Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was forces.

Last in Parliament May 2004, as Liberal MP for Compton—Stanstead (Québec)

Lost his last election, in 2006, with 22% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Canadian Forces Housing Agency May 14th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, two copies of the 2002-03 annual report of the Canadian Forces Housing Agency.

Veterans Affairs May 7th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, I thought I was clear before that Veterans Affairs does not choose the veterans who go. This is done by the regiments and the different associations. It is not Veterans Affairs that chooses.

Veterans Affairs May 7th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, in actual fact what the member is not mentioning is that there will be ceremonies all across Canada on that day and they will have a chance to participate in those. As I said before, we are looking at ways to assist others to go.

Veterans Affairs May 7th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, obviously the member opposite was not listening to the announcement this week made on the new bill.

Besides that, as far as the Normandy trip, it was not decided by Veterans Affairs; it was decided by regimental associations, naval associations and air force associations who would go on the trip.

Veterans Affairs May 7th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question because it gives me a chance to say that the minister is busy at this time looking for other options to assist D-Day veterans, the Battle of Normandy veterans who wish to return to France.

The member opposite has also criticized the people going over there. I would like to let the member know that the people who are going over there are going to help out the 60 veterans who are going. They are groups such as the Royal Canadian Legion, the army, navy and air force, cadets, the youth, pipers, the padres, medical people.

Interparliamentary Delegations May 6th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association, which represented Canada at the joint committee meetings of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and at the annual consultation between the Economics and Security Committee and the OECD held in Brussels and Paris on February 15 to 19, 2004.

Income Tax Act May 4th, 2004

Madam Speaker, the member opposite mentioned NATO and what we are doing at NATO. I think we do an incredible job and NATO thinks we do an incredible job.

We are looking at long term spending. We are looking at capital expenditures. We are talking now of $27.5 billion over the next 15 years.

The member opposite also mentioned that we were at the bottom of the list in spending at NATO. In actual fact, we are number seven in dollars spent. We are actually about midway and climbing that rope very, very quickly.

As for looking at interoperability, we go much further than that. We are sitting down with our NATO partners and looking at the different things we can do to complement each other. One of them, of course, is the air to air refueling. We are working with Germany in setting up that type of equipment. When we go into NATO operations, we will actually be servicing other countries. That is just an example of some of the things we are doing.

Income Tax Act May 4th, 2004

The member opposite is saying that was to cover the operation, but she was just saying we were robbing out of capital to cover operations.

In fact, that is what we are doing here. We are putting money into operations, money for the incremental costs for Haiti and Afghanistan. That is exactly what we were supposed to be doing. We are not taking the money out of National Defence. We had separate money that went directly in for those costs.

Maybe we should talk about, and the member opposite is certainly aware, Roto 0 and the people who went to Afghanistan. They did an incredible job there. We must congratulate them for that. Regarding the equipment they had, the member opposite was also at the SCONDVA the other day when we had General Leslie before the committee. He explained very clearly to a question posed of whether they had the necessary equipment. He replied that everything they asked for, they got. There was no question and no problem for capital expenditures and operations. They got everything they needed, so that has been very clear.

I want to mention the role of our reserves in Afghanistan. They have done an incredible job over there. We talk about the three D s as our policy now. When we go into a country that has problems and we are going to work there, it is not just defence. We go in with defence, diplomacy and development. Our reserves are doing a lot of the development work. That is incredible and it is an incredible role for Canada to take up.

Income Tax Act May 4th, 2004

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for the question. It certainly gives me an opportunity to talk about what our government has been doing, all the good parts.

First of all, as the member opposite well knows, defence is certainly at the forefront of the government's agenda which we have talked about since December.

The Speech from the Throne, budget 2004, the new national security policy as well as recent investments in key capital equipment, all highlight the government's ambitious security and defence agenda.

Regarding the Prime Minister's announcements on new search and rescue aircraft, the quotations are in the mail right now. The mobile gun system, which was recently announced, was a new project. That was not one that has been hanging for years, as the member opposite had said.

The maritime helicopter project is one that has been hanging for years, but on the other hand it has probably been good in many ways because we have a great bidding process. We have some really good competitors out there and the type of equipment we are going to get is going to be much more advanced than what we were looking at before.

The other project of course is the support ships, which is very important. This is something that has been talked about for awhile but has come up and we are moving ahead much quicker than what was planned before.

When we talk about budget 2004, we certainly put a lot forward there, but we have to remember that the budgets of 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003, all had huge defence increases in them. This clearly demonstrates the government's commitment to defence. In fact, the member opposite said that there was no money in budget 2004. There was roughly $1.6 billion in new funding for national defence.

Compton—Stanstead April 21st, 2004

Mr. Speaker, let me talk about Compton--Stanstead, the jewel of Quebec's eastern townships.

Do members know that Compton--Stanstead is the home of some great Canadians? Why one of Canada's greatest prime ministers, the Right Hon. Louis St. Laurent, called it home. In fact our current Prime Minister is our neighbour.

Folksinger David Francy, who just won another Juno Award, writes his award winning music from the inspiration drawn from its beauty and cultural harmony.

A little-known fact is that Bishops College School is home to Canada's oldest cadet corps. This year it will be celebrating 125 years.

Did I mention it is also the home of the Hon. Jean Charest, the Premier of Quebec; the Hon. Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, the Deputy Premier; and the Hon. Pierre Reid, Quebec's Minister of Education?

Even Hollywood is getting in on the act. Veteran Hollywood actor Donald Sutherland has a home there.

On top of all that, Compton--Stanstead is surrounded by some of the finest members in the House, such as the member for Shefford, the member for Frontenac—Mégantic and the member for Brome—Missisquoi.

Mr. Speaker, even you have sampled this wonderful corner of Quebec, Compton—Stanstead.