House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2004, with 41% of the vote.
Softwood Lumber April 11th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, on December 17, the Prime Minister made a solemn commitment to help the forest industry with loan guarantees, but he also said that his party would provide adequate support for displaced forest workers and their communities.
What did he mean by that?
And what has he done since for forest workers and their communities?
Forest Industry April 10th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, that is not an answer. At this very time, British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick and recently Quebec have delivered the goods, supported the forest industry.
But the minister asks us to wait until the cows come home. What kind of government is this?
Forest Industry April 10th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, a few minutes ago, the Prime Minister told the forest industry, the forest workers and the designated communities that their fate was ultimately in the hands of President Bush. But that is not what he was saying on December 17 and other times, when he promised loan guarantees and assistance for the workers and communities.
People are suffering and are already affected. Must they also wait for President Bush to get help?
Sponsorship Program November 28th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I think that the hon. member is a little hard of hearing. Justice Gomery is telling the truth, and he said that the Prime Minister was entitled, like other ministers in the Quebec caucus, to be exonerated from any blame for carelessness or misconduct.
Bloc members cannot stand it, because they have been engaged in a smear campaign. They have been out to smear reputations, and Justice Gomery contradicts them. They cannot stand it. They should read the report over and over. There is one truth, and that is the truth spoken by Justice Gomery.
Sponsorship Program November 28th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, Justice Gomery's findings should not be rewritten here. On page 430 of his report, Justice Gomery himself wrote, “Mr. Martin, ... is entitled, like other Ministers in the Quebec caucus, to be exonerated from any blame for carelessness or misconduct”. That sounds pretty clear to me. It is very clear indeed.
Sponsorship Program November 28th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I do not know if there is some sort of sickness going the rounds of the Conservative Party, but they are making up a lot of stories these days. Its leader invented the fact that Justice Gomery had made reference to organized crime, and now this member is trying to invent the fact that Justice Gomery said there was $40 million missing. Both are lying, and both have created these stories out of whole cloth.
Supply November 24th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member reacted as though she had taken lessons from Dale Carnegie. In reality, she is trying yet again to tarnish reputations. She is abusing her parliamentary privilege, something the opposition has been doing for months. Not only did the opposition members not expect Justice Gomery's findings to totally contradict them, but they spent months and months trying to tarnish the reputations of the Prime Minister and the ministers of this government who were fully exonerated.
Accordingly, these smear campaigns and the use and abuse of parliamentary immunity are totally disgraceful. We approve of Justice Gomery's findings that the Prime Minister and all the Quebec ministers are totally exonerated. They are as pure as driven snow.
Supply November 24th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, first of all, for employment insurance, I know that the Bloc members are not concerned with the employment aspect, as we are, but only the employment insurance aspect. That is exactly in line with their philosophy, as I have said. They want to ensure that as many people as possible are out of work so that as many people as possible will be riled up. That is not our approach. The unemployment rate is the lowest it has been for thirty years, and they ought to be pleased about that.
The Bloc is also talking about government spending. Are they not in favour of the $30 billion or so in tax reductions we have made available to Canadians, because our economy is in good shape? Are they not in favour of the $535 million in equalization payments that will be going to Quebec because the economy of Ontario and Alberta is in good shape? Are they not in favour of the way we are sharing funds?
When the hon. member says that the federal government is not responding to Quebec's aspirations, that is not true. In the area of health, all provincial first ministers have asked for additional transfers for health, and we have said yes. All first ministers have asked us to do more for education, and we have said yes. Quebec's finance minister was delighted that they are going to receive transfer payments for student loans and bursaries to facilitate access to higher education.
This government has a record of which we can be proud, and that is exactly what we will be taking door to door in Quebec. We offer economic security, political stability and international leadership.
Supply November 24th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I am not exactly pleased to participate in this debate, because it is basically pointless. We have to ask ourselves, “How did it come to this?” A mere 18 months after general elections that cost Canadians some $250 million, the opposition puts forward a non-confidence motion. Why?
Of course, the first reason is because the opposition was frustrated with the result of the last elections. Then, we have to look at why we are finding ourselves in this situation. One of the reasons is because we did not give in to the blackmail of the New Democratic Party, which overestimated its capacity. There comes a time when a government has to govern and assume its responsibilities, and when a third or fourth party has to accept to get a certain number of votes and no more. There is no reason to give in to blatant blackmail.
There is another reason for pushing for elections. Naturally, the Bloc Québécois is prepared to support any motion of non-confidence because its goal is to destabilize Canada. What better way than to have elections in a rush, as this will have the effect of paralyzing the Canadian state for several months at a time when very urgent issues have to be dealt with? The Bloc's behaviour is not surprising. It does not want this Parliament to work. Worse yet, and voters need to know this, the leader of the Bloc Québécois said he would not hesitate to defeat another minority Liberal government immediately after the next elections. In other words, whatever the scenario, the Bloc does not want Parliament to work because it does not want Canada to work.
How can we fathom that the Conservative Party would accept to be a part of that? There can be only one reason. Otherwise, why the rush? Conservative members and supporters tell me they are in a rush because their leader may not make it through. What we have there, then, is essentially a motion from the leader of the Conservative Party, who is afraid of being challenged from within his party. That has nothing to do with the public interest of Canada.
One of them has delusions of grandeur; one of the parties wants to destabilize the country; and one leader is running ahead of the pack for fear his supporters will catch up with him, because they realize he is headed for defeat. The Conservative leader figured that before he was pushed aside, he would give it at least one last try.
Now we are having an election at a time when things are going extremely well in the country, when we are the only G-7 country to have a budgetary surplus. Just imagine, the great debate in Canada is how to spend our surplus. That is a debate every country in the world would dream of having. They would all dream of having a discussion on how to share the budgetary surplus. We are the only country with this problem of wealth.
In the meantime, let us look at why our public finances are in order and why we have a sense of economic security in Canada. It is because we have a competent team. One of the key people responsible for the state of our public finances is our Prime Minister. He was at the helm for many years and rescued the ship that was sinking under the Conservatives. Now we have a Minister of Finance who is carrying on the same tradition of responsibility. That yields results.
Just think, we are heading into an election when the unemployment rate in Canada is the lowest it has been in 30 years. It is enough to make the opposition blush. Obviously a record like that is enviable.
Before I get too carried away with everything we have done and everything going on in Canada, I want to say that I am sharing my time with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, who will have a lot more to add.
Why have an election when Canadians are benefiting from extraordinarily low interest rates? These rates allow young families to dream and own property. They allow young entrepreneurs to expand their businesses. These interest rates are another enviable record.
This is the reason why the economy is doing so well. We have a positive trade balance.
We observe all that and we wonder why people want to call an election. We question the frivolity of the opposition. It is not as if the country were in crisis and a change of government were necessary. The country is doing very well: too well for the opposition’s taste.
Let us take for example the health care situation in Quebec. We have signed a historic agreement on health which will permit improvements in the system over the next 10 years. It involves an additional $9.6 billion over 10 years. It is an asymmetrical agreement which respects the constitutional responsibilities of each level of government.
In the area of child care, we have just signed a $1.1 billion agreement over the next five years with the Government of Quebec. Here again, this is a historic agreement.
With regard to the gasoline tax, a central commitment of our government, once again, an agreement has been reached—one that has delighted all the mayors in Quebec and in Canada. For once, a government is taking an interest in the municipal infrastructures which have an impact on our quality of life.
We have also signed an agreement for $1.3 billion on major infrastructure with Quebec’s Minister of Finance, Mr. Michel Audet.
I can go on. In addition, we have reached an agreement on parental leave that calls for an annual transfer of $750 million.
Everything is fine. Relations between Quebec City and Ottawa are in good shape. We are keeping our promises.
But that is what irritates the Bloc Québécois: things are going too well. Of course, the Bloc members feed on failure. Every day here, they want to nourish failure. The worse things are for their voters, the more they can blame Ottawa. They can never be happy about good news, because good news strengthens Canada and that is the opposite of what they want.
They have the same attitude towards the truth set out in the Gomery report. Judge Gomery was very clear in his comments. He totally exonerated the Prime Minister and the Quebec ministers at the time. Nevertheless, the Bloc Québécois and the Opposition are continuing what I think are disgraceful attempts at slander.
There are an enormous number of things to be done at this time. However, for the personal benefit of the opposition parties—we will ultimately see that they were wrong, for the voters will punish them accordingly—some important issues will have to be neglected over the next two months because of the irresponsibility of the Opposition.
For example, in the area of softwood lumber, my colleague the Minister of International Trade is working hard to make sure that the rights of Canadian businesses are protected. He will have to be out campaigning over the next two months. And yet this matter clearly deserved the government's full attention.
Then there is the matter of agriculture. At a time when some members, especially from Quebec, have claimed to be the great defenders of supply management, they want to defeat the government that was supposed to be going to Hong Kong for the very purpose of defending supply management. Then they will say that the government did not do its job. They are the ones who decided to shorten the government's lifespan. They would be happy to have Quebec farmers enraged if supply management is lost.
We will not let them do it, any more than we will allow ourselves to be distracted by their little games.
There is work to be done in the manufacturing sector as well. The economy is doing well, but some sectors are in transition. This is true of textiles, clothing, furniture and even assembly. It is vital to have a responsible, stable government providing economic security to help these workers and industries successfully make these transitions.
And yet, the opposition has decided to force an election that is not really necessary.
We will have an opportunity over the next two months to go out and see the Canadian people and explain to them that we are not delighted to be back knocking on doors. They were satisfied with this government. We will tell them one thing: if they want political stability, the first thing to do is to get rid of the Bloc, if they do not want to get caught in the wringer of separation.
The Bloc Québécois will not talk about separation any more during elections. It only talks about that between elections. Their program is very simple: phase one, the Bloc Québécois and then PQ offices in their ridings; phase two, Duceppe, Boisclair; and phase three, referendum, sovereignty, unilateral separation.
This time, the Quebec voters will not be fooled.
Softwood Lumber November 24th, 2005
Certainly, Mr. Speaker. The government is true to its word. It has made a commitment to help the industry in its legal battle with the United States. Unlike the Bloc Québécois members who do nothing but talk, we will deliver the goods, because we are in a position to do so. They have nothing but questions. We have the answers.