Todd Russell

[Indian Oil and Gas Act, February 13th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the member for Simcoe North, for his co-operation. We have seen that in committee thus far and we look forward to more of that in the future.

The stakeholders I have had personal contact with, particularly the Indian Resource Council, which represents 130 first nations that have oil and gas interests on reserve, are amenable to this legislation. They have been involved in at least in the drafting of the recommendations of the legislation.

They feel it will put them on a level playing field with off-reserve oil and gas exploration. It will also help solve some of the regulatory gaps that may now exist. It will help them gain greater benefit from their resources through other capacities.

On environmental protection, there are certain fines or penalties that can be brought in under the legislation.

Generally, the stakeholders I have talked to are in agreement with this. They want to see it move forward in an expeditious manner.

[Indian Oil and Gas Act, February 13th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today at second reading of Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Indian Oil and Gas Act. The Indian Oil and Gas Act was first introduced in 1974 and really has not had any major amendments. There were only some minor amendments in 1995.

This is the third time in as many sessions of Parliament that these more substantive and modernizing amendments have been brought forward. Unfortunately, between early elections and early prorogations, there has never been enough time in the parliamentary calendar for consideration of the substance of this bill. In fact, merely by getting to second reading, this version of the bill has outlasted its predecessors.

For the benefit of all who have a stake in this bill, there will hopefully be no more parliamentary hiccups keeping it from continuing through the proper legislative process here and in the other place.

Since the bill in its previous form was introduced in the last session, I have had the opportunity to read it and to study the background information explaining why these changes are needed at the present time.

In the past number of years, we have seen a massive increase in the natural resources sector in Canada, particularly in oil and gas exploration. My own riding, while not known for its onshore oil and gas, has significant offshore potential. We are also one of Canada's main mining regions, and in fact the Voisey's Bay nickel project in Labrador is an example of how resource industries and aboriginal peoples can work together.

The people of my riding are also well acquainted with the oil and gas industry in other parts of Canada, especially in Alberta and other western provinces, where many of the people I know have gone to work on petroleum industry projects. The recent economic downturn is affecting these industries, just as it is touching all industries and sectors of the economy.

We on this side of the aisle are very concerned about the economic direction of the country and the need for stimulus in the short term to get people working and get industry moving. However, in the long term we also have to look at making Canada a good place to do business and taking the steps to ensure that our resource and other industries will resume their growth and provide jobs for the future.

We also have to take steps to ensure that first nations people are brought in as true partners and participants in the development of natural resource industries.

During the latest boom, many mining and petroleum projects were crying out for employees, due to an acute labour shortage. Despite the current economic situation, the long-term trend is that Canada will require more skilled workers in all sectors of the economy, including the natural resources arena.

At the same time, there is a large and growing population of aboriginal Canadians, and far too many aboriginal communities are at an economic disadvantage. There is an incredible opportunity here to develop the industries with aboriginal people as owners, participants, partners and workers over the coming years and decades.

Modernizing the Indian Oil and Gas Act is one step that may help achieve these goals in respect of oil and gas exploration and development on first nation reserve lands. This bill contains a number of technical changes to the way oil and gas resources on reserves are administered and managed. I will describe the broad strokes of these changes.

The bill addresses the regulatory gap between on and off reserve oil and gas activities. Second, the bill would expand the powers of councils of first nations to delegate any of their powers under the act to any other person, effectively allowing first nations councils to hire experts to act on their behalf.

The law would also require a minister to exercise his or her power under the act only if the council of an affected first nation has given its permission. The bill includes a non-derogation clause, which states that nothing in this act shall be deemed to abrogate the rights of Indian people or preclude them from negotiating for oil and gas benefits in those areas in which land claims have not been settled.

A new section added to the bill governs the payment of royalties from oil and gas recovered on first nation lands, which are paid to the Crown in trust for the first nation in question. There are also greater audit capabilities.

There is a new section providing further powers to make regulation for the purposes of the act. One interesting provision, from my point of view, is the power to require petroleum operators to employ members of the first nation in question in the exploration or development of oil and gas from first nations lands.

Again, my own riding saw similar issues during the exploration, construction and development of the Voisey's Bay project.

I look forward to hearing more about how similar adjacency or hiring rules will apply under this bill to the oil and gas industry.

I will also be interested to learn from the experiences of first nations in other parts of Canada, who may have valuable lessons for people and communities in my riding.

My party's position is that we support the bill in its broad strokes and agree that a package of amendments must be brought forward for consideration. I have already had productive meetings with some of the stakeholders, like the Indian Resource Council and look forward to hearing other points of view, both one on one and in committee. It is in committee that I trust we can get down to some of the details.

The industry is generally positive towards the package of amendments contained in the bill, indicating that it will bring greater clarity, strengthen accountability and enhanced protection of first nations, environmental, cultural and island gas resource. If there are differing viewpoints, I look forward to hearing them once the bill has been referred to committee.

With the new spirit of openness and co-operation that is said to pervade in Parliament these days, I trust that all parties will be interested in hearing from a number of witnesses representing those with an interest, one way or another, in this legislation.

I also trust that the government will be willing, where appropriate and necessary, to be open to amendments if the committee's work leads us in that direction.

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, a lot of Canadians feel left out of the budget but none more so than the Métis.

There were more than 5,000 words in the budget speech but “Métis” was not one of them, and yet the Métis people are among some of the most vulnerable in society.

Why was the minister responsible so ineffective or uncaring to allow this glaring omission and injustice, and why was there nothing specific in the budget for the Métis people of Canada?

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, what I will not support is the position of the NDP, where it wants to put up walls, walls between our provinces and between our countries. It wants to put up a wall between the United States and Canada which will cost Canadian jobs and American jobs. It will hurt the people in my riding of Labrador who depend upon the specific industries that we are talking about, the iron ore, steel and nickel industries. I will not support that.

There was a president at one time, in a different context, who said, “Tear down those walls”. I would say to the NDP that it needs to start tearing down some of its walls on its own ideology that hurts Canadians.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I did not hear a question but Canadians have been watching for months now. The Conservative government has not instilled a lot of confidence in Canadians that it knows how to handle our economy. The government denied that there was an economic crisis in Canada, ignored that there was an economic crisis in Canada and delayed a response. As I have said, it brought in a haphazard stimulus package. That is what has been said in the country and that is what Canadians have observed.

If we do not have much confidence that the government can handle our own economy, there is not a lot of confidence that it can handle situations when it comes to the international economy and international relationships.

What we have observed is a flat-footedness when it comes to the Canadian stimulus package. We observe that when we see the government reacting. It was not proactivity that we saw on the part of the government. It reacted to what came at it from out of the blue from our American counterparts.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time this afternoon with the wonderful, outspoken and generous member for Malpeque, affectionately known as the “Malpequer” by many of our colleagues. I also want to thank the member for Kings—Hants for bringing forward this important motion and making it a subject of debate here in the House and across the country.

The motion itself, if ordinary Canadians read it, might seem technical, but for ordinary Canadians or ordinary Labradorians who are involved in industries impacted by the legislation or the economic stimulus package in the United States, it is about their jobs, it is about how they are going to pay their bills. While it may seem technical to them, it hits home for many people.

Our trading relationship with the United States is very important and it has to be based on mutual respect and on the rules. The riding of Labrador has a very direct role in the Canadian and international iron and steel industry. Our iron ore industry has a longstanding close relationship with Canadian and American steel industries, having been developed by North American steel makers in the 1950s and 1960s.

Iron ore production in Labrador in 2008 was estimated at $2.5 billion, no small chunk of change. We have two of the three most important iron ore producers in Canada, those being Wabush Mines, the Iron Ore Company of Canada and the other being Quebec Cartier, neighbouring us in northern Quebec out of Fermont.

We also have a number of new iron ore projects in the advanced exploration at the pre-development stage. I will mention just a couple, those with the New Millennium group and the ironsands project. Up until a few years ago, iron ore represented over 90% of the mineral production in the entire province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and that was before Voisey's Bay nickel came on stream.

Labrador now represents 98% of the mining industry in our province. Nickel production at Voisey's Bay last year is estimated at $2.2 billion, with over half a billion dollars more in related copper and cobalt production from the same mine. Nickel of course is a component in many types of steel as well as iron ore. Among the three operating mines in Labrador, Wabush, the Iron Ore Company of Canada and Voisey's Bay, they account for nearly 10% of the value of all Canadian mining in 2006.

In the past several years they have generated tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties which are paid to the provincial government. In certain instances a share of those revenues are transferred to the Nunatsiavut government, the Labrador Inuit self-governing body, and the Innu nation representing the Innu people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is not hard to see from these facts that the economy of my riding of Labrador is very closely tied in with the Canadian international iron and steel industries. We have a direct interest in the domestic and international policies and politics that have an impact on this vital sector.

Along with many other Canadians I was fascinated to watch the recent American election unfold and to see President Obama inaugurated just a few weeks ago. When the American stimulus package was drawn up, it included the problematic buy American clause. I and many in my riding were immediately concerned about the impact on the industries that were situated there which our economy was dependent upon.

It seems that many on this side of the aisle and indeed throughout Canada, the U.S. and around the world share that concern. In the past few days and hours the president has signalled that he is open to measures to avert what could be an unfortunate international trade dispute, not just with Canada, but with other countries.

It is unfortunate that the Conservative government seems to have been caught off guard, flat-footed and, in some respects, dumbfounded by some of the protectionist developments south of the border. It seems to have no strategy and no comprehensive response, just a shotgun reaction.

While the mine industry in Labrador has had boom times, in the past few months we have seen our share of trouble and there is more on the horizon. In western Labrador, we have already seen a number of projects deferred or cancelled, the announcement of 160 layoffs at Wabush Mines and scheduled shutdowns that will contribute to the hurt. In northern Labrador, Voisey's Bay has scheduled a summer shutdown this year as well.

Our mine operators and especially mining employees are watching the global economic situation. They are keenly aware of the impact of the world situation on their jobs, their lives and their communities.

In Labrador, just like the rest of the country, my people watched as the Conservative government denied the economic downturn, then ignored it, then delayed a response and now has brought forward a haphazard stimulus package.

Canada needs to stand firm in ensuring that protectionist measures do not exasperate the stresses that our people now face in the metal producing industry. Workers in my riding need assurances that the Conservative government will fight for their interests now and in the months and years to come.

[Equalization Payments, February 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the question is simple. Is he or is he not changing the provisions in the 2007 budget that allows a province to choose to exclude either 50% or 100% of the value of its natural resources from equalization, yes or no?

[Equalization Payments, February 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, last week the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador asserted that changes to the equalization formula, which affects Atlantic accord payments, would gouge the province of up to $1.6 billion over the next three years. Other estimates are being tossed around.

Clearly, there is a need for transparency and openness. Sadly, that transparency and openness is lacking.

Will the finance minister put everything on the table and release his detailed calculations and projections that show the full impact of his changes?

[Labrador Inuktitut Language, January 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Moravian Church, one of the oldest Protestant denominations, was established in Labrador over 250 years ago.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Moravian missionaries and Inuit congregation members patiently translated the Bible into the Labrador Inuktitut language.

Over the centuries the language has evolved, and so a new translation was required. Some years ago a group of concerned Moravians and Inuktitut language experts started that monumental task.

With the support of the Canadian Bible Society, this work is now complete. Last week the new translation, Gûdip Ukausingit, was launched at a special service and ceremony in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

On behalf of my constituents, I extend congratulations to translators K. Naeme Tuglavina, Amos Onalik, Sophie Tuglavina, Hilda Lyall, Andrea Webb, Sarah Townley, and Sabina Hunter, and to all of those who helped reach this important goal for the living Labrador Inuktitut language.

[The Economy, December 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the minister is absolutely right, I stand up for my constituents. We have done more in three days to help the economy than the Conservatives have done in three years. Our plan will boost the economy, save Canadian jobs and provide recovery to industries across the country. What is their plan? It is to make work for Conservative backroom organizers.

The job losses mount. People are not working. The 143 Conservatives on those benches have a job, but the Conservatives are not working for Canadians.

Will the Prime Minister stop the spin?