House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2019, with 8% of the vote.
Foreign Investment October 19th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, giving away control of our key strategic resources to foreign state-controlled multinationals is reckless. Oil and gas and other Canadian energy resources should be controlled by Canada and Canadian companies. Communist China must not be allowed to control Canadian oil production.
Malaysia has one of the worst environmental records worldwide. Will the minister say no today to the Petronas natural gas bid and stand up for Canadian energy security?
Foreign Takeovers October 18th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his comments but a lot of questions about the government's position on this takeover still remain.
Will there be reciprocity? Will Canadian resource companies be able to buy Chinese ones or will they stay shut out?
Then there is Iran. In 2008 CNOOC signed a $16 billion investment deal with Iran. CNOOC's extensive business there becomes very relevant now that the government has just suspended diplomatic ties, a bold move. This follows the trade sanctions that the government has also imposed against Iran.
If companies operating in Canada must abide by Canadian law, including trade restrictions on them from these sanctions, will a CNOOC-owned Nexen be exempt?
Can the member explain the Canada-China foreign investment protection agreement, which apparently grants more investor-state protections to foreign companies operating in Canada than Canadian companies currently have. This includes the ability to sue the Canadian government if it introduces new safety, health, labour or environment laws that threaten the Chinese company's profits.
Foreign Takeovers October 18th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to follow up a question that I asked during question period a few days ago about the government's foreign takeover policy. This is especially timely now because the Conservative members of the House, less than a fortnight ago, voted down an opposition motion that would have made the review process for foreign takeovers more transparent. They voted against the motion to hold public hearings on the proposed $15 billion takeover of Nexen by the Communist Chinese state-owned China National Offshore Oil Company. They voted against all of this barely two years after the same Conservative members voted unanimously in favour of a similar motion introduced in this House by Jack Layton, which called for those same public hearings and transparency on foreign takeovers.
I asked the members on the other side of the House what had changed in the last two years. In just a couple of years the Prime Minister has shifted from accusing China of industrial espionage and a deplorable human rights records. In fact, he refused to attend the Beijing Olympics as a result. Now he is trying to bulldoze northern British Columbia's pristine forests so that we can ship raw, unprocessed bitumen by tankers to Communist China as fast as possible.
As I mentioned earlier in the chamber, this fire sale of western Canadian national resources comes at a time when eastern Canadians, like my constituents, are importing much more expensive foreign oil to heat their homes and put gas in their tanks. Mark Carney has been raising this issue repeatedly, asking why we sell low in the west and buy high in the east. Instead of shipping raw resources abroad, having a pipeline from western Canada to eastern Canada would help stem the loss of $19 billion a year from the Canadian economy. Will this strategic interest be helped in any way by selling Nexen to China's CNOOC?
There is even an existing natural gas pipeline route from west to east, going through Thunder Bay—Superior North. There is no reason that we could not lay another pipeline along the same route to bring petroleum and value added processing jobs, perhaps to a Thunder Bay refinery, for example.
Even the former Bank of Canada governor, David Dodge, is calling on Ottawa to prioritize a west to east oil pipeline to mitigate Canada's growing energy fuelled economic imbalance.
Most Canadians would likely think that our own energy security interests would be part of any foreign takeover review, but they would be wrong. The net benefit criteria in the Investment Canada Act are so fuzzy that national security is not even defined in it, and energy security is not mentioned at all.
The industry minister's answer to my question can basically be summed up with two words: “Trust us”. How can Canadians trust an opaque backroom review process based on criteria that are poorly defined, or where key considerations like our energy security are missing altogether? How can Canadians trust a government that seems to make energy policy decisions more on the basis of political ideology than practical strategic interests?
Instead of hiding behind the Investment Canada Act, which even the government has admitted needs updating, I am hoping to hear tonight and henceforth more substantial answers.
Business of Supply October 18th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, as if it were a cure-all for this problem, it was announced yesterday that JBS, a Brazil-based company, would be buying XL. However, JBS has many safety and trade practice violations in the United States, such as a massive beef recall for E. coli, violations of workers' hours of service, U.S. immigration raids for exploitation of foreign workers and forgery of meat quality data. Is that not a nice list?
Many Canadians have been worried about proposed foreign takeovers, such as Nexen or Petronas, of key strategic energy resources. Food is also a key strategic resource and it is not even mentioned in the Investment Canada Act.
Many Canadians have been worried about those takeovers. My question for the member and for the members on the government side is this. Will the government be reviewing this foreign takeover and will that review include food safety considerations?
Criminal Code October 17th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I am voting no.
Petitions October 17th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the second petition that I am presenting today is on behalf of the residents of Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Stoney Creek and Mobert in support of bringing back passenger rail service to the spectacular north shore of Lake Superior.
The petitioners are asking parliamentarians to support my Motion No. 291 to return passenger rail from Sudbury through White River, Thunder Bay and on to Winnipeg and beyond.
Petitions October 17th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I rise today with two petitions.
The first is a petition from the residents of Thunder Bay and Neebing in northwestern Ontario, as well as people from across Canada who are among the tens of thousands concerned about the closing of the Experimental Lakes Area. They are concerned that in the omnibus 2012 budget the government made a decision to close the ELA, one of the world's leading freshwater research stations, depriving Canadians of the groundbreaking scientific advancements it provided and economic benefit to northwestern Ontario.
Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act October 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I will be voting yes.
Business of Supply October 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, this motion is a good one and I certainly intend to support it.
Last spring, with the amendments to Bill C-38, we had almost 24 hours of nonstop voting. All of the Conservatives voted repeatedly and recklessly against amendments that few of them had ever read. However, is this not the tip of an even bigger iceberg?
How can this House and the Liberals help to revamp our electoral and parliamentary rules so that MPs work for their constituents and Canada rather than being whipped into mindless lockstep by their parties?
Petitions October 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of the residents of Thunder Bay, Pass Lake and the Lake Superior north shore who support bringing back passenger rail. They are asking parliamentarians to support my Motion No. 291 to return passenger rail from Sudbury to Thunder Bay, Winnipeg and beyond.