Daniel Blaikie

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I was pleased to hear in the President of the Treasury Board's earlier remarks an acknowledgement, and I agree with him that spending money out of the contingency fund is by far and away not the most transparent way to conduct the spending of government.

Given that the member agrees with that and given that part of the purpose of the estimates is to replenish that contingency fund, presumably so it is available to be spent, would he agree that having the President of the Treasury Board come to the committee for government operations and estimates at the soonest available opportunity after an incident of spending out of that contingency fund would be the best way to preserve the prerogative of Treasury Board with respect to that fund and alert Parliament in a prompt and appropriate way about how the government is spending that money?

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I have a few questions for the hon. President of the Treasury Board with respect to the allocations and estimates for the contingency fund.

I have a question about some of the spending that was made to date out of that contingency fund, particularly the biggest envelope, which was the AECL spending out of that contingency.

Do the spending and the costs associated with the privatization of operations represent an expansion of services covered under the contract, or do they represent a revision of costs for services already under contract?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, December 8th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I want to speak for a moment on the theme of the hon. member's speech, seniors. We know it is important, if seniors want to retire in dignity, to have an adequate, reliable income. We in the NDP know that the expansion of the Canada pension plan is the best way to ensure that all Canadians, no matter their income bracket, retire with that income.

I wonder if in light of those facts the hon. member would urge his colleagues to stop misrepresenting an expansion of the CPP as a payroll tax when it is part of the wage package that Canadians work for every day, so that they can retire with dignity.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, December 8th, 2015]

Madam Speaker, congratulations on your recent appointment.

With respect to some of the commitments the member mentioned were in the throne speech, I look forward to seeing the government following through on them. Of course, there were some great commitments in the red book in 1993, and a government with 13 years that did not follow through on them.

For the benefit of Canadians, could the member explain how her government is going to be different from the Liberal government of the nineties and how it will keep its promises?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, December 7th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to be rising in the House to speak on behalf of my hometown. I want to thank the voters in Elmwood, East Kildonan and Transcona who have trusted me with their voice in this place.

I want to commend the hon. leader of the NDP for showing how the government's Speech from the Throne could be improved. I urge members opposite to take his suggestions seriously. I would ask him to speak for a minute on the need for a national pharmacare plan in Canada. We know that one of the biggest challenges to a sustainable health care system in Canada is tackling the costs of drugs. I know there are people in my riding who are struggling with those costs. We have had many governments over the decades who have failed to take action on this, including some that promised to act on it. Would the hon. leader of the NDP explain to some members on the opposite benches, who may need it, the urgency of including and implementing a national pharmacare strategy as part of any future health accord?