House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2000, with 37% of the vote.
Canada Transportation Act May 15th, 2000
Madam Speaker, I rise on the same point of order. I was the one who went around to all transportation critics and we did come up with the understanding that there would be one member from each party represented in the House speaking to the bill today.
I apologize if the message did not get to you, Madam Speaker, in particular. I thought that message would be passed on.
Canada Transportation Act May 15th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the member for Churchill has made a very thought provoking presentation. There is no doubt that we could continue for a very lengthy period of time helping her to have a better understanding of many of the issues she presented.
For the clarification of the listening public, there are a lot of problems that we have to deal with in this transition period. We have a major airline dealing with over 2,000 flights per day. Naturally, it will meet and have to deal with a great number of problems.
The latest news is that there was a 30% jump in the number of people travelling by air in the month of April. That kind of sudden increase or surge in the number of passengers normally happens in June, which is another problem that this new dominant carrier has to deal with.
It is really puzzling. We have a representative in the House of Commons who strongly believes in supporting the labour factor in our country. The government, with its agencies, did everything in its power and did the right things to save 16,000 jobs at one of the major carriers, but not once has a word been mentioned about the salvation of those jobs by the measures which this government implemented.
Airline Industry May 10th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the aviation industry is fairly healthy in Canada. We are very optimistic regarding the future development of competitive patterns. Competition is taking place. As foreign avenues open up, competition will increase. There is no doubt about it.
When it comes to foreign ownership, Canadians from coast to coast have told us time and again that it has to be a Canadian operation, a Canadian company, owned by Canadians and controlled by Canadians.
Airline Industry May 10th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, there are a multitude of agencies, associations and legal bodies that are involved in the aviation industry in this country. Each and every one acts as a watchman regarding the kind of service that the aviation industry provides.
The bill which will come before the House in the immediate future will guarantee that we have in place a system that will provide for each and every complainant an avenue of access to have their problems solved.
Via Rail April 13th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the proposal was made yesterday. It is very clear regarding commercialization aspects of the entire program. We will have to be patient and wait to see what commercialized ventures come forth for consideration by all parties concerned.
Via Rail April 13th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the announcement made yesterday by the Minister of Transport on behalf of this government was a giant step forward in providing a viable and affordable railway passenger system for the people of this country.
The corporate plan presented by VIA will be carefully examined by the governor in council, in other words, by the cabinet, for its approval.
Blood Supply April 7th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, a blood safety day has been declared this year by the World Health Organization, commonly known as WHO, as the focus for World Health Day on April 7, WHO's birthday.
Canada has a highly regulated blood system which meets and often exceeds international standards for blood safety. During the past several years Canada has implemented a number of new safety initiatives, including leukoreduction, nucleic acid testing and deferral of donors based on theoretical varian Creutzfeld-Jacob disease risk. Canada is a world leader in implementing these safety initiatives.
In addition to regulation, Health Canada provides ongoing surveillance for blood borne pathogens and other transfusion related adverse events.
Lastly the National Blood Safety Council has been appointed by the Minister of Health to provide public oversight of all elements of the blood system.
Health Canada avails itself of scientists, physicians, analysts and decision makers with expertise in processing bad blood borne pathogens. The therapeutic products program, Health Canada's regulator, also maintains a standing export advisory committee on blood regulations—
Transportation March 24th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, we can truly appreciate the kind of environment in which these individuals are working when the toilets are being flushed along the tracks. There is no doubt about it; it is a stinky situation.
However, I point out that we have a policy that any new passenger car providing railway service must have containers. Any passenger car today that is being renovated must also have the new container system, and we are hoping that the old cars will be renovated in a very short period of time.
Supply March 22nd, 2000
Madam Speaker, I would like to point out to the hon. member that the highway system in his province is within the jurisdiction of the provincial government. The hon. member is quite aware of that fact.
The provinces are all operating at their own pace, within their own guidelines and their own agendas. We have now, for the first time, brought together all partners. Some we had to drag to the table. Pressure from a great number of ministers brought all of the premiers and the ministers of transportation together to start working on a national highway policy.
As a 50-50 partner, we are hoping to be able to come forth with a very substantial, sustainable, effective and not too costly—although it is costly—infrastructure system for transportation, especially for highways.
Supply March 22nd, 2000
Madam Speaker, it is interesting to listen to opposition members tonight and hear presentation after presentation regarding their Christmas wish list, not taking into consideration where this country was a very, very short time ago, when we were heavily in debt and the economy was in a mess. We came from the status of a third world country to the wonderful position we are in at the present time.
Yes, we do have a surplus, but we have hundreds and hundreds of organizations, groups and lobbyists and a great number of other needs which have been identified for that money.
Yes, there are a great number of problems in the transportation system because of management processes, the way in which policies have evolved and what has happened in the past 50, 60, 70, 80, 100 years. There is no doubt about it. However, this is the first time in the history of this country that we have had such an open, transparent process in getting lobbyists and all other partners involved; anyone, we might say, who is a partner in the process. Anyone who has some concern related to any aspect of transportation is able to contribute in some way toward the development of a transportation policy.
It is essential that the country continue on this path to develop the vision which the hon. member says we lack. However, we are not dictators. A dictator could come up very, very quickly with a vision; in fact in five minutes. A very true democratic process takes a very long time because we have to get the people of the country involved in identifying the problems, the process for solving the problems and so forth, and not the kind of declarations that we are hearing from a representative of a previous government which helped to create the horrible mess this government inherited.