David Anderson

[Border Security, June 16th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, this is not a provincial issue. It is happening all the way across Canada. This is a populated area of 5,000 square miles left without a single permanent RCMP officer or detachment. It will have 100 miles of unprotected border.

In the last two months the government has spent money like drunken sailors. The other night it just approved another $65 million for a useless gun registry.

With all that spending, why is there not enough money to provide my constituents with the same basic services that are granted to other Canadians?

[Border Security, June 16th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, my constituency borders the United States for 150 miles. The RCMP is closing five detachments along that border. The result is that 100 miles of the international border will be left unprotected.

Why is the government deliberately abandoning my constituents and Canadian border security?

[Main Estimates, 2005-06, June 14th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, maybe it is time we had a reality check. We have listened to the member speak for a few minutes and most Canadians have not experienced the things he is talking about. They are only seen and experienced by the fantasy in the Liberal caucus over there apparently.

I want to talk about some of the issues. The budget that he is so proud of has very little for agriculture, virtually nothing. In fact, I was particularly disappointed in the NDP when it made its deal with the Liberal government. It made a choice that it was not interested in agriculture at all and so there is nothing for agriculture in the special deal that it made. So, for the member to be standing there talking about what a great job the Liberals are doing for Canadians, he has left out a big chunk of Canada right there, just dealing with rural Canada and agriculture.

He talks about health. I come from an area where the NDP government in Saskatchewan has basically destroyed the health care system. It has shut down the funding and it comes from this Liberal government cutting back funding to the provinces, forcing the provinces to then download onto the local communities until many of them have no services left in those areas.

Why has the health care system been destroyed to the level that it has in the 12 years that the government has been in power?

Just today we found out that five single-person RCMP detachments will be shut down in my riding. There was no consultation at all. The RCMP are pulling back and pulling out of there. Again, it is an issue of funding.

The government has money for everybody. It is throwing it all over the place and it is not putting it into places where it is needed. People in my riding are going without while the government is making deals all over the place and throwing money in every direction except where some folks could use it.

We have five single-person RCMP detachments along the border. There will be a 70-mile stretch of that border where the nearest RCMP officer is going to be 50 miles away. Why is that happening after 12 years of this government? That is not all. There is a ton of other things.

He talks about seniors. If they are doing such a good job at improving the lives of seniors, why are we constantly getting letters from seniors asking that their benefits be raised. We just had a letter the other day saying that the individual could not live on $900 a month and was there something that we could do.? We have veterans calling in who cannot live on the pensions that the government is giving them either. I think it is hypocritical for this member to get up and to speak as he has because in so many areas in this country the Liberal government has completely failed people.

I would like his response, particularly on the RCMP issue. People are being left without the protection that they need because the government does not have enough money for those basic services. Yet, it is willing to spend money on all kinds of special areas where its friends can get that money instead.

[Supply Management, June 7th, 2005]

I thought he was an ag critic too. Those of us from western Canada know that the Canadian Wheat Board is a completely involuntary organization. If we grow wheat in western Canada, we have to be part of it whether we want to be or not. Supply management is voluntary. If people want to, they can buy into the quota.

The Wheat Board is primarily international. It has some domestic marketing as well, but its main purpose is to market wheat internationally for farmers. Supply management is domestic.

Fifty per cent plus of the farmers in western Canada want a change in the Canadian Wheat Board. They want out of it. The vast majority of people who participate in supply management are very happy with the system and it is supported by its participants.

I had a chance to go to the trade talks in Geneva in late April. One thing he needs to understand is that the Canadian Wheat Board has already been sacrificed by the government. I do not know if he knew that or not, but it gave away the financial guarantees. It gave away the initial price guarantees. It gave away any of the foreign programs to sell the grain. It gave it way without getting anything back.

The only thing left, which is the part that most western Canadians want rid of, is the monopoly. He needs to be aware that the Wheat Board has already been sacrificed. Supply management people need to be paying attention to what the government is doing and ensuring that they do not get caught in the same situation.

Just to make the point again, western Canadians want the same choices that other farmers have such as in Ontario. We watched our grain sold for less money than we could get ourselves. We have watched our farmers go to jail because they wanted to sell their own grain.

If he would like, I am more than willing to sit down with him at some point and help him to understand this issue a little better. We have worked together at the agriculture committee. We have tried to help him there and I would like to continue to help him understand the agricultural issues, if I can do that.

He said that the NDP needs to send a message to rural Canada. No kidding. One of the reasons the NDP have such a hard time electing members in rural western Canada is because of the message he delivered tonight, which is one of anger and bitterness. Farmers do not want to hear that. They want a positive message such as we are bringing. They want choice. They want to get out there, do their business and be successful at it.

[Supply Management, June 7th, 2005]

Mr. Chair, I was sitting in my office about three-quarters of an hour ago when the member for Timmins--James Bay attacked me personally. I felt it necessary to come here and correct some of the mistaken impressions he has left. I do want to thank him for directing people to my website. He seemed to be enthusiastic about that, so I would encourage them to go there as well. It is davidanderson.ca. If anyone wants to look it up, that would be good. It does have a lot to do with the Canadian Wheat Board.

The member said that the Wheat Board was one of the fundamentals of supply management. I think the supply management folks who are here know that that is not true. I want to point out a few ways that it is not true so he can understand it and hopefully he will not make the same mistake.

[Canadian Wheat Board, May 30th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, when the Wheat Board legislation was rewritten, the government required that five directors be appointed by the government so that it could keep control of the board. These appointments have become more and more political. The latest is William Cheuk, who along with his business partners have donated more than $100,000 to the Prime Minister and Liberal Party. He has little agricultural expertise.

Why are western Canadian farmers paying for Liberal patronage appointments?

[Canadian Wheat Board, May 30th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Wheat Board is rapidly becoming a Liberal patronage rest home. After the last election the campaign manager for the present Canadian Wheat Board minister was hired as the board's lobbyist. Now that same minister has appointed a director whose main qualifications are his Liberal connections and his donation of more than $15,000 to the Prime Minister's leadership campaign.

Why is the government making prairie farmers pay the Prime Minister's political debts?

[Premier of Saskatchewan, May 16th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, last week we saw the premier of Saskatchewan single-handedly destroy any chance of getting an immediate equalization deal for our province. Throughout the week he gave a seminar on how not to succeed in Ottawa.

Monday he made promises he could not possibly keep when he showed up declaring he was here to get a new deal. He said that he was not going home until he got one. He even brought extra socks.

Tuesday he displayed his political ineptness when he attacked his only allies. The Conservative MPs from Saskatchewan have made equalization an issue in Ottawa. We need to work together.

Wednesday he disappeared, perhaps to wash his socks.

Thursday he panicked. Knowing that he could not get an equalization deal, he started dealing for second best.

Friday he gave up and headed home.

Saturday he demonstrated the results of poor negotiating when he bravely tried to convince our province that pennies are the same as dollars.

Our province has been betrayed. This federal Liberal finance minister has no intention of giving Saskatchewan a fair equalization deal. It is time the premier acknowledged that.

[Petitions, May 13th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, my final petition calls upon Parliament to pass legislation to provide a deduction for expenses related to the adoption of a child.

[Petitions, May 13th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition dealing with health products. The petitioners call upon the government to provide Canadians with greater access to natural health products.