Sylvie Boucher

[Justice, November 23rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that, on justice issues, Liberal and Bloc members defend the rights of criminals. Fortunately, Canadians know that they can count on our Conservative government to defend the rights of victims.

Our government believes that murderers must serve tougher sentences for the most serious crimes.

Bill C-36 would eliminate the faint hope clause. Criminals who commit first or second degree murder would no longer be able to apply for early parole. We do not want families to have to go through the pain of attending repeated parole hearings and having to relive their losses over and over.

We hope that, for once, the Liberal and Bloc members will stand up for the victims in this country by supporting this bill.

Our government works in favour of those Quebeckers and Canadians who obey the law.

[Business of Supply, November 20th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, climate change is an important part of our government policy, and is one of the most important challenges of our time.

On November 10, André Pratte wrote an article in La Presse called “Canada and Copenhagen”, a great title, and I will read an excerpt:

Canada has developed a strategy that could compromise an agreement in Copenhagen”, according to the Bloc member [for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie].

These types of comments distort reality. If there is no agreement in Copenhagen next month, it will certainly not be because of Canada.

...In the main British, English and American newspapers covering the talks, there is not a single mention of our country.

...The main obstacles in the way of an agreement are primarily:

—the United States' delay in announcing the greenhouse gas reduction targets it would be prepared to agree to;

—the absence of firm commitments from China—

That is why the Prime Minister is currently working to ensure that all countries that are major greenhouse gas emitters work together to find the best possible solution.

Our government is committed to reducing our country's total greenhouse gas emissions by 20% based on the 2006 level, by 2020. By 2050, we have a reduction target of 60% to 70% based on the 2006 level.

Our government is doing what needs to be done to significantly reduce greenhouse gases. Canada's economic action plan, which was introduced as part of Budget 2009, is clear on this point. The plan builds on previous investments by allocating an additional $4 billion to support a cleaner, more sustainable environment and help Canada achieve its climate change objectives. This includes a $1 billion investment over five years in the green infrastructure fund for renewable energy production and other projects. Through the clean energy fund, which was launched on May 19, 2009, we will invest another $1 billion over five years in clean energy research and demonstration projects, including carbon capture and sequestration. That funding alone is expected to generate further investment of at least $2.5 billion in clean energy.

The House of Commons bill will also require public utilities to produce at least 15% of their electricity using renewable resources and to reduce their annual energy consumption by 5% through efficiency measures.

The Government of Canada has also set ambitious goals in terms of energy production. By 2020, 90% of our electricity needs will be provided by non-emitting sources, such as hydro, nuclear, clean coal and wind power.

This clean energy goal, along with a whole series of other policies and measures, demonstrates our willingness to work as hard as our national partners.

Our government remains committed to reducing Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

Our target is ambitious but realistic, because it takes into account Canada's growing population and our very energy-intensive industrial sector.

The Government of Canada's approach to fighting climate change will produce tangible economic and environmental results and will benefit all Canadians.

Our government is committed to working with provincial and territorial governments and other partners to develop and implement a North American cap and trade system for greenhouse gas emissions.

Harmonizing Canada's climate change policies with those of the United States is in both countries' economic interests.

We are working with the provincial governments and our partners to develop and implement a North American system.

We have already announced the publication, under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, of a notice of intent to regulate vehicle exhaust emissions and Canada's offset credit systems.

The Copenhagen meeting marks the beginning of a major international collaborative process to set achievable targets. We must ensure that we do things properly and not just deal with them in record time.

Canada's economic action plan includes more than $2 billion in green investments to protect the environment, stimulate our economy and transform our technologies.

For example, the clean energy fund will invest $850 million over five years to develop promising technologies and $150 million over five years for clean energy research and development.

In addition, the green infrastructure fund will provide $1 billion over five years to support targeted investments in green infrastructure that will help improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions.

Our government intends to ensure that 90% of our electricity comes from non-polluting sources by 2020.

In keeping with our commitment to consult the provinces and territories in preparation for the conference of the parties to the United Nations framework agreement on climate change, which will take place in Copenhagen, our minister has held a series of meetings with the premiers and many of his provincial and territorial counterparts to discuss synergies between the federal, provincial and territorial approaches to fighting climate change.

Our consultations with the provinces and territories are part of the work we are doing to harmonize Canada's climate change plan with that of the United States.

The Government of Canada has invited the provinces and territories to attend the Copenhagen conference as members of the Canadian delegation. Their role will be to advise the minister and the lead negotiator, who will represent Canada during the negotiations.

[November 19th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, as I am also a member of the official languages committee, I can say that we worked very hard to give priority to our linguistic duality at the 2010 Games. We studied the issues with our colleague from the Bloc and we will make sure that the 2010 Winter Games are bilingual, which means in both official languages of the country, English and French, because La Francophonie must shine.

[November 19th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, on September 15, we announced $7.7 million in additional funding to ensure that the 2010 Winter Games are fully bilingual. Out of that amount, $5.3 million will be used for translation and interpretation services. The Department of Canadian Heritage is going to sign an agreement with the Translation Bureau, which will provide its expertise both before and during the Games, to ensure that the information provided to the public, the athletes, the media and the officials is in Canada's two official languages.

The Government of Canada is determined to ensure that the 2010 Winter Games will leave a lasting legacy to Canadians. This is why it is allocating $1.5 million for permanent signage. The installation of these bilingual signs at the various Olympic venues will promote the use of both official languages during the Games and will serve as a lasting legacy.

The medal ceremonies will be shown every evening at Vancouver's BC Place and on the screens of the celebration sites in Vancouver and Whistler. Every evening, the ceremonies will be followed by concerts featuring the provinces and territories. An additional $900,000 will be used to showcase French culture and performers during the medal ceremonies, so that these ceremonies also reflect the Government of Canada's commitment to our official languages.

The Government of Canada has already invested in the torch relay, the celebration sites, the Cultural Olympiad and the opening ceremony. We have included linguistic clauses in all these contribution agreements to ensure that these events reflect our country's linguistic duality, and we have also made arrangements to have francophone performers from all regions of Canada.

Federal institutions are subject to the Official Languages Act and to its related policies, and the increased demand for services must be taken into consideration. Each institution is responsible for ensuring that its obligations are met.

The Department of Canadian Heritage is coordinating the federal government's participation in the Games' organization and presentation. The 2010 Games Federal Secretariat is cooperating with the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer of the Treasury Board Secretariat to help institutions provide services in both official languages during the Games.

Promoting our two official languages and their rightful place at the 2010 Winter Games has been and remains a constant priority of our government. Since the beginning, we have wanted our two official languages to be fully integrated in the planning, organizing and presentation of the 2010 Winter Games.

In the 2008 budget, our government earmarked $24.5 million to support the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic torch relay. The Olympic torch will travel through over 1,000 communities. The torch relay provides a great opportunity to showcase the Canadian francophonie.

[The Economy, November 19th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, in this global economic downturn, one thing is obvious: the Canadian economy is doing better than most and we are leading the global recovery. This was confirmed today by the OECD in its economic report.

Although global recovery is fragile, Canada is one of the strongest G7 countries in terms of GDP growth for next year and we will lead the G7 for growth in 2011.

The OECD points out that our Conservative government's economic action plan is contributing to the recovery.

But we must remain focused. We need to stay the course, keep the focus on the economy and fully implement our economic action plan.

That is what the OECD recommends and it is exactly what our Conservative government is doing. We are fighting the recession while the leader of the Bloc Québécois and his party vote against economic recovery.

[Bloc Québécois, November 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I must say that I am dismayed. Dismayed by the actions of the members from the Bloc Québécois. Dismayed also by their choice of motto: “Debout!”, or “Stand up!”

When Quebeckers find themselves jobless and seek support from their members of Parliament to find solutions, the Bloc members remain seated.

It is our Conservative government that takes action, suggests solutions and stands up for the real interests of Quebeckers and Canadians.

We have added five weeks of employment insurance benefits. The Bloc voted against that. We have increased the number of weeks under the work sharing program. The Bloc voted against that too.

This week, the Bloc members remained seated, so to speak, by voting against extending EI benefits by 5 to 20 weeks for the self-employed.

Our Conservative government is taking action to help workers and does not remain—

[November 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I will look my friend straight in the eye and tell him that I will be one of the first to go and be vaccinated and will also take my mother because she is old and suffers from bronchitis. No, I am not afraid to save my life, or the lives of Canadians, and I do not play politics with the health of Canadians and Quebeckers.

[November 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her question.

The members should remember one thing. We do not play politics with the health of Canadians, in contrast to the Liberals. We work closely together with the territories and provinces. The guide on how to prepare for the H1N1 virus can be downloaded. We have also printed 300,000 copies. That will not be enough and we will print more, because it is a very good guide.

Everything is there. It says what the H1N1 virus is, how to prevent infection, how to recognize the symptoms, how to care for a sick person, what the vaccines and antivirals are, how to plan a campaign against the virus, Canada’s plan, and all the resources. It is a very good tool to use. I encourage my Liberal friends to use it too. It is very good for our communities.

[November 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.

This is the first time in Canadian history that we have had such a huge vaccination campaign. One of our primary responsibilities is to ensure that Canadians have reliable, up-to-date and complete information on the H1N1 influenza and on how to protect themselves during the epidemic.

I would like to focus on the methods we have used to inform Canadians during the pandemic and on how we foresee pursuing the information campaign.

The number of activities we have undertaken over the past six months is quite simply phenomenal. Communications have been shared at a breakneck pace from day one. Take for example the number of people who have consulted the Public Health Agency's Web site: more than 3.1 million hits since April.

I should also mention the great interest in the Government of Canada's H1N1 Preparedness Guide. Nearly 300,000 guides have been ordered or downloaded. We will have to reprint the guide again after distributing more than 650,000 copies to 6,500 Canadian post offices in two weeks alone. We will not have enough guides and we released them just two weeks ago.

We have also launched massive media campaigns. The Public Health Agency of Canada is broadcasting a message to all Canadians. This week, that message was heard on 238 radio stations. Health Canada is broadcasting messages to first nations and Inuit people through 80 radio stations in addition to public service announcements on northern community stations. The department has also published messages targeted to these people in 43 community newspapers and placed advertising banners on first nations and Inuit websites. Between October 19 and October 30, we mailed a brochure to more than 10 million Canadian households, to tell families how to identify the H1N1 virus and where to find additional information.

There is a great deal of interest in the H1N1 flu. The Government of Canada is responding to that demand by providing timely, factual and relevant information on the virus. The degree of awareness about H1N1 in Canada is now extremely high, particularly considering that six months ago no one had heard of the H1N1 virus or the pandemic.

We are finding out that people are making decisions regarding their health and are assessing the choices available to them.

The information campaigns, the public announcements, the numerous interviews given by the Minister of Health and by Dr. Butler-Jones, and the press conferences we are holding several times a week are all initiatives which show clearly that we are providing Canadians with a great deal of quality information.

Here is another example. On Tuesday, after vaccination centres opened across the country, we noticed a threefold increase in the number of people visiting the Public Health Agency of Canada's FightFlu.ca website. Until then, the all-time record was 60,000 hits. On that Tuesday, 196,000 people visited the site, or 22,000 people per hour. Canadians know about the FightFlu.ca website, and they visit it in large numbers.

They look at an average of three pages each time, which is very good. They spend more time on these pages, which means that they are actually reading the content and that they go further to get information.

It is also easy to see that they are showing up at vaccination centres. They want to get vaccinated. Three weeks ago, few people wanted to get the vaccine. We are working with all our partners to ensure that Canadians will indeed get vaccinated.

Our efforts are paying off, and because everyone has worked together so closely, we are ready for whatever winter brings.

When the epidemic began, we distributed more than four million health alert notices to travellers in Canadian airports, in cooperation with Transport Canada.

In late April, we started running infection prevention messages in 24 international airports in Canada, in cooperation with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.

In May, we distributed posters to 49 airports showing how to prevent infection by using proper hand washing technique and coughing into one's sleeve, for example.

We have also signed an agreement with the Weather Network, which is using information from the Public Health Agency's FluWatch site on its website and its television stations in French and English. The Weather Network is also broadcasting general infection prevention messages on behalf of PHAC.

The volume of targeted, factual, complete information we are providing to Canadians and the variety of methods we are using to do so are quite simply unprecedented in Canadian history.

I could also remind this House that the national communication strategy is a multi-tiered strategy. The federal government is not alone in providing Canadians with information. We are working in partnership with the provinces and territories and local authorities.

All the information Canadians are receiving is coherent and comes from reliable sources in the public health community.

We are ready, and we are helping Canadians get ready and get informed.

[Employment Insurance, November 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, our government's economic action plan proves to what extent we continue to take initiative and listen to the public's concerns. Quebeckers and Canadians are calling for action and we are taking action, nothing less.

During these difficult times, the introduction of Bill C-50 on employment insurance is a response to the concerns of workers who fear for their jobs. Our government has developed this temporary measure as well as other assistance measures to improve the daily lives of our workers and their families.

In opposing this bill, the Bloc Québécois and Liberal members do not realize how many workers who have had the same job or worked in the same industry their entire lives could end up having to go back to square one.

Our government is presenting concrete solutions and defending the interests of Canadian workers and their families.