Bob Rae

[National Defence, June 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the government House leader announced, in all solemnity, that the Department of Foreign Affairs had conducted a full and open competition with respect to the cost of $20,000 limos in Davos, Switzerland.

If the government can conduct a full and open competition for limousines in Davos, can the government please tell us why it cannot have a full and open competition for a $9 billion purchase of F-35 planes?

[The Budget, June 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the problem is that the government is transferring the costs of the change to the public, the provinces and municipalities, without any consultation.

The Prime Minister of Canada is going to France and Great Britain. He is meeting with European leaders. He is not meeting with the premiers. He is not meeting with the mayors of Canadian municipalities.

What is his problem? Why does he not consult people before taking action and transferring the burden onto them?

[The Budget, June 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if I might draw the attention of the government to Bill C-38, which is in fact the 750-clause piece of legislation that deals with the environment and in one clause changes the entire Environmental Assessment Act; it deals with old age pensions, raising the age of access to old age pensions to 67; it cuts EI dramatically, with details that are still forthcoming, and we still do not know what they all are; and it deals with environment and fisheries.

I would like to ask the government: Does it not see the fairness and the logic of dividing up this bill, of giving this House the opportunity to deal with it, of giving the provinces and the premiers—

[Main Estimates 2012-13, June 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, in my experience as the past chairman of the Forum of Federations, an organization which my dear friend spoke so effectively about tonight, the notion that we simply abolish the Senate, that somehow the House can perform this with some magic formula without understanding that it is fundamentally a constitutional institution, a federal institution, is, as he said very well, pure and simple nonsense. It does not respond to the fact that we have a Constitution and that we have institutions in that Constitution.

Reforming the Senate is not easy. We have tried to do it at different times. We on this side are willing to discuss with anybody what kind of process one would go through to improve the Senate or to make it better.

The member has spoken effectively on behalf of the entire Liberal Party in saying to the minister that he cannot improvise a constitutional change without the full participation of the provinces, without the approval of the Supreme Court of Canada and without understanding what the political consequences of such a change would be.

[Foreign Affairs, June 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, on another subject, the chairman of the Conservative brain trust, the member for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, at an interview that he gave to the Meaford Independent apparently has suggested that it is time for Canada to withdraw from the United Nations.

I would like to ask the government House leader, has it really come to this on that side of the House? Has it really come to the point where the government is seriously contemplating withdrawing from the United Nations? Is that now the international policy of Canada?

[The Economy, June 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the government has increased taxes paid by employers and employees by $1.2 billion. At the same time, it has downloaded costs onto the provinces. The Prime Minister cannot talk about fiscal integration when he is transferring the burden of federal expenses to the provinces without having held a single meeting since the start of his reign as Prime Minister, as if he were Louis XIV.

When will the Prime Minister sit down with the premiers to develop a real Canada-wide program?

[The Economy, June 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has been on a lecture tour in Europe. He has been lecturing the Europeans on fiscal integration. Meanwhile, he runs this federation as if he were Louis XIV.

We have no co-operation on health care, no co-operation on transportation, none on infrastructure, none on housing, none on employment insurance, none even on taxes.

When will the Prime Minister be coming back to Canada to sit down to meet with the premiers for the first time in six years to finally practise what he is preaching over in Europe?

[D-Day, June 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, on the evening of June 5, 1944, the skies over the English Channel in northern France cleared enough to allow General Eisenhower to order the largest flotilla in human history to cross the channel and land on the beaches of Normandy.

They were young, courageous and even fearless. They came from all over. Canadians and the other allies knew that this attack was the only way to liberate Europe. June 6, 1944, is a day that will forever be etched in the memories of all those who know that democracy and freedom sometimes require extraordinary sacrifices.

Onto the beaches they came and through northern France, Belgium and Holland. A generation that fought for Canada fought and, in too many cases, died for freedom and a cause that was truly just. Then they came home and helped to build a country. They have been called our greatest generation. A grateful country pauses each year on this day to remember, to mourn, to celebrate and to remain ever vigilant and mindful of their courage and of their marvellous example.

[Employment, June 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, one can always throw the numbers around, but the key question around it has to do with the manufacturing strategy, the manufacturing unemployment that is facing the country.

The fact is that our main trading partner and our main economic partner, the United States, is putting tens of billions of dollars into a manufacturing strategy and tens of billions of dollars into creating new green jobs. It is putting tens of billions of dollars into ensuring that mandates stay in the United States.

Where is the manufacturing strategy for Canada to ensure that—

[Employment, June 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, that has nothing to do with the main issue: layoffs that are primarily affecting young people and apprentices. That is the real problem we now have in Canada's manufacturing sector as a result of such layoffs. It also brings to mind the inequality crisis and the equality crisis in the real economy.

Where is the government's plan to ensure that there will still be well-paying jobs instead of the layoffs we have been seeing for some time?