Peter Stoffer

[Criminal Code, February 7th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his support of the bill.

Prior to his discussion I was speaking about the lack of funding for educational concerns when it comes to the training of psychiatrists and psychologists. All provinces are severely lacking in those professions. One of the reasons, they say, is the lack of resources paid to those in that field, as well as the lack of legal aid funding.

As we know, people who do not have the financial means to hire or retain the best possible lawyers to assist them in their cases sometimes fall under the system of legal aid and, unfortunately, legal aid does not have the resources to do all the things that the individuals in legal aid provincially or territorially would like to do. I would like the member's comments on those two aspects.

Would the member encourage his government to ensure that eventually we have adequate funding so that the provinces will have the funding to ensure we have enough trained psychiatrists and psychologists across the country and that there is enough money in legal aid so that when someone requires the assistance of legal aid they are not told that there are no funds and they cannot be helped?

[Criminal Code, February 7th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from the Bloc Québécois is a tough act to follow. He speaks so eloquently in both official languages.

The federal New Democratic Party will be supporting Bill C-10 and the efforts of the committee and others in order that the bill passes quickly. On behalf of our colleague from Windsor--Tecumseh, the justice critic for the federal NDP, I wish to state briefly the reasons we are supporting the bill.

At first glance it is a response to the June 2002 report of the Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness which reviewed the mental disorder provisions of the Criminal Code. The bill addresses the issue of how to deal with an accused who is unfit to stand trial. In other words the accused is so incapacitated that he or she cannot be tried and convicted or acquitted.

Provincially appointed review boards are charged with the task of determining how an unfit accused should be supervised. Bill C-10 increases the authority of the review boards, including allowing them to order psychiatric assessments of the accused, requiring the accused's presence at a hearing, and lengthening the time between review hearings when appropriate. The bill also allows victims to read a victim impact statement at board hearings and allows for publication bans to protect victims or witnesses.

Changes to the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the National Defence Act are also included in the proposed legislation to ensure consistency with the Criminal Code reforms on mental disorder provisions. The proposed changes to the National Defence Act would address issues arising from court martial proceedings.

If I may go slightly off topic, we talked about the review boards and the provincial side and we also talked about the rights of the accused. There are two very glaring problems in this country which need to be addressed. I was hoping that they would be addressed in order to facilitate the passage of this bill because once the bill is passed, it will leave our House and we more or less will have washed our hands of it.

There is a very serious shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists throughout Canada. Many people who are suffering from mental challenges are not getting the help they need because there simply are not enough of those trained professionals across the country. It is also very expensive to hire and to train psychologists and psychiatrists in order to assist our mentally challenged.

Without proper and adequate funding to ensure that the provinces have the resources in order to hire these individuals, then something like Bill C-10 may fall through the cracks. If victims who are mentally challenged or who fall under the parameters of mental disorders cannot get the help they need, or if the courts do not have access to the professionals for an analysis of the situation, there could be problems down the road.

There is also the issue of people in poverty and their access to legal aid. Throughout the country there is not one jurisdiction where legal aid is not suffering under the weight of a lack of resources. There is a lack of legal professionals and a lack of attention being paid to legal aid.

This country was founded upon the principle that everyone is equal before the law and everyone should have their day in court. We know all too well that there are two justice systems in this country, one for the poor and one for the wealthy. That should not happen. People who are accused of anything in this country, especially those with mental disorders, should have access to psychiatric help and analysis, and should have access to legal aid if they cannot afford a lawyer. This is so critical.

In my riding we deal with a lot of cases where people have been charged with an offence or they are before the courts. Very few Canadians really understand the court system until they themselves appear before a judge or a jury. One thing that is very helpful is the access to legal assistance and legal aid. This country is severely lacking adequate resources for trained psychologists and psychiatric personnel as well as for legal aid professionals. If we assist in those areas across the country, upgrading those two professions, then people who eventually run across something like Bill C-10 or run across the legal system in any way will have timely and adequate assistance in dealing with their cases before the law and in other jurisdictions.

My colleague from Windsor—Tecumseh and I want to say that the committee has worked very well on this particular subject. As my colleague from the Conservatives indicated, this is how Parliament should work. When there are slight disagreements, we work them out together and come up with something that everyone can accept.

Bill C-10 is something the House should be able to adopt and move on fairly quickly. At the same time we cannot drop the ball on the issue of funding resources and training for psychiatric personnel and professionals and those people within the legal aid system throughout the country.

[Income Tax Act, February 3rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands for bringing this bill forward in order for us to have a proper debate on something that we do not debate often in this House, which is what to do with physical activity and sports in this country.

I absolutely believe in what the hon. member is trying to do. The member believes that we can enhance sports activities and encourage further sports activities through the taxation system.

As the member knows and as the House knows, I have a private member's bill myself on a similar issue, Bill C-252, which I hope to be able to debate one day in the House. My bill would offer a tax deduction to any citizen in the country who participates in a physical activity, be it in a dance club or a gym, be it hockey, soccer or baseball, whatever physical activity it is.

For argument's sake, I will use the example of a soccer registration fee of $100 a year. That $100 should be tax deductible. This is similar to the limit we have for charitable donations. For example, if a person gives the Red Cross $100, the Red Cross provides a tax receipt for a certain amount. At the end of the year we are able to file that with our income tax. I believe that the same principle should apply to the registration for sporting fees as well.

We in this House all know that all members of Parliament have been hit up many, many times by various groups and organizations in order to support individuals going somewhere in an individual sport or a team sport.

At this time, I want to convey on behalf of the House our sincere condolences to the hockey team from Windsor that had the unfortunate accident and suffered the loss of life of four great residents and some injuries. We extend our condolences to their families and their friends and to the teams as well.

We in the NDP will be supporting the initiative of Bill C-285. We do know, as was pointed out by one of the Liberal members, that there are a couple of preambles that need to be expanded upon. This is why it is so important to bring this bill to a committee. Then the committee itself can look at the concerns that have been addressed. It can look at furtherance in terms of expansion in allowing the committee, in an all party sense, to really seriously look at the bill.

If we really sit down and think about it, the Olympics of 2010 will be here in Vancouver and Whistler. Everyone is talking about how if we put in x number of dollars we will be able to have more athletes standing on the podium. The reality is that this is very important for the Olympic athletes and for those training for that high level, but what about the athletes and the sports enthusiasts who will never achieve that level? What about the athletes that play sport for the pure love of the sport, be it team sports or individual sports? We need to support those organizations that in turn support those athletes.

The definition of an athlete is a bit of a misnomer. That is something we can work out. We notice that every single time an initiative comes from the opposition through the tax system in order to assist our citizens, the Liberals generally oppose it. They absolutely oppose it. Yet when it comes to tax incentives for the oil and gas industry, let us say, to make it more competitive, to bring in more investment or to have more economic activity in the country, there is no problem. Right away those incentives are put through.

If we look at physical activity, not economic activity but physical activity, we should be trying to get our citizenry more active physically in order to prevent the obesity that is increasing in our country at a rapid rate, to prevent the health issues that occur with it, and to prevent justice issues and social issues because of that. I believe that every kid in this country has a right to play. I believe that every community should have facilities for its citizens to participate in, regardless of the age of the individuals and regardless of the activity they wish to participate in, be it curling, lawn bowling, be it whatever. If we can get Canadian citizens more active and more cohesive as a society in terms of team and individual sports that would be a very good thing for this country.

There is no question about it: as Canadians we are generally out of shape. There is no question about that. In fact, I would question if the average grade 12 student could run a mile around a track. I question whether a person of that age could do it.

This particular type of initiative is something that we need to expand upon, not only in the committee but in the general discussion of this country.

The hon. member who introduced the bill may or may not realize this, but the fact is that federal government investment in sport in this country is one-tenth of 1% of total GDP. That is one-tenth of 1% of the total GDP for the federal investment into sport in this country.

The hon. member and his party know what that means. Volunteers and sporting groups of all kinds are picking up that slack by doing bottle drives, by standing in front of the grocery stores with their cans and their bottles asking for donations, by holding bake sales, and name it, they do it. These are the activities that Canadians have from coast to coast to coast. They will support their individual athletes and their team sports because it is the Canadian thing to do.

There is nothing better than watching teams from across the country competing in sports, not only at the adult level but at the children's level as well. I have coached soccer for over 30 years in British Columbia, Yukon and in Nova Scotia. Being with those kids has been a tremendous experience. I play organized sports as well, but I do know that there are many people who cannot participate in a sport, not because of physical infirmities but because of financial reasons.

Various organizations, as we know, are “volunteered out”. Our volunteers are getting burnt out. They are getting to the point where, after raising funds and money time after time, they are looking for assistance and leadership from the government, not just at the federal level but at the provincial and municipal levels as well.

One thing I have been advocating for quite some time is to have the provincial governments use the lottery funds for their initial purpose: sports, culture and recreation. We know that the initial lottery of Montreal in 1976 was for sports, culture and recreation. That is what the 1976 lotto was all about. In the mid-1980s the responsibility was transferred to the provinces and territories and now most of the provinces put that revenue into general revenues, whereas in our own province of Nova Scotia less than 2% of those total revenues actually goes to sports, culture or recreation. That has to change.

The federal government cannot just do it on its own, but it can show leadership in an initiative by the bill that was brought forward by the hon. member. It can also encourage dialogue with the provinces, the territories and the municipal governments to see what can be done not only to advocate changes within the tax system to assist our athletes and their organizations, but also in the development of fields, arenas and sporting events. We owe this to our future.

I know that my hon. colleague from Cape Breton who has just come into the House has been a long-time advocate of sports and especially the great sport of hockey. I will say that his reputation as a coach far exceeds his reputation as a member of Parliament, but that is just my own political view. The reality is that he knows, on the Liberal side, the value of sport. He has his own children involved in sports, as I do my own.

It is very clear that we thank the hon. member for bringing the initiative forward. We would hope that in turn when our bill comes up that party would support our initiative as well. The member is absolutely correct when he says that we can increase physical and sporting activity in this country through the taxation system.

If there are any concerns within this bill that the Liberals would like to discuss, we believe that instead of voting it down they should be supporting it and working with us in bringing this bill to committee so that we can enhance its opportunities and intentions for the good of all Canadians. Once again I thank the House for this opportunity and I thank the hon. member for bringing forward this important initiative. He has the NDP's total support for this initiative.

[Supply, February 3rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from British Columbia for her statement and her support as we in the NDP give our support for the Conservative motion today.

I want to reflect upon the Liberal government's attitude toward small farmers and small business farmers in that regard, because as we know, the same attitude was displayed across the country regarding our fishing communities.

As members know, what has happened to our fisheries resource is that slowly but surely more and more of this Canadian public resource is being controlled by bigger and bigger entities, the corporate entities. As well, we notice that now on the prairies what used to be small family farms are now being taken over by the big corporate farms. Thus, the little guy or the small family operation, as the member so eloquently pointed out, is facing more and more difficulty.

It appears that the Liberal government pays more attention or gives more service to the large corporate entities and passively ignores and does not give much attention to the small entities, the family farmers, those the member talked about.

With her experience in British Columbia, could the member indicate to us why the Liberal government shows this very negative attitude toward small family farms, and for that matter, toward small family fishing communities as well?

[Finance, January 31st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Burnaby—New Westminster.

We in the NDP have a lot to be concerned about as we move forward with the government and what we call its elusive numbers in terms of what really is the surplus.

For years and years various groups and associations, especially our seniors and our children, heard the government say that it did not have the money to help them out but, lo and behold, surprise, it has a burgeoning surplus. It is simply unacceptable that it keeps playing these voodoo hide-and-seek economics with the Canadian people. It simply is not honest of a government to do that with the people. It should tell us exactly, within a very short parameter, what the budget will be.

The finance department has some smart people. We think they deliberately withheld that information in order to look good at the end of the year instead of being able to assist people and give them the honest facts.

On a personal note concerning the budget that will come out on February 22, I would like to see a few things in it. Once and for all I would like to see a shipbuilding strategy out of the Liberal government. The previous finance minister, Mr. Manley, said that shipbuilding was a sunset industry. I know the hon. member for Dartmouth does not believe that because if he did he would not be here today.

The former industry minister, Mr. Tobin, set up a task force of industry, labour and community leaders to come up with a report. The report was not very big but it had solid recommendations to get our shipbuilding industry back on its feet and to hire thousands of people from across the country, not just from Atlantic Canada, but from Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. We are into the fourth year of that report and absolutely nothing has come from the government. What that tells us in Atlantic Canada is that if we want to replace our military vessels, our coast guard vessels, our ferry fleet or whatever, the government will not do it. It will buy them offshore.

A classic example of that was in the industry minister's riding. The British Columbia Ferry Corporation and the B.C. government tendered a three ferry project of $580 million to a German company. Not one penny of that $580 million will help to create jobs in British Columbia. We have the industry and the workers. It is all there in B.C. ready to go, plus the fact that the government automatically gets 40¢ back on every $1 it invests. We also have the trickle down theory which is that people who make $18 to $22 an hour will spend their wages in their own communities. But no, that opportunity was tendered to a German company.

Our military now needs their AOR vessels replaced. When will those be replaced? There is still no word from the government. Our coast guard vessels need to be replaced. Many people within the industry, including our own Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, have asked for a $360 million over three year investment into capital for the Coast Guard and $160 million per year investment into the operating of that capital. We asked the government when and where that would be done. The government has been silent which gives us quite a confusing message.

We had one minister, John Manley, tells us to forget about the industry, that it was sunset and that we should move on to something else. We had another minister, Mr. Tobin, tells us that he would do a report, and he supported that report. What message are we getting from the Liberal government?

That is just one item. Let us get a little more personal about how the government treats the most vulnerable people in our society, our senior citizens. I am speaking on behalf of Brenda Anderson of Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia. Get this. Hold back, Mr. Speaker, I know you are going to jump out of your seat because you are so happy for her. A few months ago she got an 11¢ increase, not a percentage but an 11¢ increase on her OAS. That was absolutely outstanding. Of course, what happened? Fuel bills went up. Medical bills went up. Assessments went up. The cost of food went up.

Everything else went up around her, but she got 11¢. So we come to the House and we ask the finance minister a very serious question. We asked the minister where she should spend that 11¢ increase. Should it go on prescription drugs, heating fuels, or food? There was no answer from him. He just flipped it off and said they are going to increase it in the next budget, but still no details. I still cannot tell her what to do with that 11¢ increase because now she is further and further in debt.

One million seniors in this country run the risk of going into dire poverty. My colleague from Ottawa Centre has been on the forefront of the battle against child poverty in this country since 1989 and long before that. His motion in 1989 to eliminate child poverty by 2000 was supported by every member of the House at that time. What have we seen? We have seen a fourfold increase in child poverty.

What do the Liberals do? We can give them a little bit of credit. They invented the child tax credit. It is a good thing in theory, but they allow the province of Nova Scotia to claw back every penny of that. They give $100 to a particular family that is in hard times and the province takes it back. Why would the federal government enter into an agreement with a province that allows the clawback of a very necessary item like the child tax credit?

It is all smoke and mirrors with the Liberals. The reality is that the government, since 1993, has put more and more people than ever before in the position of running the risk of losing everything because of their financial concerns, and all they talk about is that they only have so much money to play with. However, it was an amazing thing that in 2000 they gave a $100 billion tax deduction to the very wealthy and to the large corporations.

In fact, just recently they gave additional tax considerations to the oil and gas sector off our coasts. They can give tax considerations to the most profitable in our society, the oil and gas companies, but for once could they not just look into their cold hearts and think that maybe they should start eliminating the tax on home heating fuels in this country?

I just recently got my fuel bill with another $62 in tax. I can afford that, but many people in my riding cannot afford that tax. What we get from the province is that it cannot do anything until the federal government says something. The federal government turns around and says it cannot do anything until the province does something. Where is the leadership in this country? How can they stand in the House and brag about how great everything is when ordinary citizens, the most vulnerable in our society, children and seniors, are having more and more difficulty?

It is bad enough that we have food banks in this country on the rise but now we have school banks. During the school year in September there were facilities set up where people could buy extra pencils and paper so that kids could have equipment to go to school. How can they stand in the House of Commons and brag about burgeoning surpluses and in the next minute live in a society where people have to buy extra pencils and paper so kids can have equipment to go to school? If I was a Liberal, I would be thoroughly ashamed of myself. If we do not look after the most vulnerable in our society, then we have failed as parliamentarians. We have failed considerably.

I also want to mention the concerns of our military. The men and women of our military serve our country with great service and with great admiration. I admire their efforts. We need to give them the tools and clear direction by which to do their job.

Since the days of Brian Mulroney, Mr. Chrétien and so forth, military budgets have been slashed and cut. We need to reinvest in our military. We need to give it the proper equipment it needs. We should not be shutting down bases. I am going to put a plug in for my favourite base, Shearwater. I hope the government will make a decision very soon.

I ask the hon. members for Kings--Hants and Dartmouth and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence to go to the minister and ensure that the decision on the Shearwater air base is turned around. We need to upgrade that base, not downgrade it. We need to tell the men and women of our military that we will give them the tools and equipment with which they can do their jobs effectively so they in turn can do the job that we ask them to do for Canadians. They have the ultimate liability and we as parliamentarians have the ultimate responsibility for their needs.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

[Finance, January 31st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his comments. However, it always amazes me when Liberals get up and talk about how they have reduced the debt. They never really tell us how they did it.

I want to remind the member of two things that the Liberals did that offended many Canadians. One was the EI surplus. The Auditor General said herself that it was into the $44 billion mark, but not to worry about it because the money was already gone. A good two-thirds of debt reduction came from the backs of workers and their employers.

The second was the superannuation surplus, which came from the public servants, our veterans, our armed forces personnel, anyone who worked for the public service. In 2000 there was a surplus in that fund. The Liberals took approximately $10 billion to $12 billion of that money and put it against the debt.

All together that is $54 billion. The member talked about a reduction of $61 billion. If only the Liberals would come clean and tell us exactly from where the debt reduction came. I have no question at all about the government having a plan to reduce the debt, getting the government back on its feet. There is no doubt that is a good thing.

The Liberals should be a little less disingenuous. They should tell us exactly where the $44 billion of the EI surplus money went and where the superannuation surplus went. I would be interested to hear the member's comments on that matter.

[Lawrence O'Brien, January 31st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf our party to pay tribute to a person who I think was one of the finest constituency MPs I ever met.

When I came to the House in 1997, one of the first persons to greet me was this great big fellow from Labrador. He wanted to make sure it was correct. He did not say Newfoundland. He said “Labrador, oh and by the way, Newfoundland”.

He was a man who was really proud of the white, green and blue flag of Labrador. He wore it all the time. In fact, in my little pin collection the first one I got was from him. It was a little flag. He told me to wear it with pride every time I went to Labrador.

One of the honours I had was when the Standing Committee of Fisheries and Oceans was in Richmond, British Columbia for a committee hearing. My mother lived just about a block away from where the hall was, and she invited all of us over for breakfast that morning. Mr. O'Brien of course never could pass up a good bacon and egg breakfast. We were late for the committee by almost an hour because he sat with my mother. He asked her about coming to Canada, about the west coast and what it was like in a group home, et cetera. He was that interested and concerned about my mother, and he used that concern with his own constituents. He was a man who looked at Parliament in the way that it should be looked at, as being truly representative and of being a representative of his people.

For those of us who have had the privilege of working on the fisheries committee, there was no one who argued against ministers and their staff, even if they were from his own party, harder and tougher than Lawrence O'Brien. In fact, sometimes I got a little nervous for Lawrence because he went at them so ferociously, but he did it with a sense of respect and the fact that he knew of what he was speaking. That is something we will all miss in the House of Commons.

I say to the people of Labrador, to his wife and children and to his office and parliamentary staff, thanks very much for sharing Lawrence O'Brien with us in the House of Commons and for that matter, all Canadians.

We will sadly miss him. He is now in God's hands and I am sure he is talking to God right saying, “Now Labrador, let me tell you how beautiful it is down there”. As Lawrence once told me, when God created earth he created Labrador first and the rest of the planet came after.

On behalf of our leader, the New Democratic Party across the country and all the friends and people who knew Mr. O'Brien in a personal way, we will very much miss him, but he is in God's hands. We say God bless to the memory of Lawrence O'Brien and to all his friends and family.

[Income Tax Act, December 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the House for the opportunity to speak to this very special bill. I also commend my colleague from Cape Breton—Canso for bringing forward this initiative.

As my colleague from Alberta rightfully mentioned, this bill was debated in the House before and I agree with him that it is most unfortunate that it was four votes shy of a victory. Why it did not pass, I will never know. I know how mildly upset the hon. gentleman was at that time, but he has a good-natured temperament and as Saskatchewan beat Edmonton in the last playoff game, he understands defeat. However I know he is a very happy man today because he is a very strong advocate for our firefighters and first responders.

Again, I thank the hon. member from Cape Breton. I also thank my colleagues in the Bloc for supporting this initiative.

One of the things that is overlooked tremendously is when firefighters, especially those who are volunteers have basic training every Tuesday night. In Fall River where I live every Tuesday night the firefighters get together. They practise, train and do a great job. They truly love what they are doing. That applies to all the firefighters at the other community halls throughout the area I represent. They never know when that phone call is going to come in or when that bell is going to ring.

I can only imagine in my greatest depth of fear what it must have been like in West Lincoln when Mark Woerlen lost his wife and seven children in a house fire. I pray to God that no one on the planet ever has to go through that. It was tragic for the family, and we extend our condolences to the family, we can never do enough to offer our sentiments for their grief. The first people on the scene, the first responders, were firefighters. Imagine the horror they must have felt.

This bill will assist them financially and will recognize their sacrifices in terms of the hours they put in, but it will never replace the horror that they feel. I mention this because we should be concentrating on further assistance for firefighters when it comes to incidents of that nature.

Every day in this country three people die from a fire, either in their home, their business or their vehicle. Usually the first people on the scene are first responders, firefighters, search and rescue, people of that nature. It takes a unique and very brave individual to enter a building when everyone else is leaving.

We only need to reflect upon what happened in the United States on September 11. We saw the firefighters and the other first responders. We heard the stories of what they did.

This is a bill that we wholeheartedly support. We are very glad to see it. We hope that we can move this bill forward very quickly. With cooperation from the four parties there is no reason it cannot be fast tracked to third reading, sent to the Senate and make it happen very soon.

I also have a private member's bill that recognizes volunteers. Volunteerism in Nova Scotia alone is a $2 billion activity. Some $2 billion of economic activity is driven by volunteers alone.

According to my bill, people who volunteer in a registered organization such as the Lions Club, Kiwanis, a church or the legion and who put in 250 hours a year or more should be able to claim a $1,000 tax deduction.

I am very hopeful with the passing of this bill in the very near future that we can quite possibly revisit the other volunteers who are out there, such as the people who volunteer with Meals on Wheels.

Friends of mine in Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia are with the Lions Club and they drive people all the way into Dartmouth and Halifax for their medical appointments, shopping and so on. They do not ask anything in return. They do not get a per diem for their mileage. They just do it out of the goodness of their hearts. That money comes out of their own pockets. They do it because it is the neighbourly thing to do. They do it because as the Lions Club says, “We are here to serve”. They do not ask for anything in return.

I am hopeful that in the near future there will be an opportunity for us to stand in the House and recognize all the volunteers in Canada. I hope we will be able to offer them not only recognition but a financial consideration with regard to their income tax at the end of the year.

One of the nicest things about where I live in Fall River is I happen to know most of the volunteers at the Fall River fire hall. There is a fire hydrant right in front of my home which knocks $10 off my insurance, thank you very much. The reality is I can sleep at night knowing very well that if anything happens to my neighbours or to me, almost instantaneously someone from that fire hall will be there to help us.

I have seen it happen many times in our area, be it a brush fire, someone who had a heart attack, someone who cut their leg with a chain saw. In any kind of incident they are always there to help. They do not ask any questions. It does not matter what the incident is. All they want to do is help. They do not ask for anything in return, except perhaps a cold beer and pizza after their training on Tuesday nights. That is something we can handle. They are some of our finest Canadians.

I want to say how proud the New Democratic Party is to support the bill. We also want to thank the hon. member for Lethbridge for his work in the previous Parliament. We thank the Bloc Québécois for its steadfast support. We also thank the member for Cape Breton--Canso. This is another great idea, although it might have been copied a bit, that comes from Nova Scotia. What else would we expect from a maritimer?

On behalf of the federal New Democratic Party we salute all the firefighters of this country. We hope for speedy passage of the bill.

At this time, Mr. Speaker, I would like to say Merry Christmas to you, all members of Parliament in the House and members of the Senate, all the pages, and everyone who works on Parliament Hill, and I wish everyone a very Happy New Year.

[Supply, December 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, on the east coast, I would like to remind my colleague from the west, some people call the DFO the department for oil because it has allowed a lot of seismic testing to go on in the Cape Breton area where there are very fragile fish stocks. We asked the government if it had done the environmental work and it said that it had not and that it was the responsibility of the Canada-Nova Scotia Off-shore Petroleum Board.

A scientist within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said that seismic testing within the in-shore waters of Cape Breton may harm stocks. The Canada-Nova Scotia Off-shore Petroleum Board said that was fine, but that it would proceed anyway.

I was under the assumption that the Constitution of Canada states very clearly that DFO's only responsibility is the protection of fish and fish habitat.

Whether it is the west coast, the east coast or within our central waters, the premise of my hon. colleague's speech here today was that nobody trusts the DFO. Nobody has any confidence in the DFO.

The hon. minister, who is a good friend of mine from Nova Scotia, says that he is encouraging DFO employees to come before the independent review to state what is going on. However, unless we have valid, in law, legislated whistleblower protection and unless these people can be guaranteed that their futures will not be crippled in any way, then I would say that simply will not happen. Any member of the DFO who appears before a committee and actually tells the truth about what is going on, will find it to be a very limiting career move.

I would just like the hon. member's comments on that, please.

[Supply, December 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the whole caveat is that we heard from the government that an inquiry would to be headed by an esteemed gentleman. We have a whole group of stakeholders involved in that. They have a short period of time to do this.

We heard previously from the Parliamentary Secretary of Fisheries and Oceans that this was a very difficult and very challenging aspect. One concern I have is the short timeframe and the number of questions that need to be answered. Because of that I am of the perception that a lot of things could have been missed. I am not sure why the government is afraid or concerned about a judicial inquiry when I believe we can have both.

We have the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans doing its report after the recent hearings they had on the west coast. The government has an independent review going on with the stakeholders to discuss what happened. A more indepth judicial inquiry could go into the management practices of what happened with the salmon stocks.

I am hoping that it would expand not just on what happened to the Fraser River, but on other issues within the DFO. Would the hon. gentleman comment on that?