Charlie Penson

[Citizenship and Immigration, November 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, while the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration's chief of staff was rendezvousing with an owner of a strip club, other members of her staff were busy intimidating opposition MPs.

The message from the minister's staff was clear: opposition MPs would not want something unfortunate to happen to the applications from their ridings. It would be much safer for them to sit down and shut up.

Should all MPs who criticize misconduct by the minister and her staff expect to be put on a ministerial hit list?

[Agriculture, November 4th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, two things are certain. First, until the border is fully reopened, Canadian livestock producers and their communities will continue to suffer economic hardship and loss. Second, anti-American and anti-Bush comments from this Liberal government only aggravate an already strained Canada-U.S. relationship.

When will the Prime Minister get serious about the BSE crisis and slap down those in his caucus who hurt Canadian interests by bad mouthing the United States?

[Agriculture, November 4th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in reaction to the re-election of President Bush, the Prime Minister said he plans to raise a number of issues that have been on the back burner, including the border closure to Canadian livestock.

Canadian livestock and cattle producers are tired of the Liberal government neglecting their industry on the BSE trade dispute. Many have resorted to taking matters into their own hands and have mounted their own NAFTA challenge because the government has refused to support them.

Why has the government treated the BSE crisis as a back burner issue?

[Committees of the House, November 3rd, 2004]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It seemed to me that you were rising in your place to ask the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell to withdraw those words in connection with the member from Winnipeg because he was the one who started this whole problem with his unfortunate choice of words.

I think that you, Madam Speaker, to get control here, should ask the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell to withdraw the reference he made to the member from Winnipeg.

[Canada Post, October 29th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the appointment of the revenue minister's friend as chair of Canada Post is exactly the type of cronyism that the rules were supposed to prevent. Now that it is clear the rules have been watered down, it is obvious this was nothing more than a pre-election ploy designed to trick Canadians into thinking the Liberal government would clean up its act.

Will the Prime Minister instruct the President of the Treasury Board to enforce the original rules and apologize to Canadians for his deception to Canadians?

[Taxation, October 21st, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, during this year's election campaign the Prime Minister told Canadians that the Conservative Party was wrong when we said we could have both increased spending on priority areas and lower taxes. The Prime Minister said:

Stephen Harper says he can do it all, he says he can protect health care, increase transfers to the provinces, he can eliminate debt, he can cut taxes. I'll tell you something, his numbers don't add up. They're not even close.

Now we know that the surplus has rolled in at $9.1 billion rather than the $1.9 billion that the Minister of Finance forecast. So much for Liberal math. How ironic that only four months after the Minister of Finance said there is no room for tax cuts, now he is proposing them.

We could not agree more. The OECD says Canada's tax burden remains the heaviest in NAFTA. It is time to cut taxes. We were right all along.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, October 20th, 2004]

Madam Speaker, I congratulate the member for her maiden speech in the House. She did an excellent job.

She raised some interesting subjects. She asked the question about tax relief, which is something that is long overdue in this country. We have a government on the other side that has raised taxes something like 80 times in the last 10 years. It seems to me that the government has no lessons to teach anyone in the House regarding the need for tax relief.

Low and medium income families are struggling these days to make ends meet. I would like my colleague to address a little more fully about how both parents are having to work to support the income habits of a government that needs to raise taxes all the time to support its friends.

[Agriculture, May 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of International Trade might be in Paris but he is not meeting with the EU, the U.S., Brazil, India and Australia that are meeting to try to get the Doha round back on track. Canadian inflexibility at the negotiating table has meant we have not been invited to these talks.

When is the Liberal government going to show the leadership required so that Canada is no longer excluded and left on the sidelines in the important negotiations on Doha?

[Agriculture, May 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, there have been some major developments in the agriculture trade negotiations which are breathing some new life into the Doha round. The European Union has signalled it is willing to eliminate its export agricultural subsidies. The U.S. has responded by showing flexibility in its export programs.

I would like to ask the minister, what is the Liberal government doing to get the Doha round back on track?

[Supply, May 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I simply cannot believe the minister talking about good management. This Prime Minister when he was finance minister tried to lecture some of our business communities on corporate governance. The Auditor General said this was one of the worst examples she had ever seen. I cannot understand where he is going.

The minister raised the question of competitiveness and told us that Canada is number two, right behind the United States, in its competitive position. That was true 25 years ago but is no longer true after 25 years of Liberal government.

Canada is in 13th place in terms of competitiveness. He needs to check the OECD figures. It is absolutely not true for him to say that Canada is third. I suggest to him that Canada is about 70% as competitive as our major trading partner, the United States, and largely because of mismanagement and misdirected policies of his own government.

How can the minister stand here today and give us this kind of story that simply is not true? I ask him to check the OECD figures and set the record straight.