moved:
Motion No. 1
That Bill C-20 be amended by deleting Clause 1.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 46% of the vote.
Fair Representation Act December 6th, 2011
moved:
Motion No. 1
That Bill C-20 be amended by deleting Clause 1.
Search and Rescue December 5th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the minister continues to mislead the House. He keeps pretending that there was a planned exercise. We all know there was no planned exercise. If the minister has documentation to the contrary, he should table it this afternoon. In the absence of that documentation, he should stand in his place and do the honourable thing, the right thing, and apologize to Canadians and their Parliament.
Search and Rescue December 5th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the defence minister took one of only three search and rescue helicopters out of service and he covered up his real intentions. As we have known since Watergate, it is the cover-up that buries one.
Even the National Post said, “the so-called inspection was what everyone has known all along -- a convenient excuse to catch a ride on a helicopter”, and it called on the minister to apologize.
Will the minister bring this to an end today by doing the honourable thing and apologizing?
National Defence December 1st, 2011
Mr. Speaker, on September 26, the Minister of National Defence told the House, “I took part in a previously planned search and rescue demonstration”. Documents released today contradict this. There is no mention of the minister wanting to see search and rescue crews at work. In fact, the documents say, “this mission will be under the guise of…SAR (training)”. Why did the minister mislead this House?
National Defence November 29th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, we will deal with the issue of whether or not we are getting value for dollars afterwards, but right now I would like an answer to the question of why the government felt it was necessary to keep a number that it already had secret from the media, secret from the public and secret from this Parliament.
What is the justification for the secrecy?
National Defence November 29th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, Conservatives' lack of transparency on spending reached a new low this week. When the media asked how much the Department of National Defence's HQ renovation would cost, the government responded by saying, “Go file an access to information request”.
Now we find out that this paranoid government had the number of $623 million all along but would not release it to the public, so I ask the minister this question: what could possibly be the justification for keeping this number secret?
National Defence November 15th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, it is clear to everyone that the Conservatives have blown this file totally.
The F-35 price tag balloons every time another country drops its order. With the Americans now talking about also pulling the plug, the death knell is ringing louder and louder for the F-35s.
When will the minister finally admit the F-35s are an untendered procurement boondoggle in the making? I ask the minister again, when will the government put this contract out to tender?
National Defence November 15th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the U.S. defense secretary now says that because of ballooning costs, it may be time for the U.S. to hit the eject button on the F-35 deal. Israel, Australia, Turkey and Norway are still reconsidering their purchases. So much for the minister's repeated claim that our allies are united and with us on the F-35s.
The government is out of touch. The minister is out of the loop. Canadians are out of patience. Will the government finally put this contract out to public tender?
National Defence November 4th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the procurement tailspin continues.
Now we learn our pilots will not even be able to learn how to fly the F-35s in Canada. According to DND documents, pilot training will have to be moved from Cold Lake, Alberta to a facility in Florida run by Lockheed Martin.
The government is throwing billions at a plane that cannot fly here for pilots who cannot train here. Why is the government buying planes that take training jobs out of Canadian cities? Why is it abandoning Cold Lake?
Security of Tenure of Military Judges Act November 4th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for St. John's East for his comments and I certainly agree with all the compliments going his way in terms of the work he does. We are very proud of the member.
I want to clarify again with the member two things. Number one, ordinarily the public has the right to expect that the official opposition will hold the government's feet to the fire in terms of being accountable, yet here we see the opposition just lying down and letting things happen.
Second, the government members are forever saying that the official opposition, the NDP, does not support the military and does not support our troops. They say that all the time. We hear a couple of them howling now.
Would the hon. member take an opportunity to concisely explain why the official opposition is doing what it is doing today, and how the official opposition feels about our citizens in uniform?