House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was report.

Last in Parliament September 2008, as Liberal MP for Saint John (New Brunswick)

Lost his last election, in 2008, with 38% of the vote.

Statements in the House

McCain Foods June 13th, 2007

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of McCain Foods, a family business and world giant built on quality and on loyalty to Florenceville, New Brunswick.

Launched by brothers Harrison and Wallace McCain in 1957, the family business has been growing potatoes in New Brunswick since 1910.

McCain Foods is a Canadian multinational success story. As the largest processor of frozen potatoes in the world, it operates in 110 countries on six continents with 20,000 employees and has diversified its french fry business to include pizzas, juice and appetizers.

The McCain family continues to be one of Canada's foremost philanthropic families, donating millions of dollars toward worthy causes everywhere.

I salute the McCain Foods founders, the late Harrison McCain and of course our friend Wallace, whose heart is still in Florenceville and who remains one of Canada's leading business leaders, as well as late brothers Andrew and Robert and Andrew's son Allison, who is the current chairman.

I extend congratulations to them on their 50 years in business. On behalf of all Canadians, I wish them continued success in the next 50 years.

Business of Supply June 7th, 2007

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will know that in the speech that I just gave, I specifically cited his own province from 1957, 50 years ago, when it was allowed above the cap under equalization.

What is really important for all Canadians to understand is that we believe in Atlantic Canada and in these reinvestments, the Atlantic accord, the people-building New Brunswick document, which were going to reinvest in the province of New Brunswick $800 million.

The member for Fredericton had crafted a document with the previous Liberal government and had a document ready that would be part of helping out a province like New Brunswick which, moving forward into the 21st century, wants to say that it does not want to be taking the same draw on the national treasury for equalization. It believes in self-sufficiency, just exactly like the national government helped out the province of Alberta 50 years ago.

Business of Supply June 7th, 2007

Mr. Speaker, I must say that the member is a very experienced member, and he too well knows that it would be beyond possibility to think that a member of the governing party's cabinet would have ever made such a statement as the member for Central Nova made and then have the complete opposite effect occur.

I am, like a lot of Canadians and like a lot of members of this House, frankly shocked at such a betrayal, shocked at such a treachery that could possibly have occurred, and frankly I think it does this place a weakness when our words are not honoured, the way the member for Central Nova spoke about his own colleague.

Business of Supply June 7th, 2007

Mr. Speaker, I will be pleased and honoured to split my time with the courageous hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley.

Having served in the House for seven years, I have never seen such a blatant disregard for the economic prosperity of an entire region such as the way the government and Prime Minister have treated Atlantic Canada.

The Prime Minister came to office trumpeting a new approach and a new relationship between the federal government and the provinces. He called it open federalism. He said that a Conservative government would be more sensitive to the differences between provinces and regions.

He broke promises to the governments of the Atlantic provinces and decided that the welfare of our people was not his concern. He continues with his campaign of pitting region against region.

With this budget, the Prime Minister has wielded his knives on Atlantic Canada and tried to give truth to his lie about a certain “culture of defeat”.

The numbers I find in this budget simply speak for themselves. Quebec receives a 29% increase, or almost $700 million more in equalization payments. New Brunswick, on the other hand, receives a mere 1.8%. Atlantic Canada receives only 4% of all new money spent on equalization. For the second straight year, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency does not even receive a mention in a 478-page budget document.

This callous disregard for New Brunswick and all of Atlantic Canada adds to the government's list of broken promises on income trusts, the slashing of literacy programs, the failure to fund affordable housing in my city of Saint John, and the cancellation of the court challenges program. These pile onto the broken promises of the Atlantic accord.

The government simply does not understand Atlantic Canada, though the Prime Minister believes ACOA could be for wasteful projects, unnecessary spending, projects that are not of vital important to Atlantic Canadians.

It is true Atlantic Canada does not have the financial security of Alberta or the industrial base of Ontario. Ours is a region trying hard to promote itself as a destination for 21st century business and industry.

A new generation of political leaders, including my premier from New Brunswick, Shawn Graham, has taken up the challenge of reaching for full economic self-sufficiency. However, provinces like New Brunswick need help from the federal government today in order to put tomorrow's economic blueprints in place.

The former government proposed a plan that would have brought $830 million, new dollars for infrastructure and new program funding for New Brunswick, at the same time that the Atlantic accords were signed. This plan served as the baseline of funding for the province in its effort to achieve a goal of self-sufficiency. Our plan had a similar goal to the deal that was reached with Alberta in its drive for self-sufficiency 30 years ago.

The hon. member for Fredericton crafted a plan to put New Brunswick on the road to requiring less equalization from Ottawa.

What happened instead was that the former New Brunswick premier, Bernard Lord, changed from a Progressive Conservative to a Reformer. He decided he would rather deal with a Conservative government in Ottawa. The result was piecemeal projects instead of a comprehensive plan, each garnered less money than the Liberal plan.

The people of New Brunswick said no to that approach. They fired Bernard Lord for tearing up the child care agreement and saying no to $115 million in new federal spending on early learning and child care in our province.

In the months since the Prime Minister came to office, he began treating Atlantic Canada as an afterthought of Confederation. A distinct trend has swept across Atlantic Canada. In Nova Scotia the Progressive Conservative premier ranks third in popularity behind the New Democrats and the newly minted Liberal leader, Stephen McNeil; in New Brunswick, a new dynamic Liberal leader has swept aside a two time Conservative majority government; in Prince Edward Island, a new Liberal leader, Robert Ghiz, won a landslide victory over a three term Conservative majority government; and in Newfoundland, a Progressive Conservative stalwart premier goes on television every day and has three simple words for Canadians: anybody but Conservative.

These should be ominous signs for the government finding itself out of ideas after only 18 months in power and sitting across from a new, renewed, and reinvigorated Liberal Party under the leadership of the member for Saint-Laurent—Cartierville.

Things have only gotten worse this week for the government. As the hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley has shown, not every member of the Conservative government's Atlantic caucus is willing to stand aside and let their province be sold out by the federal government.

As every member in the House is aware, in voting against the government, the hon. member from Nova Scotia made a great political sacrifice. He was bullied. He was maligned by his cabinet members and colleagues. He was kicked out of caucus and has since had his constituent files seized by the Conservative Party. Some new government.

Why has this happened? This has happened because the member took the word of the Prime Minister when he wrote to the premier of Newfoundland and said:

We will remove non-renewable natural resources revenue from the equalization formula to encourage the development of economic growth in the non-renewable resources sectors across Canada. The Conservative Government of Canada will ensure that no province is adversely affected from changes to the equalization formula.

He believed the Minister of Finance when he said, “We will respect the Atlantic accord”. He trusted that the hon. member for St. John's East knew what he was talking about when he said, “The Atlantic Accord will not be adjusted. It's written in stone. It's signed, sealed, delivered, and it's something that the province need not have any fear”.

Despite the claim by the foreign affairs minister, the member for Central Nova, that no member of his caucus would be removed for voting against the budget, the hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley sits as an independent for voting his conscience and voting to defend the interests of his constituents.

Over and over again the government and the Prime Minister have pledged to defend the economic interests of Atlantic Canada. They said it to get elected. They said it to prepare for an election. When it came time to govern, Atlantic Canada simply has not fit into their plans.

New Brunswick has a right to be treated with equality. Atlantic Canada has that same ambition. Canadians want all of us to treat each other with respect, dignity and equality.

Budget Implementation Act, 2007 June 4th, 2007

Mr. Speaker, the reality and one of the concerns we all have in every region of Canada is the migration of our workforce.

Certainly in my area of the country in Atlantic Canada, a lot of our workforce is migrating to places west and throughout the United States. We have a big concern about that.

We also have a large concern as it relates to these temporary and part time permanent jobs, but I have to say that one of the concerns we all have is pitting region against region. That is why I am voting against the budget.

Budget Implementation Act, 2007 June 4th, 2007

First, Mr. Speaker, I do agree with the hon. member on one point that she raised and that is the fact that it is taxpayers' money.

However, when a government tries to pit one region of the country against another and, more important, one taxpayer against another, that is what we, as Canadians, find offensive about the budget and about this political party.

The other thing that the hon. member raised, which I think is very important, is what about the ordinary taxpayer? What does the budget mean to the ordinary taxpayer? The budget means in fact an increase on those who have the least amount of income in our society. The increase at the lowest corporate rate, from 15% to 15.5%, is not only offensive, but it is disgraceful to those Canadians who need the most help from our national government.

Budget Implementation Act, 2007 June 4th, 2007

Mr. Speaker, since March 19, when the budget was first presented, the Liberal Party has been very clear with Canadians about why we oppose it.

We look at this mixture of electoral posturing and bad public policy and see Canadians left behind and entire regions of our country forgotten. For some reason, the Prime Minister thought that dividing Canadians would unite his ambition and political fortunes.

Over the last months, Canadians have told him and this party that they have other ideas. Just as troubling as the government's political approach to governing is its inability to coherently implement its agenda.

With all of the flip-flops and the disconnections between the Prime Minister and his front bench ministers, the so-called further clarifications, Canadians are right to be asking themselves whether the government has the ability to formulate a plan and to competently manage one of the largest and most complex economies in the world.

The most recent example of the government's naiveté on financial matters was the announcement by the Minister of Finance that the government had reversed its policy on income deductibility. For weeks and weeks the Liberal Party told the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance that their decision to revoke interest deductibility for Canadian multinational corporations made our business leaders less able to compete. As a party, we repeatedly said that was simply not the way to manage our economy in the context of gruelling international competitive forces.

Though he failed to consult any stakeholders before bringing down his budget on this specific point, we are pleased to see that the Minister of Finance has listened to our position on this matter and for once chose reason over ideology.

I would hope that the minister will take our advice and also look at debt dumping. The double-dipping he has sought to curtail is still taking place as foreign companies, and with affiliates, are permitted to borrow Canadian dollars and invest them in their home countries and do so without paying Canadian corporate taxes.

A further question of competence arises with the issue where Canadians from coast to coast are concerned about the government's total flip-flop on income trusts. As he surely remembers, the Prime Minister campaigned in the last election as the defender of income trusts and investments of Canadians. He took advantage of trumped up gossip against the Liberal government and promised Canadians that his government would preserve their financial security. What a surprise we were all in for when the Conservatives abruptly altered their course and completely changed that position.

In one day, $25 billion of Canadians' investments were wiped out. Since then, the Liberal Party has proposed a reasonable 10% tax on income trusts as opposed to the punitive 31.5% tax levied by the government. This is fair-minded public policy and, frankly, would have avoided the financial disaster that was brought upon many Canadians who were moving into retirement years or were in fact retired. Canadians retired based on the Prime Minister's promise that he would not change his position on the income trusts and he broke that trust and that promise.

Canadian tax policy is just one area of financial policy that the Conservative government has been unable to effectively manage. The federal government's relationships with the cities is another black hole of public policy.

The Prime Minister's only announcement since he has been elected, which addresses the issue of cities, is the transit strategy, and that is perhaps the most blatant example of the Conservative government taking credit for successful Liberal programs and initiatives.

In March the Prime Minister announced funding for a variety of transit projects in the GTA totalling $927 million. However, this money was Liberal government money that was set aside as funding for infrastructure spending in 2006-07 and 2007-08 that until now had not been used by the Conservative government.

Furthermore, just last week the Prime Minister spoke to the Canadian Federation of Municipalities convention and called the government's investment in Canadian cities “historic”. What he failed to mention was that the programs he touted were put in place by the past Liberal government. When is the Conservative government going to show some leadership on this file? As Canada is fast becoming an urban country, what the assembled delegates in Calgary were waiting to hear from the Prime Minister was a plan to provide cities with stable, predictable and long term funding.

As part of our new deal for cities, the Liberal government made a five year, $5 billion commitment to directly fund cities, including $20 billion for 2010-11, but the government has been silent on whether it intends to make this annual contribution permanent.

Cities can no longer depend solely on property taxes for revenue generation. What they need is a commitment from the federal government. They can no longer be treated as creatures of the province. With their ever increasing range of responsibilities and services, cities require some indication that the federal government is interested in ensuring their success.

Clearly, the Conservatives are ignoring the plight of our Canadian cities and communities. How many desperate calls are going to have to be made from mayors across Canada before the government realizes that cities and communities are the drivers of our economy? When will the government wake up and see the need to deal with cities directly to address these issues?

Perhaps the strongest reason to oppose this budget and its implementation is the crassly political way the Conservative government has favoured one region of Canada over the other. The Prime Minister came to office advocating a new approach to federalism. The numbers speak for themselves. Quebec received a 29% increase, or $698 million in equalization. New Brunswick, my home province, received a mere meanspirited 1.8%. Atlantic Canada received only 4% of all new money spent on equalization. Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia received zero increases in payments.

For a second straight year, ACOA, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, has failed to receive mention in the budget or the Speech from the Throne.

The Prime Minister memorably attributes a culture of defeat to the Maritime region. His budget seems designed to give his claims a ring of truth.

The sad reality is that when we listen to Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert, or Progressive Conservative Atlantic Premier Rodney MacDonald, or Progressive Conservative Premier Danny Williams, we get the message loud and clear: Canadians who need the most support have been left out of this budget.

The Conservative government has simply shown that it does not have the right plan to run the country nor the competence to implement the meanspirited and narrow-minded policy proposals it has put forward. With this budget, the Prime Minister has failed to address the concerns of Canadian industry, sold out investors, picked winners in the equalization sweepstakes, ignored Canadian cities, and punished Canadians who need the most help.

The Liberal Party cannot support the passage—

Infrastructure June 4th, 2007

Mr. Speaker, we just need to ask Canada's kids and communities if they agree.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery. When will the Prime Minister imitate Liberal summer student programs, Liberal housing programs, Liberal transit programs, literacy programs, child care programs, and our plan to make the Liberal gas tax credit transfer permanent?

When will the Prime Minister imitate the Liberal Party's partnership with Canada's cities and communities?

Infrastructure June 4th, 2007

Mr. Speaker, the new deal for cities and communities was a Liberal program. Gas tax sharing was a Liberal program. The GST rebate for cities and infrastructure agreements were Liberal programs.

The Prime Minister continued his well-known Pinocchio rant before the FCM, but he bombed. Canada's mayors know the truth.

Will the Prime Minister admit that he misled Canadians by taking credit for these achievements of the previous Liberal government?

Canadian Forces May 31st, 2007

Mr. Speaker, Mrs. June Dobson of Saint John, like so many other Canadian families, supports our troops by writing to her nephew, Master Corporal Steven Maher, in Afghanistan three times a week, greatly boosting morale.

Bill C-440 would make it free for Canadians to send and receive mail from our troops. All other parties have agreed to fast-track this important bill, except the Conservative Party.

Will the Prime Minister today support the bill, support our troops and their families and tell Mrs. Dobson that she can send her mail to her nephew for free?