John Baird

[Airbus, June 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I note that the hon. member from Ottawa asked the exact same question in French.

The last time a Liberal member said anything about the matter, $2 million was spent on charges of false accusations. The Liberals had 13 years to make this request and they never did during their 13 years in government. The real reason they did nothing is because there is nothing to discuss.

[Airbus, June 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the last time a Liberal spoke to this issue, there had to be a million dollar plus settlement, which cost taxpayers literally hundreds of thousands, well in excess of a million dollars.

The member opposite should be ashamed by asking that question. If he feels so strongly, why does he not repeat it outside?

[Canada Elections Act, June 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the first thing the government wants to do is to get the federal accountability act passed into law so we can end these big $5,000 contributions and cap the amount at $1,000 to ensure there is not just integrity but that honest government is seen to done by the Canadian people.

That is something we committed to do, that is something we have before the House of Commons today and that is something we will ask the House to consider before we adjourn for the summer break.

[Lobbyists Registration Act, June 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his hard work on getting Bill C-2 through committee so we can have real accountability mechanisms in place as soon as possible.

The bottom line is that the Prime Minister made real and meaningful commitments to stop the revolving door between government and lobbying firms and that is exactly what we have done in Bill C-2.

For the first time ever, there will be a five year ban. We promised to include unpaid advisors and, with the amendments proposed by the government, Bill C-2 would do exactly that.

[Canada Elections Act, June 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as its first piece of legislation, the government is trying to clean up the ethical mess left by the previous administration. One of the best ways to do that was to limit individual contributions to $1,000 and ban corporate cash, union donations and, most important, ban the type of shakedown of children we have seen from members on the front benches of the Liberal Party.

[Grants and Contributions, June 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Edmonton—St. Albert for all of his work as chair of the public accounts committee.

This government intends to follow through on the work to ensure there is more transparency in terms of grants and contributions. The web of rules put in place by the previous Liberal government has had a crippling effect on non-profit organizations, a crippling effect on our hard-working public servants. Yesterday we appointed a blue ribbon panel to dismantle the terrible regimen put in place by the previous regime.

[Correctional Service of Canada, June 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, while some frontbench members of the Liberal Party were canvassing kindergarten classes, shaking down young children for campaign donations, this team was hard at work providing good government to the country.

I am pleased to announce that this team has come to an agreement with our correctional service officers to recognize the hard work that they do and reward them with a contract to ensure they continue to do the important job that they do.

[Privacy Protection, May 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I will read for the member a press release put out by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. She said that the government has brought forward “a comprehensive strategy”. She said that it is “a positive step toward addressing Canadians' concerns about the flow of their personal information across borders and the possible privacy risks posed by foreign legislation...”.

We take this issue incredibly seriously. Canadians have every right to ensure that their private personal information is protected. The people of Canada can count on their government to do everything legally possible to ensure that happens.

[Privacy Protection, May 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I can tell my colleague from Quebec that this government takes the matter very seriously. Two days after a briefing on the matter, we announced measures. We are working very hard with the commissioner, who reports to Parliament.

I can indicate that within days of discovering this issue we immediately put in place an action plan to address the concerns that Canadians understandably have about their privacy. This government will do everything it can to protect the private information of Quebeckers, of Canadians, from coast to coast. It is something we take very seriously.

The member opposite may be interested to know that the Privacy Commissioner has acknowledged the work that this government has done and we will be reporting back quarterly to ensure that we do--

[Personal Information, May 29th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the member is right in that all Canadians should be concerned about every aspect of the privacy of personal information. I can commit to the member that we will take every reasonable effort to ensure that the privacy of Canadians is fully protected.

We have worked with a number of the departments which are affected, those where there is a concern, and we will continue to do that. They will be required to report back to the Treasury Board Secretariat every three months. We will be giving vigilant examination of this. In conjunction with the Privacy Commissioner, we will work to ensure that the very best can be done to ensure the protection of Canadians' privacy.