Hon. Nurul Huda Abidi (Newmarket—Aurora—King, CPC)
Madam Speaker, the hon. member is deeply mistaken about this party’s motivations in bringing forward a time allocation motion. By preventing further speechifying in the House, this government can finally move ahead and act to save the lives of our fellow Canadians, including the civilians who made their homes in Fort McMurray and the frontline workers from the energy companies who first disappeared, the police who sought to extract them, the EMTs and other first responders, and the armed forces personnel who we have since lost contact with. We want all of them to come home. They cannot come home unless we stop talking about this bill and enact it. Calling a bunch of university professors and asking for their opinions on something that none of them have dealt with before is a complete waste of time. Xenowhateverologists are no better equipped to deal with this than we are. We all pray that our fellow Canadians are still alive, and if they are alive, they need our help and forward action, they don’t need us sitting around making phone calls to academics.
Ms. Helen Waterfall (Ermineskin—Hobbema, GP):
Madam Speaker, I find it ironic that the hon. members are so sure that they know what’s best for my province when neither of them, so far as I am aware, have been west of Etobicoke so far this decade. Have you done a flyover and seen the churn that’s currently consuming Athabasca? Have you felt that satanic mud pull on your boots even in the supposedly safest parts of central Alberta? Have you?
The Speaker:
Order. I would remind the hon. members to address the chair and not to speak directly to their colleagues.
Mr. Vasily Sénéchal:
Madam Speaker, with all due respect, the member opposite has no better idea of what’s good for her riding than any of us do, since, like all of us, she can’t see it, she can’t visit it, she doesn’t know what is happening in it, nobody can even agree on its boundaries since they’re all under several metres of pulsing sludge. No doubt everybody appreciated that photo op the member did in a hazmat suit standing by the big Do Not Enter sign. That looked very good, very heroic. But is that really research? There hasn’t been a flyover in at least two months, at least not since March when we lost radio contact with seven jets, only five of which, I am sorry to remind you, Madam Speaker, returned home. I don’t doubt that what the member saw on that flyover was very disturbing, but disturbing images glimpsed through the window of an airplane 10 weeks ago is not enough to base a policy on. If we wish to make informed decisions about what is to be done in the black zone, we need more than dramatic pictures. There needs to be discussion, both here on the floor and with expert committees set up for the purpose. I will not support a law whose only possible outcome is the needless death of more of our armed forces personnel and first responders.
Some Hon. Members:
Oh, oh!
The Speaker:
Order, please. There are seven minutes left for questions and I need to be able to hear the members speak.
Hon. Nurul Huda Abidi:
Madam Speaker, I believe it is an insult to our military and to our first responders to restrict them from doing what they are trained to do. Frankly I am surprised that the other parties would rather talk on the phone with professors than send help to the black zone.
Some Hon. Members:
Oh, oh!
The Speaker:
Order, I must insist. The hon. member from Newmarket— Aurora—King has the floor.
Hon. Nurul Huda Abidi:
I have spoken to the Alberta teams and, Madam Speaker, they are champing at the bit, they want to go help. They don’t want us to be sitting around the House talking any more than we do. I received a letter from Diego Cordon, the chief of police in Red Deer, and we had a great conversation on the phone. There isn’t enough time left for me to read his letter to you, but I just want you to know that brave people like him are eager to go and help, and I am frustrated that the parties opposite are slowing that process down.
STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS
Displaced Persons
Ms. Kisi Armah-Cohen (Edmonton—Holyrood, GP):
Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the generous and good-hearted members of my riding for volunteering their time and money, and even in some cases opening their homes, to the displaced populations of Lac La Biche, Cold Lake, Meadow Lake, Bonnyville, and surrounding areas.
My colleagues elsewhere in Alberta and Saskatchewan, particularly the members from Edmonton—Strathcona and Wetaskiwin who have worked so tirelessly on the Black Flood Emergency Committee, have been nothing less than champions, setting up dozens of reception centres across southern Alberta, and organizing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of donations from well-wishers across Canada. The member from Wetaskiwin and I don’t agree on very much politically, but credit where credit is due, he has the best interests of displaced Canadians at heart, as we all do I’m sure.
However, Madam Speaker, there is still much work to be done. Housing and feeding nearly 20,000 people who have been evacuated from their homes is no small task, especially when the families in my own riding are feeling their own worry, feeling their own stress about the advancing churn.
I know that these troubles may feel very far away to my colleagues in Eastern Canada, and of course unlike other natural disasters, this one cannot be photographed, which makes it hard to even imagine. But I would like everyone in this House to understand, Madam Speaker, that this is a Canadian problem, not an Alberta problem, not a Saskatchewan problem. The zone has already crossed one provincial boundary and is fast approaching a territorial boundary: natural disasters do not care where we draw lines on the map, and in a crisis like this, neither should we.
Black Zone Containment
Ms. Grace Martin (Assiniboia, NDP):
Madam Speaker, in the five months since the troubles began, the damage has spread nearly 40,000 square kilometres, according to research that was being conducted at the University of Alberta before the brownouts made it impossible to proceed. Clearly containment is a priority, and we must consider effective strategies before it is too late. With all due respect to the member from Cardigan and the constituents who signed the petition there, a wall is not good enough, since by all reports the churn bubbles out of cracks in the ground and does not simply flow across the surface.
I have been in dialogue with experts in Florida, where the porous ground makes flood containment very difficult and where levees cannot prevent, for instance, a grassy park from flooding from below. I spoke to a team of scientists at the University of South Florida in Tampa, who have been doing some excellent research on containment of water floods. We are not dealing with water, to be sure, but I still believe that their work can help us make sure the damage does not spread even further than it has.
ORAL QUESTIONS
Travel Abroad
Mr. Vasily Sénéchal (Leader of the Opposition, Lib.):
Madam Speaker, I wish the prime minister were here to hear the remarks I’ve prepared today, because I think it is important that she hear them and respond to them here in the House and not by way of a prerecorded video call three days later. Frankly I think it is quite embarrassing that she is neglecting her duty to the House and to the country by taking business trips overseas at the taxpayers’ expense, instead of comforting grieving families and creating solutions to the problems the rest of us are dealing with here at home. At the same time I am not surprised, since it is very typical for the ruling party to spend more time wooing West African oil barons than showing sympathy to its own citizens.
Hon. Stella Ip (Minister of International Trade, CPC):
Madam Speaker, as usual the member opposite has twisted the prime minister’s motives in order to make her sound like some kind of monster. I think it is important that the record be set straight. The prime minister is travelling to other oil-rich countries because we need to strengthen our economic and political relationships with them in these troubled times. I wonder if the other
parties have noticed that the sources of oil we have here at home are under threat. The price of oil hasn’t risen this steeply since the OPEC crises of the 1970s. I wonder if the members here today thought about where their next tank of gas is coming from as they drove their cars here today.
Ms. Kisi Armah-Cohen (Edmonton—Holyrood, GP):
Madam Speaker, some of us didn’t drive our cars here because we are committed to public transit and sustainable ways of living, and I might suggest that had the members of the Conservative party thought more carefully about environmental sustainability, instead of thinking about how to dig as deep a hole in the tar sands as it was possible to dig, we might not be in this mess in the first place.
The Speaker:
Order. The member for Edmonton—Holyrood still has the floor. I realize these are controversial issues but I remind members to watch their language in the House.
Ms. Kisi Armah-Cohen:
Madam Speaker, setting my previous comments aside for the moment, I have a different question. Clearly it would be reprehensible if the prime minister were simply wheeling and dealing with the president of Nigeria and wining and dining the King of Dubai and whatnot, rather than facing the crisis situation here in Canada. But I am wondering if the hon. members opposite would be willing to address rumours that their leader has arranged her meetings with the leadership of these countries for other, not-strictly-business-related reasons.
Hon. Stella Ip:
Madam Speaker, if the member is making an accusation I suggest that she come out and say it.
Some hon. members:
Oh, oh!
The Speaker:
Order. Let the member answer.
Ms. Kisi Armah-Cohen:
Madam Speaker, I make no accusation. I had simply assumed that the minister has opened even a single newspaper or magazine or website within the past week and would therefore know what I am talking about. Given her important position in the cabinet, I had not considered the possibility that she is not keeping up with current events. Well then, I suppose I must be the bearer of bad news. TheToronto Mail published an exposé yesterday morning which reported that other oil-producing countries are beginning to experience a churn similar to ours, but that they are for the moment keeping it successfully under wraps. Though I disagree with almost all of this government’s policies and almost all of the actions and priorities of the current prime minister, I would actually be relieved to hear that she is attending summits about environmental issues rather than simply trying to bargain for better prices for oil on the open market.
Hon. Stella Ip:
Madam Speaker, I do, as it happens, read newspapers. It had simply not occurred to me that the member from Edmonton—Holyrood would be citing the Mail’s absurd story, which is backed up by no evidence whatsoever and which is an embarrassment to journalism. There is no black mud eating Nigeria.
The Speaker:
Order. Many members are rising for questions and it is important for as many as possible to be heard. Now the member for Yukon has the floor.
Mr. Stanley Joseph (Yukon, NDP):
Madam Speaker, I know that none of us would base accusations—
Ms. Kisi Armah-Cohen:
It was not an accusation.
Mr. Stanley Joseph:
Fine, none of us would knowingly bring information into the House that is not supported by evidence. But what would suitable evidence look like, given that the black zone can’t be photographed? Even the cameras on the ISS can’t penetrate the smog cover, and obviously the ISS has its own problems right now anyway. On top of that, contrary to what the Conservative party wants the public to believe, we don’t know what the risks are in sending more vehicles into the zone. My party is not confident that it is safe to do so, and we find it repulsive that the Conservatives want to legislate them into advancing just for the sake of glamour shots of “sending in the tanks.” That approach hasn’t served us very well so far.
My point, Madam Speaker, is that if Nigeria or Dubai or other countries are experiencing similar natural disasters, I imagine they are also encountering similar problems in documenting those disasters, whether or not they are actively trying to cover something up. I would prefer to assume good faith on the part of those governments, but of course that would be easier if the prime minister were honest about her motives in meeting with them.
Hon. Stella Ip:
Madam Speaker, I wish everyone wouldn’t speak as if it is a perfectly normal assumption that there is churn anywhere but Alberta and Saskatchewan. From what I understand, the type of bituminous sands we have here are unique to Canada, and maybe I think Kazakhstan or somewhere over there, so oil fields in other parts of the world don’t have the same chemical makeup or underlying structure that would lead to this unique set of problems. I would like the members to stop coming up with conspiracy theories, and instead focus on the work the government is doing to make sure we all still have access to fuel and plastic, and the lifestyle to which we as Canadians are accustomed.
Scientific Expertise
Mr. Kwang-Hee Park (Cornwall—Akwesasne, Lib.)
Madam Speaker, if the Conservatives were willing to discuss this with a panel of experts who have spent their whole lives learning about geology and geography, as the leader of my party mentioned earlier, then we might well find an answer to the question of what’s causing the churn and how to stop it without needing to turn to, as the minister calls them, conspiracy theories.
Hon. Cedric Vilandré (Minister of Foreign Affairs, CPC)
Madam Speaker, the opposition keeps moving the goalposts. First they are angry with the prime minister for advocating on behalf of Canadians in Africa and the Middle East. Now they are inventing imaginary disaster scenarios for those other countries and complaining that the prime minister is not calling up every university in North America looking for solutions to these made-up problems, which are suddenly more important than the churn that has killed, wounded, or displaced so many of our fellow citizens here at home. If this is what the opposition wants to hear so badly, then very well, I’ll say it for their benefit: our prime minister is not solving imaginary made-up problems in Nigeria or sitting on the phone with some intellectual who wrote a dissertation on Belgian fossils. Instead she is making sure that our oil supply is uninterrupted and that Canada continues to deal with her business partners growthfully and with integrity. I hope that confession makes the parties across the way happy over there.
GOVERNMENT ORDERS
Message from the Senate
The Speaker (Hon. Katherine Elk Hoof):
I have the honour to inform the House that a message has been received from the Senate informing this House that the Senate has passed the following public bill to which the concurrence of this House is desired: Bill S-9, An Act to amend the Cancer Screening Act.
Gasoline Rationing Act
The House resumed from May 9 consideration of the motion that Bill C-11, An Act to amend the Canada Transportation Act (Gasoline Rationing), be read the third time and passed.
The Speaker (Hon. Katherine Elk Hoof):
The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to an order made on Monday, April 26, 2027 and Standing Order 24(1).
(The House adjourned at 3:44 p.m.)
THE BODY POLITIC
John Jantunen
The body appeared in the first week of August. It was already hot that morning even though it was too early for anyone else to be about, except for maybe the boy who brought the paper. The paperboy, yes, the very reason I was out before the sun had had a chance to colour the sky in reds and orange. I wanted to stop him, yes, to catch him, so that I could have a word with him about the state that my dailies were in when they arrived. More and more they looked, well – and this was the odd thing – they looked like someone had already read them. Or really, if I wanted to get to the crux of the matter, they looked like a lot of peo
ple had read them. With their curling edges and their torn pages, their smudged ink and smears of brown that could have been coffee but could just as easily have been something else, they looked, in fact, like they’d been passed from one end of a city bus to the other with each person in between taking what they needed and discarding the rest on the seat beside them, or on the floor, where they would sit until the driver, at the end of his shift, tired and too grumpy to take any care about it, would come along and gather them up, which would go a long way to explaining why sometimes the pages were out of order, like I’d found with yesterday’s paper, pages out of order and one page out of order and in the wrong section.
So I was up early waiting for the boy to arrive and when he did?
—Be nice, dear.
That was my wife, the eternal her to my him, and it was good advice, excellent advice, just the kind of advice that I’d always relied on her for. She had sound judgment, if nothing else (and that’s not to say that she had nothing else; she had all the regular charms of the opposite sex; had all the smells, all the curves and all the softness that made my fingers dance too lightly when we were lying together, making her laugh and tell me to be more firm, always more firm). And it was her judgement, since I’d retired, that I’d retreated into, telling myself, for a start, that it was easier that way. Easier because I no longer had anywhere to hide; no more job, no more quick nips on the way home, no more ways of pretending I was listening while my mind was on other things. Now my mind was always on one thing and one thing only. But what was it? The house? No, not that. It wasn’t something as tangible as that, though I wished that it was as tangible as an old farmhouse at the end of a lane that was dirt when we moved in but was now paved right up to the driveway, the last on the road, the last, if anyone wanted to know, in the town itself, its back to a ravine and a wall of cedar hedges surrounding its front so that it was possible to believe that we were the only ones left. And if it weren’t for the odd phone call, and the even odder visit from our son, it’d be almost impossible to believe there was anyone else, but he hadn’t visited for… How long was it? Last Christmas? I’d have to ask her, she’d know. Right after I talked to the paperboy I’d ask her, ask her, I’d ask her?
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