publicly traded stocks will no longer be subjected to capital gains tax; tax changes that will have a significant impact on theatres like the Thousand Island Playhouse in my home town of Gananoque in my riding of Leeds--Grenville.

I am sure the members opposite are shaking their heads. This is not the sort of move that the hon. member's motion even bothers to mention. Perhaps many are wondering what good some arcane tax change will do. Let me say that one change has already brought in an estimated $60 million to arts organizations. Perhaps I should pause and repeat that figure: $60 million in the few short weeks since the budget. In case some members need to be reminded, that is $10 million more than the investment in the Canada Council for the Arts.

What hon. members may ask is, what is the likely bottom line on this move? In one year it is estimated that this simple tax change will generate between $300 million and $500 million more in donations to worthy organizations and none of it is tax dollars.

The government thinks that leveraging private money is both more innovative and more responsible than just spending. That is what I would call innovation. That is what I would call creating imaginative new policy tools. This is really going to help. That is what I would call responsible stewardship of public money.

Unfortunately, this is the sort of move that the member's motion would tend to discourage. It would tie the government to an old framework, the old status quo. Let me say it again, the old status quo is not good enough. We want to ensure money gets to our artists. We do not want our artists to remain dependent on government handouts. We do not want to support a huge cultural bureaucracy.

Canadians elected this government to deliver more and we will. All of my hon. colleagues would like to see policies in place that guarantee that Canada has a vibrant cultural landscape and that Canadian voices and music are heard and Canadian art is seen.

I say to the House, do not support a motion which seeks to deny the government flexibility in developing policies to support and nurture our cultural industries. The members on this side of the House support UNESCO and the convention on the protection and promotion of diversity of cultural expressions.

In fact, it was this government and this Prime Minister who made the historic move of allowing Quebec a presence at UNESCO. The Bloc and the Liberals both opposed the move to give Quebec an international role and to work cooperatively with the federal government.

This is the sort of imaginative and innovative policy the government has to be free to follow. On this side of the House we support our artistic communities and cultural industries. In fact, we believe in strengthening the opportunities for these sectors both at home and internationally.

In many cases, the existing programs and policies are already out of step with the new realities of the cultural world. Experts tell us that the pace of change will only increase.

For that reason, we will need to develop and implement new policies. I believe the government can make things better. In order to support the artistic and cultural sector in Canada, we need to move forward recognizing the realities of the new world. We can strengthen the confidence of all Canadians giving them more than the old platitudes and rhetoric.

We on this side have always supported and continue to support Canadian content on our airwaves, in our broadcasts and across our cultural and artistic sector. What I cannot support is the suggestion that we need to maintain our roles as is. This is a recipe for Canada's artists to be bypassed by a world when direct downloading, file sharing and other new technologies make the old boundaries unsure.

We are committed to creating policies that will allow Canadians to take the lead in the new technologies and not get left behind. Regulation is only part of the story. We also need to address the programs that support Canadian culture and artists. The government is committed to working with artists and creators to ensure that the money we spend to support them goes to the people who need it.

Our government is implementing solutions, not just talking about them and not simple maintaining the status quo. The government is committed to ensuring we can improve Canadian access to the airwaves in the 21st century. We have to ask ourselves how Canadian content rules are affected by radio, over the Internet, direct downloads of television programming or the many other technical changes that are coming.

As the realities of these industries change we must examine and change our policies. The status quo is not good enough. We will build on our past successes. The government's vision is of a Canadian cultural community that grows and that does not rest on its laurels.

Maintaining current restrictions on foreign ownership in the cultural sector does not allow us the flexibility that may be needed in the new media world to take advantage of the opportunities presented by new technologies.

There have been calls for changes to the existing foreign ownership restrictions in broadcasting, particularly for cable and satellite service providers. The best way to ensure that there is Canadian content on the airwaves is not only through regulation, although regulation has its part, it is through ensuring there is a vital broadcasting system.

The government believes in finding a place for Canadian voices on the airwaves and we believe that those voices must be heard but there is also a place for healthy competition on the airwaves. We do not believe in monopolies. We believe in necessary government regulation but we do not believe all regulation is a good thing.

We want to encourage Canadian talent so that it wins a place on the world's airwaves. We will invest in artists to ensure they can reach a level of excellence that sees the world coming to our doors and to their doors.

We on this side support long term stable funding for the CBC. We believe that the CBC has to be relevant for Canadians. Our public broadcaster faces some fundamental challenges. I learned a lot about those challenges when I sat on the heritage committee in the 38th Parliament. These challenges have worsened by 13 years of cuts and neglect by the party opposite. The CBC will remain Canada's public broadcaster but it must cease to drift and it must plan ahead. We will ensure that will happen in cooperation with the industry and with the public.

I again thank the member for Ottawa—Vanier for presenting the motion. The debate has been very interesting and informative for all of us and for all Canadians. It has only made me more sure that the motion would lead to stagnation for Canada's arts.

We on this side have a new vision. We support our artists. We want artists to succeed. We will act rather than talk. We will innovate rather than accept that things cannot get better. That is why I cannot support the motion.

[Agriculture, May 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the cooperative system is a fundamental element of the Canadian rural landscape on which farmers rely.

Could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food tell the House what the government will do to promote the sustainability of the cooperative system in the agriculture sector?

[Federal Accountability Act, April 27th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, there is a reason that we had a Gomery inquiry. We are debating this bill today because secret political contributions were made and documented in the province of Quebec. Brown envelopes bursting with cash were handed over under restaurant tables. The party that was named in the Gomery inquiry is the Liberal Party.

That is what the bill is all about, to put an end to that type of contribution. The bill will ensure that no longer will there be that type of contribution.

[Federal Accountability Act, April 27th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that for so many years it was who one knew in the PMO. That is why the government is bringing forth this bill as the first act of this new Parliament to clean up government.

Canadians have been asking this for so long. As I said in my presentation, in 2004 the people of my riding of Leeds--Grenville voted for that change and they are so happy that now this government is now in place to bring the bill forward. This will go a long way toward cleaning up government and Canadians are behind it.

I urge the hon. member to get behind the bill, so that we can get it through Parliament as quickly as possible and clean up government. Canadians will once again have confidence in their country and their government.

[Federal Accountability Act, April 27th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to talk about some of the aspects of our new government's accountability bill. Before I begin, I want to say how proud I am that Canadians chose our government to turn over a new leaf and make government work for the people instead of the other way around.

Hard-working people in my riding of Leeds--Grenville have been concerned for many years about the direction being taken by the federal government. They saw that the country needed change and they voted for that change in 2004. In January of this year they welcomed the news that the rest of Canada, in many other ridings, recognized the same problems that they had recognized for many years.

The federal accountability bill is about fixing a system that the people of Leeds--Grenville knew was broken. It is part of the response that the people in my riding expected from their new government and I know that they stand behind it.

The bill is about strengthening and streamlining how government works, and to the joy of the people of Leeds--Grenville it is about making government more effective and more accountable. This bill begins to deliver on a promise that we made during the election campaign. The government is taking action to earn back the trust of Canadians.

The bill is about moving from a culture of entitlement to a culture of accountability. It is about making everyone in government, from the Prime Minister on down to elected members of Parliament, answerable to Canadians.

Bill C-2 is about letting Canadians know that their hard earned tax dollars are being spent properly and wisely. There is probably nothing that infuriates the taxpayers of my riding more than the belief that their tax dollars, the money that they work so hard for and then give willingly to the government as their due for living and working in this great country, are being misspent.

Changes for Canadians in the bill include: reducing the opportunity to exert influence with money by banning corporate, union and large personal political contributions; giving Canadians confidence that lobbying is done ethically with a five year lobbying ban on former ministers, their aids and senior public servants; by ensuring people who see problems in government are allowed to speak up by providing real protection for whistleblowers; and by ensuring Canadians know how their money is spent by enhancing the powers of the Auditor General to follow the money trail.

The government's proposals are not just being laid out like a skeleton on a table to be picked at and rearranged. I am pleased to see that my colleague, the President of the Treasury Board, put some meat on the bones when he tabled this bill by including an action plan that gives clear explanations and clear directions.

I mentioned earlier that nothing infuriates people in my riding more than not knowing what is happening with their tax dollars. Over the past number of years they have been as concerned as many others in this country about the amount of taxes that they pay compared with the federal surplus, which is large and growing. They have been most concerned by the federal government's practice of not being clear about the size of that surplus or what was being done with the money.

One of the keys to the federal accountability bill is the truth in budgeting provision and I want to spend the rest of my time talking about that aspect of the legislation.

Improving the transparency and credibility of the government's fiscal forecasting and budget planning process will help make it more accountable to Parliament and Canadians. No longer will the people in my riding pick up a newspaper one month and find that there is a $1.9 billion surplus and then a few months later turn around and find it was $9.1 billion. That is great that we had more money; however, we need to have truth in knowing how much money we have in order to make proper plans on how those tax dollars will be spent.

Truth in budgeting is very important for all parliamentarians and all Canadians. Parliamentary committees must have access to independent and objective analysis and advice on economic and fiscal issues. Committee members cannot review their committee estimates and listen to witnesses and make valuable judgments if they do not have accurate information about all the aspects, including budgetary information.

The federal accountability bill would expand the mandate and resources of the non-partisan Library of Parliament by establishing within it the position of parliamentary budget officer. It would give this officer the mandate to provide objective analysis to the Senate and to the House of Commons concerning the state of the nation's finances and trends in the national economy.

We will undertake economic and fiscal research for the Standing Committee on Finance, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts or the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance. On the request of these committees, we will estimate the cost of proposals currently or prospectively under consideration in either house when asked to do so by a member, a committee of the Senate or the House of Commons, or a committee of both houses. We will also require departments and agencies to provide the officer with any existing data necessary to fulfill his or her mandate.

I know the people of Leeds—Grenville are applauding. They are applauding these changes that will increase transparency in the government's fiscal planning process and will enable Parliament to better hold government to account. I am pleased to be here today to voice my support not only for this specific area of the federal accountability bill but for the entire bill.