Anthony Rota

[Watch Me Grow in Style, June 9th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, on November 29, 2014, Tammy Penner, the owner of Watch Me Grow in Style, suffered a major loss after the building that housed her small business burned to the ground in downtown New Liskeard. She lost everything. However, in the face of adversity, Tammy forged ahead and was determined to rebuild. I am pleased to inform this House today, Watch Me Grow in Style celebrates its grand reopening in its new location at 27 Armstrong Street South in New Liskeard.

Tammy's strength and perseverance in the face of adversity is a true testament of her northern Ontario spirit of resiliency. Please join me in congratulating Tammy on the grand reopening of Watch Me Grow in Style.

[Sports, May 4th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, May 7, the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame will honour individuals whose work with sports resulted in a climate that benefited athletes and athletics. This year, the George Martyn award for dedication to basketball as a player, coach, and executive will be awarded to Chantal Piche Rota.

While teaching for over 30 years at École secondaire catholique Algonquin, Chantal dedicated herself to coaching a variety of sports such as badminton, track and field, soccer, and volleyball, most in the same year. However, the clear favourite for her and her real passion was basketball. She served as a mentor, a friend, and often mother figure to her players, guiding them through life both on and off the court.

Championship wins were great, but the highlight of her career was coaching our daughter Samantha. After 36 years together, I continue to be extremely proud and thankful that she is part of my life. Congratulations Chantal.

[Government Accountability, March 25th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, this government no longer has the confidence of the official opposition. The Conservatives have broken the fundamental rules of democracy and can no longer remain in power. This Parliament does not give blank cheques and we, as elected representatives, have the right to know how the government plans to spend taxpayers' money.

For four months, this House and the Canadian people were stonewalled by the government, when we demanded to know how much Canadian taxpayers were being asked to pay for fighter jets, for prisons and for corporate tax breaks.

The Prime Minister will go down in the history books as the head of the only government that was found in contempt by the House of Commons for concealing the information MPs needed to hold the government accountable to the people of Canada.

After five years of Conservative government, it is time to say enough is enough. Enough politics of fear. Enough politics of division. Enough politics of personal destruction. Enough abuse of power.

[Business of Supply, March 8th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague. Her speech was excellent and comprehensive. I have a question for her. Normally, when someone is innocent and is accused of something, he wants to know what he is accused of and then wonders what the problem is. But when the Conservatives were accused, they did not wonder what the problem was. The RCMP had to be sent into their offices to find the problem.

This is not about the legislation or Elections Canada. What does everything going on today tell us about the character of the Conservative Party?

[International Co-operation, March 4th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, either the Prime Minister can be taken at his word or he is just paying lip service. He has publicly instructed his ministers to give truthful and precise answers to the questions they are asked. Let us try again.

Who told the minister to cut the funding and who inserted the word “not” in the falsified documents? Is that so hard?

[International Co-operation, March 4th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the CIDA minister's refusal to answer basic questions about her contempt for this place goes beyond just the cuts to KAIROS. It strikes at the heart of what the Prime Minister once claimed to promote. In an edict to ministers, he said that they must:

—answer honestly and accurately about their areas of responsibility.

So, who told the minister to cut KAIROS funding and why has she continued to mislead this House over these past months?

[Petitions, February 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the fourth petition calls upon the Minister of Public Safety to approve Marc Emery's transfer from an American prison once that transfer request is received.

I am proud to table these petitions on behalf of the engaged and interested citizens of Nipissing—Timiskaming.

[Petitions, February 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present four petitions signed by my constituents in Nipissing—Timiskaming.

The first three encourage the government to review the current legislation surrounding the sexual exploitation of children over the Internet.

[Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Region of Northern Ontario Act, February 16th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, I would also like to thank the hon. member for Chicoutimi—Le Fjord and the hon. member for Nickel Belt.

I would also like to thank the hon. member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, who is an outstanding MP. He has been an outstanding seat mate over the years. He understands what regional economic development means to all areas. Coming from eastern Canada, the Maritimes, he understands what an agency really does for that area.

I listened to what the member for Kenora had to say. He defined FedNor as what it should be and what he thinks it does. I have some emails and there is a big problem with FedNor now. I am not saying it is bad or horrible. It is doing good things. It goes through the Minister of Industry's office and sits on his desk. The Minister of Industry is a very busy man. I am not taking that away from him. He allots certain amounts of time to issues and northern Ontario is not his priority. That is the problem.

If FedNor had its own minister, it would not be a problem. The minister would take care of things. He would be the minister of state for FedNor. That is what we are asking for. It would not sit as a minor portfolio or file on the corner of the minister's desk.

The other thing the member for Kenora talked about was a paternalistic approach. Of the two members for Parry Sound—Muskoka and Kenora, one is from Toronto and the other one is from Paris, Ontario through Winnipeg. Talk about a colonial outlook. What do we have to do? Are we serfs in northern Ontario? Do we go to whoever the landlord sends out and bow to the lords who are there and beg? Those days are over. They are finished. We do not need someone from outside of northern Ontario telling us what we need. That is the paternalistic outlook that the Conservative government takes.

It is worth noting that the Senate committee on agriculture and forestry considered whether FedNor should be a separate agency during a study on rural poverty between 2006 and 2008. In the committee's final report, Scott Merrifield, FedNor's director of policy, planning and coordination, said that FedNor differs little from the regional development agencies, except for its bureaucratic status. He went on to say:

Functionally, we do pretty much the same thing as the regional agencies; but structurally, we do not have our own legislation like the other agencies do. They would have the status of separate departments, whereas we are within Industry Canada. However, we are functionally similar and do the same kind of work; our approaches are similar, but still respecting the differences of the regions.

Historically, the Prime Minister has been against regional economic development. During the 2006 election campaign, the Prime Minister repeatedly promised that he would not make cuts to regional development funding. In fact, when the Liberals predicted that FedNor would be in serious jeopardy under the Conservatives, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Industry dismissed these comments as nothing more than fearmongering.

This is not fearmongering. This is just part of the long-term plan for the Conservative government. It does not believe in economic development and FedNor is not being converted to an agency because it will be easier for the government to get rid of it down the road. I urge all members to vote in favour of this important bill.

[Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Region of Northern Ontario Act, February 16th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, in spite of some of the comments she made, I want to thank the member for her support.

A fear that we do have is that if the bill does make it to the Senate, and there is no guarantee that it will because we have a Conservative government that does not want to see fairness for northern Ontario, I do not know what direction the Prime Minister will give the Senate. We know that the senators basically do what the Prime Minister tells them to do.

It is an unelected Senate, not what the Conservatives had promised, and the senators take their orders from the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister's Office.