Lawrence Toet

[2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, December 9th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, Winnipeg was the place to be this past week for anyone who loves curling. We were the proud host of the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings, the Canadian curling trials to determine our teams that will represent Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

I want to congratulate everyone involved in this great event at the MTS Centre, from the Canadian Curling Association to event organizers, and all the hard-working volunteers, who made the week such a success.

On Friday, I had the pleasure of participating in the news conference that introduced our wheelchair curling team that will represent Canada at the Paralympic Games in Sochi.

Today, I am proud to congratulate the Jennifer Jones team, from Manitoba, who will represent Canada in Sochi. Jennifer and her team: Kaitlyn Lawes; Jill Officer; Dawn McEwen; coach, Janet Arnott; and alternate Kirsten Wall. They won it all in front of their hometown fans. As Jennifer said, this is a dream come true.

Canada will be well represented by a team that has won four Canadian championships, a world championship in 2008, and a world championship bronze in 2010.

With that, all that is left to say is “go Canada, go”.

[Community Service, December 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge the strong and active cultural communities in Elmwood—Transcona and the important role they play in enriching our local identity.

I would like to commend the efforts of the Filipino community in Elmwood—Transcona, which, along with the broader community, has been raising funds to provide relief for the millions affected by Typhoon Haiyan. Our community is engaged and involved as individuals and groups who continue to come together to support relief efforts for those impacted by this devastating disaster.

I am also thrilled to attend the Sher-E-Punjab Sports Club event this weekend in support of the Valley Gardens Community Club. This is another prime example of people coming together to make their neighbourhood a better place to live.

St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church parish recently celebrated its 100th anniversary in Transcona. It has been an important foundation of our community and has been significant in the faith life of so many people in Transcona and has contributed to our community in many other ways.

It is my pleasure, as a representative for Elmwood—Transcona, to celebrate those who have served our community so well.

[Consumer Protection, December 3rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, supporting and protecting Canadian families is a priority for our government. That is why we have lowered the GST by 2% and have cut over 160 taxes, saving Canadian families over $3,200 every year.

Canadian families work hard for their money, and they want their government to make decisions to help them keep more of it. Similarly, when Canadians purchase gasoline, they want to know that they are getting what they paid for.

Could the Minister of Industry please tell the House what measures our government is taking to help Canadians save money when they purchase gasoline?

[Seniors in Elmwood-Transcona, December 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the many seniors in Elmwood—Transcona who have worked hard and helped make our country great, as well as the organizations helping them to stay active, healthy and engaged in the community.

I would like to acknowledge the great work of the Transcona Council for Seniors, the Elmwood-East Kildonan Senior Centre and the Good Neighbours Active Living Centre. These organizations provide classes in activities such as cooking, art, exercise and woodworking. They also provide assistance with transportation, serve as gathering places and are an exceptional means of support for seniors in Elmwood—Transcona.

I would especially like to recognize one senior in particular, Juno Beach veteran Paul Martin, who upon his return from the war served his community in many roles over the years, including as mayor. Most important, he has given presentations for the last 30 years to students about the importance of Remembrance Day.

Sadly, at the age of 93, he recently said he would be giving his last presentation to the students at École Centrale. Paul Martin is a shining example of what community commitment is all about. God bless Paul.

[Typhoon Haiyan Relief Efforts, November 27th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of International Development just concluded a trip to the Philippines where he witnessed the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan first hand.

While there, he met with survivors of this devastating typhoon. He also met with local government and United Nations officials, as well as with international and Canadian humanitarian organizations.

The minister toured the Canadian Red Cross field hospital, which is working to provide essential health services such as medicines and maternal and child care to 100,000 people. The minister also met with members of DART who are providing clean water and medical assistance.

As a result, the minister has announced Canada will be extending the deadline for the matching of funds donated by Canadians to December 23.

I am sure we all want to encourage Canadians to continue to donate generously as Canada continues to be among the world's leaders in our response to this tragic typhoon.

[Seniors, November 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, elder abuse is a serious crime that should not be tolerated. Starting today, Canadians across the country will recognize National Senior Safety Week. This year, the focus will be on raising awareness and preventing financial fraud amongst older Canadians. Financial abuse, one of the many forms of senior abuse, deprives seniors of their dignity and peace at a time of life when they should feel safe and secure.

Can the Minister of State for Seniors please tell the House what our government is doing to help tackle financial abuse?

[Public Safety, June 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, last week the leader of the NDP was confused. When he arrived on Parliament Hill, he must have thought that he had arrived at the Montreal Grand Prix. He admitted that he sped through numerous stop signs on his way across the parliamentary precinct, but rather than being greeted at the winner's circle, he was met by an RCMP member who had been pursuing him. Rather than showing contrition for his reckless acts, he berated the female officer, saying he would get her in a lot of trouble.

Could the Minister of Public Safety tell the House the importance of security on Parliament Hill?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, June 10th, 2013]

With regard to federal transfers, grants, contributions, bilateral agreements or any other arrangements, what were the amounts paid out to the government of Manitoba (including through municipalities in Manitoba) in 2011 and 2012, broken down by the (i) year, (ii) name of the program under which the funding was allocated, (iii) individual amount?

[Fair Rail Freight Service Act, May 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to the comments from my colleague from Churchill. She started off talking about her colleague from Trinity—Spadina, the great comments she had, and the great work she was doing on this file.

It is interesting to note that one of her propositions is that there would be absolutely nobody looking at the overall network. Whether this network is owned by a government, as it used to be, or it is a private enterprise, the member wants the shipper to be able to go to the rail company and say, “I want you to ship my goods and I do not care what else you have in your network; it has to be completely ignored. I do not care if your network gets overwhelmed or collapsed; nobody should be taking that into account. Only worry about my one shipment or my shipments over the course of this year”.

Does the member not realize that there is a thing called “the folly of the commons”? That is when there is a field that can only handle so many sheep, and if someone wants to put 1,000 more sheep in it, the field that is feeding that network is killed off. There is absolutely no gain in that. In fact, what happens is that the individual destroys not only that shipper's ability to ship, but everybody's ability to ship, and nothing gets to market. Is that really what the member wants to see happen in this situation?

[Fair Rail Freight Service Act, May 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, they do have recourse to the courts, and that is something that is a final backstop. The administrative monetary penalties in the act are very strong, and the railways will be looking at them very closely. No railway that has to report to its shareholders wants to be paying fines in the millions of dollars over the course of the year for a failure to deliver on an agreement that it made. There is great protection in here for the shippers, and it allows the railways to continue to operate so that we can deliver the goods around the world for Canadians.