Maria Mourani

[Petitions, October 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to present today a petition calling for financial support for Development and Peace. This petition also reminds us that Canada must contribute 0.7% of its GDP to overseas development assistance and give priority to funding NGOs that have lost the support they were receiving from CIDA.

[The Environment, October 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to say to my colleague that I did not identify any contaminated sites in my riding. If there is one, I would like to know.

What is more, the commissioner talked about 2,300 sites in 2011. I will name a few. I do not think they have managed to reduce the number by 2,300 in one year.

Let us look at one of the many sites, the one belonging to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. There are six problematic sites. These sites contain: PAHs and heavy metals, PCBs, radioactive substances. They are all located at Kahnawake. There is no deadline. I am not making this up. These data and figures were submitted to me by this House through a written question. I am not making this up. I did not dream this up one morning.

For the contaminated sites at Kahnawake there is no deadline. No attempt is being made to do anything. Let us talk about this site in particular. What is being done?

[The Environment, October 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development informed us in 2011 that there are nearly 2,300 contaminated sites in Quebec belonging to the federal government. Some of those sites are high priority, and according to the Commissioner of the Environment, when we say high priority, we are talking about a risk to public health.

I therefore asked the minister a question, on May 8, 2011: when is the federal government going to decontaminate these sites in Quebec? The Minister of the Environment patted himself on the back a bit and said great progress had been made.

I submitted a written question to get clarification and ascertain where things stood.

As a result, I received a list from the government of the various departments where the contaminated sites are considered to be high priority in Quebec. Among other things, I requested that the sites be identified and their locations given, and I asked how long the contaminated sites had been known about, whether they were considered to be a priority, and what the decontamination timetable was.

I want to draw attention to the famous high-priority and high-risk sites in Quebec that have still not been decontaminated.

We have Parks Canada, which has five sites that have no scheduled date for decontamination to be done. The site that is apparently the most problematic is in Havre-Saint-Pierre: the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve of Canada, Petite île au Marteau. It was identified in 2004, and things are moving rather slowly in this case at Parks Canada. At that site, we are talking about metals, metalloids, PAHs and organometallic compounds—a number of hazardous products. All of the other sites are located on the Lachine Canal in Montreal. When are these sites going to be decontaminated? That is still the question.

Environment Canada also has contaminated sites. The most problematic one is in the Pointe-au-Père National Wildlife Area, in Rimouski—Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques. Since 2005, nothing has been done. We are talking about petroleum hydrocarbons, metals and organometallic compounds. These really are relatively major contaminants. The source of contamination apparently lies with a third party. What is the department doing in this case? We do not know.

Another case, at National Defence, is in Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier. We are talking about a stew of contamination of the groundwater on land used for research and development for National Defence Valcartier, north sector.

I could go on, but I would like to draw members' attention to this site, where it is flatly stated that there is no cleanup strategy planned before 2030 or 2031. Another site, again at National Defence, is in Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier. It is the same thing: hydrocarbons. There, they are saying 2030 or 2031 for decontamination. There are 13 other sites at National Defence, and they are saying 2023 or 2024 for decontamination.

I want to know what the Minister of the Environment is doing. Is he asleep at the switch when it comes to cleaning up PCBs and radioactive materials? What is going on?

[Ahuntsic Braves, October 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, on September 2, 2012, the Ahuntsic Braves, our boys U16 AAA team, won the Quebec Cup of the Quebec Elite Soccer League. On their road to victory, in the final, they faced the proud team from Saint-Eustache, who played magnificently.

Thus, the Braves will represent not only Ahuntsic, but all of Quebec at the Canadian tournament, which is being held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, from October 3 to 8.

It has been a long road to success, but the team's efforts have paid off. Congratulations to our champions, their coaches and their families. So, Mr. Speaker, what are all Quebeckers saying here today? Go, Braves, go!

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, October 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, on September 26, 2012, at the Charbonneau commission, all of Quebec saw a video showing that builders had ties to the Mafia. Although the RCMP has had overwhelming evidence since at least 2004, these builders continued to prosper for years without any worries about the police.

How is it that the RCMP did not submit its evidence to Quebec's police force after the Colisée investigation? Was it incompetence, negligence, political interference? Could the Minister of Public Safety respond—

[Telecommunications, September 24th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, cellphone theft increased by 71% in downtown Montreal between 2010 and 2011. The same goes for Quebec and Vancouver. In Toronto, there were more than 1,800 cellphone thefts in 2011. It is absurd that in Canada, telephone companies reactivate stolen cellphones, and thereby encourage theft and possession of stolen goods.

In France, Australia and even the United States, they have created a central database to make it impossible to reactivate stolen cellphones.

What is the government waiting for to take action for Canada and Quebec?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 17th, 2012]

With regard to the contaminated federal sites in Quebec classified by government departments as being closed: (a) what is the name and location of each of these sites; (b) what are the required decontamination procedures that have been carried out on these sites to date by the department responsible; and (c) on which dates were these actions taken?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 17th, 2012]

With regard to federal contaminated sites in Quebec: (a) what is the name and location of each contaminated site that has been classified as a high priority by the departments responsible; (b) how long has each of these sites been classified a high priority; (c) what contaminants have been identified at each of these sites; and (d) what is the timeline for the action required for each of these sites?

[Questions on the Order Paper, September 17th, 2012]

With regard to the former military base in Saint-Hubert, including the airport: (a) did National Defence and the Canadian Forces use asbestos as insulation or for any other purpose on the former base; (b) has the asbestos been fully removed from these buildings; and (c) if not, which buildings still have asbestos?

[Firearms Registry, September 17th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, a week ago today, the Superior Court of Quebec sided with the Government of Quebec, which is calling for firearms registry data to be saved and transferred. Yet, in spite of repeated unanimous resolutions by the Quebec National Assembly, in addition to a harsh lecture from the court, which condemned the government's attitude, the Minister of Public Safety is still vague about Ottawa's intentions.

Will the minister stop dithering and announce that he will not appeal this case?