Mr. James Moore (Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, I will take another run at it and perhaps the minister will answer my question this time. Mr. Pelletier is currently suing the federal government and VIA for $3.1 million. The Liberal bungling of his file now lets him claim another $400,000 in back pay and benefits for 20 months because the Liberals did not fire him properly the first time. His potential pay out for this Liberal fumble is $3.5 million, more money than many Canadians will make in their entire lifetime.

Why is it that when everyday Canadians lose their job, they have to rely on EI and their savings? When a Liberal loses his job in disgrace, it is like winning the lottery.

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

Mr. Speaker, the member does not appear to be familiar with legal rules.

Mr. Pelletier is currently instituting proceedings before the Superior Court, but we are a very long way from a ruling. Once a ruling is made, we will see what the court has decided. However, it is neither for the member nor for me to anticipate the outcome of those proceedings.

At this point, no money has been paid to Mr. Pelletier and no money will be paid to him, unless we are forced to do so by the court.

Mr. Colin Carrie (Oshawa, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, while almost 4,000 Oshawa workers, up to 25,000 including spinoff jobs, are worrying about how they are going to pay bills, the Minister of Industry said yesterday, “there will not be any pink slips given out by General Motors in Canada”. It gets better. The minister then said to Sun Media that “It's all being somewhat exaggerated” and treated it as a big blip.

The only people who deserve pink slips this Christmas are that minister and that sorry government. When will the minister admit that the Liberal policy failures will contribute to 25,000 pink slips in Oshawa and in Ontario?

Hon. David Emerson (Minister of Industry, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should have the courage to stand in the House and tell his constituents that if the Conservatives were in government today, there would not be $5 billion of investments in the automotive industry in Ontario. Oshawa and the workers in Oshawa would be in serious trouble.

It is because of this government that the auto industry in Canada is the strongest auto industry in North America.

Ms. Bev Oda (Durham, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, the government has promised an auto strategy. The government continually fails Canadians. Now we are losing almost 4,000 jobs in GM in Durham, my riding, plus the thousands working in the parts businesses. The minister's response to GM's layoffs was that it was an industry adjustment.

Mr. Speaker, minister, I ask you to speak to my constituents. What will you say to the families in Oshawa and Durham who are facing--

Oh, oh!

The hon. member knows I do not speak to her constituents. I think she was addressing her remarks to the Chair, but may have inadvertently got her mind on to the minister instead. He may wish to respond to the question, if he has something to say. The hon. Minister of Industry.

Hon. David Emerson (Minister of Industry, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I find it breathtaking that the party members think the only thing the economy needs, and I presume the auto industry needs, is a 2% reduction in the GST and happiness will follow. What kind of economics is that?

She should explain to her constituents that the auto industry would collapse under a Conservative government.

Mr. Serge Ménard (Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we asked the government about landings in Newfoundland by U.S. prison planes. The Minister of Public Safety told us that she had no information on that. Iceland knows, Spain knows, the European Union knows, Normand Lester from the daily Le Journal de Montréal knows, and so do several other media, but the minister responsible for public safety does not know.

How do we explain the fact that the Minister of Public Safety is so ill informed and that, moreover, she refuses to ask Washington to provide explanations?

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

Mr. Speaker, I was very plain yesterday, but let me repeat for the hon. member. We have no information or reason to believe that any plane that has landed in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador or elsewhere had anything to do with the practice of extraordinary rendition.

Let me underscore again for the hon. member that the country, this government, has never returned anyone to a country where they face a substantial risk of torture. We are in full compliance with both our domestic and international obligations.

Mr. Serge Ménard (Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, will the minister commit to inquire?

Let us be clear. Can the Minister of Public Safety tell us if, indeed, aircraft N221SG and N196D did transit through Canada, and if they were carrying prisoners that the Americans call terrorists?

Can the minister at least get that information?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no information that any planes landed in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, or anywhere else, carrying passengers that involved the practice of extraordinary rendition.

Mr. André Bellavance (Richmond—Arthabaska, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, the government claims to be in favour of protecting the supply management system, but tries to alter the Bloc Québécois motion by opening the door to a reduction in over quota tariffs and an increase in tariff rate quotas, while talking about mitigating the negative effects.

With its proposed amendment, has the government not just revealed its real intentions? Is it not about to create a serious breach in the whole supply management system, which is so essential to Quebec agriculture?

Hon. Andy Mitchell (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister of State (Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario), Lib.)

Actually, not, Mr. Speaker. This party has stood behind supply management since its inception 35 years ago.

Hon. Ralph Goodale

We invented it.

Hon. Andy Mitchell

We have invented it, as the Minister of Finance has just said. We have protected it for 35 years and we will do so in the future.

It is not a debate about supply management. The House has said time and again that it supports such a regime. It is a discussion about the best way of going about protecting it, and we are determined to do that as a government.

Mr. André Bellavance (Richmond—Arthabaska, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, how can the government claim to be committed to defending supply management at all costs and foolishly announce to the people it is negotiating with that it is already prepared to weaken supply management? Could the minister please explain that to me?

Hon. Andy Mitchell (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister of State (Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario), Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, it is nothing of the sort. What we said as a government, and I think prudently so, is that we are working in the WTO to achieve an agreement that works for all Canadian producers, whether they are supply management producers or otherwise.

We believe the outcome must work for all Canadian producers. Our defence of supply management over the last 35 years has been second to nobody and it will continue to be as we go into the future.

Mr. Peter MacKay (Central Nova, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, today again the Auditor General blasted the Liberal government, this time for the resource shortfalls and the mismanaged priorities in the RCMP federal policing.

Contrary to the misrepresentation of the minister, the RCMP vacancy rates are now as high as 25% in certain units, including drug interdiction and organized crime, the same units that they claim are used as an excuse to shut rural detachments.

The RCMP budget for contracting policing is shortfall, shortchanged and that shortfall is made up by taking budgets away from units for terrorism and organized crime. Why should anyone believe the government is serious about fighting organized crime when it is under resourcing our--

The hon. Deputy Prime Minister.