Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was farmers.

Last in Parliament May 2004, as Liberal MP for Haldimand—Norfolk—Brant (Ontario)

Lost his last election, in 2011, with 25% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Health May 14th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada has recognized that governments over the past number of years have taken action to reduce tobacco smoking across this country. We recognize that those actions have had an impact on rural farm families and rural communities in both Ontario and Quebec.

The Government of Canada has taken responsibility for its actions that it signed on to under the international protocol on the reduction of tobacco and to fulfill that protocol by doing what the international community told us to do to ensure that these people can adjust.

Agriculture May 13th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, in fact I can give the hon. member the assurance that it will not be happening.

Based on a risk assessment, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has indicated that it is willing to have queen bees imported from the United States. The hon. member should know that there are differences of opinion between provinces on this issue. The hon. member may be aware that the provinces, if they wish, may be able to ban these bees coming into the country.

There was a review process put out by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. That date ended two days ago and it will be making a decision shortly.

Agriculture May 13th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, the hon. Minister of Finance spoke with them this morning.

The Government of Canada plays a very important role in these talks. We can join together countries in the G-8 with some of the developing countries. We can join them together and work with them in terms of putting forward a position which I think is very important to Canadian farmers and farm families.

I can assure the hon. member and all Canadians that the Government of Canada takes these talks very seriously. The Prime Minister has indicated that he wants to make sure that we put forward a very strong Canadian position on this issue.

Agriculture May 13th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, presently the Minister of International Trade is over in Paris meeting with his counterparts to talk about the importance of the Canadian position. There are a number of issues within this trade round that are of concern to Canadian farmers, for instance, supply management. There is no question that the government is 100% behind Canadian supply managed farmers. I wonder whether or not the hon. member can actually say his party is.

Agriculture May 13th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, simply, it was a U.S. decision. It was not a decision made by a Canadian court. We have worked very closely and hard with the producers and their associations that are working to get this border open.

I would ask the hon. member to ask the Canadian Cattlemen's Association or any of the other groups whether they feel the Government of Canada has been 100% behind them. They will tell him that this has been the case and that they are very proud of the work done by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, and others have in fact to work toward getting the border open.

Agriculture May 13th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, that is simply not true. The Government of Canada has worked very closely with producers, the provinces and all groups toward getting that border open. The Prime Minister has taken it to the highest level. He sat down with President Bush. Both have come to the conclusion that this is a North American situation, and one that needs to have cooperation and us working hard together.

The President of the United States responded by saying that he wants those borders open, and we believe that they should open now.

Agriculture May 13th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, I wish the hon. member would not stand in the House and say that talks with the farmers have broken off. That is absolutely not true. In fact the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is constantly in contact with the farmers and different farm groups, along with the province, to work on this issue.

Clearly there was a way in which the first payments to farmers was put. It was done by a group that did our BSE compensation. We found some flaws in its work. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is working with the farm groups to work through the true costs of compensation.

Agriculture May 13th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, there is a decent compensation package for farmers. Since the crisis came to our attention, we have had the ability to sit down with farmers, farm groups, processors and the province to work together on this issue, frankly in a non-partisan way. We have sat down with the producers to ensure that the compensation package reflects the reality of the crises they are facing.

Agriculture May 12th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Essex, and the hon. members for Vaughan—King—Aurora, Etobicoke North, Chatham—Kent Essex and Lambton—Kent—Middlesex for all the support they have given me on this issue.

I would like to inform them and the House that the Government of Canada will be announcing today a $6.5 million compensation package to compensate farmers and families across Canada who have been impacted by the fact that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has had to cut down trees within their communities.

Agriculture May 12th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, as I said, the Government of Canada is working very closely with the municipalities, the province, the producers and the processors to ensure that the approach we take is an approach that respects the right to farm and, in fact, respects the best science that we know.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is working very hard. The CFIA has Canadians from all across Canada working for it who have come to the member's part of the country to help eradicate this disease. Our goal is to first and foremost eradicate this disease.