Wayne Easter

[Foreign Investment, October 23rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the minister may dance around the facts on the Canada-China investment protection agreement. However the agreement, without question, leaves Canadian taxpayers open to unlimited liabilities.

The government has protected Chinese investment but undermined our ability to certain sovereign decisions within Canada. Worse, officials admitted before committee that if a Chinese investor believes provincial actions have violated the deal, the federal government is responsible. In other words, Canadian taxpayers pay.

Will the minister relent on his opposition and hold a parliamentary debate?

[Safe Food for Canadians Act, October 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the minister in his remarks said to the member for Welland that the proof is in the pudding. It certainly is. It is under this minister that we have had the worst two food safety crises in Canadian history. After he uses his talking points of 700 new inspectors, et cetera, we still had a crisis.

I have a couple of specific questions about the bill that I would like to ask. I would also remind the member, and I know he will recall this because we worked on Bill C-27 together, that it included many of the powers he is talking about here. We worked quite well together on Bill C-27 in around 2004 or 2005. However, the Conservatives dragged their feet. One of the items was tampering with food in stores and so on. However, my question really relates to the powers under the current Meat Inspection Act.

We will be supporting the bill. However, the minister is rewriting history. Bob Kingston, the president of the union backed this up. With the powers under the current Meat Inspection Act, the government has the authority to have stopped XL Foods and shut down the plant.

My second question is: Will the bill add new inspectors to check imported food at borders coming in our country from foreign countries?

[Government Appointments, October 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, with the latest scandal surrounding the Prime Minister's government, I ask this. Is he attempting to turn these scandals into a new fundraising scheme for the Conservative Party?

We know Conservative political insiders were appointed to senior positions in ACOA. We know the Public Service Commission has placed sanctions on some individuals and revoked the job of Kevin MacAdam. Now we learn that the government has hired the law firm of Murray Murphy, the PC island fund chair.

Why, in defending wrongful hiring, is the government using taxpayer—

[Business of Supply, October 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Compton—Stanstead talked about the crisis of confidence in the minister as it relates to the food safety issue and to not taking responsibility for the crisis as a minister should.

The member also talked about the producers in his riding and that is a big reason why the minister should step aside. The minister has been responsible for the biggest gutting of the agriculture safety nets in Canadian history. AgriStability was cut from 85% reference margins to 70%. AgriInvest was cut from 1.5% to 1%. Those are the safety nets that are there for producers in difficult economic times. The minister has not only failed Canadian consumers on his lack of responsibility on food safety, but has failed producers in terms of protecting their safety net.

What will be the impact on producers from both the loss of the safety net and the problems on pricing as a result of the beef crisis because the minister just was not there?

[Business of Supply, October 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with what the hon. member and what he said about the minister not accepting his responsibility. There used to be a system in Canada where ministers were accountable and responsible. The Conservative government came in under the guise of accountability and we have seen no accountability since it arrived.

There is a second minister on the government side, the Minister of Health, who is responsible for Canada's national health agency. When there is a problem that affects the health and safety of Canadians, she is supposed to explain to them what is happening. We have not heard from the Public Health Agency of Canada in this instance. Does the member believe that the health minister should be held accountable, too, for being missing in action on this issue?

[Business of Supply, October 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I cannot retract a statement that I did not make. There is selective hearing on that side of the House. I do not take it lightly when members opposite try to put words in my mouth.

What I said was that the minister was responsible. He is incompetent and he has failed in his responsibilities.

[Business of Supply, October 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed listening to the member for British Columbia Southern Interior. I really enjoyed working on the agriculture committee with the member because he was conscientious on all the issues and was never afraid to raise the tough questions.

On the last exchange, which we consistently get from the government, of “Well, you voted against it”, perhaps the member could clarify this a little further. Is it not an absolute farce that the government is saying that the opposition voted against something?

The money still went through. It did not make a difference. The government is trying to leave the impression that because opposition parties voted against it, for whatever reason, that the money did not happen. In fact, it did happen and the government got the money. Still, it has not been able to handle this file.

The second question I have for the member is because of his experience on the agriculture committee. Bill S-11 is more of the same in terms of messaging and propaganda from the government. The CFIA already has the authority under the Meat Inspection Act. Mr. Kingston, the labour union representative, when they were talking about S-11 in the Senate, said clearly that CFIA already has the powers to do its job.

I ask the member, is that not in fact true? This deals with some other issues. The government should not try to cover it up and say that the CFIA does not have the authority to do what it needs to do. It has that now.

[Business of Supply, October 18th, 2012]

Yes, I am serious. I am serious in terms of the briefings by the government. However, I will say that the minister, the CFIA and the Public Health Agency should be out there explaining to Canadians but they have failed Canadians in doing that.

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food actually hauled the president of CFIA off the stage at one point early in this development.

I have a question for the member for Vancouver Centre. Where is the Public Health Agency in this? We know the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food failed absolutely and his incompetence is shining through, but the Minister of Health has been completely absent from the file. She has the responsibility for the Public Health Agency. Why is that agency not out there doing what it should in terms of explaining to Canadians that food is safe, what is being done to make the food safe and how the system should work?

[Business of Supply, October 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think the member should worry much about a briefing from the government because I found out that its briefings are usually propaganda campaigns to cover up what the government is doing.

[International Trade, October 16th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, one year ago Canada's negotiator on CETA told the trade committee that government had done internal analysis on the issue of drug costs. However, the minister refused us that study stating: “No, they're not available to this committee”.

Now the Canadian Press, based on these studies, has confirmed our worst fear that European patents will increase Canadian drug costs by $2 billion per year.

Will the minister admit to these additional drug costs to Canadians as a result of CETA, and will he now allow the committee access to that analysis in full?