Ken Epp

[Budget Implementation Act, 2008, April 9th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, there is only one thing I would like to address, even though there were many issues in the hon. member's speech.

I am greatly surprised with the issue that the NDP brings up over and over. It is its objection to paying down debt. It is my distinct belief that when people borrow money, it is because they do not have enough for what they want to do. I would like to blame the Liberals from the 1970s on. They drove this country into huge debt from which we need to escape.

The reason I think it is strange for the NDP to have this stance is that people who have more money than they need invest it and buy Canada savings bonds. People who are poor cannot. They are the working poor usually. They still pay taxes. We have a transfer of money from the poor to the rich when we have national debt. We need to get rid of that debt in order to stop that transfer. I am surprised that the NDP does not support the paying down of debt.

[Petitions, April 9th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured again to present petitions that support Bill C-484, the unborn victims of crime act, which I have introduced. In this particular case, I am adding just a few short of 1,300 additional names on this petition.

These petitioners are, like the vast majority of Canadians, supportive of legislation that would recognize unborn children as victims when they are injured or killed during the commission of an offence against the mother.

[Petitions, April 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour and the privilege of presenting yet another handful of petitions, this time a little smaller. It is under a thousand names at 738, but they come in every day from people right across the country who recognize the target of Bill C-484, that is, to protect the right of a woman who chooses to have a child to have that right, that choice, and to have the baby protected in law. There is support from Surrey, Terrace and Richmond in British Columbia and from a number of other places in the country.

[Committees of the House, April 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, this will have to be the strangest point of order you will have ever heard in the House. I want to give the member a break because she needs to get a drink of water to clear her throat, so that is why I have this point of order. It should be easy to deal with.

[Committees of the House, April 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the member what her response is to the initiatives taken by the government to finally in history give first nations women the right to own property, the right to have division of property in the case of marital breakdown. Those are initiatives that this government is undertaking. I wonder if she is supportive of that. It seems to me she would be. It is very much commensurate with things that she was talking about in her speech.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2008, April 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am just wondering whether the rules of the House permit an indirect accusation of people not being truthful. The member referred to the heckling on this side of the House when in fact there was none.

[Petitions, April 4th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am very honoured today to present yet another handful of signatures that are in support of Bill C-484, my private member's bill, which would provide for criminal sanctions against someone who would attack a pregnant woman and thereby injure or cause the death of her unborn child. This petition has a total of almost 2,500 signatures.

The petitioners urge that this bill be passed.

That brings a total number of names now presented to 17,547 in the House.

[Petitions, April 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am very honoured today to present yet again over 1,500 names on a petition in support of my Bill C-484. These petitioners, recognizing that when a woman has chosen to have a child, the right and that child should not be taken away by violent means, ask Parliament to enact legislation that would make it a separate offence to cause the injury or death of an unborn child. Today's petition brings the number of petitioners' signatures in support of this bill to over 13,000.

[Business of Supply, April 2nd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the enthusiasm with which the member spoke. He certainly was animated, and he had the attention of the House, which sometimes is a rarity here.

I have a couple of comments. First, would it ever occur to him that perhaps the amount of revenue that is coming from individuals is going up because there are now some 800,000 more jobs? There are that many new people who, instead of being unemployed and collecting unemployment insurance as long as it lasts, now finally under this government have the opportunity to get a job from business that is staying in Canada because it has a more tax-friendly base than other countries that beckon. This is just a reality.

I would also like to point out this fact when he complains about the price of fuel. He is talking about increasing taxes for people who produce fuel. Would it perhaps also occur to him that the price at the pump will increase if those guys have to pay more taxes? This is so elementary that I cannot believe he does not understand it.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, while the member was speaking in French, and I believe eloquently, I thought about our interpreters in this place who make it possible for all of us, regardless of our mother tongue, to participate in Canada's Parliament. Those interpreters listened to what the member was saying and, simultaneously and at the same speed at which the member was speaking, translated it into English so that I could understand what he said. I have great admiration and some envy for people who are fluent in both languages.

I would also like to comment for those in our country who are currently bilingual or unilingual in either language that if they want to maintain their mother tongue, they have to take some measures to do so. I do not know if the Speaker is aware of this, but my first language is neither English nor French. My parents insisted that we learn the German language so we could communicate with our grandparents, who never did learn either English or French even though they came to this country.

What I will tell members here is that when my grandparents passed away we stopped using the language and, because of that, my children and grandchildren now are unilingual English. We lost our mother tongue because there was no extraordinary effort taken to maintain it.

Therefore, I would like to commend all members of the House, including members in our party, even though the Bloc members do not want to recognize or acknowledge it, who take those extraordinary steps to maintain their language. Let us do what we can. At the same time, let us recognize that this government is probably doing more than any government before it in order to extend and maintain the true bilingual nature of this country.

With that, I end my comments. I do not have a question. I just wanted to say that I enjoyed the member's speech, because he is quite obviously fluent in both languages and I express my envy for that.