Bill Graham

[Foreign Affairs, November 21st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, 18 years ago, you and other members were elected to the House of Commons. We congratulate you and we congratulate our colleagues of that class. I myself missed that class by 60 votes. It was a little bit like one of your privilege motions, Mr. Speaker; we never know which way it is going to go until it is too late. We are glad that you are here and we congratulate you and the other members of the House.

Mr. Speaker, when the Prime Minister travels the world on our behalf, Canadians have the right to know what is going on. Citizens have the right to be informed by a free press, but the Prime Minister tries to manipulate the press. On his trip to Asia he deliberately kept the press in the dark unless it suited his purposes. He refused to tell the press about meetings and actions.

How can the Prime Minister be so boastful about lecturing China and the world on human rights when he plays games with the right of Canadian citizens to be fully informed by our free press?

[Foreign Affairs, November 20th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I hope they do not applaud what the Prime Minister failed to achieve. Let us save the applause until we see some concrete results. In fact, the meeting failed to achieve anything.

The Prime Minister takes credit for a technology agreement with China but that agreement was signed last year by his Liberal predecessor, the member for LaSalle—Émard.

Why did the Prime Minister fail to obtain the foreign investment agreement with China that he was out there to get? Why did he fail to achieve the tourism agreement that he was supposed to get?

Since he is so boastful about his success, why did the Prime Minister score a big fat zero on human rights, foreign investment and tourism for the people of Canada and then boast about it?

[Foreign Affairs, November 20th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as the parliamentary secretary's response clearly indicated, the government's foreign policy is dangerously driven by preconceptions, deceptions, self-delusions and arrogance.

The Prime Minister tries to pretend that a brief meeting with the President of China on the way into dinner was a historical event, but the Chinese news agency put it at the bottom of a story about President Hu's meeting with the leader of Papua New Guinea.

The Prime Minister promised specifically to intervene on behalf of a Canadian being held in China. He told us that he knew how to deal with the world's growing superpower.

If the Prime Minister's meeting was as great as he claims, could the parliamentary secretary tell us when Mr. Celil will be returned to Canada?

[Foreign Affairs, November 20th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to believe, but this government managed to embarrass Canada on three continents at the same time.

First, the Prime Minister cancelled on a summit in Europe for fear of being criticized. Then, in Asia, he made a laughingstock of himself in connection with his meeting with the president of China. Furthermore, in Africa, instead of moving forward on a file that is so important to Canada, the Minister of the Environment gave the worst performance and was criticized by her international counterparts.

Can the Prime Minister explain how he could do so much to tarnish Canada's reputation in just two weeks?

[The Environment, November 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what planet the new government is living on, but the rest of us are trying to save planet Earth.

The Minister of the Environment has wasted this year as the world chair on climate change. Not only is she going to the conference in Kenya with no prescription for global action, she is going with zero plan for Canadian action. The Minister of the Environment is not a leader on the environment. She is an anti-leader.

Will the Prime Minister order his minister to quit trying to undermine Kyoto? Will he adopt the sensible non-partisan plan that was proposed this morning by the opposition parties?

[The Environment, November 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians have seen that the emperor has no clothes; 71% of them are telling him the Conservatives have no plan whatsoever.

What we are asking is that the Prime Minister change a course which is a disaster for our environment, a disaster for our foreign policy and a gross abandonment of our responsibility for the world.

Will he not face the evidence that the planet is more important than any neo-conservative anti-climate change ideology? Will he order his minister to follow a sensible course of action in Nairobi? Will he order her to stop trying to destroy the Kyoto protocol and to adopt some short term targets, fund projects in the developing world and set ambitious concrete goals for the next phase of Kyoto which is essential for our planet?

[The Environment, November 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has always refused to take a serious position on climate change. He continues to maintain that it does not exist. His party is opposed to the Kyoto protocol. His government is opposed to specific targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As for the Minister of the Environment, when we can find her she just muddies the waters.

We have put forward a proposal with four points establishing a strong Canadian position. Will the Prime Minister save Canada's reputation and tell his minister to defend this position in Nairobi?

[The Environment, November 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is these types of answers that are making the Conservatives and the NDP lose all credibility.

Will the Prime Minister even lift a finger for the Kyoto protocol? Will he introduce a bold plan of action to fight climate change? Will he make Canada the champion that citizens and Canadians expect? Will he put forward a plan, a real plan, for the future of our planet, rather than twiddle his thumbs, embarrass Canadians and create an environmental catastrophe with the help of his ally—

[The Environment, November 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is extraordinary to find the members opposite take such celebration in their lack of doing anything for the environment. That is an extraordinary performance on the floor of the House.

We are talking about a 44-year layaway plan, when we will be long gone from Parliament. Those members will not be here. We will not be here. Our grandchildren will be stuck with a huge bill for the environment.

Would the Prime Minister please, for the sake of Canada, reverse course, make Canada a leader, not a laggard on Kyoto, and go to Nairobi with a real--

[The Environment, November 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, that is absolutely untrue. Listening to the Prime Minister is sort of like listening to a salesman trying to get Canadians to buy a Christmas layaway plan for the environment. We do nothing for decades, seas rise, islands flood, droughts hit, famines strike--