Raymond Chan

[Seniors, May 31st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, by 2021 senior citizens will constitute 18% of Canada's population. The Conservative government has failed them.

Seniors in my community say that the Conservatives have failed to deliver on their promise to guarantee shorter medical wait times and have failed to deliver the needed resources to deal with our health care problems.

Seniors in my community say that the Conservatives have failed to address the need for affordable housing. We must work with the provinces to provide funding for affordable housing.

Seniors in my community say that the Conservatives have failed them by breaking the income trust promise, costing them their savings and costing Canadians over $25 billion in investments. We must cut the income trust tax from 31.5% to 10% and refund Canadians their money.

When will the Conservative government stop misleading the public and failing our seniors?

[Passport Canada, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government has failed Canadians on the passport issue and now the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs is blaming Canadians because they are applying for their passports at an unprecedented rate.

It is unacceptable that the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Public Safety have refused to respond to the calls from the media.

Who is in charge over there and why will someone not take responsibility for this bungling?

[Petitions, May 9th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition from my riding to ban terminator seed technologies. The petitioners call upon Parliament to enshrine in legislation a permanent national ban on terminator seed technologies to ensure that these are never planted, tested, patented or commercialized in Canada.

[Health, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, is the Prime Minister delusional? He made a promise to Canadians to establish medical wait time guarantees for five priority areas and has failed to deliver on it, yet shockingly he has declared the wait time guarantees mission complete.

The failures continue, as the so-called guarantees are double the current queues and triple the doctor-recommended wait times. For example, B.C. is getting $76.4 million for a cancer radiation therapy guarantee. That is double the current wait time of four weeks and is six weeks longer than the doctor-recommended wait time.

The government must address the shortage of doctors and nurses, because setting benchmarks is meaningless unless the resource capacity to deliver the goals in terms of health care professionals and infrastructure is provided.

When will the Prime Minister stop deceiving Canadians and address the root problems in our health care system?

[Passport Canada, April 26th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, almost a year ago I called upon the government to address the imminent passport problems. The Minister of Foreign Affairs assured us that steps were being taken and that the level of service would be maintained.

It is now painfully obvious that the Conservatives' steps failed miserably. Day long queues now stretch around passport offices and it takes over three months to process an application. Even Passport Canada's help line is overburdened with 124,000 additional calls per week.

Canadians are frustrated and so am I. I receive countless calls for help from constituents forced to cancel business trips, family vacations and pay thousands of dollars in re-booking penalties because of the Conservatives' incompetence.

The minister says that we should be patient. I say that he has mismanaged this file, failed Canadians and he should resign.

[Judicial Appointments, February 28th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, by the Prime Minister's own admission, judges will be chosen based on his own objectives and agenda.

I have grave concerns about Conservative attacks on judicial independence and the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary.

I am deeply concerned about the government's intentions, as it has already eliminated the Law Commission of Canada and the court challenges program.

Judicial independence is a cornerstone of Canadian democracy. Now even the Canadian Judicial Council has spoken out against the government's attacks. The former and current chief justices have stated that the government “is trying to interfere with the sentencing process” and that the Conservative government is putting judicial independence “in peril”.

I call upon the government to stop attacking the independence of the judiciary.

[Chinese Canadians, February 15th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as elected officials we must endeavour to always provide Canadians with accurate information so they can make informed decisions. We may have differences of opinion, but we must always speak the truth.

Sadly, it has been recorded that the Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity) has more than once misled the House and Canadians.

He has misled the Chinese Canadian community by stating that I was not telling the truth about the legal advice given by the department on the head tax question and that I opposed the head tax apology even after the fact.

The Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity) must come clean and apologize to the House, to Canadians and in particular to the Chinese-Canadian community for misleading them.

[Government Policies, November 21st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, my constituents in Richmond have many questions for this incapable, untrustworthy, meanspirited, neo-conservative government.

Why did the Conservatives break their promises to Canadians by giving up $1 billion in the softwood lumber agreement to our American competitors; by not conducting a review on the leaky condo crisis in B.C.; by proposing an accountability act that will make the government less accountable; by allowing so many Conservatives to go through the revolving doors to become lobbyists; and by lying about the taxation of income trusts and costing Canadians $25 billion in two days?

Particularly, why are they so meanspirited as to cut a billion dollars' worth of social programs when they inherited a $13 billion surplus from the Liberal government?

Last, why are they now attacking the independence of Canada's judiciary?

[Business of Supply, November 1st, 2006]

Certainly, Mr. Chair. I am very disappointed that the minister, after 10 months in her job, does not know about a single item that the Conservatives promised during the campaign for seniors. The only thing that she remembers is the seniors council. She does not know how much money she is allocating for that and she does not know when it will be established.

[Business of Supply, November 1st, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I am really disappointed that, after 10 months in her job, the minister does not remember a damned thing about this issue. The Conservatives do not remember a thing about a tax on seniors and they did not do anything about it. The only thing the minister remembers is the seniors council. She does not know how much will be allocated to it and she does not know when it will be established. I am very disappointed by her performance.