Raynald Blais

[Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, April 28th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, my question is not very complicated. With our good judgment and our sense of responsibility, we in the Bloc Québécois have had occasion to chastise the Conservative government about this issue.

I want to go back to the question I asked my colleague from Richmond—Arthabaska earlier, and I am sure my colleague touched on it briefly as well. Since August 2007, nearly a year ago, there have been numerous product recalls. The Auditor General sounded the alarm on this issue in 2006. Now it is nearly May 2008.

This is like a breach of contract, and confidence in the current Conservative government is eroding more and more. We could look at other events and issues on which the “new government”—as the Conservatives referred to themselves for quite some time, a little too often for my taste—has not kept its word.

I would like my colleague to comment on the fact that it took action by the Auditor General and repeated recalls for the government to come up with a bill. At the same time, we are wondering whether there will be enough inspectors to do the work and what regulations will be associated with the bill. Many questions have yet to be answered.

I am certain that my colleague is capable of mentioning it, but it is important to say that people in our party and other parties will act responsibly and pay close attention to this bill. They will examine this bill very thoroughly in committee. Voting for this bill does not mean automatic kudos for the Conservatives for introducing this bill, because they should have introduced it much earlier.

My colleague is certainly able to speak about this government's lack of judgment and its irresponsibility in waiting until numerous products had been recalled and had made the headlines before it finally took action.

[Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, April 28th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to come back to what my colleague from Richmond—Arthabaska said about the lack of judgment of the Conservatives. With all the other examples that we already have, I think that it reveals that they are not interested in an issue if there is not enough marketing, if people are not talking about the issue and if it is not on the front page.

That is more and more obvious in this case. And we have proof of it: back in her 2006 report, the Auditor General sounded the alarm. There were also other events after that. We did wait for a long time. Finally, that lack of judgment has turned into irresponsibility and incompetence. Examples of that are unfortunately numerous. I would like the hon. member to come back to this topic. We are under the impression that the Conservative government is more likely to act when the issue is purely a question of marketing.

[Transport, April 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, this question is more for the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

Although the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities committed to shedding light on what happened at sea, he did not specify whether the inquiry by the Transportation Safety Board would be public.

Will the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities take action and immediately confirm whether a public inquiry on the L'Acadien II tragedy will be launched as soon as possible?

[Transport, April 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities was in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, as was I, and he saw that residents are calling for a public inquiry on the circumstances surrounding the sinking of L'Acadien II while it was being towed by the Coast Guard.

It should not be too complicated for the minister to launch an inquiry, since the Transportation Safety Board already has the power to hold public inquiries.

Will the minister commit to holding a public inquiry on the circumstances surrounding the sinking of L'Acadien II?

[Seal Hunters, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Dickson, who was following L'Acadien II and the icebreaker, said that he noticed that some of the Canadian Coast Guard's actions were unusual. He also tried to contact the crew of the icebreaker when a piece of ice hampered the towing efforts, but no one responded to the call. Mr. Dickson believes that the drowning of four Magdalen Islands residents could have been avoided.

How can anyone argue against a public inquiry? Will the minister call for a real public inquiry?

[Seal Hunters, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, in light of new, very concerning statements, such as the ones made by Wayne Dickson, the captain who rescued the two survivors, there needs to be a real public inquiry. According to him, he corroborates the statements of other witnesses, including Mr. Bourque, the son of the captain of L'Acadien II who died in the accident, the Canadian Coast Guard was negligent when it was towing the boat.

Will the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans order that a real public inquiry be held, as the people of the Magdalen Islands are calling for?

[March 31st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I will use my remaining 60 seconds to express great disappointment over what I have just heard. Some people may question our usefulness as an opposition party, but to me, it is like saying that the Conservatives are undemocratic. Besides, it would be contrary to the will of the people, which I think ought to take precedence in a minority government situation. This is not a dictatorship, and will not be one either. Who would want 308 Conservative MPs? Is that what the government wants? Maybe, but that is certainly not what the people want. The people do not want that kind of government.

I would have liked it to act sooner, but it is still time for the department to show that something can be done with respect to—

[March 31st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am addressing the House today to come back to a very worrisome matter. It so happens that tomorrow is the start of the next shrimp season. Depending on the ice, this can be changed, but the official date is tomorrow, April 1.

When I asked the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans my question in February, I reminded him of the utter lack of an action plan for the fisheries. Allow me to explain. The answer I got was quite vague. It seemed as through the minister was saying that he was dancing the tango with Quebec minister Laurent Lessard, that everything was going well and that there would be good news in the weeks to come. It is now March 31.

As I mentioned, the fishing season begins tomorrow. Unfortunately, we are still at square one, waiting for a concrete action plan that should be in place to help fishers during a season which, each year, is marked by rather difficult conditions. We know that negotiations have taken place between processors and fishers. One might say that, this year, these negotiations seem a little more positive. In any case, it is definitely not because of the cooperation shown by the minister of Fisheries and Oceans, or his department.

In the end, we find ourselves in a situation where it would take very little to provide greater assistance to those hundreds of people who are wondering whether they will be able to work at the processing plant, or go shrimp fishing. An action plan for the whole fisheries sector would have a much broader scope, but let us deal strictly with the shrimp fishery. It is totally abnormal, illogical and irresponsible to wait until just a few hours, or even a few days, before the beginning of a fishing season to tell people about the action that will be taken. Why did the government not do it earlier?

I had the opportunity to raise this question in February, and I also had the opportunity to raise other ones on the same issue as soon as the last shrimp fishing season ended last year, in 2007. That is why it was important to get back to it. A forum on fisheries was held in Quebec, in November 2006, and we are still without an action plan. Such is the current situation: I have no action plan from the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. April 2008 is just around the corner, and there is still no action plan from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans regarding a sector that comes under its responsibility, namely fisheries.

Quebec has been completely abandoned by this minister, or this department, regarding very simple issues such as that of shrimp fishing. We could of course raise other issues because, unfortunately, in the fisheries sector it is just one crisis after the other, and it is extremely difficult to accept the fact that nothing is being done in this case.

In November 2006, the minister came before all the stakeholders in the fisheries sector and said—which was disappointing at the time—that he was there first and foremost to listen, while these people were waiting for very concrete measures regarding the 2007 season. Today, we are getting ready for the 2008 season, and there is still no action plan.

That is why I would say that in—

[Seal Hunters, March 31st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, according to Radio-Canada, the grieving families will have to pay to have the bodies of the dead sailors returned to them.

Can the minister promise that the federal government will cover the cost of transporting the bodies from Halifax to the Magdalen Islands?

[Seal Hunters, March 31st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, Magdalen Islanders and the family of the man who was not found are very disappointed in the Canadian Coast Guard's lack of compassion. The Coast Guard did not even inform the missing sailor's family members that the search for him had been called off. They found out about it in the media. The Canadian Coast Guard did not contact the family before making that hasty decision.

Does the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans think that process and that lack of compassion were appropriate?