Steven Blaney

[Points of Order, April 16th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to live in Sainte-Marie. I have relatives and there are people here today who have worked at Vachon and they deserve some respect. We will defend them and represent them to the end.

[Points of Order, April 16th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

During oral question period, the hon. member for La Pointe-de-l'Île made comments that could be seen as insulting to Quebec and Canadian workers and consumers. I grew up in Sainte-Marie and we were very proud of the Vachon bakery. When we went abroad we would bring boxes of Vachon snack cakes with us and people were pleased to have them.

I would like to give my colleague, the hon. member for La Pointe-de-l'Île, the opportunity to clarify what she said and confirm that she is a proud ambassador of Quebec's products and Quebec's agri-food industry.

[Monique Leroux, April 15th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, “In the near future, a woman will become president of a major Canadian financial institution”. This was the prediction made in 2006 by the woman who was elected, on March 15, as President and CEO of the Desjardins Group.

Ms. Monique Leroux is the first woman to hold the highest position at the largest financial cooperative movement in Canada in 108 years.

A talented musician and exceptional businesswoman, Ms. Leroux is already introducing some dynamic views on decentralization while maintaining her cooperative convictions. Established in Lévis, the cradle of the cooperative movement, Desjardins is the largest private employer in Quebec. Its 6 million members, 40,000 employees—including 8,500 in the Lévis and Quebec City areas—and assets of $144 billion, make Desjardins a strategic force in the Canadian economy.

Ms. Leroux is following in the footsteps of Alphonse Desjardins, who worked here in this House and who dedicated himself to the movement. I wish her all the best in her mandate at the service of the cooperative movement in Canada and abroad.

[Afghanistan, April 8th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, our Canadian troops deployed in Afghanistan under the authority of NATO and the UN have just received the good news that they will soon receive some backup.

Our Prime Minister, who attended the NATO summit in Bucharest last week, convinced our allies to support Canada's mission to help the Afghan people. French and American soldiers will join the Canadian troops stationed in Kandahar. Furthermore, Poland has agreed to provide helicopters and additional equipment. These latest developments were made possible because of our Prime Minister's leadership. Once again, Canada is playing an important role on the international stage.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the soldiers from Valcartier, and particularly those from the Régiment de la Chaudière and the 6 Field Artillery Regiment based in Lévis who have been deployed in Afghanistan. I want them to know that what they have done every day in Kandahar and the surrounding area, as well as the concrete assistance they have provided to the Afghan people, is noble and important, not only in my eyes, but in the eyes of all Canadians. The people of Lévis, Bellechasse and Les Etchemins are proud of you.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question and for her interest in French at work.

As I said earlier, close to 95% of Quebeckers speak French at work. The motion thus seems to be superfluous.

Thankfully, the Government of Canada is here to defend French when Quebeckers, who are quite mobile, go abroad to work.

In this regard, I invite her to support our bill to let more qualified workers come to Canada, especially francophones, in order to improve the status of French in businesses across Quebec and Canada.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue for his question. My answer is: absolutely.

He has given us some figures. There are a lot of employees. However, I have only one figure to give him that embraces all those statistics that he has just given us. It is another statistic: nearly 95% of Quebeckers most often or regularly use French at work. That figure was up from 2001, according to the last 2006 survey.

Consequently, in the vast majority of cases, workers in Quebec use French. They use other languages, of course, because Quebec is a nation—if I may borrow that expression—which is open to interprovincial trade, to North American trade and to international trade. And that takes place in all languages.

Today, we should instead urge our businesses to speak a number of languages—Spanish, Russian, Chinese. That is what should be done. Linguistic diversity should be expanded.

I remind him that nearly 74% of people in the city of Montreal speak French. It can readily be seen that French is used in the labour market. This evening, he has a chance to make it so that French is used even more, by encouraging francophone workers to immigrate. Therefore I urge him to support the bill this evening.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform you that I will be splitting my time with my colleague, the hon. member for Louis-Hébert, who does tremendous work on the Standing Committee on Official Languages.

It is my pleasure to rise on this opposition day to show how important it is to my Conservative colleagues, those from Quebec and from all over the country, to support and promote the French language and linguistic duality all across Canada.

We appreciate that this is a partisan debate and that our colleagues from the Bloc are looking for new causes to fight for in order to justify their presence in Ottawa. However, I intend to show that they should try to find another issue today.

Linguistic duality is one of the core values of Canadians. I listened to my colleagues from the Bloc. They are proud Quebeckers. Sometimes, they have to travel out of the country. I ask them, who defends linguistic duality? Who makes sure that we have French schools all over the country? Who finances these schools? Who supports them? The federal government does, of course, along with the other provinces, who have the legal responsibility to do so.

In this regard, I would like to recall that even before there were Conservative members from Quebec, all Conservative members supported strengthening the Official Languages Act, which is an important piece of legislation here in the country and I congratulate them for this. We were not there but they kept watch and made it possible for Canada’s linguistic legislative framework to be strengthened. So, we see that the Conservative tradition of promoting linguistic duality is not something new. We are always keen to promote linguistic duality throughout the country.

The situation is special in Quebec. It is known that Quebec is the cradle of French civilization in North America. It is certainly the place where the first chapters of Canadian history were played out thanks to Europe’s influence here, on North American soil, although naturally the aboriginals were there well before us. So, that is the cornerstone of promoting French today.

It is interesting because not only the Canadian government, but also the government currently in place in Quebec, have understood the promotion and leadership roles that Quebec must play within the Canadian federation in promoting French throughout the country. We are happy to work with them in this regard and we salute their initiatives.

So, we work in a complementary manner to promote French throughout the country, including in Quebec, and internationally. The presence of the French language and culture is asset, an economic asset, a gauge of our country’s unique character which defines us in comparison to the Americans, for example. This of course, requires strong support and willingness from various levels of government.

Moreover, a few months ago in Halifax, the individual who was at that time Minister of International Cooperation and Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages met with her provincial counterparts. They discussed various topics such as services in French and exchanges of professional resources between provinces and territories for the purpose of helping to revitalize living environments and improving the quality of resources and services for citizens. We know, with regard to labour mobility, how important it is to ensure that French is promoted, not only in Quebec, but everywhere in the country and that is what is being done.

In addition, our minister and the other ministers paid special attention to youth and young francophones. We want them to develop a sense of pride in their francophone and Acadian identity. Two of my nephews were born and have grown up in Ontario, where they go to school in French. They are very proud to be Ontarians, and they are equally proud of their francophone heritage, which does them credit.

To promote this pride among our francophone youth, I went to Saint-Boniface just over a month ago to announce Government of Canada support for two initiatives. The first targeted Franco-Manitoban youth. It was a few days before Louis Riel Day. Franco-Manitoban identity is a definite asset to Manitoba and enriches the province's culture.

I announced two initiatives. The first will help Franco-Manitoban youth organize French-language sporting events and take part in the Jeux de la francophonie canadienne. We will see the results of this initiative in the coming weeks and months, as young French Canadians perform in sporting events.

There are other Government of Canada initiatives that support francophone communities. I am thinking in particular of Quebec's policy on Canadian Francophonie, which is a good example of how our actions complement one another from sea to sea. We encourage our Bloc Québécois colleagues to support these initiatives by the Government of Quebec. Quebec has created a tool for sharing its expertise in various fields with the other governments to help them provide French-language services, confirming Quebec's importance and leadership role in la Francophonie and especially Canadian Francophonie.

This summer, the eyes of the international francophone community will be on Quebec City, where the Francophone Summit will be held in conjunction with the festivities marking Quebec City's 400th anniversary. All my colleagues from the area and I cannot wait to welcome representatives of the world's francophone nations and share our pride in our culture and language.

Just this morning we were working on cooperation agreements between the federal government and the agencies representing linguistic communities. This applies to the culture, communications, education, economic development and health sectors. These sectors are central to the Government of Canada's priority measures and the communities are telling us that they appreciate the improvements our government has made, namely in terms of multi-year funding.

These are small agencies with few people and spending a third of their time filling out forms is a waste of their time. The Department of Canadian Heritage, led by our excellent minister, suggested that these agencies make multi-year applications and fill out just one form. Their funding would thereby be assured for a number of years. That suggestion has been very well received by these groups.

Promoting the French language across Canada requires strong ties between francophones from Quebec and francophones from the rest of the country. In that regard, we truly have a great partner in the Government of Quebec.

Demographics, the aging population and the need for labour are major challenges. This evening, the Bloc Québécois will have the opportunity to promote labour mobility, namely the mobility of francophones from around the world who want to come and work here. There are francophones who want to come and work in Lévis' hospitals. Those specialists are needed.

Because of the red tape and the long waiting lists we have inherited from the previous government, we are currently unable to welcome these people who want to live here and prosper. That is why I am anxious to support the bill on immigration and francophone immigration.

In Quebec, as elsewhere in Canada, immigration plays a critical role. This evening we could take concrete action instead of passing a motion that seems rather futile to me. It should be noted that a growing number of immigrants in the province are choosing to live in French. I have a Statistics Canada analysis that I invite my Bloc Québécois colleagues to read. In fact, the Standing Committee on Official Languages is going to hear from witnesses from Statistics Canada. They are welcome.

According to Mr. Jean-Pierre Corbeil, the increasing popularity of French in plants, offices and businesses is due to an increasing stream of working immigrants coming from France, Haiti, Morocco and Tunisia

This evening, my colleagues from the Bloc can take concrete action to increase the use of French at work in Quebec and across the country by supporting the immigration bill. Our government is taking concrete action and we are very proud to do so.

I would have a lot more to say and many more examples to give to show how proud our government is to support and promote linguistic duality across the country. We are particularly proud of our involvement in Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebrations. In fact, our Prime Minister has reminded us that at its beginnings Canada was French.

We invite Canadians from all over the country to Quebec City this summer to celebrate its 400th anniversary and to appreciate this linguistic diversity.

I will gladly answer any questions my colleagues may have. I thank you for your attention, Mr. Speaker.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would urge my colleague to come and visit successful manufacturing plants in the riding of Lévis—Bellechasse. We believe in the manufacturing sector and in the promotion of linguistic duality across the country. This is why I have some difficulty in understanding my colleague's take today. I have a few questions for him.

New Democrats have always pushed hard for centralization. I am somewhat surprised today to see that their position on this motion is creating confusion. It seems fundamental to me, since our government has a policy of open federalism, that areas of jurisdiction be respected. I would like to know how he sees the promotion of linguistic duality and respecting jurisdictions in light of the proposal he wishes the House to pass today. Does he not see this could bring about an intrusion in the areas of provincial jurisdiction?

Finally, I would simply like to remind my colleague that over 94% of Quebeckers mainly speak French often or regularly at work. Quebeckers are open and the manufacturing plants in Bellechasse do business across the country. If we consider that 94% of Quebeckers use French predominantly, what is the relevance of this motion when we should be seeking to increase the productivity of our businesses to ensure they are competitive and world class.

[Gerard Kennedy, March 31st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, today, the Liberal leader appointed Gerard Kennedy as unelected critic for intergovernmental affairs.

I would like to quote some statements made by Mr. Kennedy on bilingualism and Quebec. First, the new unelected critic opposed the resolution to the effect that Quebeckers form a nation within a united Canada, which is obvious. Then, he said: “We are all part of Canada”. He also said that he joined the race because he feared that Canada would be split, not just because of old battles, but also because of major new challenges. He even suggested that it was not necessary for a Liberal leader to be fluent in French. According to him, “this is not something that is cast in stone”.

Does the Liberal leader share the same small thinking as his new critic? If not, he will have to quickly call him to order and tell him to show greater clarity.

I have more news for the Liberals: the open federalism practised by the Conservatives works for Quebec, and it also works for Canada.

[The Environment, March 13th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, after 13 long years without even a hint of greenhouse gas reductions, our government is finally taking the bull by the horns.

The turning the corner plan applies to all major industrial sectors and will result in greenhouse gas reductions of 20% by 2020 and 60% to 70% by 2050, an unprecedented accomplishment.

Oil sands operations must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 18% immediately and then by 2% annually. Effective 2012, it will be mandatory for new projects to use carbon capture and storage techniques and green technologies.

Our government is a firm believer in the polluter-pay principle and that is why we are establishing a Canadian carbon exchange.

The time for Liberal rhetoric and promises has passed. Conservative members are taking action now to ensure the sustainable development of Quebec within a green Canada.