Josée Verner

[Privilege, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, on March 13, 2008, the hon. member for Acadie—Bathurst rose on a question of privilege regarding the invitation I received to appear before the Standing Committee on Official Languages. I responded as follows and I quote:

Appearing before the committee is a ministerial responsibility. Since being appointed, I have had the privilege of appearing before the committee on several occasions, most recently on December 6, 2007. I will be pleased to appear before the committee to discuss the next phase of the action plan as soon as I have finished working on it.

Thus, it was an unfortunate misunderstanding and I will indeed be pleased to appear before the committee when the action plan is presented.

[Telecommunications, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, given that we are going back in time to the early 1990s, allow me to remind the member that the Bloc said it would only be here for one term. We are still waiting for it to decide to leave.

[Telecommunications, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, most definitely, the special Bloc caucus before Easter brought new issues to the table. As is customary, the federal government will exercise its authority in federal jurisdictions.

[Multiculturalism, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, as a minister from the Quebec City region, I have read the results of polls printed in the newspapers, polls that project a positive image of the Conservatives in the region.

[Multiculturalism, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, clearly, as everyone knows from media reports over the weekend, the Bloc Québécois is going through an existential crisis. After conversations about nationhood, here they are questioning their raison d'être here in Ottawa. Really. That is how new propositions arise.

As Quebeckers, we will continue to promote the Quebec nation within Canada.

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 31st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), the Government of Canada cannot yet respond to this question since it is expected to begin collecting information from all federal departments in the summer of 2008 to submit an update on its implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in the fall of 2008. Updated information on its implementation will be made available at this time.

The Government of Canada announced in budget 2008 that it will develop an action plan to advance the equality of women across Canada through the improvement of their economic and social conditions and their participation in democratic life.

In response to (b), Canada is required to provide a report to the United Nations every four years on measures taken to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women. Canada’s last reports, i.e., the sixth and seventh reports, were submitted to the United Nations on May 3, 2007 and covered the period of April 1999 to March 2006. Canada will provide an update to the reports at its next appearance before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which is scheduled to take place in October or November 2008.

Canada’s next report to the United Nations will cover the period of April 2006 to March 2010 and will be due in January 2011. The Department of Canadian Heritage will coordinate, on behalf of the federal government, the preparation of the report by federal, provincial and territorial governments.

[Official Languages, March 12th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. I did not refuse to appear before the Standing Committee on Official Languages. In fact, I appeared on December 6. I will be pleased to discuss the second phase of the action plan for official languages further as soon as it has been introduced by our government.

[375th Anniversary of Trois-Rivières, March 10th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, on January 21, I had the opportunity to go to Trois-Rivières and announce to the city that it had been designated as a 2009 Cultural Capital of Canada. We also announced that by virtue of this designation, the city would receive up to $2 million to help cover its needs, as most of its programming will centre around the 375th anniversary.

[Status of Women, March 10th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, as I had the opportunity to indicate last week, this is a private member's bill and I exercised my right to vote, which was entirely free.

[Film Industry, March 10th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times, the bill was passed in this House on October 29, 2007, with the support of all the parties. All of a sudden, the Bloc has questions. That said, we are talking to the industry to take their concerns and comments into consideration.

I would invite the Bloc member, since he did not understand when he voted on October 29, to read an article published in La Presse late last week, which provides an excellent explanation of the government's intentions.