Tuesday, March 11, 2008 · sitting No. 64

Bloc motion urges end to common securities regulator plan

The House spent the largest share of its time on a Bloc Québécois supply-day motion calling on the government to drop plans for a national securities regulator. Bloc MP Paul Crête said the proposal would strip Quebec and the provinces of their jurisdiction and lacked support in the National Assembly. Conservative MP Brian Fitzpatrick countered that multiple regulators raise costs for companies and that most Quebec firms already trade on the Toronto exchange.

Question period featured repeated exchanges over the 2005 meeting with Chuck Cadman. Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion pressed Parliamentary Secretary James Moore on whether financial incentives were discussed to secure Cadman's vote; Moore said no inducement was offered and that earlier Liberal claims had already been disproved.

Environment Minister John Baird defended the government's greenhouse-gas plan against criticism from Bloc MPs Gilles Duceppe and Bernard Bigras that it favoured Alberta oil producers and ignored earlier Quebec reductions.

Decided that day

S-231 introduced
C-524 introduced
Opposition motion defeated

From the Hansard record of the sitting. Full Hansard

No CPAC Question Period upload is on file for this day. CPAC’s channel goes back to December 2019.

Who held the floor · 2008-03-11

83Bills born, motion buried in supply talkThe House spent most of its time debating supply and Afghanistan with little else intruding. Two bills were introduced and one opposition motion was defeated.AI-rated Score out of 100; the verdict and the answer ratings behind it are a model’s reading. How the AI rates this

AI-rated The sitting score and the rating of each answer come from a language model reading Hansard. How the AI rates this

Provisional score. Question Period for this sitting has not been rated yet, so the score rests only on what was decided and how much time went to the business at hand. It will change when the exchanges are read.

Other moments

Afghanistan

NDP Leader Jack Layton said the mission had already exceeded its budget by $1 billion and asked why the government, with Liberal support, was extending an out-of-control war. Minister Peter Van Loan replied that the spending was necessary to protect Canadian troops and Afghan civilians.

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Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act

Conservative MP Larry Miller moved second reading of Bill S-215 to protect heritage lighthouses, noting it was the seventh version of the measure since 2000 and had already won broad support in previous parliaments.

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Regional Development

Bloc MP Jean-Yves Roy said the government had cut the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec budget from $439 million to $287 million while increasing western funds. Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn replied that the $200-million envelope still supported vulnerable Quebec regions and cited $20 million spent to save the Gaspé rail line.

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Foreign Affairs

Liberal MP Dan McTeague urged the government to send a formal diplomatic note to Mexico demanding the release of Brenda Martin after she lost a constitutional challenge. Minister Maxime Bernier said he had already spoken to his Mexican counterpart and pressed for a quick resolution.

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