Reg Alcock

[Government Appointments, March 11th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, it does seem to be foolish Friday.

If the member would take five minutes to read the report to look at all the recommendations that were made, he would see that we put in place the most comprehensive improvement to the governance of crown corporations in 20 years. Parliamentary committees are involved for the first time. They will approve members who are put forward for appointment, or they will examine members who are put forward for appointment.

I am not certain what the member is concerned about.

[Main Estimates, 2005-06, February 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I have copies of the estimates for the Table, as well as the list of committees to which they are referred, and additional copies for members of the House.

[Supplementary Estimates (B), 2004-05, February 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I have copies of the supplementary estimates and the distribution to committees. I have additional copies for members of the House.

A message from Her Excellency the Governor General transmitting main estimates for the financial year ending March 31, 2006 was presented by the President of the Treasury Board and read by the Speaker to the House.

[Points of Order, February 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, that is not the post office I was talking about. In fact the information I was providing to the House came directly from Canada Post in response to a question that had been made earlier. Unfortunately I do not have the name of the town in front of me. I would be prepared to provide it to the House, but that was taken directly from the notes provided by Canada Post.

[Public Service, February 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member and also the members for Pontiac, Gatineau, Ottawa South, Ottawa West—Nepean and the deputy House leader for their work on this file.

I fully expected the member for Ottawa Centre to stand up in the House to apologize for the statements he has made about massive job losses in the public service. In fact, what we have is a modernization of the public service, bringing to public servants the tools they need to do the jobs they want to do.

They are excited about it. They are the best in the world and they will be better still.

[Education, February 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, if the member took the time to read the budget, she would understand that there has been no such betrayal at all.

In fact, coming out of the previous budget, there is the new Canada learning bond for low income families, an enhanced Canada education savings grant for low and middle income families, new upfront grants of $2,000 for students with disabilities and $3,000 for first year students from low income communities.

She might want to speak to Premier Doer of the province of Manitoba, who has congratulated the Prime Minister and the finance minister for keeping their promises.

[Canada Post, February 24th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, in the case of the post office that was closed in British Columbia, there was no one in the town who wished to operate it. It is a town with 27 homes in it and an operator could not be found for it. Therefore, it was not a lack of willingness on the part of Canada Post to keep it open, there was no one to run it.

[Canada Post, February 24th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I will simply repeat what the minister said yesterday. There is no policy regarding the closure of post offices.

[Canadian Wheat Board, February 23rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows and as all members who have paid attention to this know, this process was undertaken by an arm's-length recruiter. I played no role in this. I was not part of it. The Wheat Board has testified to that. I had no knowledge of the appointment until after it was made.

[Public Service, February 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the government has been working hard to improve services to Canadians all across the country. Should the decisions that flow from the budget affect any of our staff, they will be treated with the greatest respect.