Adam Vaughan

[Petitions, April 20th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition to the House of Commons demanding respect for the right of small-scale family farmers to preserve, exchange and use seeds.

The petitioners ask the House to adopt international aid policies that support small family farmers, especially women, and recognize their vital role in the struggle against hunger and poverty. They also ask the House to ensure that Canadian policies and programs are developed in consultation with small family farmers and that they protect the rights of small family farmers in the global south to preserve, use and freely exchange seeds.

[Business of Supply, April 20th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the House has just heard that we have a world-class response system but we should be working together to create a world-class response system. Either we have one or we do not.

The reality facing cities in this situation is very similar to the rail accidents we are seeing across the country. Cities are not notified. In particular, in Vancouver, cities were not notified. Public beaches were kept open even though toxic substances were washing up on the soil. School children were playing in it and there was no notification because cities were not included in the process.

We have also heard, and this is very concerning, that everything happened within an hour, yet there were private yacht owners reporting the spill, and nothing happened for up to five hours. There was an absence of a proactive approach to safety, one the Conservatives seem to embrace when it comes to terrorism but they walk away from when it comes to public safety in every other aspect in the country. Why is the government so resistant to proactive environmental processes that protect Canadians?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, April 2nd, 2015]

With respect to the Advisory Committee on Vice-Regal Appointments: (a) how many people are employed by the committee; (b) what expenses have been incurred by the committee since its creation; and (c) what expenses have been incurred by individual members of the committee since its creation, broken down by (i) member, (ii) year, (iii) type of expense?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, April 2nd, 2015]

With respect to employment at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA): (a) how many positions at CRA have been cut as part of the government’s plan to eliminate 19 200 jobs from the federal public service as of 2015, broken down by (i) number of actual positions cut, (ii) number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions cut, (iii) divisions where these cuts have been made, including the total number of positions and FTEs cut from each division, (iv) locations of these cuts across the country; (b) are 3 008 FTE positions still the estimated number of cuts to be made at CRA as part of the plan referred to in (a); (c) in which divisions are the 3 008 FTE positions, or revised target number, anticipated to take place; (d) are any auditors in the Aggressive International Tax Planning (AITP) division to be cut as part of the estimate in (b); (e) how many auditor positions at CRA have been cut as of January 31, 2015; (f) how many auditor positions have been cut from the AITP division as of January 31, 2015; (g) how many auditors were working in AITP before cutbacks, if any, took place; (h) how many auditors are currently working in AITP; and (i) how many auditors were working in AITP, broken down by fiscal year, for each of the past five years, including the current fiscal year?

[Housing, April 2nd, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the government has just renewed an anemic housing agreement with the Province of Ontario. The province said thanks because it has good manners, not because it is a good policy.

In Toronto, this policy means that only 60 new units of apartments will be built in the next year, even though there is a waiting list in the city of 92,000 people waiting for housing. The mayor of Toronto said this week that he needs more help, not the status quo. In fact, the city is now losing almost 250 units of housing a year while it waits for the federal government to act.

The question is this. Why is the Minister of Finance going to Toronto and speaking at a private club, making one of his colleagues rich, instead of being in the House, providing housing money, and helping people in need?

[Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act, April 2nd, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the reciting of the safety that was achieved with sensible firearms control. In particular, you listed the impact it had on reducing domestic incidents of violence and homicide.

Do you have similar information about the reduction of suicides?

[Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act, April 1st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the member.

The party opposite wanted a conversation about a regulation that raises concerns. The regulation concerned is about police officers and chief firearms officers as the experts who will decide which guns are safe and which guns are not safe, and about displacing them and putting a political person in charge.

This is the same party that said that your party, the official opposition, denigrated police forces when it said their expertise could not be trusted. This is the same party that has said that, when it comes to police officers, they are the highest authority when it comes to public safety.

What are your concerns about giving a political minister the right to legalize a weapon, instead of giving the police departments and the firearms officers in the provinces the right to make that determination?

[Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act, April 1st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I noted with interest that this bill started out as the common sense firearms act, and now the name has been changed. I am just curious as to whether common sense has been thrown out the window with it.

I have another question for the minister. With a world view that sees terrorists around every corner, how are Canadians made more safe by making automatic and semi-automatic weapons easier to get? How are Canadians made safe by making even hunting rifles, as well as other firearms, easier to transport around this country? How does the minister respond to the fact that the rifle used in the attack on Parliament Hill was at one point a legally owned gun that got into the hands of a terrorist?

Why would the minister take steps to make guns easier to get, if that is the public safety threat he is trying to address in front of the House?

[Infrastructure, March 31st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Minister of Finance to present a budget, but if it is like the last one, maybe I do not want to hear the budget.

Only two years ago, bridges and transit had a $2.4 billion annual investment by the federal government, which has now shrunk to just over $200 million. The mayor of Vancouver has confirmed that his city received zero dollars from the new building Canada fund. It is unbelievable. The impact of this is absolutely obvious. Vancouver now has the worst gridlock in Canada, a direct result of the current government's indifference. It is costing $1 billion a year.

When will the Conservative government fund infrastructure? Where is the budget?

[Military Contribution Against ISIL, March 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the member opposite define the military scope of this mission in very defined and stark geographic terms, but fighting terrorism is fighting an idea. It is fighting a mindset. No sooner do we bomb one part of the world than the very same idea pops up in another part of the world. In fact, we are seeing this with ISIL and ISIS right now. It claims to have on-the-ground representation in a half dozen countries in the region and across North Africa. In fact, we have seen people take arms up in this country.

If it is an idea we are fighting, how do we bomb an idea out of existence?