Robert Vincent

[Committees of the House, May 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my colleague's speech. I think that you enjoyed his speech as well, Mr. Speaker. He spoke about French and how important it is that both official languages be respected here in Canada. I know that French is important to you, Mr. Speaker.

And along those same lines, I believe that any company that flies over Canadian territory must have flight attendants that speak both languages. If they are in a supposedly bilingual country, they should be subject to the same law as Air Canada. Any subsidiary or any agency that transports people should also be subject to it and should be bilingual in a bilingual country.

What does my colleague think about requiring that every carrier on Canadian territory be bilingual? And when I talk about carrier, it could just as easily be trains, planes or any other means of transportation.

[Committees of the House, May 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the speech given by the hon. member for Saint Boniface. Her speech was very black and white. I am not sure how well she understands the issue, even though she is on the committee.

It always amazes me. The throne speech talked about bilingualism, but we still need a bill to ensure we have bilingual Supreme Court justices. This does not seem consistent with what the hon. member was saying.

The complaints have been rather weak, but even one complaint is one too many. As she said earlier, all safety instructions must be given in both English and French. However, in the event of an emergency, there is no time to play the recording that gives the safety instructions. The personnel on board must be bilingual in order to deal with an emergency.

Bills requiring that employees on all Air Canada flights be bilingual were introduced in 2005, 2006 and 2007. I think such a measure must be implemented immediately. Those people must be bilingual. We should not need a bill for this. The member said that all safety instructions should be bilingual. In that case, the staff should be bilingual too.

[Committees of the House, May 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it is important to understand that, in an emergency situation, the personnel must be bilingual. For example, VIA Rail experienced an emergency situation while there was a lack of French language personnel. It is French-speaking passengers who took charge during that emergency. It is the same thing with air transportation. If an emergency occurs during a flight and the staff only speaks English, then the passengers who only speak French will have a problem.

When an emergency occurs, it is really critical that the personnel on board be bilingual. I wonder if the hon. member could elaborate on this.

[An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission, May 25th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I would have liked to have heard from other members representing ridings that surround Gatineau Park. People who live here see the park as a place to relax. They really like having access to this park.

The government sees the park as a way to please some of its friends by helping them make money through land sales and real estate development. As the Gatineau and area population grows, young people will be able to walk the trails in Gatineau Park. We must keep it intact. If the government really wants to develop the land, it must consult the most important stakeholders: the people of Quebec.

I would like the member for Richmond—Arthabaska to tell me and the House why this park is so important and why the government must consult Quebec before dismantling it.

[An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission, May 25th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for saying that I am a nice guy. I think that he is right and I invite him to continue to praise me.

The fact is that it is a government bill. However, I have not yet heard a single member from the opposition parties other than the Bloc talk to the bill. I wonder if it is because they do not want to talk or because this bill is not important for them.

For the opposition parties, be it the Liberals or us from the Bloc—and I guess the NDP too—I do not think that we should leave the complete control over a park or park lands to one organization that could use it as it wishes, be it for real estate development or whatever.

I personally believe that decisions of that nature are not for the National Capital Commission to take by itself. The elected representatives should have a voice in the process. First and foremost, the Quebec and Ontario governments should be consulted to ensure that informed decisions are made about the use of NCC park lands, be it their dismantling, the transfer of part of it or whatever. I think that is important.

In fact, we are unable to know what they think and how they see Bill C-20. I am flabbergasted to see that nobody has risen to talk to the bill.

Since there were no consultations with the provinces, does the hon. member believe that the bill will allow the government to do what it usually does and that is remove powers from the provinces and inefficiently manage the agreements with Quebec and Ontario in this House .

[An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission, May 25th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I could not have put it better myself. We are to put our trust in a government that decided at the beginning of the year to prorogue the House. The reasons it gave for doing so do not hold water and neither do the statements the Conservatives are making today on abortion or anything else. I think they have a hidden agenda.

Things were happening just before prorogation that did not sit so well with them, nor with the lobbies perhaps. I do not think that prorogation is something they decided on an overnight whim. They decided they had had enough, that some bills were moving ahead too quickly and in the wrong direction; a direction they had not anticipated.

Again today, as my colleague was saying, we end up with the decisions they have made, with a bill that gives the National Capital Commission increased decision-making power with no concern for the provinces whose land it is using.

It is in every province's best interest to manage its own land, especially when we are talking about a park and deciding what a commission will do with that park. Will there be a housing development? We do not know. However, someone, somewhere knows what will happen to that park.

I have a question for my colleague. Does he think the Conservatives have a hidden agenda? Are there lobbyists or a group of people who believe it is important that this bill be passed? Do they want the commission to have more power in order to take this land and truly create development that should not exist, all without consulting Quebec? I would like to know what my colleague has to say about that.

[An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission, May 25th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I have been listening to my colleagues and I agree with them that the government is taking a piecemeal approach to management. It is different from one day to the next. One day, it takes one step forward and, the next day, it takes two steps back. I think that the Conservatives do not even know where they are going. They do not have an agenda or anything.

I would like the member to tell me something. Does he think that, given the way they are managing the House of Commons, the Conservatives are taking the public hostage with their agenda, or, rather, their lack of an agenda ?

[Competition Act (Inquiry into Industry Sector), May 12th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague.

That is precisely what we want to do. I think that the people of Quebec and Canada shake their heads when they go to the pump to fill their gas tank and see the price of gas. There are people who earn minimum wage and when they put $60 of gas in their tank that is a third of their weekly pay. It is wrong. At some point someone needs to sit down and figure out why the oil companies are acting this way.

I mentioned this in my speech. The oil companies often keep gas in Canada and transfer it when there is a shortage in the U.S. in order to jack up the price. This then has an impact on the price in Montreal, but the prices are supposedly set here. That is how it works and we have to do something about it.

[Competition Act (Inquiry into Industry Sector), May 12th, 2010]

I hear the Conservative member shouting across the floor. He can verify this if he does not believe me. He should go see what happens. He will see for himself.

[Competition Act (Inquiry into Industry Sector), May 12th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question.

Let me be clear. The Competition Bureau does not want additional powers. As a first step, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology should investigate. I believe the committee has the authority to actually conduct an investigation and not merely call witnesses. We have already done this kind of thing. We need to be able to go into refineries and look for documents. We could draw up a list of all the documents and know how it works.

Imagine for a moment that the executives from all the oil refineries, whether in Montreal, Ontario or New Brunswick, sit down in their offices at the beginning of every month and set the price of a litre of refined gas and imagine that, by coincidence, the executives all come up with the same price.