House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was conservatives.

Last in Parliament October 2015, as NDP MP for Nickel Belt (Ontario)

Lost his last election, in 2015, with 38% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Ending Conditional Sentences for Property and Other Serious Crimes Act October 26th, 2009

Madam Speaker, we have heard a lot about criminals committing blue collar crimes and white collar crimes. One thing we have not heard about are the victims. I would like to ask the hon. member what this bill is going to do to help the victims of crime.

Ending Conditional Sentences for Property and Other Serious Crimes Act October 26th, 2009

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives want us to believe that they are the only ones who are concerned about crime, but we in the NDP are concerned about the victims. We are concerned about the cost to society. We are also concerned about the cost this is going to bring to taxpayers.

I would like the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore to give me his thoughts on what this is going to cost.

Ending Conditional Sentences for Property and Other Serious Crimes Act October 26th, 2009

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the hon. member for Sackville—Eastern Shore about a private member's bill that is being presented.

We know that the Conservatives like to pretend that they are very tough on crime, yet when it comes to the long gun registry, they had a backbencher introduce legislation.

I would like the thoughts of the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore on why the government did not present this bill.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns October 26th, 2009

With respect to federal employees, including Crown corporations, consultants and Orders in Council appointees earning in excess of $200,000 a year, for the last three years: (a) which individuals earn such amounts; (b) what amounts do they earn; (c) to whom do they report; (d) what is their professional title and what tasks or service do they perform; (e) which were appointed at the discretion of a Minister of the Crown or without a competitive search process; (f) who signed employment contracts on behalf of the government; (g) what performance bonuses were awarded, and to whom; (h) with specific reference to consultants, (i) how many individuals earned above $200,000 as a consequence of multiple contracts within a one year period, (ii) what is the duration of each contract, (iii) who authorized their employment?

Questions on the Order Paper October 23rd, 2009

Regarding the Knowledge Infrastructure Program announced in January 2009: (a) how many proposals were received from Aboriginal educational institutions; (b) how many of those proposals were accepted; (c) how many were refused and why; and (d) of those accepted, how much funding was allocated?

Retribution on Behalf of Victims of White Collar Crime Act October 22nd, 2009

Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the hon. member if this bill would prevent fraud in any way. Is this bill just closing the barn door once the animals have left it? Is there anything in the bill that would prevent fraud from happening in the future?

Retribution on Behalf of Victims of White Collar Crime Act October 22nd, 2009

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his presentation today.

Fraud is fraud, whether it involves half a million dollars or $1 million. I would like the hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona to give me his thoughts, if he has any, on where the $1 million number in this bill came from.

Economic Recovery Act (stimulus) October 6th, 2009

Mr. Speaker, I will re-ask the hon. member a question that was asked by the member of the Liberal Party. I am not interested in knowing how the Liberal Party got rid of the debt, although that was deplorable. I am interested in knowing how the Conservative government is going to pay off the debt. That is all I am interested in, not rhetoric about the Liberal Party.

Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act October 5th, 2009

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise in the House today to talk against this bill that would give a message to Colombians that Canada supports a government that violates human rights. Of course, we all know that Canada would never support a country that violates human rights.

The Prime Minister launched his free trade talks with Colombia in 2007, around the same time that U.S. President George W. Bush was pushing a trade pact through Congress, where Uribe's government was vilified by the Democratic majority. The government-proposed trade pact is another sign that Conservative foreign policies simply shadow those of U.S. Republicans in an attempt to bolster our like-minded leader in Latin America.

Fearful of implicitly endorsing Uribe's government, Norway has put a hold on free trade talks with Colombia, and Britain has stopped providing training and support to the government's security forces. I would like to quote José Oney Valencia Llanos from Colombia. He said:

You know that here in Colombia, there are many human-rights violations. Business people, through multinational and transnational corporations, have violated human rights and attacked workers, directly and indirectly.

He goes on to say:

We don’t have the right to free association, or political rights, or the right to unionize...The government sees that we want to get together so that we can demand our rights, and they call us terrorists. Those of us that have had charges pressed against us, we’re accused of having links with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, even though we have never had links with—and at no time did we have meetings with—illegal armed groups.

This brings me to a company that we have in my riding. It is a company from Brazil. Brazil is not a third-world country, but I want to give an example of a company that is acting like a third-world company. This company purchased a company in my riding called Inco a few years ago. It was able to purchase this company through an agreement with the government of the day. It was an agreement that we cannot even see today. We do not know what is in this agreement.

I will give an example of what this company is doing. Right now, there are negotiations going on in my riding with Vale. Over the years, we have had a lot of negotiations because Inco has been in existence for 100 years. This company is not negotiating. It is not negotiating because it wants to bring us back 30 years to the times of third-world countries. It wants to take away our pensions, which are hard earned by the former employees of Inco.

It wants to take away what is called a nickel bonus. Miners earn a nickel bonus when the company is profitable. If the company makes money, the workers make money. There is nothing wrong with that. It says that it wants to make these changes to be more profitable. I think that it is profitable enough as it is.

This company was also negotiating in bad faith when it was negotiating. Last week, it fired three strikers. It fired these three strikers and then it did something that has never been done in negotiations in Nickel Belt before. With its third world attitude, the company sent out a press release announcing to the media that these three workers had been fired--

Natasha Roberge September 30th, 2009

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to salute a young woman in my riding of Nickel Belt, Natasha Roberge, who is in first year at Laurentian University and has her sights set on a teaching career.

Last week, Natasha was awarded a $16,000 scholarship by the Canada Company, a charity that pays tribute to soldiers who have died on duty and their families. Natasha's father, Warrant Officer Gaétan Roberge, died in Afghanistan a few days after Christmas last year.

The whole community is very proud of Natasha, and we wish her the best of luck in her studies.