Jeff Watson

[Safer Railways Act, May 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the member believes in rail safety so much that her party voted against every major investment our government has made in rail safety. If the NDP did not think our budget this time around got the job done, it not offer a single amendment in that direction.

I hope the member opposite is not suggesting for a moment that VIA is somehow unsafe. It got a four out of five ranking in an independent panel study, which looked into rail safety in Canada, for having a very highly integrated safety culture. We made record investments in the stimulus period to help it renew its fleet. The member voted against that, by the way.

The member knows full well that, with the completion of the stimulus projects, it requires less money being sent to VIA than in the last two budgets. That is not a cut; that is the end of stimulus.

I would like to ask the member, if this bill needed more for rail safety or needed to be improved, why is it that her colleague sitting over shoulder, the vice-chair of the committee, gave consent along with all the other NDP members to pass this bill in its entirety in less than 10 minutes with not a single amendment. Let the member explain that one.

[Petitions, April 25th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of several hundred residents in Essex and Kent counties who call attention to the need for the Thames River, which is a heritage river, to be dredged.

The petitioners are calling upon Parliament to find necessary funds to have the boating channel from the mouth of the Thames River out to Lake St. Clair dredged to a depth of eight feel to allow safe boating access.

[Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, March 26th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians who want more jobs and lower taxes gave our government a strong mandate to create jobs and economic growth. By contrast, the NDP chose a new leader who will continue to push its high tax, high spending, job killing agenda.

The NDP leader has vowed to bring back a risky job killing carbon tax which would raise the price of everything even though Canadians have overwhelmingly rejected carbon taxes. Canadians cannot afford the NDP's dangerous economic experiments. He has vowed to bring back the wasteful, ineffective long gun registry. This hug-a-thug, soft on crime leader will return Canada to policies favouring the rights of criminals over those of victims.

The NDP leader's drive to hike taxes, his divisive personality and his ruthless ambition would put Canadian families--

[Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, February 29th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, Standing Order 18 says that a member should not be using offensive words against any member of the House. In defending himself against the question about whether he was exposing a member for not having been in the House, the member for Burnaby—New Westminster questioned the mental capacity of a member of the House. He should withdraw the comment and apologize for it.

[Automotive Industry, February 27th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, this Conservative government has done more for Canada's auto industry than any previous federal government.

Our auto action plan, launched in 2008, has invested significantly, including at Ford Essex Engine, to create jobs through flex manufacturing and improved research. We have harmonized regulations, invested toward a new bridge at Windsor-Detroit to boost trade and negotiated an historic beyond-the-border agreement with the U.S., measures that secure a future for blue collar auto workers in Canada, measures voted against or opposed by NDP MPs.

At the height of the great recession, it was our government, not opposition New Democrats, that stood up for Canadian workers and their families by voting to save Chrysler, GM and 600,000 high paying jobs across Ontario. We have resisted NDP calls for high carbon and corporate taxes that would have killed the futures of auto workers by killing their jobs.

It is the Conservatives, not the NDP, who stand up for Canadian auto workers.

[Canada-U.S. Border, December 8th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister announced our action plan on perimeter security and economic competitiveness. Billions of dollars worth of goods and hundreds of thousands of people cross our shared border with the U.S. every day. The action plan is good news for workers and good news for business, especially in border communities like Windsor-Essex. It is good news because it would protect jobs and grow our economy and auto industry.

However, the NDP trade critic, the member for Windsor West, sadly out of step with residents of our region, continues to fearmonger and oppose this deal.

Listen to what Windsor's mayor, Eddie Francis, had to say, “We are all very very pleased with the results that have been announced...because it means now we can get down to business. Now we can allow the economy to grow”.

I could not agree more. It is too bad the NDP does not get it. Its rigid, ideological opposition to trade is yet another example that the NDP is unfit to govern.

[Fair Representation Act, December 6th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, obviously this is an important debate, not just to Canadians who gave us a mandate to address this issue, which was in our platform, but it is important, when we are in government, to how we relate to other governments.

In Ontario, for example, Dalton McGuinty is behind this particular bill, wanting to see Ontario move closer to representation by population in the House.

My colleague represents a riding in the west. Could he talk briefly about some of the governments out west and what they want to see the federal Conservative government deal with?

[Business of Supply, December 5th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP wants us to believe that we can grow the economy by Canada assuming the full cost of decarbonizing its own economy while assuming the additional costs of decarbonizing other global economies and simultaneously boosting taxes on Canadian companies and consumers. I do not know about other members, but to me, not growing the economy sounds like a recipe for disaster. That is why the United States never signed on to Kyoto. It is why the EU is backing away from further action under Kyoto. They recognize that everyone in the global economy has to be involved. That is why this country put its leadership behind the Copenhagen process, the only global process that has a real prospect of being able to grow our economies while improving global climate.

Would the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment like to answer the question about Canada's global leadership under Copenhagen?

[Safe Streets and Communities Act, November 29th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of those who are looking in on this particular debate today, there is some context to it. We talk about a balanced approach from the government with respect to how we deal with the criminal justice system. In budgets past we have made tremendous investments, multi-million dollar investments for that matter, in measures to prevent crime, to get to the at-risk youth. How did the opposition members vote on those? They opposed them, notwithstanding what they say today.

We have measures to put more front line police officers on the beat, working in the community to find those who are involved in crime and to work with community groups to keep people away from crime. How did they vote? They voted against it, notwithstanding what they say about prevention today.

Is not what we are dealing with today what the opposition has also stalled in previous Parliaments; that is, measures to rebalance the criminal justice system to deal with the public safety threats that are out there and it is reluctant to deal with? Would the member comment on that?

[New Democratic Party, November 23rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, NDP members let their partisanship stand in the way of helping Canadian families and our economy.

That is why the NDP voted against helping the manufacturing sector stay strong, against helping small business hire more people, against new help for families, like the family caregiver and children's arts tax credits, and against the volunteer firefighter tax credit.

The NDP's anti-Canada agenda is even more alarming. At home the NDP oppose measures that are creating Canadian jobs. Then NDP MPs go abroad and attack Canada. In doing so, the NDP sides with a small group of radical activists and with its public sector union bosses against private sector union workers.

Canadians gave our Conservative government a strong mandate to stay focused on what matters: creating jobs and economic growth. The NDP's anti-Canada agenda is another worrying example that the ineffective, disunited NDP is unfit to govern.