Rodney Weston

[Committees of the House, May 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans in relation to the European legislative actions regarding the Canadian seal harvest.

[Health, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I raised an issue in the House that is of serious concern for the province of New Brunswick.

On March 31, 2009, Canadian Blood Services announced its decision to relocate the provincial blood services centre. This centre is in my riding of Saint John and it serves the needs of New Brunswickers.

There has been a lot of confusion created as to the role that the federal government has when it comes to the operations of CBS. Can the Minister of Health please clarify what role the federal government plays with respect to Canadian Blood Services?

[Canadian Blood Services, April 23rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to raise an issue that is of great concern to the province of New Brunswick.

On March 31, Canadian Blood Services announced its plan to close and remove the provincial blood services centre in Saint John, New Brunswick and to consolidate it with a new facility to be built outside of the province.

This plan was approved more than a year ago and there has been no consultation with the medical community whatsoever. I have met with the physicians from the Saint John medical community and I heard them loud and clear. They have stated that it is absolutely essential that the CBS centre in Saint John be maintained and that they will not be able to continue their current programs without it.

The CBS centre is critical for an integrated health care system in New Brunswick. The closure of this centre in Saint John will seriously jeopardize the quality of health care for the citizens of our provinces.

This is totally unacceptable. This decision by Canadian Blood Services and the provincial and territorial ministers must be reversed.

[Seal Hunt, April 21st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, Liberal Party caucus members held a press conference at which they depicted propaganda images of Canada's seal hunt in an attempt to attack and vilify those Canadians who are so dependent on the hunt for their livelihood.

It is shameful that the Liberal Party continues to allow these types of attacks on our seal hunt, at a time when seal hunters depend on this hunt now more than ever.

Liberals cannot get away with saying one thing in Toronto and another thing in Newfoundland and Labrador. They cannot rant and rave and pretend to defend the hunt in Atlantic Canada, yet sit silent while other members of their caucus attack the hunt in Ottawa.

This Conservative government is working to defend the seal hunt, and it is shameful that the Liberal Party is working against it.

[Carbon Tax Policy, March 27th, 2009]

In these uncertain times there are two things we can be certain of, that the Conservative government's economic action plan is the right way to go and that the leader of the Liberal Party was 100% wrong on the carbon tax.

[Carbon Tax Policy, March 27th, 2009]

Had we gone the way of the carbon tax, would we have more trade or a trade war?

[Carbon Tax Policy, March 27th, 2009]

Had we gone the way of the carbon tax, would people be paying less or paying more?

[Carbon Tax Policy, March 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, while our Prime Minister is championing the economic action plan, a plan that cuts taxes, includes job-creating stimulus and protects those hardest hit by the recession, the leader of the Liberal Party is trying to back away from the job-killing carbon tax, a policy that he introduced and campaigned on.

The issue is experience. The issue is judgment. Imagine if we had gone the way of the carbon tax. Would we have more jobs or fewer jobs?

[The Economy, March 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, while this Conservative government continues to focus on Canada's economic action plan, the Liberal Party continues to push its reckless, job-killing policies.

Our plan will reduce the tax burden on Canadians, while the Liberals want to increase the tax burden by raising the GST.

Our plan includes an unprecedented new investment in shovel ready projects. The Liberal plan is to delay money getting to those projects.

Our plan is to help Canadians who are hardest hit by the recession by enhancing EI benefits and broadening access to skills training. The Liberals' plan? Well, they do not actually have a plan on that front yet.

Canada needs the economic action plan this Conservative government has created, not the Liberal plan that would raise the GST and bring in a job-killing carbon tax.

[Seal Hunt, March 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Green Party leader Elizabeth May recently came out in support of a Liberal bill that would ban the seal hunt. May's position on the seal hunt is especially concerning given that a Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition would have appointed her to the Senate, allowing the anti-seal hunt bill to move to the next stage and putting the hunt's future in tremendous jeopardy.

All they need is one more senator to support this Liberal bill to lead to it coming closer to being adopted and the seal hunt banned, which just happens to be the goal of Liberal campaign boss Warren Kinsella.

Canadians should also be aware that all of the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal and NDP members of Parliament signed that coalition agreement, so they would have been responsible for putting May in the Senate to advance this anti-Newfoundland and Labrador, anti-Canadian debate.