Mr. Speaker, the second petition requests parliament to immediately invoke the notwithstanding clause to override the B.C. court decision concerning child pornography and to make the possession of pornography illegal in British Columbia.
Lost his last election, in 2011, with 36% of the vote.
Petitions February 29th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the second petition requests parliament to immediately invoke the notwithstanding clause to override the B.C. court decision concerning child pornography and to make the possession of pornography illegal in British Columbia.
Petitions February 29th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present three petitions today. The first one is from over 4,200 petitioners, many from my riding, who oppose any amendments to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or any other federal legislation which would provide for the exclusion of the reference to the supremacy of God.
Human Resources Development February 17th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are not buying these answers. Surely the HRDC minister has a requirement to follow department rules about grants, yet she approved two grants just last November, knowing full well that her area did not qualify. There were no pockets of unemployment. The offence is very clear.
The question remains, under what authority did the human resources minister approve those 1999 grants for her riding? Maybe a special deal with the Minister of Finance?
Human Resources Development February 17th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, we are not asking about whether or not the HRDC grants were good. We can get to that later. What we are asking about is what criteria was used to approve the grants given in 1999. The rules required 10% unemployment or more in 1997. The riding of Brant clearly did not qualify.
Under what criteria did the human resources minister approve Canada jobs fund grants in her riding?
Supply February 8th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the member was talking about politics and partisanship rather than merit. The facts are that in targeted wage subsidy programs the average spending in cabinet ministers' ridings was $350,634. The average spending in a Liberal riding represented by a Liberal member of parliament was $335,730. However, the average spending for targeted wage subsidy programs in a riding represented by a Reform Party member was only $149,529, less than half of a cabinet minister. Those are the facts. That relates to the heart of what the member was talking about; politics and partisanship rather than merit.
Supply February 8th, 2000
It is called a shakedown.
Supply February 8th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, it is refreshing to hear a member from the NDP talk about fiscal responsibility. What we are looking at today is that the old way of spending for votes is with us, rather than wisely administering the public trust. That is what is staring us in the face.
The minister of HRDC seems to be characterized as a starry-eyed idealist defending cash transfer programs, taking from the many to give to the few. The Liberals are like the Liberals of old, the do-gooders for their friends who stupidly believe that top down broad bureaucratic job creation programs actually create lasting economic transformation. The Liberals cannot manage. Especially starting in the Pearson-Trudeau years, federal ministers are inherently expansionary. They exist; therefore they will spend.
Will the member vote against the socialism of the Liberals in the next budget? What we are looking at today was in last year's budget. The Minister of Finance has to bear a lot of responsibility for the philosophy and the program allocation, what were the stated goals of the program. I am looking for a critical evaluation come budget time if there is an appearance of these kinds of programs in the next budget.
Supply February 8th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, what a lot of bluster.
The member minimizes this by saying that there are routine audits. Thank goodness we have audits. He uses laudable platitudes to tell us about the efficacy of these programs. However, schools of public administration, academics of management science will always say that these kinds of programs are wasteful and may actually do more harm than good.
Cash transfers without comprehensiveness really do not work. For example, the Compass program described today in the Globe and Mail said that the analysis of programs given under the same rosy kind of outlines that the member describes shows that the clients who had reduced their reliance on income support was not significantly different from zero.
Will the member work within his caucus to end these kinds of vote buying programs and actually try to develop programs that really help people, rather than these types of programs which sprinkle money around the ground to try to grow votes?
Housing December 17th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, leaky condo owners in British Columbia are desperately looking for help. The Liberal silent seven in B.C. are not heard because they are embarrassed by the party's eastern mindset.
The Minister of Public Works and Government Services has offered $75 million in loans, but at high bank rates. The federal government is legally culpable on this one, along with others. The province of B.C. is doing its part and many municipalities are doing what they can.
Why is there helpful disaster relief for Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba, but nothing for British Columbia? When will the minister show leadership, do what is needed and help rescue thousands of homeowners? When will the government do its share?
Standing Committee On Finance December 16th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, I will use the example of medicare which is dear to the hearts of Canadians. When we describe the difference between an American and a Canadian, we often find Canadians saying that they have a wonderful medicare program.
How do we provide safety and surety for medicare into the long term to ensure that it will always be there? With increasing demands, looking at the changing demographic characterization of Canadian society, we will have quite an economic pressure on our medicare plan.
Which party in the House will ensure in its economic plan that we have viable universal medicare? It is the Reform plan, by first of all going after tax reduction. That is how we will ensure and guarantee that we have the available resources to pay for medicare. In other words, we need a vibrant economy to generate the wealth to pay for the social programs we so desire.