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Results: 1546 - 1560 of 1644
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and I believe that you will find unanimous consent to order that the debate on bovine spongiform encephalopathy to be held Thursday evening be interrupted, rather than terminated at midnight, and that it be resumed at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 12 and concluded when no member rises to speak or at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, October 13, whichever is earlier.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, on my first occasion to speak as parliamentary secretary to the House leader, I will say what I think you will hear many times. I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, I take great pleasure and pride in recognizing the Fédération des caisses populaires acadiennes, which held its annual meeting in Moncton last week.
I also congratulate the chair of the federation's board, Roland Cormier of Scoudouc, on his re-election. Roland Cormier has served this movement with energy, dignity and great success.
Roland Cormier is a real leader.
In addition, the new president and CEO, Camille Thériault, will provide vigour and leadership in coming years.
In 2003, the movement had the best year in its history. This financial institution is essential to the development of Acadia and it is in very good hands with Roland Cormier and Camille Thériault at the helm.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the great member for Yukon.
The aboriginal summit this week was a historic moment for aboriginal people. Aboriginal leaders in my riding were pleased with the engagement of the government. However, they are wondering and want to know how soon will the government move forward on other issues and other initiatives to help aboriginal people?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, in my riding, thousands of people work in seasonal industries to earn their living. The fisheries, tourism, construction, agriculture and forestry are all industries that contribute a great deal to the economy in my province and our country.
Unfortunately, the current employment insurance system does not recognize the variations in weekly working hours. Fish is a perishable resource and it is impossible to predict the catch size. Short work weeks can reduce employment insurance benefits for people in the fish processing industry who rely on this income.
I am very pleased that the new Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development is open to our suggestions about how to correct the injustices of the current system. I thank, too, the Prime Minister for his commitment to this issue, which is so important to my riding.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, the superannuation directorate of PWGSC is located in Shediac, New Brunswick. For over 20 years, these dedicated and hard-working public servants have managed public service pension benefits.
In recent weeks, concern about possible privatization, outsourcing or public-private partnerships has worried these great government employees.
What assurances can the minister give us about the future of the superannuation directorate and its future modernization?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, for over 14 months, seasonal workers in my riding have lived under the shadow of an HRDC investigation into employment insurance. This has caused considerable stress and anxiety among employees in the fish processing industry. Could the minister inform us as to any conclusions of these investigations?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, February is Junior Achievement Month in Canada and I would like to congratulate the organization for the tremendous work it does on behalf of youth in Atlantic Canada.
The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency has enjoyed a long and productive partnership with Junior Achievement. They both recognize the importance of exposing young people to entrepreneurship at a stage in their lives when they are making decisions about what to do and where to live.
In my riding, Junior Achievement provides programs to school children, and 20 teenagers from Bouctouche benefit from a company program offered at École Clément-Cormier.
The ACOA has undertaken a number of activities to raise young people's awareness of the benefits of entrepreneurship.
One of them, the Youth Ventures Program, resulted in 260 new summer businesses and 400 new jobs.
It is clear that the partnership between the ACOA and Junior Achievement has been very productive.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, this morning in Fredericton, the Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a commemorative silver dollar recognizing the 400th anniversary of Acadia.
Herménégilde Chiasson, the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, the New Brunswick Minister of Intergovernmental and International Relations, and David Dingwall, the President of the Royal Canadian Mint, attended this event.
The 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first French settlers in North America will be celebrated all year long, with special recognition for Sainte Croix Island, the cradle of Acadia, on June 26, which is the date the first explorers landed.
We thank the Royal Canadian Mint for this important recognition.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Chair, I want to congratulate and thank my colleague from Miramichi for his wise comments this evening and his careful analysis of this problem. I want to congratulate all members of the House whom I have heard speak this evening with knowledge, passion and concern for a very serious problem facing our country.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has assumed his responsibilities very quickly. He has made certainly our government and Canadians proud in the way he has handled this very difficult situation, and I want to thank him on behalf of producers in my constituency for his work. However, I was hoping I could pick up on a comment that my colleague from Miramichi made with respect to some of the difficulties in our own province of New Brunswick.
He and I have friends, the Acton family, who have been big beef producers in my part of New Brunswick for many generations. I have had a chance to discuss this serious situation with them a number of times and I know the member for Miramichi has. They consistently tell us about the problem of the lack of a slaughter facility and slaughter capacity, and what that means for their costs and for their ability to produce beef viably.
Would the member expand on some of the difficulties that this might represent for producers in our province and what suggestions he might have to try to address this imbalance?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Madam Speaker, the hon. member has expressed concern, and I have heard that in committee as well, about the alleged mixed messages being given to young people by the so-called decriminalization of marijuana possession.
Naturally, when the government made its cannabis reforms public in Bill C-38, decriminalization was used by the media to describe the effect of the bill, but in fact the bill maintains possession as a criminal offence.
As members know, Bill C-38 substitutes an alternative measure, ticketing under the Contraventions Act, as the procedure for enforcing the ban on possession in all cases where the amount involved is not more than 15 grams and as an alternative to a criminal charge when the amount involved is between 15 and 30 grams.
As the legislative summary of Bill C-38 points out, “depenalization” is probably the term that best describes what Bill C-38 proposes since it removes a custodial sentence as a means of enforcing the law.
Bill C-38 provides for a fine of $100 for youth where the amount involved is 15 grams or less and where there are aggravating circumstances, including possession in or near a school, a young person will get a fine of $250. The fine is $200 when the amount is between 15 and 30 grams but a police officer also has the discretion to lay a criminal charge in that case.
Witness after witness at the special committee's original hearings, and I was a member of that committee, and at the hearings into Bill C-38 agreed that the present regime was not working.
Marijuana use, particularly by young people, has been increasing steadily. Very often the police do not even bother laying a charge. The cost and the time involved in laying a charge and bringing the matter to court are all out of proportion to a penalty that is likely to be imposed by the court. We believe the new ticketing scheme will lead to more enforcement of the law.
We recognize the communications challenges to make young people understand that there are serious consequences to using marijuana; serious health consequences and serious legal consequences. However, the government has provided $245 million for the renewal of the national drug strategy. A key component of the strategy will be tailoring a message to young people on the dangers of substance abuse, including the use of marijuana.
The member has asked whether the intent of Bill C-38 is to help criminal organizations increase their market share. The special committee was concerned that the potential $5,000 fine and even imprisonment for cultivation of one to three plants could lead to small producers deciding not to take the risk and instead buying on the black market.
That concern was addressed in the amendments made to the bill by the committee last night. It is now proposed that the cultivation of up to three plants would be a ticketed offence with a fine of $500 for adults and $250 for youth. Again, we are maintaining the core message that cultivation of marijuana is illegal while allowing an alternative to the criminal process when the amount involved is relatively minor.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Madam Speaker, I respectfully disagree with the member's assertion that the government is somehow encouraging the use of marijuana. We have been very clear, both in the legislation and in comments made by various ministers, that the use of marijuana, the possession of marijuana, remains illegal.
We believe a law that is currently not enforced in many areas by police forces because it is thought to place too high a burden on young people is better replaced by a law that will be enforced and will send a clear message that possession and use of marijuana is dangerous and is illegal in Canada.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Madam Speaker, as the House is aware, on the 29th of May the Minister of National Defence did exactly what the hon. member has asked and signalled a willingness to discuss with the United States the concept of ballistic missile defence.
Since that announcement, discussions have taken place on a number of occasions and have proceeded very well. These discussions have addressed a number of issues important to Canadians, including the potential for industrial benefits to Canadian companies should Canada ultimately decide to participate.
The hon. member is perhaps jumping ahead of herself. There has been no final decision to sign up to a ballistic missile defence system at this time. Some people in the House, including the hon. member, have suggested that we should put our name now on the dotted line because substantial industrial benefits might accrue to Canadian companies. In our view, such haste is imprudent.
Decisions regarding the security of Canadians should not rest upon whether or not there would be some commercial benefit to Canadians, or whether or not, in the member's exaggerated and I find rather dramatic view, we need to somehow correct policy decisions that the government is proud to have taken in the past. We justifiably place the security of Canadians as the main priority in assessing whether or not to participate in something like ballistic missile defence.
Canada has for many years taken a comprehensive approach to the issue of ballistic missile proliferation based upon the diplomatic engagement of Canada, promotion of multilateral arms control mechanisms and the examination of potential defensive capabilities. Through this approach, we have sought to address the threats posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missile technology in a manner that respects Canada's longstanding policies on arms control and strategic stability.
I have every confidence that Canadian companies would be well qualified to compete for defence contracts. Our expertise in many sectors of these industries is world leading. I think the member acknowledged in her comments the great example of the Canadian aerospace industry. Furthermore we have a long experience in cooperative industrial ventures with the United States. Our cooperation with the United States, for example on joint strike fighters has earned Canadian companies substantial industrial benefits.
We have taken seriously our joint responsibility for the defence of North America. Canadian security cannot be separated from continental security. That is why we have a longstanding commitment and have participated as a full partner in the North American Aerospace Defence Command, Norad, a binational defence institution that has conferred substantial security benefits upon both nations.
The case for participating in ballistic missile defence will be made in a principled way. The government will make a principled decision. Once that decision is made, if in fact the government decided that, for example, Canada's longstanding policy against the weaponization of space could be respected, if Canada ultimately decided to participate, I have every confidence Canadian companies would benefit greatly. However, the decision to participate should not simply be based upon that narrow interpretation.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Madam Speaker, I do not think anybody in the House needs to be lectured on freeloading from the Alliance Party. It has appropriated the word conservative. It is freeloading on the reputation of the Progressive Conservative Party to try and pull itself out of the electoral ditch that it is in.
Freeloading in national defence is not something that Canada has done at all. It is disparaging the major commitments that Canadians are making and our troops are making in many operations around the world.
As we stand here tonight I find it unfortunate that the decision to participate in something as important as ballistic missile defence should be mixed up with the Alliance's obsession about denying a wonderful Canadian company like Bombardier a chance to participate in the global market in aerospace.
We on this side of the House are committed to pursuing the interests of Canadian sovereignty and the defence of North America.
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