David Anderson

[Employment Insurance Act, April 29th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am very surprised that the Bloc members have not risen several times already in the middle of the member's speech because certainly he has drifted much further away from the content of the bill than the parliamentary secretary ever did. I thought the Bloc members, in all their moralistic approach to this before, would have been up on their feet. I am glad to see that a couple of them are finally getting to their feet. Perhaps they were not listening, but hopefully they will ask you, Mr. Speaker, to bring the member back to the content of the bill as you reminded us he has to do.

[Firearms Registry, April 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, since the Liberal leader announced his plans to force his MPs to keep the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry, the Liberal member for Avalon has been awfully silent.

The member for Avalon has not said whether he will represent his constituents and oppose the wasteful long gun registry, or if he will ignore his constituents and instead be forced by his Liberal leader to keep the registry.

Even worse, by his silence, the Liberal member for Avalon is condoning the actions of the Liberal leader whose MPs attempted to hijack the public safety committee to prevent Canadians, including officers and police chiefs who are opposed to the long gun registry, from coming forward to speak out.

It is time for the Liberal member for Avalon to come clean. He either listens to his constituents and votes to scrap the long gun registry or he falls in behind his leader and votes to keep the long gun registry. There is no in between on this issue. It is that simple.

[April 15th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed in the member opposite. I thought she was actually better than that. I think she needs to understand that as she tries to smear everyone else, she is just going to get mud on herself.

I want to point out that the proposal put forward by Streetlight Intelligence Incorporated, which is why we are here tonight, met all program and financial criteria under Government of Canada requirements. The potential for conflict of interest concerns was dealt with by all parties involved in the contribution agreement in accordance with legal advice.

Because it was clear that Canadians would benefit from the proposal put forward, a contribution agreement was completed between the Government of Canada and Streetlight Intelligence Incorporated.

[April 15th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the member said that she came here in an attempt to get information on a specific subject. Obviously, her little diatribe was not about that. She should listen because here is a real answer that is connected directly to the question she asked in the House of Commons.

Streetlight Intelligence Incorporated is the developer and owner of innovative technology which reduces energy consumption for street lighting. It does so by reducing illumination during periods of low activity by remote and Internet interfaces. The technology has been piloted in British Columbia, with the support of BC Hydro.

Under the Government of Canada's clean air regulatory agenda, funding was authorized for Natural Resources Canada to enter into contribution agreements for collaborative projects that demonstrate technologies that promise to reduce energy use.

In the case of Streetlight Intelligence Incorporated, its technology could conceivably reduce the electricity consumption of street lights by up to 50%. There are four million to six million street lights in Canada, and it has been estimated that the electrical consumption of those street lights may make up to 30% of a municipality's electrical bill.

Projects for this program are chosen on the basis on the potential energy savings and the amount of support leveraged from other stakeholders. In view of its potential to reduce energy consumption, Natural Resources Canada's Office of Energy Efficiency considered the proposal from Streetlight Intelligence Incorporated.

As with any similar proposal, a panel of departmental program officers assessed the project under the criteria of the energy efficiency standards and labelling program. It was determined that the project satisfied all program criteria, as well as all other legal requirements of the Government of Canada.

Once all the requirements were met, and not before, and all documentation was received from Streetlight Intelligence Incorporated, the contribution agreement was finalized. Thus, the project from Streetlight Intelligence Incorporated met all program and financial criteria, making it eligible for funding.

A contribution agreement between Natural Resources Canada and Streetlight Intelligence Incorporated was subsequently completed, dated March 31, 2009.

[Government Contracts, March 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, that is ridiculous. Natural Resources Canada has worked with Canadian companies seeking to bring innovative and energy efficient products to the marketplace. It approved $185,000 in funding for Streetlight Intelligence to demonstrate technology to reduce energy consumption of street lighting. Natural Resources has been monitoring the progress of this contract and will continue to do so.

[Government Contracts, March 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it is time for the member opposite to grow up. Canadians are sick of this kind of mudslinging. If she were paying any attention to her own question, she would know that the member for Calgary Centre has made a statement with regard to his activities in the day-to-day operations of this company. He has contacted the ethics commissioner to ensure that he is in good standing.

[Seeds Regulations Act, March 17th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am very disturbed to be here today and to hear this attempt to mislead farmers and Canadians.

This is not about farmers. This is about the NDP's opposition to GMOs, and everybody needs to understand that right off the bat. A perfect example of this is the fact that the member opposite is using the Triffid example of flax, which would not be impacted at all by this bill. I think he is doing that in order to scare the farm community. He should own up to that and admit that what is going on here because that example does not apply to his legislation.

I read the seed regulations and they are focused on seed characteristics and on science. To bring this bill into play would bring all of our seed regulations in a completely different direction. It would no longer be based on science and farmers need to be very wary of that.

Second, this bill is very vague, which I think was done deliberately, because legal challenges to this would be totally undefined. In the past, we have seen a real desire by some groups to take these kinds of things to court. This bill leaves that so wide open that anybody would be able to go to court on any issue. The member needs to explain a little more about the consequences from that.

Third, it is onerous and would require an entire new bureaucracy to be built.

Fourth, it is anti-farmer.

I would like the member to explain to me what would have happened in the canola industry and the soybean industry if this had been in place. Those opportunities and those billions of dollars of income in western Canada would have been taken away from western Canadian farmers.

[Oil and Gas Industry, March 12th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, this government has invested in those very things. I would just like to go through a couple of the things that we have put money into.

We put $1.5 billion into energy for renewable power, which the member mentioned. We put $1 billion into a clean energy fund, $500 million into sustainable development technology, which she just mentioned. We put $1 billion into the pulp and paper green transformation fund.

This government is committed to renewable energy, to revitalizing energy in this country, and we will continue to work on that.

[Natural Resources, March 4th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, at every point the Bloc members are trying to destroy this country. We need to point out that there is a nuclear industry in their province as well as everywhere else across this country.

This government is working with the Government of Quebec, it is working with governments across this country, it is working with the energy industry and it is working with the nuclear industry to make this country a better country.

[Natural Resources, March 4th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc is aware that nothing could be further from the truth. This government is working across the country to unite Canadians and we will continue to do that in all of these areas.