Monique Guay

[The Environment, November 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the former Minister of the Environment made very harsh comments about the government and criticized the behaviour of his colleagues, calling them industry cheerleaders and lobbyists.

In light of this very severe criticism by his former colleague, what is the Minister of the Environment waiting for to draft a plan to implement the Kyoto protocol based on the territorial approach?

[Supply, November 25th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his speech. I am very pleased to hear that he used to live in my riding. Unfortunately, Saint-Antoine no longer exists. It has been merged into Saint-Jérôme. It is now a neighbourhood, but it has lost none of its beauty.

I would like him to elaborate somewhat on a specific issue. Does he not find it illogical to ask farmers to invest in lands that are being leased? How does he think these farmers will be able to take out bank loans and acquire equipment to till those lands, when they are merely tenants?

I would like him to elaborate on this.

[Supply, November 25th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague opposite knows very well, 90 per cent of the people working at Mirabel live in my riding of Rivière-du-Nord. Mirabel is critically important for the economy of our riding. All that went on in the past has seriously harmed the economy of Saint-Jérôme. People who worked in Mirabel lived in Saint-Jérôme, but the transfer of flight passengers to Dorval has killed a whole economy. I have received in my riding office people who were complaining and talking about the disastrous impact of what was going on at Mirabel.

We should not forget that Mirabel is an extraordinary airport, one of the best in the world. It provides the highest quality services. What happened there is abominable.

There now are 17,000 acres of available land. However, there is considerable concern about preserving space. They decided to keep 6,000 acres. To give you an idea, 6,000 acres is twice the area of Dorval. I think this is enough for the future. The remaining 11,000 acres should be given back. Besides, farmers do not want free land; they want to buy it because they need it.

It is very difficult to get a bank loan for land development. We have to be realistic. The hon. member knows that because he has a few farmers in his riding. I am convinced he is aware of that. We cannot invest in land that we do not own, because you never know what the future holds.

This is why we have this motion and why we are discussing this issue on this opposition day. At the end of the day, people are waiting to see what will happen. The hon. member cannot be indifferent to this.

I ask him to react and to do so in a conscientious way, rather than attacking Conservatives. I know this is all part of the game, but in my community this is not what is happening. There is a human reality that he does not talk much about. I would like his comments on that.

[Taxation, November 19th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, does the government realize that the special agreement writing off Saskatchewan's repayment of $580 million would amount, in the case of Quebec, given its population, to a write-off of $4.4 billion in equalization payments?

How does the minister explain this double standard?

[Taxation, November 19th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, during his budget statement, minister Séguin reaffirmed that the federal government's treatment of Quebec was unfair. Mr. Séguin used the example of Saskatchewan, which has benefited from a special agreement whereby it does not have to repay the equalization overpayment, while Quebec was offered a 10-year period to pay back $2.4 billion.

How does the government explain offering Saskatchewan a write-off and Quebec only an installment plan?

[Mirabel Airport, November 17th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the government must stop hiding behind ADM. It has the power and the duty to maintain the infrastructure of Mirabel airport. It has the duty to apologize for its monumental error to those whose land was expropriated and it also has the power to sell back the 11,000 acres of land they are asking for.

What is the Liberal government waiting for?

[Mirabel Airport, November 17th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, in 1969 the Liberal government decided to expropriate 100,000 acres of farmland to develop Mirabel airport. On February 20, 1996, Aéroports de Montréal announced that international passenger flights would be moved to Dorval. Finally, on October 31 of this year, the last international passenger flights left Mirabel airport. What a waste.

Is the government going to apologize to those whose land was expropriated and give them back the 11,000 acres they are asking for?

[Sponsorship Program, November 5th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, not only is there clear evidence that there was interference before the awarding of contracts, but there also was interference after.

How can the Prime Minister say that there was no interference “after”, when a document from Public Works shows that the original contract was split in two to give Earnscliffe an advantage, at the request of the Department of Finance?

[Sponsorship Program, November 5th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, at the Gomery commission Charles Guité stated that only one minister's office had been involved in political interference, that this interference concerned a research contract, which was the specialty of Earnscliffe, and that this minister's office was that of the finance minister, who is now the Prime Minister.

In light of this testimony, which is confirmed by the memo of May 30, 1994, will the Liberals recognize that, in the Prime Minister's name, his former executive assistant, Terrie O'Leary, interfered politically for the benefit of the Ekos and Earnscliffe group?

[Sponsorship Program, October 29th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, Alfonso Gagliano himself said: the first list of events to be sponsored was approved by the Treasury Board in 1996. We know who was vice-president of the Treasury Board at the time.

How can the Prime Minister still maintain that he knew nothing about the sponsorship program?