Laurie Hawn

[Business of Supply, June 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's comments and sincerity. I would offer up a couple of figures for consideration and comment.

When we talk about redistributing the wealth, everybody has a different idea of what is an acceptable profit level, anywhere from the idea that corporations should not make money to they should be completely unrestrained. All positions are legitimate.

I point out that every job in Fort McMurray generates three other jobs in the rest of Alberta and three other jobs in the rest of Canada. Just from the oil sands alone, between 2000 and 2020, an additional $885 billion in GDP and an additional 5.4 million person years of employment will be generated nationally. That will add $123 billion to government revenues.

While I can understand, philosophically, some of the concerns of the hon. member and the mover of the motion, I would ask for comments on those kinds of figures. It is not a one-way street.

[Criminal Code, May 31st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, before I ask a question I would like to address the neo-liberal fearmongering about--

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, May 18th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the remarks of my friend and former teacher. I want to bring out a bit of education for my hon. friend and perhaps the House on one of the areas she slagged, and that is the oil industry.

With the support of this government and, to its credit, the previous government, the oil industry in Canada has supplied tremendous prosperity. It is investing $41 billion in Canada in 2006. It paid governments $27 billion in 2005. The contribution to individual Canadians in terms of training, mobility of labour and immigrant training just by one company alone, Suncor, amounts to millions and millions of dollars.

The industry is supporting education in NAIT. Twelve per cent of Syncrude's and Suncor's workforce is aboriginal. It is also investing $100 million in contracts with aboriginal companies. Suncor alone is investing $100 million to eliminate trucks in the mine sites, therefore having a tremendous impact on SOx, NOx and CO₂, plus other technologies such as CO₂ collection and re-injection.

One of the industries that party and that member like to slag is in fact doing a tremendous amount to help the environment while contributing tremendously, with a job impact in Canada of over 500,000. Would my hon. colleague not like to cut an industry like that just a bit of slack and give it some credit for doing the job in an environmentally friendly way as much as possible?

[Canada's Commitment in Afghanistan, May 17th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, we talked about family tonight and I would like to read just a very short letter I received from a family:

My brother called me last night from Afghanistan. He has reassured me that this current operation is well received by most Afghani civilians. Perhaps we can give this generation the opportunity to be rid of the constant threats...to live a more free lifestyle...I do support further deployments to this region based on what my brother has experienced and been able to share. If I can reach this understanding of the situation despite my obvious bias to my brother's safety, I do wish others with no emotional connection could realize its importance and the potential benefits to the Afghani people.

I ask my hon. colleague, why not?

[Canada's Commitment in Afghanistan, May 17th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I find it a little ironic to hear the member and her leader talk about military tactics.

Let me refer to Sun Tzu's The Art of War. One of the principles is maintenance of the aim. One of the aims in Afghanistan is fighting for equality rights for Afghan women. One of the aims in Afghanistan is fighting for the extension of the democratic franchise in Afghanistan. One of the aims in Afghanistan is fighting for public education for all Afghan children and there are many more.

We talk about delivering funding and aid with no security. We cannot do that.

I would ask my hon. colleague, if not us, who, and if not now, when?

[Afghanistan, May 17th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, for months the opposition parties have called for a vote on our role in Afghanistan. Our Prime Minister has agreed to that vote. Opposition members are now playing politics with our mission in Afghanistan.

Liberal and NDP members just weeks ago supported this mission. The member for Halifax said, “It's not a question of should we be in Afghanistan. Yes, we should, we need to be, we need to be in for the long haul”. The member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore said, “We have got to be a party that stands for human rights everywhere, that does the tough lifting when it has to be done”. And finally, the member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca said, “The courageous Canadians who are in this dangerous theatre must have our unequivocal and steely support. They must know that we fully support them and that their mission is critically important to Canada, Canadians and the world”.

This government could not agree more. We hope that the opposition parties will keep their word, do the right thing tonight and support our men and women in uniform and their continued efforts in Afghanistan.

[Business of Supply, May 16th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's speech was on Kyoto. I had thought this motion was about pesticides but I guess it is not possible to talk about that for 20 minutes.

I thank him for highlighting his government's utter failure to meet our environmental commitments in 13 years, but I would like to get back to the topic at hand, at the risk of staying on topic, and that is pesticides.

I would like to ask the hon. member what his government's approach was to the assessment and evaluation of various pesticides, perhaps the relative success or failure, and what he would recommend going forward in terms of the assessment and evaluation of these products.

[Foreign Credentials, May 15th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, thousands of immigrants come to Canada with diplomas, degrees and experience in various fields. We have all heard stories of doctors driving cabs.

The Liberals promised for years to address this issue but did nothing. The member for Brampton—Springdale claimed to want to fix this situation but was unable to accomplish anything on the file.

Can the human resources minister tell us what plans the government has to speed up the recognition of foreign credentials?

[Business of Supply, May 11th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

Without a doubt, he is very sincere about his environmental goal. The same is true of all members of this House when it comes to their commitment to the environment.

However, I have a problem with some of the math for Kyoto. If we take Canada's targets, which was a political agreement, if we assume that we can become fully compliant, and if we were to look at the percentage of the impact that would have on the computer based predictions of global warming and run that against the total world contribution, we would find that if we do meet our Kyoto commitments we would change the temperature of the earth by two one-thousandths of one degree in the next 100 years.

Life is about risk and reward. That is not a large reward for the risk that we are posing to Canadian industry and the economy. It does not mean we should do nothing. We should. We should do whatever we can to be part of that process.

I would suggest to my hon. colleague that we could do more by not crippling Canadian industry or running the risk of that and by not shipping billions of dollars in the simple transfer of wealth to other countries that will do nothing to reduce greenhouse gases.

Would my hon. colleague consider the value of spending more of our money developing and exporting our world leading technology to help those countries with their technology to make cleaner gas industries that will help the situation a lot more in the long run?

[Petitions, May 11th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition to the House on behalf of number of constituents in Edmonton. The petitioners call upon Parliament to welcome the “stranger in need” and significantly increase the number of refugees that Canada accepts annually and to take a number of measures to welcome and integrate newcomers into Canadian society.