Dan Harris

[Ethics, November 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, that member gets up and gives laughable answers time and time again, and he expects people not to laugh at him.

The RCMP is now knocking at the door of the Prime Minister's Office. Conservatives should really take answering questions a little more seriously because Canadians deserve the truth.

When was the last time anyone in the Prime Minister's Office spoke with Nigel Wright?

[Ethics, October 30th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, with a tip of the hat to Aaron Wherry, I would like to tell a story about the world's most intriguing pizza shop.

Mr. Prime was selected to manage the shop by Mr. and Mrs. Canuck, the owners. Let us call him the prime manager. He had been having trouble with his drivers Mike, Pam and Patrick, apparently caught stealing from the cash register, right under the nose of his night manager, Nigel. Nigel even gave one of them money to pay back what he stole.

Nigel was an honourable man who resigned, except when he was fired. Nigel acted alone, except when he was helped by a few, like Chris the cashier and Art the accountant. Dave, Marj and Carol all know they are the prime manager's buddies. They sit in the corner and eat pizza all day.

Now Mr. and Mrs. Canuck are fed up with these changing stories. Fortunately for them, they can trust honest Tom to hold the prime manager to account and take over the shop in 2015.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2, October 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I will bring up some facts and figures. The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates that the overall impact of budget 2012, fiscal update 2012, and budget 2013 would be a loss of 67,000 jobs by 2017 and a 0.7% reduction in GDP.

Also Statistics Canada states that there are 6.5 unemployed people for every job vacancy in the country. It has also reported that we have had four consecutive years without significant change in the after-tax incomes of Canadians. Really, it demonstrates that Canadians are holding fast or having troubles getting ahead.

The member spoke greatly about the building Canada fund. The Minister of Finance came to Scarborough a few weeks ago to announce a big pile of money. When other mayors asked how they could access the program, the answer was that the criteria was not there, the Conservatives do not know yet. How in fact can they decide what programs do qualify when they have not even made the criteria yet?

[International Trade, October 22nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives seem to be at their happiest when they are misleading Canadians and spreading falsehoods about the NDP. Yesterday it was about a trade deal.

Last week our excellent trade critic sent out a statement saying:

New Democrats welcome progress towards a comprehensive new trade agreement with the European Union. We believe in expanding and diversifying our trade relationships...

Reasonable people would recognize this was a responsible position. In fact, a Conservative minister called the NDP approach “balanced”, yet the Prime Minister yesterday disregarded the facts and instead started making stuff up. I think he has been reading too much Jeffrey Simpson, or maybe his talking points were inaccurate due to a production deadline.

In reality, the NDP supports greater trade with Europe, and we can be trusted to tell the truth and defend the interests of Canadians.

[Canadian Museum of History Act, June 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech, in which she talked about priorities.

At present, there are budget cuts coming from everywhere, and yet the minister has decided to spend $25 million to change the name of one of our best museums.

I would like to ask my colleague whether she thinks that Canadian Heritage could have found a better way to spend $25 million for the museum she spoke about, in the field of arts and culture, rather than spending that money to change the name of the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

[Canadian Museum of History Act, June 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the members across the way like to talk a lot about Canadian history. The member for York South—Weston has been involved in this so I will ask him this. There was a museum of aviation, which celebrated the Avro Arrow among many other planes and has been shut down because of lack of funding, because the government has called money in, because it was not able to stay afloat. The federal government ignored it and left it hanging to dry. I would like to ask the member about that lack of support for Canadian history by the government.

[The Senate, June 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we can all now understand the look of pain on the faces of parliamentary guides when they have to explain the Senate. It turns out they have been forced to use a manual written during the Mulroney era.

These poor guides have to spin some real whoppers. They have to say that the Senate is “non-partisan”. They are forced to praise the Senate by saying it does not suffer from “excessive media exposure”. The manual even disparages members of the elected House of Commons. It says the work of the House is inferior to that of the Senate. “In a multi-party group system, the voter is liable to be confused” and goes on to describe voters as donkeys.

It is time we revised this outdated manual. Let us free these poor guides so they can tell the truth about the corruption-plagued upper chamber, or even better, let us abolish the Senate and free all Canadians from this unelected, unaccountable relic of the 19th century.

[Father's Day, June 13th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, Sunday is Father's Day.

I rise with great pride to honour my father, David Harris, a French teacher at Donwood Park Junior Public School in Scarborough.

Thanks to the great staff at Donwood, the school is also watching us here today.

Being a single dad was challenging, especially with a kid like me. When I was growing up, he was always there, a stable rock who supported me through thick and thin. He showed me the value of hard work and following one's dreams when he went back to school to become a teacher.

My love of French, passion for politics, and my values all come from my dad.

He went the extra mile to make sure I had a relationship with my mom's family and a lot of time with our family, too. I could not have asked for a better dad.

His support through my five election campaigns cannot be measured. I am standing here in this House because of him.

I love him and want to say “thanks” to him.

I ask all members to join me in thanking my dad and all dads who have made such meaningful contributions to all our lives.

Happy Father's Day.

[Tackling Contraband Tobacco Act, June 13th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank everyone for their impassioned speeches today. I have a couple of questions for the minister. This is where we come up with new, unforeseen circumstances and situations when we are ramming through all these bills.

This bill seeks to tackle contraband tobacco and also to stop contraband coming across the border. Yesterday, through time allocation, we rammed through Bill C-56 that would actually add ex officio powers to CBSA officers to stop counterfeit and trademark-infringed goods from coming across the border.

We have multiple bills going through at the same time that would add more responsibilities and put more strain on our border officers. At the same time, the government last year brought in over $143 million in cuts to CBSA. CBSA's own numbers say that it is going to lose 550 full-time staff between now and 2015.

I would like to ask the minister how he squares that circle. We are thrusting all these responsibilities upon CBSA while, at the same time, cutting its budgets. How is the CBSA supposed to continue to do the job of keeping Canadians safe?

[Combating Counterfeit Products Act, June 12th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.

It does not make sense to give our Border Services Agency more responsibilities, and then turn around and cut its funding, but the government cut $143 million in its latest budget. The agency says that it will lose 546 full-time jobs.

How can the government give the agency more responsibility, more training and more to do if it has 546 fewer employees?

We have a huge land mass with many places to cross the border, not to mention that some of our ports are getting bigger. The agency needs more resources, not fewer, to ensure that it can do its job. If the government gives the agency more to do, it has to provide more resources. Keeping our country safe and sound costs money.