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Results: 1 - 15 of 98
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance's attitude is a bit disconcerting. His economic statement contains nothing for the 1.7 million people in inadequate housing and the 150,000 homeless. He has not even confirmed his intention to invest the $1.6 billion announced this summer. FRAPRU, the popular front for urban redevelopment, has criticized this mini-budget and accuses the government of using social housing issues for partisan purposes.
What is the Minister of Finance's explanation for not taking advantage of the excellent opportunity offered by his economic statement to at last respond to these groups' demands by renewing the program for the homeless?
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, CMHC has increased travel and parties across Canada and has been sitting on a surplus of over $4 billion that it could be using to build decent housing for the most vulnerable members of our society, especially aboriginal people.
How can the minister responsible for housing condemn the first nations to living in unsanitary and degrading housing as a result of CMHC's inaction?
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Labour and Housing claims that the CMHC board of directors is doing an excellent job in travelling across the country and listening to those who have things to say. We learned that, in August 2004, the board of directors spent five days in Newfoundland for a dinner and a meeting that lasted five and a half hours.
Does the minister find it appropriate to spend five days in a hotel to do so little work?
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, that is not all. In May 2004, the same thing happened in Victoria, British Columbia. The directors again stayed five days in a hotel to attend a dinner and a meeting that lasted five hours and 25 minutes.
Is this the sound CMHC management that the minister is so proud of: 10 days of travel for 11 hours of work?
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, in Quebec and Canada, 1.7 million households are struggling for decent housing. There are 150,000 homeless people currently living on the street. Meanwhile, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation board of directors is travelling across the country and spending left and right.
Could the Minister of Labour and Housing tell us if, during these pretty boozy meetings, the CMHC directors are making any decisions with respect to how their $4 billion surplus ought to be used to help people living in substandard housing?
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, during these cozy CMHC meetings, golf games, cruises or helicopter rides, do the directors talk about the renewal of the SCPI program to help the 150,000 homeless people currently living on the street? That is what is really scandalous.
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I too am presenting a portion of a petition initiated by the local section of the Quebec postal workers union. It is signed by 130,000 people in opposition to the closure of the Quebec City sorting facility and transfer of its operations to Montreal. Ontario has six sorting centres. There will be just one for all of Quebec. There is no plan for modernization. They are just doing this for the advantages offered by a move. They want to pack everything up and head for Montreal instead of relocating and modernizing the Quebec City sorting facility. This is an absurd idea and the petition says so.
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, this Friday, October 21, some 17 towns in Quebec will hold homelessness awareness night activities.
The main purpose of the event is to gain social recognition for the homeless and financial recognition for aid agencies.
In Quebec and Canada there are more than 150,000 homeless people who need help from the government if they are to have any chance of improving their lot. Yet, the government still has not renewed the SCPI program, which funds agencies working with the homeless. Unless prompt action is taken, the homeless will have no more service after March 31, 2006.
That is why I call on the Prime Minister to join me in taking part in the awareness raising activities on the night of the homeless. Perhaps that experience will inspire him, at last, to call a cabinet meeting in the wee hours of October 22 to take action against poverty and eradicate homelessness.
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to take part in the current debate on Bill C-63, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act and the Income Tax Act.
In fact, this is a very technical bill that contains only one page, but an important one. Any bill to amend our electoral system, which is the foundation of our democracy, must be taken seriously. Such is the case here, even though this is a sunset amendment that, by definition, provides for a time limit before considering a bill that will constitute a more thorough and overall reform of the Elections Act itself.
The background of this bill, we may recall, replicates another two-year sunset bill, which followed the Supreme Court decision in the Figueroa case. The Supreme Court ruled that it was discriminatory to impose a minimum number of candidates that a political party had to nominate to be registered as such. Previously, the act had put this number at 50. However, the Supreme Court ruled that this measure was discriminatory. While awaiting a thorough reform that would result in a more integrated and thoughtful piece of legislation, the House passed a bill that received royal assent in May 2004, if I am not mistaken, just in time for the June 2004 election. That bill filled the legal void created by the Supreme Court decision.
The bill allows a political party to nominate only one candidate in order to be registered. Of course, there are other conditions, such as a minimum number of members, which has been set at 250, I believe, and also a minimum number of leaders. This measure is aimed at preventing a person from suddenly proclaiming himself or herself a political party. There has to be a minimum number of rules.
It must be recognized that these rules are an absolute minimum. Of course, we must think about a better way to monitor the registration of political parties in Canada. However, that is not the purpose of this bill. Rather, it seeks to prevent a situation from occurring. The previous legislation was going to expire two years after being passed, that is in May 2006, which is a time when an election may be called again. Therefore, it was important to extend the provision, since the government has not yet completed its homework and the report of the Chief Electoral Officer has not yet been tabled—it will be in the fall. So, some elements were missing to conduct this in-depth reform.
We prefer to extend the original legislation in extenso and still provide for a two-year period. However, the government would be well advised not to do this again, otherwise the House will become a laughing stock if the same bill comes up again in two years. So, it will be important to present a more general bill, as opposed to sunset legislation.
The Bloc Québécois will not oppose this change. It was never our strategy to resort to democratic obstruction. It is important that elections take place under a legal framework. Therefore, it would be irresponsible to oppose this bill, which allows for the next election to be held in a calm, clear and transparent legal context. Since it is important that this be the case, we will not oppose this legislation.
However, we cannot help but comment on the Canada Elections Act as a whole, which is targeted by the bill before us. The act provides that the registration of political parties is subject to a minimum number of candidates. Should we set such a minimum or not? What would be discriminatory and what would not be discriminatory? Of course, since this is about the registration and recognition of political parties, the issue of political party financing quickly comes to surface. Since these issues are related, it is important to discuss them.
My comments will deal with the democratic history of the party in office, as it relates to the Canada Elections Act.
We hope it will not be the case when this reform comes to pass—one that has been long-awaited, hence the need to pass Bill C-63 now—seeing that the House is not prepared. The government was not prepared, nothing new about that.
It is really important now to ensure that, when this reform is being studied, two problems will already have been solved. Indeed there is a problem. My colleague, the whip for the Bloc Québécois and member for Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, has introduced Bill C-312, which is now in committee.
The intention of that bill is to remedy a democratic aberration in Canada's electoral process: the appointment by the government—that is the party in power—of 308 returning officers on a purely partisan basis. Huge problems arise as a result. The Chief Electoral Officer has spoken out about this on numerous occasions. These returning officers are appointed for 10-year periods, and often have no qualifications other than having been either active in the Liberal Party or former Liberal candidates. This creates problems as far as qualifications and partisanship are concerned, and casts a shadow over any electoral system worthy of the name.
A spade must still be called a spade. An electoral system with such a clause is a tainted system. It causes problems. I am not the one who says this. The Chief Electoral Officer's report after the last election was quite clear in this regard.
Allow me to quote him. On page 1 of his report, the Chief Electoral Officer said:
I know that about 10 cases of insubordination, three problems involving conflict of interest, about 14 problems of incompetence, some 10 cases involving a lack of computer skills, which is a different area. The document—I imagine he is referring to a document that he submitted—includes the names of the returning officers and the ridings.
I will let other speak about their political perception when they are candidates for a party other than the government party, which appointed the returning officers
Some hon. members: Oh, oh.
Mr. Christian Simard: I would appreciate it if certain people could speak less loudly in this House so that I can concentrate.
In regard to partisanship, what was found was quite serious. In his fine speech on Bill C-312, the Bloc Québécois whip also mentioned cases in which Liberals were actually hired to work together with the returning officer, who was himself appointed by the Liberals. There are systemic problems of incompetence and sheer partisanship. That is unacceptable. The member I mentioned has made quite an impressive list of them.
One of the matters that the Chief Electoral Officer has mentioned is the fact that it is virtually impossible for him to fire incompetent returning officers who can defy him and be insubordinate. He noted some cases of this. I see the interest that the hon. member for Gatineau shows in this subject. I am convinced that her returning officer was appointed by her party: this should therefore be very interesting to her.
These basic problems must be corrected. In regard to the party of the hon. member for Gatineau and others—there are not many other representatives of her party in the House at the moment—it is important to note that there are still aberrations, including the resolution of the Liberal Party youth trying to discriminate in political financing in order to try to hurt a recognized political party and make it so that a Quebec voter is not worth as much as a voter elsewhere.
I am referring to what youth in the Liberal Party wanted. Unfortunately, that resolution was passed. I think it is extremely disturbing, from a democratic point of view, that a governing party would try to harm its opponents by disregarding the principles of natural justice.
We could hardly imagine that the Supreme Court would not consider as discriminatory a clause saying that a political party with a certain number of voters would have less funding than another political party with the same number of voters, because it was in one province or another, or had not fielded candidates in all the ridings.
If the Supreme Court has ruled that 50 candidates constitutes a discriminatory minimum number, we can imagine that such an approach would constitute huge discrimination. This clearly shows that a political party is capable of putting into legislation a requirement for the appointment of 308 returning officers who are partisan because they are appointed by the governor in council, when things are done differently, not only in Quebec, but also in four other provinces, if I am not mistaken, where the position of returning officer is advertised in the newspaper and selection is based on competence and on a guarantee of independent opinion and voting.
We are willing to cooperate with the government by passing Bill C-63 to provide for a two-year extension, but we hope that some very fundamental issues will be given serious consideration. Bill C-312 is at the committee stage. It was well received and was approved in principle by the House. Now we must go beyond the principle and pass, without delay, a bill that would correct a democratic abomination, that of appointing partisan returning officers. Many people do not know that those who are appointed returning officers have ties to the party. Most of them are former candidates or supporters. There are cases of incompetence, and the Chief Electoral Officer himself cannot do anything about it. He cannot fire a returning officer who is incompetent. That decision has to be made by the governor in council, which is not very practical during an election campaign, when things are not going too well. In fact, it is impossible.
So that situation needs to be addressed. We need to resist the partisan and almost fanatical temptation to consider that, in terms of election financing, a voter from one party is worth less that a voter from another party and hope to get away with it. I think that the extremely partisan resolution that was adopted at the last convention of the youth wing of the Liberal Party of Canada will have to be set aside for moral and ethical reasons.
In this case, we will cooperate because it is in everyone's best interests. However, to avoid subjecting the House to ridicule, we would not accept another two-year extension after the first one. We are expecting the government to propose a solid reform based on principles. I know this government has a problem with principles, but we will be glad to help if need be.
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Madam Speaker, I will not get personal and say whether or not I like this returning officer or that one. We are talking about a system, not one or two individual cases. I was quoting what the chief electoral officer himself wrote in his report, and those are the facts.
It is not in 90% of the cases that there are problems, but in 5% to 10% of the cases. However, 10% means 30 or so cases out of 308. It is an area where perfection is desirable. The chief electoral officer did not talk about widespread incompetence. However, there could be no incompetence at all. When such a problem surfaced, we could deal with it because we need to have a system that is 100% reliable.
The issue has nothing to do with whether or not I think that this person or that person is competent. Under the current system, some returning officers themselves are uncomfortable with these appointments. The system needs to be changed.
I am pleased to see that the Liberals are finally supporting this idea, after having gone through many elections with a system that gave them an unfair advantage. That has to be avoided.
I mentioned some cases. She can refer to Hansard. Mr. Guimond was very specific about aberrations, incompetence and democratic dysfunction in relation to this system.
Is it 100%? No, we did not say that. In my opinion, this system deserves better. The key person in any riding—i.e., the returning officer—must be beyond reproach and able to fulfill his duties competently and with professionalism, and that person should be appointed according to proper process. If that individual makes a mistake and does not do a good job, the Chief Electoral Officer must be able to act, correct, train and take the necessary disciplinary measures. This is basic, in my opinion. It is extremely important.
Young people can debate this all they want. However—and I hope the member for Gatineau will do so—we must distance ourselves from positions—no matter whether they are taken by young people or seniors—that are essentially anti-democratic. This must be condemned.
When a mistake is made, even within our own party, if we have principles and integrity, we speak out against it and we do not do that; we allow room for debate. However, this debate is unfortunately being distorted by what these young people are proposing. Ms. Boivin should distance herself from this if she is as democratic as she claims to be.
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, true to form, the government has presented Parliament with a fait accompli and announced the creation of service Canada, which will consolidate the services provided by a dozen or so departments. The government has allocated $500 million to set up this project, yet no bill for its implementation has been introduced.
What is the government waiting for to be transparent and democratic and to present this House with a bill to create service Canada?
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation has accumulated a $4 billion surplus, at a time when there is a major shortage of social housing. I introduced a bill, which will be voted on at second reading this evening and which calls for a significant share of CMHC's surpluses to go to Quebec and the provinces to encourage the construction of social housing.
Does the government intend to support this bill?
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, the minister needs to stop blowing smoke. I am not talking about Monopoly money and Bill C-48. I am talking about the $4 billion in CMHC's coffers.
There are 150,000 homeless people. Does he intend to do something with real money? It is not Monopoly money.
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I want to address the Prime Minister on behalf of thousands of homeless people who will soon lose their main source of support.
Even if an immediate decision will not guarantee that the homeless will not be deprived of services after March 31, 2006, it is imperative that the supporting community partnerships initiative, SCPI, be extended and improved until full responsibility for housing can be transferred to the Quebec government, with the corresponding budgets.
Will the Liberal government finally heed the calls of alarm being sounded by 135 organizations, located throughout Quebec, which submitted a formal demand to the Prime Minister on September 12?
The empty promises on the eve of the confidence vote last May are not enough, particularly since CMHC is sitting on a nearly $4 billion surplus.
A decision must be made now.
View Christian Simard Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, to close this debate, before I address Bill C-363 directly, I must comment on the wisdom of your decision to reject the necessity of a royal recommendation for this bill. That is a fundamental point.
This will also bring attention to what I would term the abusive practice of calling for royal recommendation for all private members' bills. It is really something.
We have also discovered—something we actually already knew—that CMHC's money stash falls outside the government's accounting perimeters and is part of the CMHC's own funds. It is, therefore, possible for Parliament to tell it how to dispose of this money, which is not new money. If CMHC is incapable of using its funding properly, if it finds things too hot, let it get out of the kitchen. The needs are enormous.
It is, moreover, important to point out, for the benefit of my eminent colleague from Souris—Moose Mountain, that Parliament unfortunately has no control over this money that is with CMHC. Bill C-363 will give it that control; it proposes that CMHC's ability to squirrel away surpluses be limited, as these amounts take on immoral and distasteful proportions. The bill would encourage reasonable management of the reserve. If these amounts are not used for fulfilling CMHC's mission, that is providing affordable housing and social housing to all Canadians and all Quebeckers, let it hand that money over to the provinces proportional to their population. They have jurisdiction over this area and acquit themselves very well of that responsibility.
Why a bill on CMHC surplus funds? Because of the huge proportions they have taken on. We have also learned through this debate that 1.7 million households allocate over 30% of their incomes to housing. Of that number, close to 400,000 are in Quebec. Another enlightening figure: 100,000 households in Quebec alone allocate over 80% of their incomes to housing. What does this leave them to feed and clothe themselves? This is a disgrace.
Add to this the fact that CMHC has a $4 billion surplus, and we have a disgrace that makes our hair stand on end. These surpluses are accumulating at a rate of nearly $1 billion per year and will exceed $8 billion in 2009. Something must be done. This is immoral.
My bill suggests that CMHC keep an over $1 billion reserve fund. However, if CMHC does not create social programs or home ownership programs, if it does not do its job, than it should let someone else do it. If it cannot stand the heat, it should get out of the kitchen. That is the sole aim of this bill.
I want to convince my Conservative Party colleagues that this bill deserves their unequivocal support, not their opposition. Why? Because it corrects the fiscal imbalance and, to a certain extent, it recognizes the areas under provincial jurisdiction. In my opinion, the Conservative Party officially opposes the fiscal imbalance and believes that each level of government must do the job it has been assigned to do. In terms of housing, the work is often done in the community, and the provinces are often the ones who do it best.
So, the Conservative Party should support this bill. Furthermore, it gives Parliament control over something that is not subject to any controls by CMHC. It would be easy to believe that CMHC is a good administrator, since it has a $4 billion surplus. I have even heard a Conservative MP congratulate CMHC on having a $4 billion surplus and say that, like the private sector, it had done a good job. However, this is a crown corporation that has a mission to fulfill, and that mission is not making a profit.
It would be easy to believe that CMHC is well managed. As I recall, the sponsorship scandal shed light on management practices that were far from beneficial to CMHC's image and logo. Contracts and other things were distributed through Mr. Guité and managers. So, CMHC suffers from mismanagement, astronomical surpluses and bureaucracy, and fails to provide solutions for those in need.
I thank the members of the NDP who have supported me with regard to this bill. I urge the Liberal members to think beyond party lines and consider the well-being of families and individuals.
Bill C-363 does not limit the role of CMHC but rather indicates that, if it does not have the know-how, it should ask for help.
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