CANADA House of Commons Debates VOLUME 140 Ï NUMBER 047 Ï 1st SESSION Ï 38th PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Tuesday, February 1, 2005 Speaker: The Honourable Peter Milliken CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) All parliamentary publications are available on the ``Parliamentary Internet Parlementaire´´ at the following address: http://www.parl.gc.ca 2893 HOUSE OF COMMONS Tuesday, February 1, 2005 The House met at 10 a.m. Some hon. members: Agreed. *** Prayers [English] POINTS OF ORDER PETITIONS ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS Mr. Ken Epp (Edmonton—Sherwood Park, CPC): Mr. Ï (1000) Speaker, I have a request for you. We are literally being inundated [English] with petitions by the thousands on the issue of marriage. I wonder whether there is anything you could do in your office to expedite the BOARD OF INTERNAL ECONOMY rapid approval of those from the Clerk's office so we can present The Speaker: I have the honour to inform the House that Mr. Rob them in a timely fashion in the House? Nicholson, member for the electoral district of Niagara Falls, has The Speaker: I thank the hon. member for his intervention. I will been appointed member of the Board of Internal Economy in place take the matter under advisement and see what we can do to expedite of Mr. John Reynolds, member for the electoral district of West matters as suggested. Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country. I am sure the hon. member is receiving voluminous mail, and I am *** delighted that is the case. I know all hon. members strive to keep in Ï (1005) touch with their constituents and others. This is just one of many CIVIL MARRIAGE ACT examples. We will see what we can do to expedite matters as requested by the hon. member for Edmonton—Sherwood Park. Hon. Irwin Cotler (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.) moved for leave to introduce Bill C-38, an act respecting certain aspects of legal capacity for marriage for civil purposes. GOVERNMENT ORDERS (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed) [English] *** FINANCE COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE The House resumed from January 31 consideration of the motion. PROCEDURE AND HOUSE AFFAIRS Mr. Peter Julian (Burnaby—New Westminster, NDP): Mr. Hon. Karen Redman (Kitchener Centre, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I Speaker, I am very pleased and honoured to rise today on the have the honour to present the 22nd report of the Standing prebudget debate to discuss what is going to be extremely important Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the member- for Canadians across the country. ship and associate membership of certain committees, and I should like to move concurrence at this time. Over the last 11 years we have seen 11 years of Bay Street budgets. What we need to see this year is a budget for main street, a (Motion agreed to) budget for our communities across the country, a budget that will *** help to address the fall in the quality of life which we have seen Canadians endure over the past decade. [Translation] QUESTIONS ON THE ORDER PAPER In my riding of Burnaby—New Westminster we saw the closure of a major hospital just a few months ago because of federal health Hon. Dominic LeBlanc (Parliamentary Secretary to the care cutbacks. We have seen for the average Canadian worker a fall Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): in salary of 60¢ an hour in real terms. We see average Canadian Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand. families now indebted a third more than they were a decade ago. The Speaker: Is it agreed? And we have seen broken promise after broken promise. 2894 COMMONS DEBATES February 1, 2005 Government Orders In this year it is time for this budget to address all these this country or, as in my riding where I have knocked on thousands outstanding issues and start to address the main street deficit. The of doors, we have seen dozens of young people who have not gone fact is that most Canadians are living with a lower quality of life than to school. They have not gone into post-secondary education they were 10 years ago. because they know there are no supports in place to help them do [Translation] that. I would like to speak for a few minutes about what we particularly We are looking in this budget for a significant investment in do not want to see in the budget for this year. education that will start to address that main street deficit, an investment that will start to address support for ordinary Canadians First of all, we do not want to see the continued mismanagement across this country so that they can go to school and get the trade of public funds, as we saw in the sponsorship scandal last year and in qualifications and the education required for them to make the full numerous other cases. A few weeks ago, despite the regulations that contribution they want to make to this society and to this country. exist at Treasury Board, we saw that the Canadian ambassador to France managed to spend $200,000 on social evenings, while Canadians find themselves with ever dwindling financial resources. What we want to see and are fighting for is a main street budget We do not want the budget to permit such bad practices any longer. that is going to invest in a sustainable environment. It is deplorable that after signing the Kyoto accord, after making that commitment to Neither do we want to see continued investment of money in reduce emissions by 20% in 2005, we are actually seeing an increase certain foundations that have no oversight from the Auditor General. of 20% in emissions, as our leader, the member for Toronto— We all know that she has spoken about this on many occasions. I Danforth, has pointed out on numerous occasions here in the House. myself am impatiently awaiting Ms. Fraser's report on this subject on That is shameful. It is shocking. February 15. It is very clear that we cannot continue to keep money from the public servants who are responsible for ensuring that it is In this corner of the House we are working hard and we will be spent wisely. fighting to make sure that this budget in this minority Parliament actually addresses that main street deficit and that we start to invest We do not want to see more tax reductions for the best performing in a sustainable environment. This includes investing in munici- companies, as we have seen under this government. In fact the first palities and investing in infrastructure. major decision of this government, taken at the beginning of last year, was to cut the income taxes of such companies. We will also be fighting hard to make sure that this budget invests There is this huge gap between Bay Street, with its record profits, in children. We have been calling for this for years. Broken promise and ordinary Canadians. We are in fact looking at profits of 14% after broken promise from the government has led to not keeping once again. This is unprecedented in Canadian history. At the same that fundamental commitment made by Liberal governments and the time, Canadians are living with increasingly fewer resources and Liberal Party during elections: to establish a pan-Canadian, publicly services, and increasingly fewer promises are kept. funded, universally accessible, not for profit child care system that helps to support families, those working families and families across These are the things that we especially do not want to see again. this country that have had to deal with that main street deficit and the We do not want to see this government wrong again in its budget absence of publicly funded, universally accessible and not for profit projections. In the last 10 years, we have seen a difference of $86 child care in this country. We will be fighting for that in the budget to billion between the forecasts and the final results. It is absolutely be tabled this month. appalling for projections to be so far from reality. Ï (1010) We will be fighting as well to increase the $4,900 child tax benefit [English] and to open the benefit and include those who do not pay income tax, again to address this main street deficit. Those are the things that we do not want to see in this budget. It is important to note that when we talk about growing poverty in There are things that we do want to see. In this minority this country, when we talk about the fact that homelessness in my Parliament and because of pressure from the four corners of the area has tripled, when we are talking about the fact that food bank House—and I can guarantee that in this corner of the House we will lineups are longer and longer, when we are talking about the fact that be fighting for main street—this budget must finally start to address there are more and more poor Canadians, so much of that has that main street deficit: the cuts in community services; the cuts in impacted children in this country. the quality of life; the cut in basic revenue; the increase in debt for Canadian families; the increase in debt for Canadian students; and the increase in debt we are seeing right across this country, which is It is deplorable that 15 years after the adoption in the House of this being paid for by Canadians from coast to coast to coast.