Christian Paradis

[Telecommunications, November 16th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, at our government's request and thanks to the hard work of the President of the Treasury Board at the time, the CRTC has re-examined the issue of usage-based billing to ensure fairness for consumers of small Internet service providers.

Canadians have been very clear in expressing concern with earlier UBB decisions. Let me clear. Our government's policy will always be to encourage competition, increase consumer choice and minimize regulation.

This is the plan. We have a vision, not those guys.

[Industry, November 14th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, our government's number one priority is the economy. I was proud to announce this morning more than $80 million toward the strengthening of our small and medium-sized business sectors. This funding will help more than 600 Canadian businesses to adopt new information technologies and new ways of doing business in our digital economy.

This $80-million investment will help our small and medium-sized businesses, 600 of which can use this investment to adapt to new technology, become more profitable, hire workers and take advantage of the digital economy.

With steps like this, Canada will lead the way.

[Points of Order, November 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, that was a very predictable answer. That is disappointing. My colleague knows full well that the term is used in a general sense to call someone useless.

Since he does not have the decency to at least apologize or withdraw his remarks, I would ask that you rule on this matter.

[Points of Order, November 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring to your attention an incident that happened during question period. It was caused by the member for Bourassa. We know that this member often uses colourful language, but he used the term “blueberry” to describe the hon. member for Lac—Saint-Jean, who is a nice guy, I should also point out. If it had ended there, it would not be an issue. Unfortunately, when the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities rose, the member for Bourassa called him a “lemon”, suggesting something that does not perform well, in fact, something useless.

I am sure that the member for Bourassa would not stand for being insulted in the House without putting up a fight. I am asking for common decency: he should withdraw his remarks or apologize to the House.

[Auditor General, November 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ferguson was chosen on the basis of merit for his capabilities. He is very capable. He must speak French. He said he would learn to speak French. He is taking French lessons and he will speak French. Here is what Sheila Fraser said:

He will be a very good auditor general. He is very capable, a very nice person and I think once parliamentarians get to know him, they will appreciate him.

Learning a second language is not easy, but others have done it before him. It is possible. I think Mike is a very intelligent person. He knows it is important for him to become bilingual.

The matter is therefore closed.

[The Economy, November 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about payroll taxes. Each time we have taken action to protect jobs, the Liberals have voted against it. Recently, we took steps to scale back the recommended increase in EI premiums and, once again, the Liberals are against them. They are making a fuss today, but when it comes time to vote and actually take real action that will affect all Canadian taxpayers, they are not shy about voting against such action. That is precisely what is so offensive and shameful.

[The Economy, November 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the path that we are taking is working and we are following that path. Canada has created over 650,000 jobs, and the Liberals voted against it. We allowed income splitting for older people, and they voted against it.

We created measures to ensure the fees for EI premiums would not increase, and the Liberals voted against it. Now they are opposing the tax credit for hiring SMEs and, once again, they will vote against it.

[Justice, November 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, we have a responsibility here. We have a clear mandate, and the majority of Canadians are seeking tougher penalties for violent criminals and rapists who prey on children.

This is what we are doing. We are making laws more severe to ensure safety in our streets. To be more severe is not the opposite of rehabilitation; it is complementary. We should get out of these ideological debates.

[Justice, November 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians gave our government a strong mandate to keep our streets and communities safe. The opposition parties are demanding tougher laws for law-abiding farmers and duck hunters while opposing tougher penalties for violent criminals and rapists who prey on children.

I hope that in her third question she will quote a third government, the Manitoba NDP government, which supports Bill C-10.

[Justice, November 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, what most of the people in Quebec and the rest of Canada want is a more effective justice system. They want us to crack down on dangerous criminals, ensure that the streets are safe and enhance security. Let us stop always debating and wanting to pit rehabilitation against deterrence. They go hand in hand. They are not mutually exclusive.

Now we have to fulfill our mandate of making our streets safer and we intend to do so through Bill C-10.