Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2008-04-11 12:45:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Bill Siksay (Burnaby\u2014Douglas, NDP)",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"1019154\" data-originallang=\"en\">Mr. Speaker, I think you have already ruled on whether you heard unanimous consent or not. I would certainly defer to your expertise. That is your job to make that determination, not mine, and you have already done that, so there is no need to go back to that.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019155\" data-originallang=\"en\">I am interested in what the parliamentary secretary had to say. We are going to do our job in this corner of the House and we are going to raise our concerns. We are not going to be put off that track because we do believe that we have raised serious issues and I can continue to do that.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019156\" data-originallang=\"en\">I thought two things were notable about the commentary from his recent intervention. He said that the government put more money into infrastructure than any government in 60 years. That may well be true, but the reality is that it is not nearly enough.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019157\" data-originallang=\"en\">The FCM, as I have pointed out, has said that there is a $123 billion infrastructure deficit and that the Conservatives have not even approached the very basic need in that regard.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019158\" data-originallang=\"en\">There is a huge problem there. We have seen that the Conservatives have chosen to gut the physical capacity of our government, so that we cannot possibly meet those kinds of needs.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019159\" data-originallang=\"en\">The government has chosen to give big tax breaks to large profitable corporations, instead of seeing to the needs of Canadian communities and their infrastructure needs. I do not think this serves us particularly well. I do not think it is anything to be particularly proud of. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019160\" data-originallang=\"en\">There might be some humility in the ability of not being able to meet the infrastructure needs of Canadians and now we are setting up another major demand on that infrastructure funding by allowing the ports to compete with municipalities for that funding. It does not bode well for the needs of our communities.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019161\" data-originallang=\"en\">He also said that the government had taken great pains to ensure cooperation between port authorities and municipalities, and that the port authority and board members were going to be told that they should operate in the best interests of those municipalities.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019162\" data-originallang=\"en\">The reality is that the people elected to act in the best interests of those municipalities are municipal councillors, the members of city council, the local mayors. It is those people who have a direct mandate from the people of their communities to represent those interests. We believe that they should be very directly involved in the governance of port authorities. Because of that electoral mandate that they have from the people of their communities, they should be involved in that process. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019163\" data-originallang=\"en\">We believe it should not be up to the goodwill of those people who are appointed to the boards of port authorities, but that it should be directly related to the mandates given by people in local elections to municipal elected officials.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019164\" data-originallang=\"en\">That is a very important point I think that needs to be made in all of this and it is a deficiency of the legislation that we are debating today.</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"1019154\" data-originallang=\"en\">Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, je crois que vous avez d\u00e9j\u00e0 rendu votre d\u00e9cision au sujet du consentement unanime. Je m'en remets \u00e0 votre expertise. C'est \u00e0 vous de d\u00e9cider, pas \u00e0 moi, et vous l'avez d\u00e9j\u00e0 fait; il n'est donc pas n\u00e9cessaire de revenir l\u00e0-dessus.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019155\" data-originallang=\"en\">J'ai trouv\u00e9 int\u00e9ressant ce qu'a dit le secr\u00e9taire parlementaire. Nous allons faire notre travail de ce c\u00f4t\u00e9-ci de la Chambre et nous allons exprimer nos pr\u00e9occupations. Nous n'allons pas tol\u00e9rer d'\u00eatre mis de c\u00f4t\u00e9 car nous estimons en effet que nous avons soulev\u00e9 de s\u00e9rieuses pr\u00e9occupations, et je continuerai de le faire.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019156\" data-originallang=\"en\">Deux choses sont particuli\u00e8rement dignes d'int\u00e9r\u00eat dans ce qu'il vient de dire. Il a dit que le gouvernement a investi davantage dans l'infrastructure que tout autre gouvernement en 60 ans. C'est peut-\u00eatre vrai, mais la r\u00e9alit\u00e9, c'est que c'est loin d'\u00eatre suffisant.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019157\" data-originallang=\"en\">La FCM, comme je l'ai indiqu\u00e9, a dit que nous avons un d\u00e9ficit de 123 milliards de dollars au niveau des infrastructures et que les conservateurs n'ont m\u00eame pas encore commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 r\u00e9pondre aux besoins fondamentaux.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019158\" data-originallang=\"en\">C'est un \u00e9norme probl\u00e8me. Les conservateurs ont choisi de saper la capacit\u00e9 physique du gouvernement, si bien que nous ne pouvons plus r\u00e9pondre \u00e0 ce genre de besoins.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019159\" data-originallang=\"en\">Le gouvernement a choisi d'accorder d'importantes r\u00e9ductions d'imp\u00f4t \u00e0 de grandes entreprises rentables, au lieu de s'occuper des besoins des collectivit\u00e9s canadiennes, notamment au niveau de leurs infrastructures. Je ne pense pas que ce choix serve bien nos int\u00e9r\u00eats. Je ne pense pas qu'il y ait lieu de s'en r\u00e9jouir.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019160\" data-originallang=\"en\">L'incapacit\u00e9 \u00e0 r\u00e9pondre aux besoins des Canadiens en mati\u00e8re d'infrastructures est peut-\u00eatre assortie d'une certaine dose d'humilit\u00e9. Quoi qu'il en soit, le financement des infrastructures fait l'objet d'une autre sollicitation importante, \u00e9tant donn\u00e9 que les ports peuvent maintenant faire concurrence aux municipalit\u00e9s relativement \u00e0 ce financement. Cela n'augure rien de bon pour les besoins de nos collectivit\u00e9s. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019161\" data-originallang=\"en\">Le d\u00e9put\u00e9 a aussi dit que le gouvernement s'\u00e9tait donn\u00e9 beaucoup de mal pour cr\u00e9er un climat de collaboration entre les administrations portuaires et les municipalit\u00e9s, et qu'on allait dire aux administrations portuaires et aux membres des conseils d'administration de travailler dans l'int\u00e9r\u00eat des municipalit\u00e9s. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019162\" data-originallang=\"en\">La r\u00e9alit\u00e9, c'est que les personnes qui sont \u00e9lues afin d'agir dans l'int\u00e9r\u00eat des municipalit\u00e9s sont les conseillers municipaux, les membres du conseil municipal, et les maires locaux. Ce sont ces personnes qui ont un mandat d\u00e9livr\u00e9 directement par les gens de leurs collectivit\u00e9s pour repr\u00e9senter leurs int\u00e9r\u00eats. Ces personnes devraient pouvoir participer tr\u00e8s directement \u00e0 la gouvernance des administrations portuaires. Compte tenu du mandat \u00e9lectoral qu'elles ont obtenu des gens de leurs collectivit\u00e9s, ces personnes devraient participer au processus.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019163\" data-originallang=\"en\">Il ne faut pas s'en remettre \u00e0 la bonne volont\u00e9 des gens nomm\u00e9s au conseil des administration portuaires. Il faut plut\u00f4t tenir compte des mandats confi\u00e9s par la population aux repr\u00e9sentants qu'ils \u00e9lisent dans le cadre d'\u00e9lections municipales.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1019164\" data-originallang=\"en\">\u00c0 mon avis, c'est un point tr\u00e8s important qu'il convient de souligner, et c'est une lacune dans la mesure l\u00e9gislative dont nous sommes saisis. </p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2008/4/11/bill-siksay-8/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/bill-siksay/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/1264/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "2416576",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Government Orders",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Canada Marine Act",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2008/4/11/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2008%2F4%2F11%2F"
    }
}