Jean-Pierre Blackburn

[Wage Earner Protection Program Act, June 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member again for her question.

I want to remind her that it was the House of Commons that unanimously passed legislation in the last Parliament to protect the wages of employees in bankruptcy situations. This House unanimously passed that legislation.

Then the Senate unanimously passed it as well after calling for technical changes to the legislation. That is what we tabled before Christmas.

Since then, the Bloc Québécois has been inconsistent. It is changing its mind and wants to amend the legislation.

[Point of Order, June 5th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, allow me to give a brief history of the issue raised today in order to speak to the motion that the member wishes to present.

[Wage Earner Protection Program Act, June 5th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question. All parliamentarians unanimously voted for that bill. It was sent to the Senate. The Senate passed it with some technical amendments. We amended it accordingly. The Bloc Québécois members agreed to fast-track it, but they changed their minds, just like their leader recently changed his mind about going into provincial politics.

Today, they are still making amendments to delay the bill. They do not want to support workers, but we are asking for their cooperation to make this happen as soon as possible.

[Festivals and Special Events, June 5th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, there are two departments involved in assisting festivals: the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec. At Canadian Heritage, $60 million is on the way to assist festivals. The criteria are being developed and will be ready at the end of the summer. At Canada Economic Development, we give $7 million to assist festivals every year. Again this year, there will be assistance for a number of festivals, not just the festivals in Montreal and Quebec City. I have a few here. The Festival du film de Mont-Tremblant will receive $177,900 over three years and the Festival des rythmes du monde is receiving $21,791 for 2006-2007. It continues like that.

[Quebec City Summer Festival, June 5th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, my fellow minister and member for Quebec City never made any such recommendation. This flatly contradicts what the hon. member just said. Second, I would like to say that the Festival d'été de Québec is currently getting $907,890 over three years. The Economic Development Agency of Canada does a tremendous amount for the various people who organize festivals all across Quebec. We help with the marketing as well as the renewal of the product. We are going to continue supporting these festivals. Currently we are giving them about $7 million a year.

[Rail Transportation, June 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, we know the importance of these two railway operators, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, CP Rail. Once again, I can only encourage the parties to come to the table with the support of our mediator, who is trained to truly help the parties reach an agreement. It is at the table that the solution will be found.

[Rail Transportation, June 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the right to strike is recognized by the Canada Labour Code. However, I believe that all members will agree that settlements are reached when both parties come to the table to agree on the renewal of the work contract. Our mediator continues to support both parties in this endeavour.

[Wage Earner Protection Program Act, June 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, what are we talking about here? We are talking about a bill to protect wage earners in the event of their employers' bankruptcy. This bill was unanimously passed by Parliament. It was even passed in the Senate. But the Senate had asked to see technical changes before the law came into force. As Minister of Labour , I worked with my colleagues to prepare these technical changes. This is what we must send to the Senate for consideration, but the Bloc Québécois does not want to support workers. They are letting us down. They say one thing one day, and the next day they change their mind. This bill simply has to be fast tracked to the Senate.

[Festivals and Special Events, June 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec is very close to the festivals. We have an annual budget of about $7 million to support festivals, including, among others, those of Montreal, the Quebec City major festivals, and those of the various regions of Quebec. In recent days and weeks, I have had the opportunity to meet Gilbert Rozon, and also Alain Simard. We told these gentlemen that Canada Economic Development would maintain their current envelope, that is about $700,000 for each of these two festivals, in addition to $300,000 in repayable loans, to support the 25^th anniversary of the Just for Laughs Festival

[Wage Earner Protection Program Act, May 31st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind hon. members that the bill, the notice of motion we have tabled, is in keeping with what had been decided by the previous Parliament.

The Bloc Québécois needs to respect the way the Canadian system operates. There are two chambers here. The changes being made to the legislation are technical ones. The Senate is in a position to carry out an in-depth analysis of it in order to save some time, so that workers losing their wages as the result of a bankruptcy can have up to $3,000 in protection. But the Bloc Québécois is doing everything it can to delay things and to prevent progress from being made in this situation.