Jean-Claude D'Amours

[Points of Order, May 9th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order concerning a question of privilege. During oral question period, I asked a question of the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, even though he may not want to hear the truth.

Nevertheless, when he answered my question, he clearly tried to impugn my integrity when he attempted to suggest that businesses, non-profit organizations and all the cities and towns in my riding had received money under the summer career placement program because they are friends of mine. It is unacceptable for a minister to make such comments. He should think more before he speaks.

I ask the minister to act like a gentleman and retract what he said. He may not like to hear the truth, but it is unacceptable to try to attack the integrity of a member in this House. We were elected by the people in our ridings to do the work we have to do.

It is unacceptable to suggest that I handed out money to my friends under the summer career placement program. I believe that he should also apologize to all the cities and towns, businesses and community and non-profit organizations that have received money from the summer career placement program.

[Summer Career Placements Program, May 9th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, today community organizations have to pay the price for Conservative decisions.

Last year alone, the summer career placements program created more than 112,000 hours of work for students in Madawaska—Restigouche. That was an investment of more than $500,000.

This year, the Conservatives made cutbacks in the program and replaced it with a less generous program, with a registration process that shuts out community organizations.

How could the minister so seriously misjudge the great benefits of the summer career placements program? Why has he abandoned the students of Canada?

[Business of Supply, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, my answer shall be brief.

The question we have to ask ourselves is this: Why do the Conservatives not want gas prices to go down? They prefer to engage in rhetoric and speculation about any number of other subjects. Why do they not want the people of this country to have access to gasoline at a fair price? Why? Why do they want Canadian oil companies to rake in profits, profits, profits, while Canadians pay, pay, pay?

It is unacceptable for a member to make such comments, when what the Liberals want is for people to pay a fair price in order to be able to go to work. The Conservatives do not want to hear about it. That is unacceptable.

[Business of Supply, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my hon. colleague's question.

I just talked about speculation and indicated that, every time there was the slightest puff of wind, the price of gas went up 10¢. Every time there was a risk of conflict or if someone mentioned conflict anywhere in the world, it went up 15¢.

I hope that the speculation by my colleague opposite, the hon. member for Lévis—Bellechasse, will not drive the price of gas up 20¢ by tomorrow, because, once again, he is indulging in speculation when he says if this or the other thing occurs. That is precisely the problem at this time. Every time someone says “If such-and-such happens, the price will increase”, that is exactly what happens the next day. I hope my colleague from Lévis—Bellechasse will be a little more careful about what he says so that prices do not increase. One way of doing this is by assuring this House that they will not increase the price of gas and ensuring greater control. Why do the Conservatives not want to accept this?

Ultimately, I could throw a question back to my colleague opposite by asking him if his party will respect the vote taken in 2004, under which the GST would no longer be added once the price of gas reached 85¢ or higher—he just said that gas is at $1.17 in his region, and I might add that it is even higher where I am from, in Madawaska—Restigouche. With the difference between 85¢ and $1.17, my colleague opposite would likely have some savings for his constituents. However, the Conservatives do not seem to have enough backbone to ensure that their constituents enjoy lower prices at the pump, that they are also respected, by giving them the tools they need to be able to drive to work every day and attend to their family's various activities.

The member opposite and all Conservative members of this House refuse to even look at this situation. This is the reality. I hope the Conservatives will stop speculating, because every time they speculate about something, I fear the oil companies will increase prices even further and we will be stuck in a real dilemma. Who will pay for it at the end of the day? It will be the citizens of our respective regions.

[Business of Supply, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I will be addressing this afternoon the opposition motion put forward by the Bloc Québécois, which I will outline for your benefit:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should move an amendment to the Competition Act so that the Commissioner of Competition have the power to initiate investigations of the price of gas and the role of refining margins in the determination of the said price.

The main element is certainly the refining margins. The current situation with gas prices is really unacceptable. Canada produces a lot of oil and gasoline. Yet, we have seen gas prices increase steadily since this government took office in January 2006. We definitely have to look into the situation. The government members have no desire whatsoever to try and find ways to ensure that Canadians have access to reasonably priced gasoline. People are not asking for miracles, but they want to be able to buy gas at a reasonable price, which is definitely not the case right now.

Let us compare urban and rural areas. In urban areas, people can take public transit, be it the bus or the subway, to go to work, do groceries and so on.

In rural areas, there are no such services available, and we cannot get them, even though we should probably have access to public transit. People in rural areas have to drive their personal vehicle to the grocery store, to work, and they often have to drive long distances. Rural areas are often also remote areas, large areas requiring that one drive long distances, many kilometres, if not hundreds of kilometres, to go to work.

In such circumstances, rising gas prices can certainly represent a barrier for consumers, especially since they have no choice; they absolutely have to put gasoline in their cars if they want to go to work.

Wages are not going up at the same rate as the price of gasoline. Some people have jobs in seasonal industries where the work is not always distributed over 12 months or 52 weeks a year, and they have to be able to find the money they need to fill up their cars while still being able to put bread, butter and food on the table to feed their families, their children.

We are asking so little of the government. It is incredible and shameful that all the members of the Conservative government, which has been in power for far too long, are obstructing this and doing what they can to ensure that the price of gasoline does not come down in Canada. We have a government that absolutely does not want to do anything, that does not want to take any action, that wants laissez-faire and says the market will decide.

Whenever it is said that the market will decide, that means abuses are very possible. Not very long ago, the refining margin for producers was 7.2¢. That was the average between 1998 and 2003. I have been told this was already far too much, but it was the average over this five-year period. Nowadays, the refining margin is nearly 26¢ and often even more.

If the government thinks this is acceptable, we should ask into whose pockets the Conservatives want this money to go. Do they want it to go to the oil companies or do they want to make the effort to give a little of it back to taxpayers? We should make a comparison. We should look at what the reality is.

Gasoline retailers in Canada have an average margin of 3.5¢ a litre when they sell their gas. They employ people at street corners all over Canada, and their margin is 3.5¢ or less, while the big refineries have a margin that is often as much as 26¢.

Their margin is therefore 26¢ out of the current price of $1.15, or even more in some parts of the country. That is rather abusive and excessive. If the margin for refiners were the average for the 1998 to 2003 period, or about 7¢ a litre, the current price would be about 96¢.

This would reduce the refining margin by about 19¢, and the price of a litre of gas would currently be around 96¢. I am convinced that the public would at least acknowledged that an effort has been made. All we are asking from the Conservative government is to ensure that mechanisms are in place to allow workers, families and seniors to be a little better off, as well as all those who must use their car for various reasons, such as taking their children to activities, going to church on Sunday, doing the groceries once a week, and going to work every day. We want this government to be a little more compassionate, to think about those who must use their vehicle to earn a living and be able to pay for food, hydro and shelter.

In fact, the public is not asking for much. These people are not getting salary increases, but their costs are constantly increasing. Does a 26¢ margin not look excessive, compared to the 7.2¢ margin?

The Conservatives must believe that a 26¢ margin is respectable and acceptable. They are providing all sorts of excuses. They will say that it is the market that decides. If it is the market that decides, then they can invoke all the good reasons. Whenever anything happens, it seems as though the price of gas goes up by 10¢. Whenever we hear rumours about a war somewhere, the price of gas goes up by 15¢.

In the end, where does that money go? It is the refining margin that increases. It is the margin that refiners give themselves that goes up. Whenever there is speculation, not at the stock exchange, but about the weather or conflicts around the world, all the decisions made are based exclusively on that and, all of a sudden, prices go up. The cost of a barrel of oil has not necessarily increased by that much. However, if we look at the situation, we see that costs have gone up. It is oil companies that benefit from all this, not workers.

The government opposite claims it is working in the best interest of the people. In this case, and in many others, it is clearly not working in the best interest of the people. It is out to do anything but try to help citizens.

We have to find ways to stabilize the situation and ensure better prices. Among other things, the competition commissioner must be authorized to make his own decision about holding an inquiry. Proactive is the key word here. The Conservative government has been reactive for weeks and months. It is reacting because it is unable to correct the situation going on within its own party. It is reactive.

Why is the government unable to accept that the competition commissioner can be proactive and make his own decisions about a situation?

The competition commissioner must have the power to force oil companies to disclose information, provide evidence and prove that a situation really is serious and that prices are not going up 10¢ just because of high winds in eastern Canada or the possibility of conflict elsewhere in the world. The government must take responsibility in this situation. Right now, the Conservative government is not even able to shoulder its responsibilities. It is offloading its responsibilities onto seasonal workers, day labourers, families and seniors. It is not interested in helping these people live better lives.

Why is the Conservative government working so hard to ensure that oil companies can boost their profits not by hundreds, thousands or millions of dollars, but by tens of millions and tens of billions of dollars at the expense of workers? Why does the Conservative government not bring in these little changes that could certainly lower the price of gas and help the people in our ridings who need it the most? Why does the government not have a heart in this matter?

[Court Challenges Program, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, francophones and minorities in Canada were faced with a Conservative government that has no respect for the committees of this House, and even less for all the minorities in this country.

This morning, witnesses were to appear before the Standing Committee on Official Languages, which was undertaking its study of the court challenges program and its impact on minorities. Mere minutes before the meeting was to begin, the Conservative members unilaterally decided to cancel the meeting and, as a result, to send home witnesses who had gone through the trouble of travelling hundreds of kilometres to come and explain the merits of the program.

While the Conservative members did vote for a review of the court challenges program, it has become obvious today that the Prime Minister, his ministers and his members of Parliament are oblivious to the work we on the committee have to do, not for them, the Conservatives, but for the people of this country.

We have here a government that is asking us to believe what it says. But we have had yet another opportunity today to see the true colours of this Conservative government which does not pay any attention to the minorities, to the people. This government has no respect for the people of Canada. It should start showing us some respect.

[May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, judging by what the parliamentary secretary said, the current situation is clear. The government and the minister have completely failed to fulfill their obligation to ensure that Canadian citizens can obtain new passports within a reasonable period of time.

Excuses about how volume has increased or this, that or the other thing happened are no good. This government was elected 16 months ago. It was aware of the situation, but did nothing. Judging by what the government has said today, it is clear that it does not want to do anything. Before now, it took 21 days to get a passport. Now, it takes more than three months. The fact that it now takes over three months to get a passport means that the government and the minister have failed. This is unacceptable.

[May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this adjournment debate and to express my concerns regarding the problem of delays in processing passports. Canadians must now wait months, sometimes even more than three months, before receiving their travel documents because of the lack of action by the Conservative government.

On February 13, the Minister of Foreign Affairs told the House of Commons that 500 new employees had been hired by Passport Canada to deal with the backlog at passport offices. But on April 23— more than two months later—he stated that he hoped “to have them all on stream very soon”.

The minister's statement clearly indicated that absolutely nothing had been done. On May 3, the minister admitted that the employees were still in training. We must take action now to provide service to our citizens. Thousands of Canadians, if not millions, have waited months and months to obtain a passport and continue to line up for days on end to submit their applications.

The number of applications continues to grow. In December 2006, Passport Canada had already received 31% more applications than the year before. In addition, Passport Canada's toll-free line is rarely available because of this increase. Normally, the telephone information system can manage 25,000 calls per week, but the agency is currently receiving 140,000 calls. Demand for passports is increasing because of the new American policy that requires Canadians to show a passport to enter the United States.

We have known this new law would be implemented since April 2005. At the time, the Liberal government put in place an awareness-raising strategy through the Department of Foreign Affairs. Obviously, the Conservatives dropped the ball when they took power. They waited until April 2007 to train new employees to try to fix the situation. They even left it up to the provincial governments to negotiate with Washington. In February 2007, the premiers of New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba went to Washington to convince American authorities to relax their new rules requiring Canadians to show a passport to enter the United States by land or water.

The premiers are suggesting that an improved driver's licence could be used instead of a Canadian passport. While I fully support the measures taken by the provincial governments, I continue to wonder why they had to take action in this matter, which is clearly a federal jurisdiction. The Conservative government lacks leadership and refuses to take action in this matter, leaving the problem with the provinces, individuals, and citizens of the country.

Today we clearly need to know. Will the minister responsible for Passport Canada admit that the problem, and resulting delays in receiving one's passport, is solely and directly his fault? It is clear that the minister has not done his job. For a number of months—let us say 16 months—he has been aware of the problem. We are still waiting for the minister to take clear action for the Canadian public, but we have a government that wants to do absolutely nothing to help the public and just contradicts itself from one month to the next. Will the minister agree today to take full responsibility for the problem of delays at Passport Canada?

[Young People from Madawaska—Restigouche, May 2nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to meet with a number of student groups from my riding who actively participate in community life.

I met with two student groups that participated in the Forum for Young Canadians: two classes studying political, economic and legal institutions and a group of students who participated in the Adventure in Citizenship program.

I always enjoy these meetings because they allow me to talk about subjects that matter to these young people and to share with them my experience as a parliamentarian. I was pleased to see how interested the students were in the machinery of government and in national politics. These are young people who actively participate in community life and who have a particular interest in the socio-economic, cultural and political challenges that shape their surroundings.

Let these young people be an inspiration to other young people to make a significant contribution as members of the community and as citizens. These programs help foster the integration of young people, improve their quality of life and contribute to the development of their full potential. I want to commend the young people in my riding.

[Passport Canada, April 27th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, because of the incompetence of the Conservatives, Canadians have to wait up to three months to get a passport. The government knew for months that this would happen, but it did absolutely nothing about it.

On February 13, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said he had recruited more than 500 new employees at Passport Canada. However, on Monday he said, “We hope to have them all on stream very soon to address this bottleneck in the process”.

What are we to believe? When will the minister admit that this problem is the direct result of his own incompetence?