House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 56% of the vote.
Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec Act November 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I understand the hon. member's reservations about this bill.
We know what happened with the sponsorship program. It was supposed to unite all Canadians and Quebeckers to promote the interests of the regions in Canada. It was turned into a program to serve the interests of the Liberal Party instead of the interests of Quebeckers and of Canada.
If the hon. member has in mind any changes he would like to make to the bill, we will examine them and support them if we agree.
Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec Act November 5th, 2004
I partly agree with what the minister just said. However, I must frankly tell the House and Canadians that I listen to everything that the Bloc Québécois tells us, because its agenda is to destroy our country and to use its money for a Quebec freed from Canada. All its agenda and its ideas are geared toward destroying our country.
From time to time, we agree with its approach and its ideas on different things. However, finally—and this is why I look closely at its ideas and I really examine everything it says—, in every step that it wants to undertake here, in Ottawa, in relation to its agenda, its every move is to destroy our country. We should not ignore this reality.
Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec Act November 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, in fact this bill will promote the development of a department answering to Parliament. There would thus be a minister whom we could question on this program in the House, something we could not do before.
I agree with the member that there is really a problem, that there is an imbalance as far as the regional programs are concerned. This is, in my opinion, where we disagree with the Liberal government. We need a balanced national program, a program that would cover the whole country. This is part of the political program that our party presented to Quebeckers and to Canadians in the last electoral campaign. This is what we support and this is what we want.
The minister just told us that he would be willing to look at these propositions so there would be a balance to reflect the reality of our country in the economic development area. We would be willing to support this program and this approach. I do believe the minister when he says that he would be willing to discuss this proposition. We would be willing to discuss it too in order to make things better for Quebec within Canada.
Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec Act November 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, as I was saying to the minister responsible for this bill, if the Bloc Québécois really has new ideas about this bill, and if that would be a better way to represent Quebec, then we would certainly be willing to consider that. I think we should support this bill, as should the Bloc Québécois.
Also, the way that money should be allocated is open for debate. However, it would be a regrettable error for the Bloc Québecois to oppose this bill intended to enhance economic development in the Province of Quebec and the situation of Quebeckers.
Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec Act November 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party is always ready to discuss new ideas in order to get more economic benefits for regions in Quebec and elsewhere in the country. If the minister really is ready to talk with us in order to come up with new ideas or to consider new approaches, we are ready to introduce amendments to this bill in committee and in the House. We can talk about ways to improve this bill. If he is ready to make compromises, so are we.
Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec Act November 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, in the Conservative Party, what we support in Canada really is equality in all regions of the country, from one end to the other. What we want to see is a federal government which respects the jurisdictions of provinces in an equal fashion in every region of this land.
That is not really what we are talking about right now. What we are deciding today, and this will be decided upon through a vote on this bill, is whether we support for Quebec what we already have for the Atlantic region and for the West.
I thought that the Bloc Québécois would support a bill which would put Quebec on an equal footing with other regions of Canada in terms of national finances. That is why we support Bill C-9.
We do not agree with the current program of the federal government concerning regional economic development. We do not agree with the program and with the theory underlying the Liberal government's ideas.
However, the reality is that bill would, in our opinion, be in the interest of Quebeckers. It would improve the life of economic regions and their development. That is why we support this bill.
Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec Act November 5th, 2004
This is my first speech in this House as a member of the Official Opposition and of the Conservative Party with you in the chair, Mr. Speaker. I want to congratulate you on your new duties as Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.
I am pleased to rise on behalf of my party to speak to Bill C-9, an act to establish the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec.
The Conservative Party supports this bill whose intent stems directly from paragraph 28 of the Policy Statement of the Conservative Party of Canada.
—regional development policies are an important part of any comprehensive strategy to assist the regions of Canada to meet the opportunities of the new global economy.
In fact, Bill C-9 is very straightforward and uncontroversial. It creates the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec out of a program in the Industry Canada portfolio.
Basically, a program in the Industry Canada portfolio is being transformed into an agency. The staff from the former program will be maintained; their responsibilities will remain the same and their activities will continue. All that will change is the letterhead and business cards to reflect the agency's new legal status.
This will more or less place the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec on an equal footing with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
Bill C-9 will establish for Quebec an economic development agency reporting to Parliament through its own minister. We can see how its legal status is similar to that of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, which was established un 1985 under the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Act.
While the purpose of the bill is mainly a name change, Bill C-9 also allows the government to say it is committed to regional development without spending a cent of new money. In this respect, Bill C-9 is brilliant and allows the Liberal government to do what it likes best: be all talk and no action. This way, a visionless government enjoys another day of doing nothing.
The regions need development, and the government's response is to change the business cards. That is all this bill is really about.
However, we are in favour of regional development and we believe that the responsibilities and structures of regional development agencies should be the same across the country.
That being said, I will now turn to the creation of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec.
As we all know, Bill C-9 was given first reading on October 8. Clause 8 of Bill C-9 says:
An Agency of the Government of Canada to be known as the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec is established.
From that we conclude that the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec will come into being when Bill C-9 comes into force.
However, that is not so. In the summary of Bill C-9, we are told that the transformation from a former industry program under Industry Canada to a development agency answering to Parliament through its own minister has already happened. I quote the summary:
This bill is pursuant to the July 20, 2004, decision by the Prime Minister of Canada to effect a change to the governmental structure by appointing a Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec. This Minister is fully accountable for regional economic development in Quebec.
In the Speech from the Throne, Her Excellency The Governor General, speaking on behalf of the federal government, said:
The Government...will examine the need and options for reform of our democratic institutions—
The Government invites members from both Chambers to join with it in the same democratic spirit: committed to unity and the inclusion of all regions and all voices—
The very next day, the Prime Minister said:
—in a minority Commons, we all have a responsibility to make Parliament work for the people. We will fulfil that responsibility if we embrace and build on the democratic reforms initiated during the last session, and if we are prepared to allow the partisan to give way to progress.
We have a minority government, which means there are more opposition members than government members. In light of this situation, we presume there is a commitment to a spirit of democracy and to listening to all the voices from all the regions. We also presume that backbenchers will have a say in the establishment of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec.
Unfortunately, in this debate, my opinion and the opinion of members from the other parties, particularly Liberal backbenchers, does not mean anything, because the agency, which is the focus of Bill C-9, already exists, and the changes affecting its legal status have already been implemented. Therefore, this debate is strictly an academic exercise without any concrete impact.
It is sad to see that this government, which promised us that it would look at the needs and options relating to the reform of our democratic institutions, is asking us to debate a bill to create an agency that already exists. We must learn to judge this Prime Minister, based not on his words, but on his actions.
Since we support the establishment of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, I propose that all regional development agencies be on the same footing. We should promote regional development agencies that have similar responsibilities and structures right across the country.
At the national level, there are three different models of regional development. Bill C-9 will create, for Quebec, a development agency that will be accountable to Parliament, through its own department. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is a development agency that is accountable to the Minister of Industry. As for the Department of Western Economic Diversification, it is not an agency, but a real department with its own minister.
Even the agencies' objectives are slightly different. In the Maritimes and in Newfoundland and Labrador, the role of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is to promote Atlantic Canada's economic development opportunities, particularly income growth and job creation in that region.
In western Canada, the Department of Western Economic Diversification is responsible for promoting economic development and diversification in that region, and the interests of that region during the development and implementation of policies, programs and operations under the national economic policy.
In Quebec, the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec need only promote the development and diversification of the economy of the regions of Quebec.
In Quebec, the federal government is proposing an agency to promote the development and diversification of the economy of the regions. In Atlantic Canada, there is a responsibility to increase revenues and create jobs.
In western Canada, there is a department that promotes the interests of this region within the national economic policy.
It is nice to know that the Gaspé does not need an agency to develop the growth of revenues and to create jobs. It is also encouraging to know that Quebeckers do not want a department in charge of promoting their interests within the national economic policy.
The government may have consulted Quebeckers and been convinced that they did not need an agency to create jobs or grow revenues, or a department to promote their interests within the national economic policy.
However, it is also possible that the government tried to get Quebeckers' opinion in the same spirit with which it presented this bill to Parliament. In other words, without too much consultation or attention to the response.
In any event, this is a case of asymmetrical federalism. The Conservatives are in favour of regional development and thus, we will vote in favour of Bill C-9. However, we believe that the regional development agencies, such as the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, have to be depoliticized and focus on drawing new investment from the private sector.
In light of the sponsorship scandal, it is very important that all agencies be depoliticized. In committee, Conservatives will do what they can to ensure that this agency is on equal footing with the other agencies, that it is free from any political influence and that it will serve Quebeckers, not just the Liberal Party of Canada.
Sponsorship Program November 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, this has nothing whatever to do with Gomery. This has to do with the public works department being interfered with by the finance minister to get money for his friends. He did it at a time when that public works minister was on this side of the House saying that Brian Mulroney was the best prime minister we had in the last 50 years. That minister has no grounds whatsoever to now be standing and taking bullets for the Liberals.
I want to know this from the Prime Minister himself. Why did the Prime Minister interfere to get $28,000 for his friends at Earnscliffe? Why did he break the rules?
Sponsorship Program November 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, before the Prime Minister was fired from Jean Chrétien's cabinet, he said that he would do government differently, that he would clean things up and he would act in a more responsible way. However the facts of how he acted when he was the finance minister show something a little different.
There is a comment here from public works documents. In February 1995 justice requested and received a proposal from Pierre Bélisle for a soul source contract. Finance requested that it use Earnscliffe instead, and soul sourced a contract for over $28,000 to the Prime Minister's friends in Earnscliffe.
Why did the Prime Minister break the rules for his friends?
Violence Against Women November 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, in recent years a new kind of violence against women has reared its ugly head at parties, on campuses and in nightclubs across Canada. Date rape drugs have become a violent weapon used to victimize women in cowardly assaults. Colourless, odourless and tasteless, date rape drugs are slipped into drinks to render women unconscious so they can be sexually assaulted and raped.
According to a study in the Canadian Journal of Public Health, date rape drugging rates more than doubled in Vancouver, Richmond and the North Shore of the lower mainland between 1999 and 2002.
According to Statistics Canada, fewer than 10% of women who have been sexually assaulted report to a hospital, let alone to the police to pursue prosecution. The cowards who use date rape drugs need to be told through the law, with stern punishments, that their behaviour will not be tolerated.
I call on the government to take the following steps: first, create a separate section in our laws for date rape drugs with tough new penalties; second, launch a national campaign to educate young women on the dangers of these drugs; and third, streamline the collection of evidence on sexual assaults and rapes to facilitate prosecutions.
It is time for the Liberal government to step up and fight the cowardly use of these drugs that victimize and assault women.