Peter Stoffer

[Committees of the House, February 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for standing up for the workers and families of the communities that he represents.

He talked eloquently about the concerns of the textile industry but, as he knows very well, many other companies and manufacturers in this country are falling by the wayside as well. My hon. colleague knows very well the big trouble that the car manufacturing industry is in. We hear Chrysler saying that it will have its cars assembled in China.

He comes from the great province of Manitoba where pickerel can be caught in Lake Winnipeg, frozen, sent to China, processed, sent back to the Safeway store in Winnipeg and sold cheaper than if it were sold locally. Something is drastically wrong if white fish or pickerel are sent from Manitoba all the way to China and back. Even the box says that it is a product of Canada made in China. Colour me mistaken, but is there not something wrong with this picture?

We also have shipbuilding, the power tool manufacturers, the auto sector, textiles, one right after another. The present government and the previous one have basically abandoned the workers in this country, who helped built this country, for the so-called market aspect of China.

Does my colleague honestly believe that the present government can actually turn that around, work with other countries and tell China and others to bring up their labour and environmental standards and bring about fair trade, not necessarily capitulated trade?

[Committees of the House, February 19th, 2007]

What about shipbuilding?

[Tartan Day Act, February 12th, 2007]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-402, An Act respecting a Tartan Day.

Mr. Speaker, I probably should have allowed my colleague, the hon. member for Windsor—Tecumseh, to present this. It is ironic that a Dutchman would introduce a bill asking that April 6 be noticed as tartan day.

I thank Mrs. Jean Watson of lower Sackville, Nova Scotia for this great idea. The Scottish add great history to our country. Who cannot help celebrate January without a great Robbie Burns night?

We think it would be a great idea for the federal government and all parliamentarians recognize April 6 in Canada as tartan day in Canada.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Excise Tax, February 12th, 2007]

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

[Excise Tax, February 12th, 2007]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-401, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (no goods and services tax on reading materials).

Mr. Speaker, I thank many constituents in my riding who have asked us to introduce this legislation. We did in last Parliament and now we are reintroducing it.

We do not believe, especially when there are such great concerns about adult literacy and people who are functionally illiterate, that we charge a tax on all reading materials. The NDP firmly believes that reading is an important element of self-gratification and it helps our economy. We should not be taxing reading materials that help people learn and experience the joy of reading.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Shipbuilding, February 12th, 2007]

The reality is, Mr. Speaker, that Norway and Korea have subsidized their shipbuilding industry for years.

The government knows very well that the industry is asking for support, not rhetoric, from the government.

The defence minister was in Halifax on January 12 and stated to the Chamber of Commerce that shipbuilding was a very important strategic industry in our country.

I am asking the parliamentary secretary one more time. Will he assure us that the reduction of tariffs will not happen under this trade deal and that all shipyard workers and their families will be protected regardless of what is in that deal?

[Shipbuilding, February 12th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the government very quietly is negotiating trade deals with Korea and the EFTA countries of Europe. Unfortunately for the shipyard workers and their families in this country, it appears that shipbuilding is on the government's radar map in order to destroy it in this country. The government is negotiating it away with these current deals.

This is the same government that in the 1980s negotiated the free trade deal with the Americas that really hurt our shipbuilding industry. Now it is doing it again with our shipbuilding industry with Korea and EFTA. I would like assurances from the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade that the shipyard workers and their families will not be harmed by this trade deal in the future.

[Fisheries and Oceans, February 2nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, there is a saying in Atlantic Canada, “when you are walking on thin ice, you might as well dance”, and that minister is doing one hell of a jig.

The fact is that his own parliamentary secretary said this was a management tool of ITQs. Senator Comeau, a Conservative, said in his report that ITQs favour the corporate sector.

This revised act would turn a public resource into the hands of management of the corporate sector of this country, thus destroying the hopes and dreams of thousands of fishermen, their families and communities right across the country.

Why is the minister doing this?

[Fisheries and Oceans, February 2nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, in 1997 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the fisheries of Canada is a “common property resource” and must be managed in the interests of all Canadians.

The Government of Canada has just released Bill C-45, one of the most sweeping changes to the Fisheries Act we have ever had in this country. It privatizes the fishery, corporatizes the fishery, destroys fish habitat and allows DFO officials to be off the hook for their decisions.

In 1992 the cod collapse cost the Canadian taxpayer $4 billion and nobody was held accountable.

Will the minister now bring in a new act that reflects the real wishes of fishermen in this country?

[Transportation between the Island of Newfoundland and Mainland Canada, February 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as the federal NDP's critic for issues facing the great province of Newfoundland and Labrador, in a buddy sense of a way, I was recently in Newfoundland and Labrador and I had the opportunity to speak to Minister Tom Rideout, for whom I have great respect. We discussed various issues affecting the province. One of them, of course, was marine and transportation services to the province. He indicated to me that the fees being charged for Marine Atlantic services were anywhere from 50% to 60% of the fees themselves. In many cases, it is quite formidable and costly for people to access goods and services on and off the island.

My hon. colleague for Random—Burin—St. George's was correct when he said that the previous government froze the fees. We were hoping that there would be a complete analysis of the transportation costs to the good people of Newfoundland and Labrador so that there could be a thorough discussion, not only in the House of Commons but in the House of Assembly, to discuss where we go from here in assisting that province and developing its economy, not just through transportation routes but in other aspects as well.

One of the concerns we also discussed was the aspect that some of the ferries are getting quite old and need to be replaced. In the Halifax shipyard, we see the Joseph and Clara Smallwood vessel most of the time being repaired. It is about time that a fair number of these vessels be replaced.

We believe that with modern efficiencies and with Atlantic know-how, we could have those ships built right in Atlantic Canada. I will be biased and say at the Halifax shipyards but also in the Marystown yards or Lévis, Quebec, Port Welland or out in B.C. We believe that if the government really had a procurement process that was fair and that used Canadian tax dollars to assist in the building of Canadian vessels, sort of like the ferries and other vessels that we require for our services, then the so-called fiscal imbalance that everyone keeps talking about could be addressed through what I call fiscal development.

If we were to develop these yards and give them the new equipment to make proper sound investments, then the people of Atlantic Canada would not only have good, high-paying and highly-skilled jobs but Newfoundland and Labrador and Cape Breton would be able to get the vessels that they require.

My hon. colleague was absolutely correct when he said that one of the tragedies in a way but, obviously, agreed to, was the demise a while ago of the Newfie Bullet which was the rail service in Newfoundland and Labrador. As the hon. member said, it was exchanged for money to build up the infrastructure of the road system there.

I know anybody who has been there knows that there are many songs and many stories about many of the people who worked along the railway or the Newfie Bullet as they called it. It is absolutely wonderful that the people can retain stories of that very magnificent form of transport that they had for so long. Unfortunately, however, modern times dictated that we would put everything on the roads.

As my hon. colleague for St. John's East knows well, with that amount of truck traffic on the road and with the weather systems they have, the roads soon fall into disrepair. They need sound investments to ensure that the main transportation routes are not only safe but also efficient to allow goods and services to travel efficiently.

There were discussions before. If I am not mistaken I believe the premier of the province once discussed a fixed link between Labrador and that of the great northern peninsula in northern Newfoundland. That is a discussion that we have always said is worthy of further discussion, not just in the House of Commons but in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador as well because that would be a very expensive type of operation. Of course, it would need to connect to a road that goes down through Quebec and then onward into central Canada. I believe that would be a worthy discussion. I do not think it is right to say that we should forget the idea because it costs too much money.

As, hopefully, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador grow and as that region of Atlantic grows, we think that it has great benefits for all of Atlantic Canada, including northern Quebec. We do need discussions regarding transportation services for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador but when we discuss that we are also talking about other provinces in the Atlantic and maritime regions.

We believe this is a good motion and we welcome the debate. However, we want to make sure that the hon. member knows quite well, as my hon. colleague from the Bloc said, if we are going to have further discussion, we would like to see results a lot sooner than we are seeing now. If that is definitely the intention of my hon. friend, then we would support that initiative wholeheartedly.