Meili Faille

[Petitions, June 11th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I received a response to a petition from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The response indicates that Canada recognizes the right to participation and the right to consultation.

Some citizens in my riding and across Quebec signed a petition, because they learned from different countries that mining companies often organize botched consultations. The scheme consists of creating division among people by promising benefits to others.

In light of Bill C-2, this petition is very pertinent. Young people are worried and are calling on the government to ensure that, beforehand and with full knowledge of the facts, all exploration projects in certain countries come with a complaint and redress process, along with compensation for the victims.

[International Cooperation, June 11th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, after women's groups and international cooperation organizations like KAIROS and Match International, it is now the Canadian Council for International Cooperation's turn to be hit by ideological and retaliatory cuts made by this government. The president of the Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale, Mr. Brian Barton, is calling for more transparent funding criteria and asking that CCIC's funding be maintained.

Will the government heed this call?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, June 10th, 2010]

With respect to the development of the logic model for the Integrated Relocation Program (IRP), as introduced at the January 29, 2007, meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts: (a) who were the members of the interdepartmental working group who participated in the development of the logic model; (b) how often did the interdepartmental committee meet to develop the logic model and on what dates; and (c) what were the forecasts of the logic model for retaining or selling a house, and what are the results to date for each year of the IRP?

[Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, June 9th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I would like the minister to answer the question my colleague asked. The Bloc Québécois does not oppose international trade. However, it has always subscribed to the principle that international trade must allow for the mutual enrichment and development of both parties.

What provisions will force Colombia to respect and honour social commitments, and what sanctions does the minister plan to impose on mining companies that violate these rules?

[Citizenship and Immigration, May 28th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, according to Marjorie Villefranche of the Maison d'Haïti community centre, some 2,000 family class applications were being processed before the earthquake. Since then, 2,000 to 3,000 new applications have been submitted. According to the department, as of May 15, only 525 visas have been granted since the January 12 earthquake.

Will the minister stop dragging his feet and instruct his department to speed up processing for family class applications?

[Maternal Health, May 28th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister for Status of Women and the Minister of International Cooperation have repeated all week that it is important to save the lives of women and children who are dying because of a lack of health care in developing countries. Yes, of course it is.

However, on this International Day of Action for Women's Health, are these ministers aware that by failing to fund access to abortion for women in developing countries, they are allowing more than 70,000 women to die every year for lack of access to this service? Does this government not have any compassion for these women who are dying because of an excess of dogmatism.

The Conservatives claim that they do not wish to reopen the abortion debate. However, backbenchers are at complete liberty to introduce bills limiting access to abortion, with the obvious approval of a Prime Minister who is obsessed with controlling everything.

The Conservatives must listen to what Quebeckers and Canadians are telling them and fund access to abortion in developing countries, while maintaining this service—

[Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010, May 13th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague, who pointed out that Bill S-3 is a large bill, and that we must examine it thoroughly. I remind members of the initiatives that were introduced by the government, for example, in Bill C-9. The government opened loopholes in the Income Tax Act to allow corporations that are not registered in Canada to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. The Bloc Québécois also introduced a number of initiatives to combat tax evasion. Every time, something happened in Parliament, with prorogations or elections, and our bills died on the order paper. The Bloc Québécois also tabled some provisions to combat tax evasion that were not passed by the House.

I would like the member to share with us some real solutions for combatting tax evasion.

[Fairness at the Pumps Act, May 12th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, that is a very good question on all these new penalties. I summed this up earlier. The government will focus on guilty retailers who are repeat offenders. There will also be cumulative penalties and the need for retailers to act swiftly. Nonetheless, my colleague's question is also quite relevant.

I invite the committee that will examine this issue to look at the problem and the solutions in detail. Of course I am disappointed that the government did not give us more statistics on the problem and on what the actual situation is and that we have to turn to the newspapers for some of the information we are missing.

[Fairness at the Pumps Act, May 12th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, that was one of the first items I addressed at the beginning of my speech on this issue. The oil companies are both judge and judged. In the legislation, the people who will be called to examine the devices, those who will be called to evaluate compliance with the law, will be people from the industry itself. I believe there is a flaw, a major gap in this bill when it comes to this provision on the industry policing itself.

It is incredible to see that the oil industry will be put in a position of being both judge and judged.

[Fairness at the Pumps Act, May 12th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the creation of a petroleum monitoring agency is a recommendation that has come up repeatedly at the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. I referred to that in my speech.

Several aspects need to be considered when looking at fluctuating gas prices. Four parameters need to be examined. I believe that if Bill C-452 passed and were sent to committee for study, we could then have a closer look at the price of crude oil, the refiner's margin, taxes and the retailers' margin. Thus, we could better understand how the industry works. The committee might then conclude that a petroleum monitoring agency should be created.