House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was quebec.

Last in Parliament November 2005, as Liberal MP for Simcoe North (Ontario)

Won his last election, in 2004, with 43% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Amateur Sport June 11th, 2003

Mr. Speaker, there has been enormous progress since the commissioner tabled her report in 2000. This progress notwithstanding, the Government of Canada remains committed to working with the commissioner.

However, I want to point out that 33% of the Canadian Olympic team in Salt Lake City were French-speaking athletes from Quebec. This proves that francophone athletes can hold their own in our sports system.

Amateur Sport June 11th, 2003

Mr. Speaker, in answer to the hon. member's question about the fact that this report is very negative, I want to quote the report's conclusion:

Efforts made by SportCanada and other sport organizations demonstrate their commitment toincorporate linguistic duality within the Canadian sport system.

Given this conclusion, I believe that it is not as negative as the hon. member is suggesting.

Société Radio-Canada June 9th, 2003

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada knows that Radio-Canada's sports reports are very important for sports fans in Quebec.

The Minister of Canadian Heritage committed last week to meeting with Radio-Canada employees to see if something could be done. We support the work of Sport Quebec, as well as the requests made, because we know that people are concerned about this. The minister indicated that she was preparing to meet with the stakeholders.

Health June 9th, 2003

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that following extensive discussions between Special Olympics Canada and Canadian and Irish government officials, a solution has been found that will enable Team Canada to compete fully at the Special Olympics World Summer Games to be held in Dublin, Ireland, from June 21 to 29. These athletes have trained long and hard and, on behalf of the Government of Canada and Canadians in general, I would like to wish the athletes, coaches and mission staff the best of luck. We know they will do Canada proud.

Canada Elections Act June 9th, 2003

Mr. Speaker, we have heard various speakers this morning say that there is broad support for the principles behind the legislation but then they seem to drift off into tangents of quite partisan attacks on the motivation of the government, et cetera.

However I think there is broad support, not only from parties in the House but from Canadians generally. When I discussed the issue in my riding, it received broad support. Canadians are concerned with the appearance of influence that is obtained when larger corporations make larger donations to political parties. They are concerned when the labour movement makes contributions to political parties and the influence that could have.

In my riding I see broad support for the principles. Sometimes the devils are in the details, which is what we are in the process of discussing and debating. I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate the committee, ably chaired by the member for Peterborough, for the work it did in reviewing the bill and coming up with some of the amendments that are before the House at the present time.

The important part to bear in mind is that we need to come up with legislation that is true to the principles and the intent, and that is to have greater transparency and greater openness so Canadians can feel that our electoral system is indeed free and independent. That it is somewhat taxpayer subsidized now cannot be denied. Currently, when corporations make their contributions to political parties they do obtain quite significant tax credits or tax deductions, so there is a considerable amount of taxpayer money being invested in our system now.

We are trying to avoid a system similar to other countries where it takes tremendous amounts of money to become elected. It takes it outside the ability of many ordinary citizens to become elected to the houses of representation in their respective countries. A very strong plus for our electoral system is that we currently have spending limits and that the legislation will be an improvement on that system.

We have heard comments here this morning to the effect that it is a denial of democracy. Some of the amendments or provisions are for taxpayer funds to be reimbursed directly to political parties dependent upon the result of elections. There is nothing that prevents individual Canadians from making direct contributions. They would still receive tax credits for the contributions to the parties of their choice. We are not making an exclusive change that would prohibit that.

I think some of the comments may have been a little bit overstated to the effect that we will be denying democracy here by putting in changes that will provide for taxpayer funds to be reimbursed directly to parties, because that is done indirectly now through the tax credits. Also, we currently have rebates to individual campaigns. I believe Motions Nos. 8 and 9, combined, would have the effect of increasing that from a 50% rebate to a 60% rebate for individual campaigns.

One has to bear that in mind. It is a very onerous task, that each individual candidate for election to the House of Commons continually, term after term, has to go through a process of amassing enough funds in his or her individual riding association coffers to finance those campaigns. This is an amendment, the effect of which will be to increase that rebate by 10%. I am sorry if I missed the point but that does not appear to be an attack on democracy from my perspective. It is just something that will assist all campaigns to amass the funds they require prepare for the next election.

We were talking about the amendments in Group No. 1. They are all reasonable amendments that could be supported by members of the House.

Motion No. 4 is an increase for the quarterly allowance from $1.50 per vote to $1.75. Again, I do not think there is anything contained in the amendment that would warrant some of the very strong language that we have heard in this debate.

Motions Nos. 13 and 14 are temporary. They are transitional provisions that will be necessary because we will be switching from one system to another. It will require a cultural change provided the legislation comes into effect somewhat in the present state it is in now. There will need to be a transitional period where all parties will need time to adjust to the new culture. Those two provisions are self-explanatory and certainly warrant it.

With that I will conclude and suggest that these are amendments that warrant the support of the House.

Pension Act June 3rd, 2003

moved that the bill be read the third time and passed.

Pension Act June 3rd, 2003

moved that the bill be concurred in.

(Motion agreed to)

Business of the House May 26th, 2003

Madam Speaker, I believe that you will find unanimous consent for the following motion:

That when the House begins proceedings under the provisions of Standing Order 52 later this day, no quorum calls, dilatory motions or requests for unanimous consent shall be entertained by the Speaker after 9:00 p.m.

Supply May 26th, 2003

Madam Speaker, I believe that you will find consent for the following order:

That, at the conclusion of the debate on today's opposition motion, all questions necessary to dispose of the motion be deemed put and a recorded division deemed requested and deferred until Tuesday, May 27, 2003, at the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions.

Budget Implementation Act, 2003 May 16th, 2003

Madam Speaker, I heard the hon. member's comments regarding the job creation record in the last few years. I also heard his explanation for those impressive numbers. He said that these were all part time jobs and that we all had several jobs, or words to that effect.

I know the hon. member would not stand in the House and make up these allegations. I definitely know he has done much research to be able to stand in the House and make that type of allegation.

Would the member share with the House the statistics supporting his comment that the reason the job numbers were so impressive was because we all had several jobs?