House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 35% of the vote.
Business of Supply May 13th, 2015
Mr. Chair, in James Bay, in Attawapiskat, the per capita student funding is $8,000. The minister might want to write that down. If that child transfers to the provincial system, the federal government will pay $16,000. That means that the children in Attawapiskat are getting 50% less than children who are being transferred into the provincial system.
Will the minister tell me how much of the first nations education funding is being cut this year in the main estimates?
Business of Supply May 13th, 2015
Mr. Chair, I appreciate that he is going to pass that on. Would he be able to tell me, then, if a child transfers from a community like Attawapiskat to the provincial school board, what the federal government will pay to the provincial school board? These are agreements in place that Aboriginal Affairs has to deal with.
What would be the amount that is transferred from a community in an Ontario region to a provincial school board?
Business of Supply May 13th, 2015
Mr. Chair, I am sorry, I think the minister misunderstood the question. I was asking about the per capita student funding. Each child carries a per capita. That is how the minister funds education. I am sure he knows that, so he should be able to give me the number.
What is the per capita funding per student in an aboriginal school on reserve in Ontario?
Business of Supply May 13th, 2015
Mr. Chair, I will now turn to the issue of education. I will focus mostly on the Ontario region, so we are not jumping around.
Will the minister tell the House what the per student funding is in the Ontario region that is provided by the federal government to local education authorities for first nations students?
Business of Supply May 13th, 2015
Mr. Chair, I am not asking him to check everyday. I am asking whether he bothers to keep track of the children that are under his responsibility that his own department says is 30,000 to 40,000. It is not a provincial responsibility; it is his responsibility.
Will the minister confirm that he is initiating discussions to transfer first nations child and family services programs to other groups as a result of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling on whether the federal government has discriminatory practices against first nations children? Have those discussions been initiated?
Business of Supply May 13th, 2015
Mr. Chair, actually, I got it from one of the minister's own documents. The number is 30,000 to 40,000. I think the minister does not have his facts right. The obligation to pay under the 1965 agreement is from the federal to the provincial.
Does the minister not keep track of the number of children that are in care that his government is paying for?
Business of Supply May 13th, 2015
Mr. Chair, I thank the minister for being here tonight. To move along, I will give headings in terms of where I am going. I do not want to have anyone jumping out and trying to grab papers out from underneath.
I will start with child welfare and child equity issues. How many children, 14 and under, in state care right now are aboriginal?
Taxation May 13th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives continue to abuse taxpayer funds with a massive partisan advertising campaign, yet it is the Liberals who tell us they will stand up for the taxpayer.
Wait, is that not the same party that blew $1 billion on self-promotion when it was in government? Have the Liberals turned over a new leaf? Hardly. If we look at the report of the Ontario auditor general, it says that the Liberals will gut the law to create a flood of dumbed-down, partisan advertising for the Liberals, all at the cost of the taxpayer.
Such is Liberal policy. The Liberals are for partisan advertising when it is Liberal advertising. That is the party that promised open, democratic nominations, but let us not go there. That is the party that supports the charter, except when it guts it with Bill C-51. The party is now attacking journalists who have the temerity to point out that the Liberal leader cannot do arithmetic.
Canadians see through this. This fall they will be like the people of Alberta. They will vote for the change they want, and this time actually get it.
Mine Rescue May 12th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, in 1928, a fire broke out at the 500-foot level of the Hollinger gold mine in Timmins, but the closest trained crew was more than 1,000 kilometres away in Pennsylvania. That crew boarded a special train that broke speed records heading north through a brutal blizzard, but by the time it got there, it was too late, and 39 men were dead.
Out of that tragedy, Ontario established the first mine rescue office in Timmins, and today we have teams that are among the best in the world. I want to thank those brave volunteers who keep our workers safe: the crews who dealt with the McIntyre fire, the 1984 rockburst at Falconbridge, the 1993 Macassa disaster. Congratulations, in particular, to the teams who competed in the north recently, including the winners, team Dumas in Timmins, team AuRico in Kirkland Lake, team Vale West, and team Glencore in Sudbury.
They remind us that the greatest wealth that ever came out of a mine were the miners coming home at the end of their shift.
Safe and Accountable Rail Act May 12th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, certainly this is something we are even hearing from the train industry. It is not just that we are taking oil from the Bakken oil fields, which is very combustible. We have chlorine, sulphuric acid, and other products that are being carried on the train. If we talk to firefighters in the municipalities across the country, they want to know. They want to have a plan.
This is where the federal government needs to stop treating itself as being above and separate from the rest of the country in terms of coordinating a plan. We need to work with municipalities. We need to encourage them to be part of this conversation. We need to ensure that industry is paying its full weight.
Having said that, the train is a vital link to us, but we have to have confidence in it, and it has to be able to guarantee the security of people and the environment.