Monte Solberg

[The Environment, June 20th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the other day Air Canada announced that 2,000 people were being laid off due to high fuel prices. The leader of the Liberal Party took that as a sign that he should now go out and propose to raise taxes on fuel even higher and drive up fuel costs.

Not only will this hammer airlines and manufacturing, the trucking industry, the shipping industry, certainly auto manufacturers, but it will hammer everyone who uses energy.

The Liberal carbon tax is well named because everything it touches turns to shift.

[Oil Sands Sector, June 19th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, we are always concerned whenever there is an accusation that temporary foreign workers are having their rights abused. In law, of course, they have the same rights as all Canadians.

This government has moved in a number of ways to ensure that those rights are protected, including providing them with information in their own language so they know who they can go to for help and establishing memorandums of understanding so we can share information with the provinces. The provinces have stepped up with more monitoring.

We are there to protect the rights of all Canadians as well as those rights of temporary foreign workers.

[Human Resources and Social Development, June 19th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP plan would be devastating. In fact, that is why those members have not brought it forward thus far. They have had months to bring it forward. NDP members have so little faith in it that they keep delaying the debate.

What is surprising, though, is that the Bloc members seem to accept that this is an area of federal responsibility and they actually support it. That is very strange.

However, what would not help, of course, is to implement a carbon tax and raise the heating costs in all the day care centres across the country. That is the Liberal plan. We are not going to go there.

[Poverty, June 17th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, not only are the Liberals going to take away the universal child care benefit and plunge 24,000 Canadian families into poverty but they are going to raise the GST. Now they want to raise the price of gasoline, home heating fuel, natural gas and electricity.

It sounds to me like the Liberals are very confused. Instead of launching an attack on poverty, they are launching an attack on the poor. Shame on them.

[Human Resources, June 16th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the OECD lauded Canada for its efforts to help young people enter the workforce. Today they are employed at record levels. The incidences of long term unemployment are at record lows.

The good news is that, because of the new Canada student grant, no student in the future will ever be denied the chance to go to college, tech school or university. This government is getting the job done for Canada's young people.

[Child Care, June 12th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the very hard-working MP and someone who understands better than most the challenges of raising children.

Not only does the CLC have its facts wrong, its philosophy is a disaster. This year our government's child care transfers to the provinces will be almost double what they have reported, but when it comes to philosophy, the CLC, the NDP, the Bloc, and the Liberals dismiss the role of parents in raising children.

In fact, not only would the Liberal leader make gasoline and home heating fuel more expensive, he would take away the universal child care benefit from Canadian families for reasons that elude me.

[Canada Summer Jobs, June 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I note that we have made important changes to Canada summer jobs. Members around the House have responded and thanked us for the changes.

I want to point out that the member himself signed off on every single page of his summer jobs applications. He assented to every one of them. The problem is not the program. The problem is the member.

[Employment Insurance, June 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, during the Liberal years, it was the Bloc and the NDP that were arguing to spend even more of that money taken from workers. Therefore, if it was the Liberals who were saying “stick 'em up” to hard-pressed workers, it was the Bloc that was standing as the lookout and the NDP that was driving the getaway car.

[Employment Insurance, June 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, first, I know I speak on behalf of all members in congratulating the member on making her decision. We thank her for her service in this place.

I also know this party is very committed to ensure that women in our country have equal access to employment insurance today. Almost 80% of women have access to employment insurance and 98% have access to special benefits.

More important, we are ensuring that all Canadians, including women, have access to training that will help them step into a job in one of the hottest job markets in our history.

[Post-Secondary Education, May 27th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am very excited about these important reforms to student financial assistance. They include an improved online service to manage student loans, a more reasonable and flexible repayment system for student loans, and upfront, dependable, monthly cash grants for low and middle income students in every year of a university, college or trade school undergraduate program.

For the first time in our history as a nation, the dream of a post-secondary education is available to every Canadian student. We are working in the classrooms, unlike the Liberals who love to root around in the bedrooms of the nation.