Blaine Calkins

[Government Spending, September 22nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister owes Canadians and this House some straight answers. He needs to answer for his lack of judgment. The Prime Minister gave over $200,000 in moving expenses to his BFFs. People in Alberta are losing their jobs and homes, yet the Prime Minister gave six-figure relocation payouts to his buddies. Can the Prime Minister stand in his place and justify to struggling Albertans why he thinks his friends deserve these absolutely egregious payouts?

[Government Expenditures, September 21st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister personally approved over $126,000 in moving expenses for one senior aid in the PMO. I am not sure what one can move for $126,000, but I imagine that it is very fragile.

People in Alberta are struggling and losing their homes, savings, and livelihoods, but the Prime Minister is more concerned with making sure that his friends are compensated. How can the Prime Minister justify to struggling Albertans this absolutely ridiculous waste of money?

[Government Expenditures, September 21st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister personally signed off on $220,000 in moving expenses for his own political staff. The chief responsibility of the Prime Minister is to be honest and forthright with Canadians in the House. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about these expenses. They are wrong.

Will the Prime Minister be honest with Canadians and rise today, and tell us which of his friends received these outrageous payouts?

[Retirement Congratulations, September 21st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as members of Parliament, we are afforded many challenges and opportunities in our daily lives. To help us with these challenges, we are blessed to be able to have staff to help us along the way. I am rising today to pay tribute to one of my staff.

Christine Riske has been in my employment since my first election on January 23, 2006, and before that worked for Dale Johnston, the previous MP, for six years. Christine is retiring at the end of this month, after 17 years of loyal service to the people of central Alberta.

Christine hails from an era where people came to work no matter what. Today, I would like to thank Christine, who is in Ottawa with her husband Duane. I would like to thank her for making sure the office was always open, rain, shine, or blizzard. I would like to thank her for taking call after call from constituents who needed assistance, many of them desperate and at their wit's end. I would like to thank her for making sure the office was fully supplied, that deadlines were always met, that invoices were always paid, and that important tasks were always done. I would like to thank her for her patience, her understanding, her wisdom, and her guidance. I would like to thank her for her friendship. She will be missed.

I wish Christine and Duane good health and a long, fun, and wonderful retirement.

[Government Expenditures, September 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I wish her luck explaining the next several years of this.

The Liberals' sense of entitlement is never ending. The Minister of Foreign Affairs approved $146,000 to relocate nine political staff. The Prime Minister gave a whopping $220,000 to five political staff, one of whom was handed $126,000 alone. These costs are at the discretion of the ministers and the Prime Minister.

At a time when Alberta families are losing their homes, how can the Prime Minister justify these ridiculous expenses?

[Government Expenditures, September 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we found out that the Liberals decided they were entitled to line their own pockets with so-called moving expenses for their own political staff. For instance, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change gave more than $20,000 to one of her Liberal staffers for the move, but documents reveal that money was not for movers or hotels at all.

If the total cost paid for services was over $20,000, but there were no costs associated with the actual move, exactly where did the taxpayers' money go?

[Food and Drugs Act, September 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it is great to be back in the House. I hope you had a great summer and hope all my colleagues in Ottawa did as well.

As an Albertan, I have heard loud and clear the fact that through our trade agreements Albertans are having trouble right now. We have 10% unemployment in central Alberta and Red Deer. People are hurting. People are suffering. People are walking away from their homes. The Liberals have a tremendous opportunity and the opportunity does not cost the government anything. It is just a matter of making a decision in this place that we are going to do some nation-building and build some pipelines. Whether I talk to ambassadors, to consul generals, or trade commissioners from other countries, the question I always get, and also from a Japanese friendship society event in my riding just a couple of days ago, is when we are going to build a pipeline. That is because in Japan they are paying $14 a gigajoule for LNG and we have it at $3 a gigajoule in Canada. We should be into that marketplace.

I wonder if my colleague from beautiful British Columbia wants to comment about the similar types of problems they are having there.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 19th, 2016]

With regard to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities and the decision to renovate and refurnish his office: (a) was the contract for renovations, including flooring and painting, for the Minister and the Deputy Ministers offices, as well as for all staff, openly tendered and, if so, on what date was (i) the tender first posted, (ii) the winner selected, (iii) the work begun; (b) was the contract for a furniture supplier openly tendered and, if so, on what date was (i) the tender first posted, (ii) the winner selected, (iii) the work begun; and (c) what were the total number and the names of all bidders for both renovations and furniture?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 19th, 2016]

With regard to the Government House Leaders' comments on May 12, 2016, concerning agreements signed during the Washington visit to attend a State dinner with President Obama: (a) how many agreements were signed; (b) when will the agreements be tabled in the House; and (c) what departments signed agreements in Washington?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 19th, 2016]

With regard to the Minister of International Trade’s trip to Washington to attend a State dinner with President Obama: (a)what is the total cost incurred by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development for all persons, staff included, who attended the trip; (b) who was part of the trip and what are the positions and levels of all staff that traveled to Washington employed by the Department; (c) what was the cost of all accommodation, as well as the names of hotels and the per diem included for those attending; (d) what is the total amount of any outstanding claims; (e) what is the total number of outstanding claims; and (f) what are the positions and levels of those people who have outstanding claims?