House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2006, with 43% of the vote.
Automobile Industry November 21st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member might want to explain to Buzz Hargrove, the head of the Canadian Auto Workers Union, why his party will take this Parliament to an election at a time when we are making major investments for the betterment of Canadian auto workers.
The hon. member and his party ought to explain that because they have a lot of explaining to do.
Automobile Industry November 21st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member might ask himself why he and his party are so anxious to go to an election two weeks from the time when I told the hon. member that I was going to cabinet with an automotive strategy.
I will say that we have invested over $400 million in the automotive sector and levered over $5 billion of investment. Just this afternoon, DaimlerChrysler will be announcing another investment of over $800 million and the Government of Canada will be investing $46 million.
Automobile Industry November 21st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I am puzzled as to why the member would even ask the question. If we make a deal, we keep a deal. If GM makes a deal, we keep a deal. We are committed to GM.
I have spoken to the CEO of General Motors Canada and I have spoken to Buzz Hargrove, the head of the CAW. We are working together. We are committed. The automotive industry in Canada is going to become stronger.
Those people over there are the ones who refer to it as corporate welfare.
Automobile Industry November 21st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, for the information of the hon. member, Canada has actually gained something like 22,000 jobs in the last decade in the North American automotive sector. The American economy has lost 60,000 jobs. This government has invested over $400 million in the automotive assembly industry, and that has levered over $5 billion of private investment here in Canada, creating jobs here in Canada, and there will be more to come.
Automobile Industry November 21st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the Beacon project was in fact a fundamentally important investment made by the government. This is why the GM complex in Oshawa will continue to receive massive investments of over $400 million.
GM announced just last week that it was putting investments in Oshawa of more than $400 million in addition to the Beacon project. The Beacon project is a fundamental reason why there will not be any pink slips given out by General Motors in Canada.
Terasen Inc. November 17th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, this investment was reviewed under the Investment Canada Act. I was personally recused from that decision because I had sat on the board of Terasen in my previous corporate life.
We have extracted and put in place undertakings to ensure that Canadian jobs are protected, that environmental management is strong, that the community focus of the corporation continues to be strong and that it continues to have major operations in British Columbia. It is going to be making multiples of billions of dollars of investments in Canada for the benefit of Canadians.
Question No. 192 November 4th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the government has been asked whether it will not be seeking an amendment to Bill C-60, an act to amend the Copyright Act, that would ensure that teachers, researchers and students at educational institutions continue to have access to publicly available material online. The government will not do so as nothing in Bill C-60 changes the existing copyright treatment of this access. That being said, the government does recognize that it is an issue.
For this reason, on March 24, 2005, when the government announced in its statement on proposals for copyright reform that it would be tabling a bill to address certain priority copyright issues related to the Internet, it also indicated at the same time that the issue of the educational use of publicly available Internet material requires further public input and consideration such that it would not be addressed in the bill, but that a consultation paper would be released as soon as possible after introducing the bill.
Bill C-60, an act to amend the Copyright Act was introduced into Parliament on June 20, 2005.
The government held a consultation meeting with stakeholders in December of 2002 to discuss the educational use of Internet material and its impact on copyright. Subsequent to that meeting, in an effort to explore possible options, the government established a working group consisting of representatives of the educational and rights holder communities. The group held several meetings in 2003 and issued a report in December of 2003 outlining its conclusions and areas of common understanding regarding educational use of Internet copyright material. However, representatives from the educational sector and rights holder groups were unable to come to an agreement regarding several key issues such as how best to approach the issue of educational use (i.e., whether through an exception to copyright or through licensing arrangements), the uses to be allowed, and how the material should be identified as “publicly available”.
Technology Partnerships Canada November 1st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, as I have explained, I do not know how many times to the hon. member, the government's agreement was with Bioniche. We recovered all the money that was improperly paid in contingency fees. Bioniche can deal with Mr. Dingwall.
We have recovered the money and we continue to ensure that the program drives innovation and competitiveness and gets the Canadian economy on the platform it needs to be on, going forward.
Technology Partnerships Canada October 31st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I will of course respond to the letter I received from the industry committee. We will do that as quickly as we can.
Mr. Dingwall is not a company in receipt of a TPC contribution. We are dealing with the companies with which we have contracts. We are investigating them. We will continue to investigate them. We will continue to ensure that taxpayers' money is fully recovered. We will release information as we are legally able to do so and when we have information to release.
Technology Partnerships Canada October 31st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the TPC audit has been going on for some months. It will go on for a number of months yet to come.
These are very complex audits. Each audit involves an extensive amount of research into the paperwork and the files of individual companies.
Bioniche was dealt with by the government. We recovered all of the taxpayers' money. We will continue with our audits. We will continue to recover money. We will release the results when we are able to by law and when the work is done.