Peter Van Loan

[Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, April 16th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, I paid attention when President Barack Obama delivered the state of the union address. The message he gave was quite the opposite of what our friend represents. He actually indicated the importance of moving forward on free trade with Colombia, notwithstanding that this was not a position traditionally held by his party.

Clearly there is a broadening consensus, whether it be in Europe, the United States or here in Canada, that a free trade agreement and the implementation of that agreement with Colombia would be a positive thing, economically for the people of our countries as well as for the people of Colombia. That is why we are moving forward with it.

[Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, April 16th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the deal that was made was a free trade deal, which was signed some years ago. It has been debated in Parliament for literally years now and it is an agreement that we would like to see passed.

However, clearly there is absolutely no relationship whatsoever to any electoral events in Colombia. There is every indication that whomever might win any upcoming election would still be strongly supportive of any free trade agreement. In fact, I know my hon. friend is quite familiar with the procedures of the House. We will still have to face committee, report stage, third reading and if we get through that process here, then it has to go through the exact same process—

[Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, April 16th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member raises the issue that because of the prorogation, there is an opportunity for all the speakers to speak again. It is all the same members of the House. It is the same Parliament. The technicality on which the member relies on for that argument is not one that we are talking about here. We are talking about the spirit and the intent of allowing a full and fair debate, a full exploration of the issues.

In this situation there have been 35 speeches by 48 Bloc members. We have had 38 speeches from the NDP members, with 37 members from that party. Clearly these two parties, which fiercely oppose the bill, views have been heard and they have been heard thoroughly.

I do not know at this point in time if there are any new novel arguments or new novel points to be made. It is in circumstances like this where there is a clear intention to delay and obstruct a bill like this that a motion like this—

[Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, April 16th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I will take those three questions in reverse.

First, in terms of the motion proposed by the member for Kings—Hants, as I have indicated previously to the House, that is acceptable to the government and we will treat it accordingly.

Second, the date proposed for the debate to continue under this motion would be Monday after this coming weekend.

Why do we need a motion like this? The purpose of the House, the purpose of our parliamentary system is to give an opportunity to allow views on issues to be aired. We allow for full and proper debate. We often trouble ourselves with what does represent a full and proper debate.

In the House, through the previous session and the current session, a total of 89 members from the opposition parties have spoken to the bill. There has been considerable debate. In particular, I point out that the New Democratic Party members, who have taken the lead, have delivered 38 speeches in opposition. They actually have 37 members of Parliament, so there has been an awful lot of opportunity for them to let their views be heard.

Similarly the Bloc Québécois members have spoken 35 times and they have a total of 48 members. Therefore, there has been—

[Questions on the Order Paper, April 15th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the following response is accurate as of March 31, 2010: a) With regard to an official office space that is accessible to the public and space for the counsellor’s staff, Public Works and Government Services Canada has identified space for the Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor at the Dominion Building, 1, Front Street West, 5th Floor, Suite 5110, Toronto, ON, M5J 2X5. The office is currently operational and was opened to the public and other stakeholders on March 08, 2010.

b) With regard if an office has been provided, where it is located and precisely which offices have been allocated at the given address, the office is located on the 5th floor, suite 5110, 1 Front Street West, Toronto, Ontario.

c) With regard if staff have been provided, how many staff does the counsellor have and what are their functions, the counsellor will be supported by two staff. An administrative assistant has been hired. The counsellor is working to fill the senior policy advisor position.

d) With regard to what the budget is for the counsellor’s office and staff, the budget of the Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor is $654,240 per year, including salaries, travel and other operational expenses.

e) With regard if the counsellor has yet received any complaints in relation to counsellor’s mandate, no. The review process outlined in the Order in Council to create the Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor needs to be developed further into a comprehensive and detailed process that is fair, transparent and credible. Early outreach and dialogue conducted by the counsellor with a wide-ranging set of stakeholders indicates that the process used to construct the review mechanism and the rules of procedure must be inclusive, participatory, transparent and multi-stakeholder. The counsellor has begun to construct the framework and methodology and will soon be conducting formal consultations with stakeholders to develop the review mechanism.

f) With regard to why there is no clear and user-friendly information on the government’s Foreign Affairs and International Trade website to assist Canadians in contacting the CSR counsellor, the counsellor is in the process of developing a website for the office with website address at www.international.gc.ca/csr-counsellor. In addition, the counsellor’s contact information can be found at Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade’s Corporate Social Responsibility website at www.csr.gc.ca.

g) With regard to the email address, fax number, phone number and address for the current counsellor, the current contact information for Dr. Marketa Evans is email: [e-mail]; telephone: [phone]; fax: to be installed shortly; address: Dominion Building, 1, Front Street West, 5th Floor, Suite 5110, Toronto, ON, M5J 2X5.

h) With regard if an office and staff have not yet been provided, from where is the current counsellor working and how is she undertaking her responsibilities as mandated by the order in council, the office of the counsellor is operational at present? Since the counsellor began work on October 19th, she has met with numerous stakeholders, participated in various conferences, workshops and seminars, including discussions with the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. Her activities have necessarily focused on her engagement with stakeholders as they will have an integral role to play in assisting her to develop a robust review mechanism that is fair, transparent and credible.

i)With regard if an office and staff have not yet been provided to the counsellor, when does the minister expect to provide them, and if they have been provided, on what date were they procured? The counsellor’s office located at Dominion Building, 1, Front Street, 5th Floor, Suite 5110 is operational. Staffing process has been partially filled with the hiring of the administrative assistant. The counsellor is working to fill the senior policy advisor position.

[Export Development Canada, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2010-2014 Corporate Plan Summary for Export Development Canada.

[Trade, April 12th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I do not agree with the characterization the hon. member opposite has given to the situation.

We will continue to work constructively to determine if it makes sense for Canada to have a role, how we can best contribute to the advancement of the trans-Pacific partnership.

As for the relationship with the United States, we are very proud of our trading relationships. NAFTA has been good for Canada. What is more, with our delivery of a deal, a waiver from buy America, we have reinforced once again that Canada has a special trading relationship with the United States that no other country in the world has. That is something we are very proud of.

[Trade, April 12th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Canada sees Asia as a very important part of our emerging trade patterns. Of course we encourage what we see happening with the trans-Pacific partnership. Any move toward freer trade is a positive development as far as we are concerned.

We continue to have discussions with the members of the trans-Pacific partnership to determine what kind of role would be appropriate for us and if it does make sense for Canada to participate. We will continue those ongoing bilateral discussions.

[Export Development Canada, March 31st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2009 annual reports of Export Development Canada and Exinvest Inc. on the administration of the Access to Information and Privacy Acts.

[Softwood Lumber Industry, March 30th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the softwood lumber agreement has been working well for over three years. It provided access to the U.S. market, gave the industry the certainty it needed and enabled Canadian softwood lumber producers to recover more than $5 billion in duties.

The provinces and the industry support the agreement because it is working well for companies and for workers.