Bruce Stanton

[Environmental Enforcement Act, March 25th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to the member's discourse with respect to the critique of what I would think is a rather robust approach our government is taking on the gigantic issue of climate change.

In light of her arguments, are she and her party still intending to use a carbon tax as the approach to try to bring some kind of redress to the situation that Canada faces?

[Committees of the House, March 25th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of presenting, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.

This is in relation to Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Indian Oil and Gas Act.

[Corporate social responsibility and Canadian extractive industry in developing countries, March 9th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, in the very short time remaining I will do my best to build on the comments of my colleague, the member for Niagara West—Glanbrook, as he took the time to comment on this important motion.

First I would like to indicate my thanks for being able to address the House this morning in regard to the issues surrounding corporate responsibility.

I would like to thank the hon. member for Pierrefonds—Dollard for his motion M-283, dated February 3, and to thank his party for its ongoing interest in this major problem.

We are all certainly aware of the importance the mining sector has for Canada and the imprint mining companies can provide in their operations around the world.

Suffice to say, building on the comments of my colleague earlier, there are a number of checks and balances that are in place to ensure that the activities of Canadian companies abroad are measuring up to the kind of standards that are set multilaterally in cooperation with certainly our stakeholders, but with Canadian companies and also the host countries.

We are well aware that it is fundamentally the responsibility of host countries to set the legislative and regulatory framework by which companies must operate, and Canada and Canadian companies, through our coordination and our multilateral partners, can work together with those developing countries to help them build the kind of capacity they need to make those kinds of improvements on the ground.

After all, Canadian companies working abroad are a success story. That is not to say it is perfect and that there is not more work that can be done. However, the progress on this file continues to improve.

We have, as was mentioned earlier, a national contact, a director general now in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, a senior position that is helping to advance these policies with respect to Canadian companies' operations abroad.

So I would seek the indulgence of hon. members to consider this motion as really redundant in the sense that the work is ongoing and we will continue to make the kind of progress that is needed to keep Canada's respect around the world for extractive industries as high as it is currently.

[Indian Oil and Gas Act, February 13th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the hon. member's remarks in regard to the co-operativeness that we see to move this package of amendments forward.

Could he perhaps reflect on the notions that he has heard in regard to these amendments, particularly from first nations communities, and does he believes they will embrace the kind of changes suggested and proposed in the bill?

[Indian Oil and Gas Act, February 13th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is great to hear the parliamentary secretary here today speaking on these important amendments to an act that I am sure will be important for aboriginal peoples and in particular northern communities.

I would like to put a question to the parliamentary secretary, if I may. One of the things I understand is that the amendments will modernize the regime for the management of oil and gas activities, but in the course of that, the government has not done anything to affect its fiduciary responsibilities with first nations or to affect aboriginal or treaty rights.

Could the member expand on that subject for the House?

[Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, February 13th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising today to congratulate the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics on its appointment of nine additional distinguished research chairs.

The new chairs include: Yakir Aharonov of Chapman University; Nima Arkani-Hamed of the Institute for Advanced Study; Neta Bahcall of Princeton University; Juan Ignacio Cirac of the Max Planck Institute; Gia Dvali of CERN and NYU; Subir Sachdev of Harvard University; Ashoke Sen of the Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Leonard Susskind of Stanford University; and Xiao-Gang Wen of MIT. This teams joins Stephen Hawking at the institute.

This government is proud of its commitment to the Perimeter Institute as it continues to strive to be a world-class facility and retain world-class talent.

[The Budget, February 12th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the global economy remains in unprecedented turmoil. Our Conservative government has brought forward a multi-year economic action plan. It is a plan that will create and maintain jobs, help those Canadians hardest hit by the global economic downturn and make key investments to stimulate the economy.

However, for the plan to work, Parliament needs to act and pass the budget implementation bill without delay but the NDP has been trying to stall the bill's progress. Could the Minister of Finance please update the House as to what is at stake if the NDP continues--

[BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION ACT, 2009, February 10th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to an intervention that we heard this afternoon on the pay equity question. Why is it that, even when the committee for the status of women in the 38th Parliament heard from organizations, such as the National Association for Women and the Law, that the current regime of using the Canadian Human Rights Commission was a disservice to women, she wants to keep it status quo and not look at new legislation that will advance pay equity for women?

[The Budget, February 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the hon. member was not really trying to cut into my time, but suffice to say I agree with the comments that have been made. In fact, this budget, this economic action plan, has been embraced by communities right across the country.

There will be those who disagree, and we have some here in the House. This is normal and it is part of the process that we have in making these kinds of decision. We need to listen to that commentary, but ultimately we must move on. We must make decisions that are right for the country and right for Canadians.

[The Budget, February 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, in many ways, I share the same views with my friend from the other side. We have worked together on different committees.

This is a time when I do not think it is at all unusual to say that my constituents share the same views, and why would we not? We worked so hard to get our national debt down. To be faced with the prospect of having to go back into debt and making big interventions like this is a cause for concern. That is why we need to put it in perspective to what that debt represents against Canada's overall capacity. We need to ensure we keep that relationship in check.

However, this is a time when Canada must take the measures necessary to put confidence back in the economy, confidence so consumers will spend, so businesses will invest and so lenders will give back and provide access to capital.