Jean-Pierre Blackburn

[Ministerial Expenses, May 28th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is only natural that someone who performs a professional service would be paid for it.

Mr. Giguère was the senior assistant in my riding office in Jonquière-Alma, he was the mayor of Jonquière, he was the director of public relations for Hydro-Québec, and he was also a former Liberal candidate and a former candidate for our party. This man, who is well known in our community, divided his time between two kinds of work: taking care of the needs of the riding office and taking care of cabinet needs. He was paid for each kind of work out of the envelopes provided for each.

[Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, May 18th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I categorically deny the member's statements. The main thing we are doing is helping economic regions experiencing difficulties, helping vulnerable regions to increase their economic activities in order to better diversify their economic activities and spur the growth of businesses and of the regions themselves. Of the 14 Quebec regions, we have targeted the seven most disadvantaged and most vulnerable. Naturally, we try to provide greater support for these regions as per the department's mission statement, which was established by the previous government in cooperation with ours.

[Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, May 18th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, every Quebec region has an envelope for regional economic development. Every region submits its application. Sometimes the project estimates are greater than the envelope for the region. Then we turn to the central fund, as in the case of the Massif in the Quebec region.

Recently, in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec was asked for $10 million to support a sizeable cruise ship dock project. Other regions will soon be asked to submit their applications to this department.

[Forestry Industry, May 11th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the question of roads is more a provincial responsibility. Quebec, like the other provinces, knows that we cannot intervene at the primary processing stage in forestry, any more than in the fisheries.

I want to remind this House about all the support the Economic Development Agency of Canada provides for economic diversification in the regions of Quebec, including the CEDI-Vitality program, which allows business owners to receive both repayable contributions—loans—and non-repayable contributions in order to expand or to create new businesses.

[Forestry Industry, May 11th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, even though forest management is more the responsibility of the Government of Quebec, I will say that the department I head, the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, does not get involved in primary processing.

However, secondary and tertiary processing is something that does concern us and that we do support for the regions of Quebec. In light of this forestry crisis, I want to stress the importance of diversifying economic activity throughout the regions of Quebec. That is why we recently introduced six new tools to help the regions of Quebec turn a corner.

[Saint-Hubert Airport, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the member would like us to stop funding all the projects in her riding.

For the information of this House, in the past year, CED has approved 89 projects in Montérégie worth $20 million. This has generated $46 million in investment in this riding. If we gave $70 million to a single project, there would be nothing left for the rest.

However, the regional economic development department is interested in supporting companies, and we are going to work with officials to try and identify solutions.

[Saint-Hubert Airport, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, this is the same member who said yesterday in this House that Pratt & Whitney was going to lay off 300 people or at least that 300 people would lose their jobs if the company did not stay in Saint-Hubert.

Yesterday, officials at Pratt & Whitney denied what the Bloc Québécois and the member had said. We are going to continue working with officials at Pratt & Whitney to try and find ways of resolving this issue.

[Saint-Hubert Airport, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I want to remind hon. members once again that the budget envelope for regional economic development is $200 million for the 14 regions in Quebec. Our friends opposite should tell us which regions' budgets they want us to take away, because we would have to take away five regions' entire budget to fund this project.

As far as I know, the Bloc Québécois members are not going to be the ones who resolve this issue. I am asking officials from Pratt & Whitney and Aéroports de Montréal to sit down with our senior officials and identify solutions. The figure quoted for phase one is $9.5 million and for phase two it is $60 million. We need to sit down.

There is also a department responsible for infrastructure, which might be able to help us.

[Saint-Hubert Airport, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know that Ottawa is not someplace where you ask for something and get it right away. Issues have to be analyzed. Of course, there are always budget constraints. I would remind officials at the Saint-Hubert airport and Pratt & Whitney that the newspapers do not hold the solutions to their problems. They need to sit down and dig deep. The government paid out $350 million last December. They need to reach into their own pockets so that we can find solutions together.

[Saint-Hubert Airport, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to reiterate the fact that the Saint-Hubert airport and Pratt & Whitney are asking for $70 million out of a total budget of $200 million.

Given the large amounts involved, the Economic Development Agency of Canada cannot give on the spot approval to this type of project. This matter will not be settled in the media but rather around the table. The representatives of the Economic Development Agency of Canada, Pratt & Whitney and the Saint-Hubert airport are working to find alternatives and solutions.