Hon. Jim Peterson (Minister of International Trade, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, that is absolute nonsense. The Prime Minister has always said that the NAFTA has to be respected, and that means the return of all the duties.

Ms. Helena Guergis (Simcoe—Grey, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, the town of Collingwood and I are working hard to establish the Collingwood regional airport as a port of entry. It is key to both industry and tourism in Simcoe--Grey.

I wrote the minister in 2004, my staff have left several messages and I wrote the minister again on September 8 and still no response.

An email from a predecessor's office stated:

The decision to bring customs service to Collingwood will be strictly political.

It is the minister's decision. Will Collingwood airport get custom facilities, yes or no?

Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I actually am not aware of the particular situation to which the hon. member has referred but I will undertake to follow up on this right away.

Obviously the CBSA assesses where the needs are across the country. We try to provide the highest quality service possible. In fact, based on a needs assessment, if it appears that Collingwood qualifies for full time customs service, then it will be provided.

Mr. Marc Godbout (Ottawa—Orléans, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, the government has just tabled its mid-term report on the implementation of the action plan for official languages.

Given that the development and vitality of official language communities are a priority for our government, could the minister tell us how the communities reacted and what should be the next step in acting on this important issue and speeding things up?

Hon. Mauril Bélanger (Minister for Internal Trade, Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Minister responsible for Official Languages and Associate Minister of National Defence, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his question.

Indeed, this report was tabled last week. We have innovated by including in this mid-term report the feedback and assessment of the communities themselves. We will see that, on the whole, the reaction was positive, especially in the areas of early childhood, health and justice, among others.

Now that the structures and mechanisms that needed to be developed to implement the plan are in place, we can expect that, for years 3, 4 and 5, accelerated investments will be made, as planned, to ensure that all the objectives in the plan are met by 2008.

Mr. Ed Komarnicki (Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, farmers, farm groups and even the minister's own Canadian Wheat Board have been asking for an increase in the initial price of grain. Weeks and weeks have gone by and yet the minister has not made an announcement for what really is a simple decision to be made. The minister's inaction has also caused the low initial price to withhold safety net moneys under the CAIS program.

Farmers need more than talk. They need action and they need it now. I ask the minister to do the right thing and announce the amount of the increase in the initial prices here and now, and to quit playing games with Canadian farmers.

Hon. Reg Alcock (President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, the last time the member asked this question he was criticizing the Wheat Board for inaction. In fact, the Wheat Board has been out. The farmers who represent the Wheat Board and who are responsible for the Wheat Board have been out selling grain all around the country and have had some very successful sales just recently. They have come back to me and asked for an adjustment to the initial payment, something I will be responding to immediately.

Mrs. Carolyn Parrish (Mississauga—Erindale, Ind.)

Mr. Speaker, in a question posed earlier this week to the Minister of Transport on the patently unfair rents being levied on Pearson International Airport, he suggested air carriers go to Montreal. He went on to say that everyone has to pay their rent. What arrogance.

Pearson has recently been upgraded at no expense to the government to be one of the most modern hub airports in the world but its future is in jeopardy.

Would the minister responsible for Ontario please explain why he and the members of the largest government caucus have allowed this usury to occur?

I think the hon. member will have to direct her question to a minister who is not responsible for an area, as she knows. Is see that the Minister of Transport is rising to answer the question.

Hon. Jean Lapierre (Minister of Transport, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the hon. member that we have a new rent policy which will ensure that airports across the country will save $8 billion over the course of their leases. I have to say that out of that $8 billion that the Minister of Finance accepted, $5 billion will go to the airport in Toronto, which is a savings of $5 billion.

I believe the member for Edmonton--Sherwood Park has a point of order arising out of question period.

Mr. Ken Epp (Edmonton—Sherwood Park, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, as you know, I was involved several years back in one of the most grievous cases of using props in the House of Commons for which I was chastised and I apologized.

I noticed today, Mr. Speaker, that every time, except the last one, the Minister of Transport held up his copy of the Gomery report he never once opened it or read from it.

I say that he was using it as a prop and I think, Mr. Speaker, you should chastise him.

The Gomery report has been held up a lot in the House over the last few days on both sides of the House. However I can say that the Minister of Transport did indeed quote from the Gomery report. I shook my finger at him because he read out the name of a member when he was quoting from it instead of using the member's title, so I have no doubt that he was reading from the report. He even said which page he was quoting from.

While there may have been some infractions of this rule, and I do not remember that of the hon. member for Edmonton—Sherwood Park, I warn hon. members that the use of props is something that is not recommended but obviously a document that has recently been tabled in the House and is being quoted by members or being used as the basis for either an answer or a question may sometimes be lifted up, pointed at and even quoted from.

There are props and there are props, but I thank the hon. member for his admonition. I am sure it is appreciated by all hon. members.

Hon. Dominic LeBlanc (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table, in both official languages, the government's response to eight petitions.

Hon. Larry Bagnell (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Natural Resources and pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I am pleased to table, in both official languages, the final study report of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization.

Hon. Peter Adams

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present the report of the Canada Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group visit to Taiwan in September 2005. Members of three parties met with the president and ministers of the Taiwan government and with the speaker and members of the Legislative Wan.

I think the hon. member knows that the group is not an official one and therefore the report cannot be tabled under reports from interparliamentary delegations without unanimous consent.

Ms. Bonnie Brown (Oakville, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 16th report of the Standing Committee on Health.

The committee recommends that the Minister of Health temporarily stay the scientific advisory panel on silicone gel breast implants and its proceedings and to not make a decision or proceed until such time as the minister has appeared before the committee to address this issue.

If the House gives its consent I intend to move concurrence in the 16th report later this day.

Ms. Marlene Catterall (Ottawa West—Nepean, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 15th report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

In accordance with its order of reference on Monday, April 18, your committee has considered Bill C-333, the Chinese Canadian Recognition and Redress Act, and agreed on Tuesday, November 1, to report it with amendments.

It is not a common occurrence in the House to congratulate two private members on successfully having a bill reported back from committee with unanimous consent of the committee by and large. I do want to compliment the members and the government representatives who worked closely to make this a matter of collaboration and cooperation both here in the House and with the community at large.

Ms. Alexa McDonough (Halifax, NDP)

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-435, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (no GST on books or pamphlets).

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured today to introduce a bill to amend the Excise Tax Act to eliminate the goods and services tax on the sale of books and pamphlets.

The GST on books and pamphlets and the federal decision to impose HST on education books with CD-ROMs erect senseless barriers to education materials and literacy objectives. The government must remove these barriers, these counterproductive measures, and invest instead in serious literacy initiatives which would have lasting effects.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)