Roy Cullen

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, October 8th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, our study includes lengthy consultations with these partners in law enforcement, including the Sûreté du Québec, both internally and externally.

As with all other programs, the RCMP's requirements in Quebec will continue to be reviewed to ensure that its federal law enforcement mandate can be met.

I know that there are members on this side of the House who have brought this matter forward. It is an operational matter for the RCMP. As I said earlier, it increases the effectiveness and the efficiency of the RCMP in that province.

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, October 8th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, there has been no reduction in strength of the RCMP in that division. Like other organizations, the RCMP regularly examines its programs to ensure the best possible use of its resources.

This is an operational matter for the RCMP. I remind the member opposite that this same review was done in the late 1990s in the province of Ontario.

This is a redeployment. There is no change in the number of RCMP in Quebec. This will make the force more efficient and more effective.

[Nidhan Singh Banwait, October 6th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay respect to a dear friend, the late Nidhan Singh Banwait.

Sadly, on the morning of July 16, 2004, Mr. Banwait was taken from his family and friends when he succumbed to an illness. My condolences and sympathies go out to his wife, Malkiat Kaur and his sons, Kiran Singh Parkash and Kamal Singh Parkhash. All of Etobicoke North feels this loss.

Nidhan Singh Banwait was a selfless person who always put others ahead of himself. In the early 1980s he formed the South Asian Seniors Association. He was that organization's president and guiding light. Nidhan Singh Banwait also served the community as a director of the Ontario Health Coalition, the Ontario Council of Senior Citizens Organizations and Panorama India Canada.

He was the first in his community to receive the Caring Canadian Award from the Governor General of Canada. Nidhan was a leader and a great Canadian who bettered the lives of those around him. He will be truly missed.

[Interparliamentary Delegations, May 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present in both official languages, under Standing Order 34(1), the report of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association delegation to the second part of the 2004 ordinary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, held in Strasbourg, France, from April 26 to 30, 2004.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2004, May 4th, 2004]

Madam Speaker, we have heard the speech of the member for Joliette many times before with some variation, but I find it strangely ironic that a member from a party, whose mission is to separate Quebec from Canada, would stand up to whine and moan about the transfers from the federal government.

What he forgets in his remarks are the huge increases that the government has made to the Canada health and social transfer. In fact, in the health accord 2003 it was $37 billion and that was topped up with another $2 billion. Our Prime Minister has talked about meeting with the premiers this summer to put more money in, but more money with more accountability in a sustainable health care system moving forward.

The member talks about the former system, which was the CAP program and established programs financing. Of course, everybody will acknowledge that the CAP program was an abused program because it was 50¢ dollars for the provinces, so the government moved to the Canada health and social transfer. This system is working quite well.

The member talked about how the officials came to the finance committee on the equalization program and they talked glibly about how they could use property values. In fairness, I think the officials spoke quite clearly about the need to look at not just property values but the mill rate because property values could be going up while the mill rate is going down. Therefore, looking at property values alone as a proxy for revenue generating ability is erroneous, and that is well acknowledged.

He talked about the fact that the CHST does not reflect needs, but reflects per capita transfers. Of course, he conveniently forgets about the fact that equalization is there to help the provinces so they can provide the same level of services. In fact, I find it amazing that this member would stand here when the Province of Quebec, because of the failed economic policies of the Parti Quebecois, is now a have not province. Until recently the Province of Quebec claimed about half of the equalization moneys from the federal government, some $5 billion. I think that has shrunk somewhat in the last couple of years because of certain economic events in the Province of Quebec.

I wonder if the Liberal government in Quebec has helped with the equalization and looked at the economy. I am hoping and I am quite confident that the voters in the upcoming will do the same to the members from the Bloc Quebecois here in the House.

I wonder if the member could perhaps clarify for the House the Bloc's position with respect to CHST and the linkage to equalization. Does he not understand that equalization is meant to compensate for the fact that the CHST is a per capita based transfer and equalization is meant to compensate for that? Could the member elaborate on that for the House?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2004, May 4th, 2004]

Madam Speaker, I listened to the remarks of the member for Edmonton--Strathcona about the budget. I have a couple of comments.

My first comment is with respect to the surpluses that this government was able to accomplish after three years in office and then continuously since. In fact, I think this budget is the seventh consecutive surplus. It seems to me that predicting a surplus and then meeting or beating it is a better policy than setting certain deficit reduction targets or surplus targets, as it was under the previous Conservative government, and never meeting them. That was the case, of course, under the Progressive Conservative Party before we took power in 1993. It set various targets but never met them, whereas our government set targets and met them or beat them. Psychologically that was an important item for Canadians, I think, because part of the challenge was to engage Canadians in the whole fight against the deficit. The Canadian public rallied around that mission and we accomplished it.

The member talked about the lack of investment in infrastructure. While I would agree with him that we need to do more in terms of investing in infrastructure, in the last five years, if I remember correctly, our government has put up something like $12 billion for infrastructure spending. That of course leverages money from the provinces and the municipalities, so I think his facts on that are somewhat erroneous.

With respect to health care and seniors, first of all, our government has been very clear that we are committed to the principles of the Canada Health Act that talk about universal access and accessibility for people at a reasonable cost. Those commitments are very much enshrined in the policy of this government.

I want to ask the member for Edmonton--Strathcona what his view is of the role of private health care in Canada in terms of the national health care system. Before I do that, I should also comment that there were some specific things in this budget for seniors, and especially the huge investments our government has made in health care, such as the Canada health and social transfer of $37 billion. Another $2 billion was announced recently and the $37 billion was from the 2003 health accord. Those investments in our health care system of course are going to be a benefit not only to seniors but to all Canadians.

I share a concern similar to the member's. There are a number of seniors in my riding who are on fixed incomes. Their property taxes are going up and they do struggle. Over time when we have the fiscal capacity I would like to see us do more in terms of the old age pension, but that is a very expensive item to tinker with and we do not have the resources now.

I will come back to my question. What is the member's view of the role of private health care in our health care system in Canada?

[International Aid, April 20th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, today the government tabled its amendments to Bill C-9, the Jean Chrétien pledge to Africa act. This legislation will enable the flow of inexpensive drugs to African countries to combat HIV-AIDS and other life threatening illnesses.

While the original legislation tabled last fall demonstrated Canada's leadership on this issue, it was the first legislation of this kind introduced anywhere in the world. I would like to ask the Prime Minister to describe the key changes that were necessary to improve this critically needed legislation.

[National Defence, April 19th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of National Defence.

I wonder if the minister would describe for the House and for Canadians the significance of the defence announcements that were made last week in New Brunswick and in British Columbia.

[National Volunteer Week, April 19th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, in recognition of National Volunteer Week, I am very pleased to recognize some individuals who have had a very positive influence on my riding of Etobicoke North.

Mary Harker has played an active role in Etobicoke North for over 20 years. She is currently a member of the local Community Police Liaison Committee. She is also a member of the board of directors with the Rexdale Legal Clinic and she is involved with a local elementary school breakfast program.

Walter McIntyre is a local pastor who volunteers whenever needed. He initiated an organization called Hoops Unlimited, a basketball program for the youth of Etobicoke designed to keep them off the streets and away from drugs, gangs and violence.

Osman Ali is the executive director of the Somali-Canadian Association of Etobicoke. He works with his group to make Etobicoke North a better place for all residents.

Nidhan Singh Banwait is the president of the South Asian Seniors Association. He is helping to improve the quality of life for all.

Ernestine Von Marle operates a shelter in Etobicoke North for women who are escaping abusive situations.

I wish to recognize all the volunteers of Etobicoke North and I wish to thank them for their contributions.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2004, April 19th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Windsor West has a number of facts mixed up and confused.

First, with regard to the GST, the government has taken a very broad view of to whom the GST should apply. In the Department of Finance there is a list of 1,000 representations of what should not be subject to the GST. In the first phase, municipalities were subjected to the GST and now they will not be. That is a very positive thing.

For the member to suggest there will be huge amounts of bureaucracy, I guess he is saying that he would do something with the municipalities with the gas tax and would not work with the provinces. Then the provinces would claw it back, just like they did, unfortunately, with the Canada child tax benefit in the province of Ontario. This government has learned from that. With respect to the gas tax, the government will be working with the provinces and finding a way to make sure the money actually gets to the municipalities, such as the announcements we have made over the years on infrastructure which the member conveniently forgot about.

In the last five years there has been some $9 billion of federal money for municipal and provincial infrastructure. As the member well knows, some of that was announced quite recently with respect to Windsor and the border and the infrastructure. If he missed that press release, I would be happy to send it over to him. If he studies it carefully he will see that our government, working with the province and the city of Windsor, will streamline the infrastructure to ensure that the traffic moves back and forth across the border. I think the member is a little devoid on the facts on that one.