Jean-Claude D'Amours

[National Highway System, September 28th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, during the recent meeting of Canadian ministers responsible for transportation, we learned that the ministers had agreed to expand our national highway system.

Three highways in New Brunswick, including routes 11 and 17, which run through my riding of Madawaska—Restigouche, were added to the national highway system.

I want to highlight the importance of this decision, since it will greatly facilitate the upgrading of these two highway routes, which are essential to the economy of Madawaska—Restigouche and all of New Brunswick.

I am hopeful that New Brunswick will recognize the vital importance of these highways to the province, so that upgrading of routes 11 and 17 can begin as soon as possible, to ensure the safety of those travelling on them.

I am very happy to have made every effort, along with some of my colleagues, to ensure the inclusion of these highways in the national highway system.

[Gasoline Prices, September 26th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I am convinced that you will not give me a lot of time to answer this question.

Let us look at the refinery margins. When, over an annual cycle, there is a normal margin, no one will say anything. After all, we are in a free enterprise economy. Everyone can start their own small business and hope to make some money and profits.

If one looks at margins on an annual basis and finds that they are normal, nobody will have a problem with that. But when the refinery margins increase by 30¢ or 40¢ in very little time, that is where the problem is. It is not when the margins are calculated on an annual basis.

[Gasoline Prices, September 26th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, on the government side we try to find solutions, of course. Whether we are talking about your regions or ours, in the end, those affected by the constant increase in oil prices are ourselves and our fellow citizens.

The hon. member proposed a solution or an option. No doubt that all options must be evaluated, but one must also examine the underlying factors. The tax issue has been raised. We just heard a suggestion for a tax credit.

A tax credit is obviously an interesting idea. However, we are in September and the taxpayer who files his or her income tax return in March will not get a penny before April. In fact, other tragic situations could happen before then.

No matter how we proceed, we must make sure that the measure we choose does not benefit only a small group or does not contribute to helping the oil companies maintain what I would call excessive profit margins.

Sure, we must help our fellow citizens, but we must take care not to allow an industry to get richer on the backs of the have-nots in the process. We must continue to work to find solutions, but they must be long-term solutions to make sure that our fellow citizens, the men and women of Canada, can face the challenge successfully and with meaningful solutions.

[Gasoline Prices, September 26th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I am extremely proud to take part in this emergency debate on the hike of fuel prices. This issue is very important for me.

In my riding of Madawaska—Restigouche, we often say that we like to be in the headlines and to have our riding and region known all over the country for positive reasons. There is no doubt that during the past weeks, we were also known because of the fuel crisis. I will expand later on this aspect. It is very important for me to take these few moments to make sure the voice of the riding I represent is heard.

In fact, one can look at the situation at the level of gas, heating fuel or oil price. In the end, we are all affected directly or indirectly. We have to take this into account and make sure to make changes to improve the situation and the standard of living of our fellow citizens.

On the personal side, we are affected when we go to a service station or when we need heating fuel for our homes, like most people who live in rural areas. Winter will soon be here. Therefore, the situation could become a problem.

Companies will have to review their operations to continue their development and maintain their profitability. The not-for-profit organizations, like food banks and help centres for disadvantaged people, also have to face the consequences of rising gas prices.

In New Brunswick, my province, my neck of the woods, the economy depends mostly on the forestry sector; the situation affects all sawmill and logging operations. And let us not forget the trucking, transportation and tourism industries that have already been affected. If we do not look into this adequately, the tourism sector will take an even harder hit in the coming years.

The blockade instigated by truckers from my riding of Madawaska—Restigouche and from other parts of the province was a warning, the beginning of an even more alarming crisis if we do not act quickly to stop the rise of gas prices.

As parliamentarians, we not only have the duty to act, we must also take part in debates like this one in order to find a solution, together. This is not about partisan politics. Our work goes well beyond that. That is why I was outraged this afternoon when I heard comments such as those from the deputy House leader of the opposition, who alluded to the Prime Minister's and other ministers' travels over the summer.

One can blame it all on the government or on somebody else, but sometimes the opposition must push matters further and realize that the summer barbecues of its leader did not succeed any better at solving the problems brought about by rising gas prices.

I will not make any other comments of this nature tonight, but I had to speak out against some of the comments I heard in the House this afternoon that were not well thought out.

I was at the truckers' blockade that took place in my riding in northwestern New Brunswick. I met the truckers in order to better understand their reality and to find solutions with them.

My colleague from Tobique—Mactaquac has also helped me a lot. As we know, my colleague also sits on the Standing Committee on Industry, Natural Resources, Science and Technology. We have worked closely together to find a solution and to push the issue forward.

The hon. member and I will do our utmost to convene the Standing Committee on Industry, Natural Resources, Science and Technology to get answers to questions that we are frequently asked and to which Canadians deserve answers.

I am pleased to see that, as a result of work by my colleague and I, the Standing Committee on Industry, Natural Resources, Science and Technology resumed last week on September 22, even if the House had not yet done likewise.

We can understand the frustration felt by truckers, whose income depends in large part on the price of gasoline. Obviously, there are operating costs, fixed costs and equipment rental costs. It is increasingly expensive. However, these people must suffer through this and deliver goods that we need such as food, clothing or any other commodity we want.

As members of this Parliament, we must do much more than understanding the facts. Canadians are calling for action. Those who elected us are asking us to work to improve this situation.

One of my constituents shared his concern and dismay with me about the increase in the price of fuel. This winter, he will have to heat his home with fuel oil. He was just told that the monthly charge will be $185. Less than one year ago, it was $95 per month. We can imagine how this will affect the overall household income.

When we look at this, we think that, obviously, the government will collect more taxes. When cost jumps from $95 to $185, it reaches an entirely new level. The purchasing power, the economic power of these individuals, has been greatly reduced. Ultimately, the government will not be reaping the benefits with regard to taxes.

People on limited or fixed incomes, low-income earners and even the wealthiest members of society are affected. In short, each of us, as Canadians, is affected. People in rural regions, such as mine, are as affected, if not more.

Let us look at the situation. I know that certain of my colleagues have also talked about this. In the last few weeks and again today, in two areas—often in the same province—less than an hour's drive apart, there was a 9¢ difference in the price per litre of diesel. It is difficult for us to understand this, but it is even more difficult for our fellow citizens to understand why there is a 9¢ difference between the price they pay for diesel fuel at one location and another that is located only one hour's drive away in the same province and the same riding.

As a federal member of Parliament, it is much harder to represent a rural riding because there are greater problems to overcome. One of them is that we do not have access to public transit. We do not have buses to transport people. Our only means of transportation is our car. The only means of transportation by which the people of my riding can get their groceries and pay their bills is their car. The only means of transportation by which the people of my riding can go to work is their car. Driving a car costs a lot of money, but their wages are not raised accordingly.

We depend on energy, and we need to find more efficient solutions to offset this dependency in the very near future.

But before we even turn to more efficient solutions, more ecological solutions to counteract this phenomenon of increasing energy dependency on this continent, we need to find solutions to the present situation, in order to remedy the soaring gas and fuel costs.

In recent weeks, within a whole different context, I met with forestry industry leaders in my region. Most of them told me that one of the crises they are experiencing at the present time and will certainly have to overcome in the future is increasing energy costs. Obviously, diesel and gasoline are factors in that increase. There is another problem, however. When energy is produced from diesel or oil, this automatically increases the cost we have to pay for electricity.

This is a situation that requires realism. Producers and people in the forest industry must address it. They must counteract increasing energy costs by remaining competitive, not only regionally or nationally. When we want to do business today, the bulk of it involves exports, particularly in our small regions. So if we want to export, we absolutely must be competitive on the world level. That requires our businesses to have some tools.

When we examine the situation, we can certainly look here and there to find solutions, to put the finger on the problem and to describe the situation. Along with citizens in my riding, we have witnessed the profit margins that oil companies have taken in during the last weeks. This is unrealistic. What other industry in our country or even in the world can increase its profit margins for refining three, four or five times? To my knowledge, no other industry can do so.

If this industry has difficulty taking responsibility, we must, as parliamentarians, make it do so. It is certainly something on which I will work relentlessly. I will work to find solutions for the citizens in my riding.

[Graduation Ceremonies, June 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, in the past few days, I have had the opportunity to attend a number of graduation ceremonies in my riding of Madawaska—Restigouche, in New Brunswick.

Even if I were unable to take part in all graduation ceremonies because of my schedule, I really enjoyed being present at a few of them.

Every year, at the end of June, thousands of high school and college students receive their diplomas. This marks the end of an important period of their life. Our young people are thus better prepared to meet the challenges they will face and to attain their personal and professional objectives.

As the member of Parliament for Madawaska—Restigouche, I would therefore like to congratulate all the graduates of my riding.

I would also like to congratulate all graduates on the efforts they have put into their studies and wish them success in the future, which looks very bright for them.

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to make Certain Payments, June 23rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk democracy. On June 28, 2004. the people of Canada voted for a minority government, for a Parliament that would operate in a minority context. That is exactly the democracy that the people of Canada asked for, not just of the present Liberal government, but of all of the members. They have asked us to work so as to make sure the country advanced. Democracy has spoken. That same democracy is what I believe we should bear in mind in continuing to work together.

They say the government is corrupt. So why, I wonder, have the hon. member and the members of his party voted in favour of Bill C-43? If the government was so corrupt, why was Bill C-43 so great?

If we look at the environment, we are investing $300 million in the green municipal fund, which ties in with the gas tax rebate this party accepts. Yet it does not accept improvements for our municipalities. That is hard to grasp.

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to make Certain Payments, June 23rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to speak this evening to Bill C-48, which proposes further investments from unplanned surplus funds.

Not so long ago, less than a year ago, the citizens of Canada asked us to work together here in Parliament. They asked us to make sure that Parliament worked and to make sure that we did a good job.

I want to mention that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Etobicoke North in a few minutes.

As I was saying, we have been working the way the public asked us to. They told us to work together, in partnership, and that is precisely what we have done. We have worked on making sure that the people of this country can receive excellent services. We have also worked on ensuring that their quality of life can improve.

Canada's social foundations are key to our Canadian identity. The Government of Canada has invested heavily in these social priorities in past budgets.

This bill is a natural extension of those initiatives. Nonetheless, before addressing the measures in this bill, I want to briefly explain how the government is able to make these important investments today.

As you know, Canada reported its eighth consecutive surplus in 2004-05, the first time this ever happened since Confederation. I think it is very important to point that out. The members opposite often forget that they put us into a deficit position lasting many years and that it was our government that reinstated surpluses for the Government of Canada. Who did we do that for? The people of Canada.

Canada was the only country in the G7 to show a surplus, considering all administrations, during this fiscal year. The net improvement in the Government of Canada's financial situation allowed the government to invest heavily in the priorities of Canadians.

However, our financial outlook was not always so encouraging.

When we came to power in 1993, as I just mentioned, we had to deal with an annual deficit of over $40 billion. I am not talking about a $40 billion debt. I mean that, in one fiscal year, the then government was in the hole to the tune of $40 billion. This is unacceptable. This mortgaged not only my generation's future but also the future of generations to come, including the generation to which my new daughter belongs and that of millions of other Canadians. We must do whatever it takes to ensure we never generate another deficit. In addition to this, the unemployment rate was high, economic growth was weak and consumer and business confidence was low.

We realized that we needed to act in order to protect the future of generations to follow. And we acted. The government adopted a number of measures reducing spending and restoring fiscal order. As a result, we eliminated the deficit in 1997-98.

Obviously, as athletes know, success takes work. We worked hard. Canadians worked hard. They made sacrifices to help the government improve its fiscal situation. Everyone's hard work paid off big time.

Canada's financial recovery is quite simply remarkable, and the countries that point to us as an example of what to do have clearly noted how we achieved this.

Thanks to these sacrifices by Canadians, consumer and business confidence has been restored, economic growth has picked up and, better still, so has job creation in this vast and beautiful country of ours.

With its finances in order, the government gave more money to individuals and families by introducing the biggest federal tax cuts in Canadian history. It also made major investments in the priorities identified by Canadians, such as health care. As we know, our government has invested $41 billion in order to improve health care for Canadians. Also, we have done work in education, infrastructure, research and innovation, national security and the environment.

The bill we are introducing and ultimately want adopted today, builds on these investments in a number of key areas that are priorities for Canadians. The government shares these priorities.

More specifically, Bill C-48 creates a framework for new investment in important sectors, such as social housing, post-secondary education, the environment and foreign aid.

I can assure you, however, that these measures will not eliminate the old budget deficit rut.

When the government makes decisions, they must be solid and fair. The government must have a financial framework to prevent a return to a deficit, as has been the case for many years in this country.

We also have to pay down the debt, because each dollar of debt we have costs us in interest. Each dollar of interest we pay costs the public in terms of reduced services.

The government has promised to invest $4.6 billion in these areas. These investments will come from the surplus in excess of $2 billion in 2005-06 and 2006-07. According to the estimates, we will also have the means to continue, as I mentioned earlier, repaying our national debt to make sure we can deliver the best possible services to future generations.

I would now like to summarize the investments I mentioned previously that we are proposing for the Canada of tomorrow.

First, for affordable housing, which is social housing, there is $1.6 billion of new money.

I have a very hard time imagining the people on the other side of the House coming to my riding, when we have made very important announcements on affordable housing, and telling the people of Madawaska—Restigouche and the rest of Canada, that it is not important for families to have housing. It is very hard to imagine that there are members in this place, and, worse yet, parties, that think people do not deserve affordable housing.

We, as a responsible government, are working to make sure that as many Canadians as possible get services and housing in keeping with their ability to better manage their personal finances.

Second, as mentioned earlier, the government recognizes that Canadian communities are the social and economic foundation of this country. Be they vast metropolitan areas, cities or hamlets, the communities Canadians choose as their home have a considerable effect on their quality of life and the opportunities for socio-economic success available to them.

The reality, however, is that at the heart and in the disadvantaged neighbourhoods of many cities, poverty creates a demand for affordable housing.

In recent years the government has made a number of investments totalling $2 billion in the area of affordable housing and homelessness. These programs are still being rolled out and in most cases the funding will continue to ramp up over the next year.

We have done the following. In 1999 the government launched a three year national homelessness initiative. A key element of that was the supporting communities partnership initiative, which provided $305 million for local community groups to offer supportive services and facilities for the homeless. Budget 2003 provided a further three year extension to the SCPI initiative at $135 million per year.

Furthermore, budget 2001 announced $680 million over five years for the affordable housing initiative to help stimulate the creation of more affordable housing. Bilateral cost sharing agreements were subsequently signed with all 13 provincial and territorial governments.

I do not have very much time left, so I will now say a few words about post-secondary education.

I graduated from university in 1997. I continue to pursue my studies to ensure the best possible future for myself in terms of training.

To help young people and the not so young in our society, we implement systems, better places to study, facilities to allow young people—not the wealthiest—to get the help they need the most.

Bill C-48 will provide $1.5 billion more for post-secondary education.

In closing, I call on all the members of this House to vote in favour of Bill C-48, which is in the best interest of our constituents and will improve their quality of life.

[Edmundston Jazz and Blues Festival, June 20th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, two days from now, the Edmundston jazz and blues festival will swing into its 11th year. The event, which has become a must over the years, draws thousands of spectators each year, who return to move to the rhythms of jazz and blues by local, Canadian and international artists.

The festival has become very popular since it started 11 years ago. It has given people an opportunity to discover jazz and blues and to appreciate their musical complexities.

As the member for Madawaska—Restigouche, I am really happy that such an event can take place in my riding. I want therefore to thank the organizing committee of Edmundston's 11th jazz and blues festival and the volunteers who will be helping out at the event, which takes place from June 22 to 25.

I invite everyone to come and take part and discover the magnificent region of Madawaska—Restigouche.

[Fisheries, June 17th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, as you know, the Restigouche region in the riding of Madawaska—Restigouche is considered one of the best salmon-fishing areas in the world. Atlantic salmon is obviously very important to the region's economy.

Could the minister tell us the impact of the Atlantic salmon endowment fund, announced in the 2005 budget?

[Albert and Jeannette Lord, June 17th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, June 18, I will be attending celebrations marking the 70th wedding anniversary of Jeannette and Albert Lord. They will be celebrating 70 wonderful years together.

It is not every day that a couple celebrates such an event and such an anniversary. This is why I want to express my own congratulations and those of the people of Madawaska—Restigouche to Mr. and Mrs. Lord.

They are a remarkable couple, who invested time and energy in their family. They had 11 children, who produced 25 grandchildren, 36 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-grandchildren.

In closing, I reiterate my congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Lord on their 70th wedding anniversary. I wish them many more wonderful years together.