Johanne Deschamps

[Business of Supply, May 11th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, that is a very long question which I can answer very easily.

The Bloc Québécois is asking Ottawa for an implementation plan for the Kyoto protocol that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 6% below 1990 levels.

A series of measures have been proposed that fall within federal jurisdiction: strict standards for vehicle manufacturing in order to improve fuel efficiency; rebates on the purchase of greener cars; financial support for development of renewable energy including wind energy, which Quebec already has through its hydroelectricity and through the wind turbines already in place without federal subsidies; abolition of tax incentives for oil companies; and grants for organizations that contribute to meeting the Kyoto objectives.

What more can we say, other than that Quebec has always had a responsible government, has always been proactive in all the measures and programs it has put forward? We realize today, from a pan-Canadian perspective, that what has been done in Quebec could be replicated elsewhere. However, it is always Quebec that is penalized and that does not derive a monetary return from these programs.

I believe that the Government of Quebec has already done a great deal; it has easily proven itself. If we refer to greenhouse gas emissions chart, we can see that Quebec had the best emissions record in Canada, with 12 tonnes per person. Of all the Canadian provinces, Quebec's rating is the lowest. It is remarkable, and the credit goes to Quebec's many years of efforts.

[Business of Supply, May 11th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as the elected representative of a people, I have a duty to talk on their behalf. One of their greatest current concerns is the fight against environmental degradation around the world.

Whether we are from Laurentides—Labelle or any other place on the planet, we are all aware of the need to act. The fight against climate change will be one of the most important planetary issues in the coming years.

The Kyoto protocol is the product of numerous years of work and collaboration within the international community. To date, it is the most effective and the most comprehensive tool for fighting climate change. The motion tabled by my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie asks that the Conservative government take some effective action to ensure that Canada meets its objective for greenhouse gas reduction, and that it do so right now.

The Conservative government must act as a responsible government and must undertake to respect the Kyoto protocol, an agreement by which Canada is legally bound. By ratifying the protocol, on December 17, 2002, after a majority vote in the House of Commons, Canada undertook to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to a level of 6% below its 1990 level. Canada’s record concerning greenhouse gas emissions is far from brilliant since, in 2003, Canada emitted 24% more greenhouse gases than in 1990.

Quebec, where energy production relies chiefly on hydroelectricity, which is renewable and clean, contributed only very slightly to this increase in production of greenhouse gases. Between 1990 and 2003, greenhouse gas emissions increased in Quebec by 8.6%, compared to 34% in Alberta and 45% in Saskatchewan.

Paradoxically, the oil industry has received $66 billion in subsidies over the past 30 years, as opposed to a meagre $329 million for the renewable energy industry.

One year after the ratification of the Kyoto protocol by Canada, the former Liberal government adopted Bill C-48, which made Canada a tax haven for oil companies in North America.

The first budget of the Conservative Party reveals that it intends to continue in the same direction as the Liberal Party of Canada. In my opinion, Liberals or Conservatives, it is all the same. As for the Conservatives, they seem to have found a new passion: Quebec. Since the last election, and even during the election campaign, they have inundated Quebec with promises and commitments. Perhaps they should now focus on the real priorities of Quebeckers. According to a Léger Marketing survey that was made public on February 15, over 90% of Quebeckers support the Kyoto protocol and its objectives. More important, they say they are willing to make concrete efforts to ensure that Quebec reaches the objectives of the Kyoto protocol.

I am trying to understand the Conservatives and I am still very concerned with the arrogant attitude they have taken since their recent election. It did not take them long to get into the same bad habits as the Liberals. One has to wonder if power does not lead to deafness, blindness and amnesia. The position taken by the Conservatives is weakening not only Canada's credibility, but also Quebec's credibility in the international arena. It could definitely put into question the relevancy of negotiating the signing of multilateral agreements. Experts the world over agree that climate change could have catastrophic consequences for ecosystems, animals and human communities.

Several groups have been working for many years to raise public awareness of the importance of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

In Montreal last February 16, a number of Quebec leaders gathered at the invitation of Équiterre and Greenpeace to celebrate the first anniversary of the coming into force of the Kyoto protocol.

I would like to quote some of them. Mr. Alban D'Amours of the Mouvement des Caisses Desjardins said:

The recent United Nations conference on climate change will have served to raise considerable awareness of the urgency of acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and spurred our concern to protect the environment.

Claudette Carbonneau of the CSN and Henri Massé of the FTQ said:

Tough measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions must be put in place quickly in all sectors of society, and workers must be an integral part of the solutions for implementing the Kyoto protocol.

And finally, Laurent Pellerin of the UPA:

Global warming is a threat to food security, and may have harmful consequences for the entire planet such as reduction of food crops and potable water resources.

Governing responsibly means looking beyond a political agenda that lasts a few months. It means implementing the conditions necessary to ensure the security, health and prosperity of citizens for the years to come. The Conservative government is doing the very opposite!

If the Conservatives really want to contribute to improving the security and health of citizens, let them give up spending taxpayers’ money on building more prisons. Let them invest that money instead in combating the stealthiest threat, which is at our gates and making its presence known by the increase in such extreme weather events as heatwaves, hurricanes and droughts.

The Conservative government says it does not want to send taxpayers’ money abroad. The Bloc Québécois is in complete agreement. It is rather the rich oil companies that should pay the environmental costs generated by their industry.

To do otherwise would be to leave the bill with all the taxpayers, who already find themselves the poorer as the price of gas goes up, the taxpayers who on top of that would have to bear the cost of the harmful consequences of climate change. The Conservative government cannot remain deaf to the demands of Quebeckers.

Quebeckers believe in the necessity of stopping the destruction of our environment and in the need for clean water, air and soil so that our children and grandchildren may in their turn enjoy what nature has lent to us.

I will close by asking the Minister of the Environment a question, which has to do with her lack of vision for the future.

When your pockets are full, what will you feed on?

[Business of Supply, May 11th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Brossard—La Prairie for sharing his time with me.

I will start by stating my primary reasons for entering politics. First, there is my Quebec culture and my desire to protect it. Another reason was my attachment to the values of respect and openness that I inherited from my parents. Finally, I entered politics because of my respect for this earth and not only for Quebec, but for the whole planet. For all these reasons and values, I one day decided to join the Bloc Quebecois, the only party that, in my opinion, really takes Quebec's interest to heart and that really cares about the priorities of Quebeckers.

As an elected representative, I sincerely believe that I have a responsibility to speak out on behalf of the public. One of the main concerns of this public is the fight against environmental degradation worldwide.

[Small Arms and Light Weapons, May 10th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, this week the 114th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union is being held in Kenya.

Many subjects will be debated there, including environmental management and combating global degradation of the environment, promoting effective ways of combating violence against women, and strengthening the control of trafficking in small arms and light weapons.

Over 600 million small arms and light weapons are now circulating in the world, and a good many of them are being used in the wars raging in Africa, particularly in countries with natural resources such as diamonds and petroleum. These countries do not manufacture weapons. The weapons come from elsewhere, for the sole purpose of supplying these wars.

Oxfam launched a 100-day campaign last March to mobilize against and denounce armed violence in the world. Light weapons kill over 800 persons every day. There is no international agreement to combat the sale of arms.

The federal government must denounce these violations of human rights at the UN summit on small arms and light weapons in June.

[Petitions, May 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of myself and of the member for Vaudreuil-Soulanges, I have the honour to table a petition concerning lives in limbo signed by 4,000 people. The petitioners are asking the government to establish a process that will facilitate granting permanent residency to any individual who has been in Canada for more than three years and who comes from one of the countries under a moratorium, such as Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.

This state of uncertainty is a major cause of human anguish and suffering, so we believe it must be acted on quickly.

[Employment Insurance Act, May 8th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce C-269, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (improvement of the employment insurance system).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in this House today to introduce a bill that my colleague from Chambly—Borduas has put a great deal of work into, a bill designed to improve the employment insurance system. The bill provides for reducing the qualifying period to a minimum of 360 hours of work, lengthening the benefit period, increasing the weekly benefit rate to 60%, cancelling the waiting period, increasing the maximum yearly insurable earnings to $41,500 and introducing an indexing formula.

Whether they are in my riding of Laurentides-Labelle, the rest of Quebec or the rest of Canada, workers deserve our respect and our commitment. The Bloc Québécois is listening to Quebeckers, as it has done since it was first elected in 1993, and is attuned to their priorities.

Unfortunately, thousands of people have been hard hit by the cuts and the mission change made to employment insurance by the Liberal and Conservative governments. The Bloc Québécois will try again to correct this situation in order to give those who were left out of the Conservative budget the respect they deserve.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Darfur, May 1st, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I would like to thank my colleague for her comments that supplement what I had to say this evening in the House. She also provided some possible answers to the question asked by my colleague across the aisle a few minutes ago. That is all that I could hope for in this regard.

[Darfur, May 1st, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague opposite for his question and his request. Talks are underway, and the African Union has asked that the negotiations be extended. As I said earlier in my speech, the Bloc Québécois recognizes that the African Union is doing remarkable work at present in Darfur. At this stage in the talks, it is essential that we wait for the outcome of those negotiations.

On the question of the humanitarian aid being supplied in response to the current crisis there, it is imperative that more aid be provided to those people. Their survival and their ability to get through this is at stake. A population that has been fed can then implement measures to secure better health services and perhaps even basic education services. That is also made possible by the activities of community organizations on the ground.

I hope my answer has provided clarification of the Bloc’s position regarding what is currently happening in Darfur.

[Darfur, May 1st, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I would like to thank my colleague from Victoria for her remarks.

Indeed, my colleagues and I in the Bloc Québécois agree with any action to support international aid and humanitarian action in a country where there is a serious conflict at present.

In my speech I said it is important that the World Food Programme increase its involvement in terms of the aid it is currently providing in Darfur. I also mentioned the fact that Canada must raise its contributions to the World Food Programme.

[Darfur, May 1st, 2006]

Mr. Chair, at the start of this 39th Parliament, I rise to speak in this House for the first time. I rise not to thank, congratulate or pay tribute to anyone in my riding, but to debate the drama unfolding in Darfur. With dignity, in humility and out of respect for these people and my colleague from Saint-Lambert I speak this evening in the House.

The education I received from my parents and the values they passed on lead me to believe that every person is entitled to health, freedom and happiness. In support of my remarks, I quote Benjamin Franklin, one of the fathers of American democracy, who, in 1776, wrote:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Three hundred years later, this declaration still underlies the fundamental principles of human rights.

Negotiations are currently underway in Nigeria in order to reach a peace agreement in Darfur. The African Union proposed this agreement and agreed this morning to extend the talks between the Sudanese government and the Darfur rebel movements until tomorrow evening. The role of the African Union in the peace process must be maintained and respected to ensure better cooperation between the parties.

The extent of the UN mission must be inversely proportional to the progress of the peace talks and, in the event an agreement is reached, close communication must be maintained in order to adequately support the African Union.

The Bloc Québécois unreservedly supports the African Union's mission and believes the Canadian government must provide financial and logistical support to the African Union so that it has the resources to achieve its objectives.

The African Union does remarkable work in Darfur and as Kofi Annan said:

The UN peace mission must not replace the African Union peace mission. This is above all an African conflict and the African Union must have leadership in the talks and in implementing the mission to help these people.

We absolutely must not get involved in the power struggle of the Islamic extremists in Khartoum by giving the impression that the West is telling the Africans and the Muslims what to do.

That said, Darfur has been in the battleground in a civil war for more than three years and a serious humanitarian crisis has so far resulted in nearly 300,000 deaths, 2.4 million displaced persons and 200,000 refugees in Chad.

The situation is critical and the Bloc Québécois believes that the international community has to be more proactive in order to overcome this crisis.

The issue is not whether or not there is a genocide, it is about taking action as soon as possible with a peacekeeping force that would cooperate fully with the African Union's mission in Sudan on technical, logistical and financial levels. The violence must stop so that the civilian population can live in peace.

Obviously, the Bloc Québécois will always remain faithful to its principles and will support a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

The humanitarian situation has been deteriorating since early 2006. Last Friday, the World Food Program, the WFP, announced that it was forced to cut its rations in half because donor countries' contributions were too low.

This year, the World Food Program received only $238 million of the $746 million it requested from the international community. The World Food Program wants to hold on to its reserves so that it can help people until harvest time in September. Currently, half of the population of Darfur depends on this humanitarian and food aid. The Bloc Québécois is asking the federal government to boost its humanitarian aid by increasing its contribution to the World Food Program.

Last March 9, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees cut its operating budget for Darfur by 44% because security conditions had deteriorated. At the same time, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees declared that humanitarian conditions were worse than ever. Over the past few weeks, several NGOs have been forced to leave Sudanese territory, which has resulted in aid being denied these suffering people.

The lack of security that now characterizes Darfur is threatening to impede the work of humanitarian organizations. Half of Darfur's population needs humanitarian aid and protection.

The international community must take greater responsibility for protecting civilian populations and maintaining its support for the African Union Mission in Sudan. With only 7,000 people to patrol an area the size of France, the African Union has its hands tied, and in its current form, the African Union Mission in Sudan can do little to meet the needs of the people.

Community organizations must be able to reach people in need and provide them with the care they require.

More than 300 villages around Gereida have emptied since the end of 2005. The villagers, who were thrown out of their homes, are now living in crowded temporary camps near cities, where resources are far from adequate. The rapid growth of these camps is placing enormous pressure on supplies of water, food and health care.

The UN is threatening to suspend its aid operations and planning to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions. Unfortunately, now such actions would only make things worse for people who have already been hard hit.

In closing, we have to ask ourselves at this point how we can best help Darfur, how we can best get involved without making matters worse in Darfur and Sudan.

As Christophe Ayad said:

The word “genocide” carries such serious connotations that it must not be misused. Describing a situation as genocide when it is not is not a solution, and the word must not be used merely to mobilize support.

Some analysts say that using this term could even jeopardize the peace process that is under way and threaten ratification of the peace treaty that Khartoum and the rebels are about to sign.

In practical terms, using the word “genocide” will not enable the international community to act any more quickly than if we simply refer to “war crimes” or “crimes against humanity”.