Bruce Stanton

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, March 11th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I was delighted to hear the hon. member for Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor speak of his support for sealers in Canada. It was a delight to hear, but I wonder if the hon. member has had a conversation in caucus with his colleague from the Senate, who continues to push forward a bill that seems to be in direct contradiction to the admittedly supportive comments of the other side.

The difficulty is that it is creating a different message to people around the world, to the markets that are potentially important to sealers. Would the hon. member tell his colleague in the Senate to call off the dogs?

[Resumption of debate on Address in Reply, March 11th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, at the very least, we hear in the comments of the leader of the New Democratic Party some specific and concrete ideas around the economy, which is something we failed to hear from the official opposition.

Nonetheless, I do have a question and a concern with regard to the ideas around corporate taxes. This is a refrain that we continue to hear from the New Democratic Party. Perhaps the leader of the NDP can comment on the concern I have. At a time in the world when capital is so fluid and when businesses can make decisions as they must, we need a vibrant and competitive economy. We need to attract investment here in Canada. If we simply put off important tax relief for corporations, we would lose jobs. We would see a loss or a vacuum.

Would we not see an evaporation of our corporate tax revenue, not from the tax rate itself, but from the very fact that business investment would be lost?

[Petitions, March 11th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from approximately 70 constituents in my riding. They are seeking through their petition to have our Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan come home as soon as possible and indeed, as they say in the petition, immediately. They cite a number of concerns which I will leave for the government's consideration.

[ELCAN Optical Technologies, December 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the tremendous success of a high-tech manufacturer in Midland, Ontario, in my riding, called ELCAN Optical Technologies.

ELCAN started business in Midland 57 years ago. Its 900-person workforce is growing. It has business partners around the world.

ELCAN tops its field in the production of precision lenses and electronics for the medical, defence and security, manufacturing, commercial, and entertainment industries.

Its precision scopes for military armaments have won acclaim from its customers in the U.K. and the United States. Its partnership with a firm in Austin, Texas is leading the advance of blood analysis technologies to assist in the fight against HIV-AIDS.

From new X-ray technology to night-vision imagery, ELCAN is best in its class. It is putting Midland, Ontario on the world stage.

I congratulate the entire team at ELCAN for its success in a highly competitive global market. It is once more showing how Canadian exporters are competing with the best in the world.

[Petitions, December 3rd, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I wish to table a petition here on behalf of a number of residents in my riding. They are seeking much more fulsome controls in respect to the use of asbestos in materials and products in Canada, and for a program to help the transition of asbestos workers in the communities in which they live.

[November 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments of my colleague opposite. Certainly as one sits and listens and reflects on what he had to say, one realizes that there are different points of view to express on this. However, the fact is that any one of us, and I think the comment was offered earlier this evening, can sit and be a Monday morning quarterback on issues like this. It is easy to look in hindsight to see how one might have done things differently, but one cannot escape the fact that Canada has prepared for this situation. It is far ahead of just about every other jurisdiction in the world and has been complimented for that.

Just yesterday, Dr. Butler-Jones commented on the degree to which Canadians have been vaccinated. It is far above any other country and their response to this.

I appreciate what the member has to say, but would he not believe, when he considers the evidence, the facts and the gains that we have made on this issue, that we are making good progress, and when health officials--

[Justice, October 9th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are fed up with a justice system that puts the rights of criminals ahead of law-abiding citizens.

Too often, the sentences of offenders simply do not correspond to the serious nature of their crimes. That is exactly why our government introduced a bill to end the practice of reducing criminal sentences at a ratio of 2:1 for time served in pretrial custody. The bill has the broad support of victims groups and the law enforcement community.

My question is for the Minister of Justice. Why would Liberal senators gut the bill, despite it being passed unanimously by the House?

[Search and Rescue Helicopter, October 8th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, the member would be familiar with the fact that there are often agreements in place by the service provider, in this case Cougar, to in fact provide search and rescue capacity.

Would her proposal not be in fact replicating what is already on the ground in St. John's?

[Points of Order, October 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to bring to the attention of the House and you that yesterday during question period, the member for Labrador in the course of his question attributed a quote to me which reads as follows: “what is needed is an investigation of the disappearances”.

He was doing so in reference to, presumably, my support for his party and for, as he said earlier in his question, the call by aboriginal leaders for a national investigation into cases of missing aboriginal women.

I would just contend that it may have been an oversight on the part of the hon. member, but in fact the quote that he was referring to was from a previous day, Tuesday of this week, in the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. The reference that I made was certainly to investigations but not to an investigation. I appreciate it is a subtle difference, but in the course of my narrative at the committee, I did go on to clarify that these investigations would be of the sort that law enforcement and provincial and territorial organizations would be undertaking, as they should do, in the course of the investigations that are ongoing in this matter.

We heard today from the minister of state who said very clearly that there is in fact a framework for these kinds of investigations and her department of course is working together with aboriginal leaders and the provincial and territorial organizations to pursue those matters.

Therefore I would say that I hope the record can be corrected accordingly.

[Economic Action Plan, September 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, our government's number one priority is the economy and we continue to execute Canada's economic action plan. Because of our swift actions, 90% of the plan is already being implemented.

Funds have been committed to 7,500 projects and 4,000 have begun in the first six months of our 24-month plan.

Projects across the country are up and running, jobs are being created and communities across the land are seeing the benefit.

We have reduced taxes for families and businesses and implemented measures, such as the home renovation tax credit and the first time homebuyers' tax credit. We are helping the unemployed by extending EI benefits, making it easier to qualify, and expanding EI training programs.

Yet, the recovery is fragile. We are not out of the woods yet and that is why it is crucial that we continue to implement our plan.

This government is committed to staying on course. Doing anything else would be reckless and irresponsible.