House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 49% of the vote.
National Defence April 30th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, the report found that members of the Canadian Forces routinely suffer from sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape, and that the military is leaving these victims to fend for themselves.
Those who speak up are stigmatized as weak. They are called troublemakers. They face retaliation or are labelled unfit for work.
Why has the government allowed this situation to develop and continue? Our troops never abandon us, so why has the government abandoned them?
The Budget April 28th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, that is perhaps the most revisionist piece of history I have heard here in 11 years.
The member may have been here for 18 budgets, but I think he was probably asleep for most of them. I want to remind Canadians about a few of the facts he alluded to.
Number one, there were 11 consecutive surplus Liberal budgets before the Conservative government came into power. Number two, it was left with a $14-billion surplus, and it put this economy and country into recession before the 2008 great recession hit the globe. Everyone knows that. Every economist knows that. That is fact number two.
Number three is this idea that he goes around the world and hears from folks about the Canadian banking system. He is right, the Canadian banking system did withstand the American meltdown and is a model now for most of the planet, but I would like to remind him and Canadians and members in the House that his leader, as leader of the official opposition at the time, was attacking the Liberal government and then prime minister Chrétien, clamouring for Canadians banks to be owned by American banks to allow them to merge and join the ranks of the hyper-exposed global banking actors. His leader was the one who fought hardest to have the Canadian banking system exposed.
Therefore, it is very rich to hear the member put forward this revisionist history. His credibility here is on the line. He should perhaps keep to the merits of the budget he was speaking to earlier without going back and inventing things.
The Budget April 28th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague for his remarks. I want to go back to the theme he raised with respect to climate and what has been increasingly described as the need for resiliency as we adjust and adapt to the new normals around the effects of climate change.
The member alluded to water. California is now drilling 600 metres below the surface to try to find water for agricultural and irrigation purposes. The not-so-deep aquifers have been depleted to such an extent that the California land mass has actually fallen, which is why California is building, for example, massive desalination plants on the coast.
There is nothing in this budget that addresses the need for innovation. There is nothing that addresses the need for new-tech, clean-tech start-ups. There is no recognition of the need to prepare ourselves to be resilient and adapt to climate.
I wonder if the member could expand on those concerns and particularly talk not just about the concerns or the magnitude of the challenge in front of us, but let us talk, as we like to talk in the Liberal Party, about the magnitude of the economic and job opportunities for us to create wealth and do well inside and outside of Canada. He could start, for example, to talk about water and water technology.
Business of Supply April 27th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to listen to my colleague's thoughtful remarks.
To a certain extent in response to the last Conservative speaker, let us just illustrate what the government has been doing. There was $29.5 million spent on erecting 9,800 billboards in Canada. Not only that, but the Conservatives compelled the municipalities where those billboards were put up to spend the money out of the infrastructure proceeds they were receiving from the federal government, to be able to blame the municipalities. This is the kind of subterfuge that is surrounding the advertising choices being made by the government.
Surely my colleague would agree that $29 million, for example, would pay for 515 public health nurses for a year, would build 500 affordable housing units, or would pay for 15,000 chemotherapy treatments for cancer patients on waiting lists. That is exactly the kind of responsible spending we are looking for, which is why the suggestion here, as the member rightly points out, is to have a third party, an advertising commissioner inside the Auditor General's office, provide a perfectly reasonable, balanced and objective review.
Could the member help us understand what the alternative expenditures could be for this kind of wasteful advertising spending?
The Budget April 27th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, on the weekend, the Minister of Finance admitted that he had no idea how many jobs his budget would create. When challenged that the TFSA change would cost billions of dollars and create no new jobs, the finance minister said that this was a problem that the Prime Minister's granddaughter could worry about.
Well, Canadians are worried about jobs right now. Where is the minister's plan for jobs and growth for the middle class and those working so very hard to join it?
Government Advertising April 27th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, what the Liberals do not want is $29 million on 9,800 billboards, neither do Canadians.
The Prime Minister cynically preaches restraint, yet he spent more than $750 million on ineffective and wasteful partisan advertising. He would rather spend hundreds of millions of dollars on self-promoting advertising instead of helping the middle class, creating jobs and growth our economy.
Here is his opportunity. Will he commit today to ending this wasteful abuse of tax dollars and submit all advertising to a third party review process for vetting ahead of their release?
Government Advertising April 27th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is telling Canadians to be frugal while he is wasting over $750 million on ineffective partisan advertising. He would rather spend hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayers' money on self-promotion than on helping the middle class, creating jobs and growing the economy.
Will the Prime Minister commit today to put an end to this wastefulness and submit all advertising to a third party review process before it is made public?
Business of Supply April 27th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Guelph for his strong work on behalf of veterans and for advocating on their behalf.
It is always important to juxtapose government choices one against the other. The government had a choice. It could spend $29 million on 9,800 billboards or keep our Veterans Affairs offices open to serve our veterans. That was a choice. It spoke to values, priorities and, quite frankly, commitment.
What we have seen with this example and so many more is so many profound, deep needs in Canadian society, including rail safety, transportation safety and all kinds of interesting and important opportunities, but the government is choosing to spend the money elsewhere. It is unfortunate.
It can be stopped. There is a mechanism that is available to all of us in the House. That is why I brought forward this motion this morning. There is a positive alternative where we can come together, all parties, once and for all, to create a third party review mechanism, such as an advertising commissioner inside the Auditor General's office, and all of this would stop.
Business of Supply April 27th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, I could not agree more with my colleague. That is why I spoke about legitimate expenditures, with respect to how advertising can be accomplished in this country if it is run through a third party review process. This is about ensuring that there is a third party review process. In the case that I am proposing, it would be an advertising commissioner inside the Auditor General's office to make sure that these legitimate expenditures go forward.
There is a need to advertise for tourism. There is a need to advertise for investment. There is a need to advertise for procurement, jobs and recruitment. There is a need to advertise when we have public health crises. These are profoundly important responsibilities for any order of government, and certainly a federal one.
My colleague is right. We are not recruiting the way that we should be for tourism in the United States marketplace today. We are not recruiting for investment purposes the way that we should be in the United States and foreign markets into Canada.
There is a whole series of legitimate exceptions that would be able to go through a robust and neutral filter. What would not happen, if we had a proper third party review process, is common look and feel advertisements coming out with Conservative blue all over TV ads, aligned with Conservative blue ads of a political nature. There would be no red ads either, nor orange ads or political colour ads. That way, we could drive up confidence and trust in our system so that Canadians feel better about what the government is doing with their resources.
Business of Supply April 27th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, once again, it is important for all of us to look ahead. There is an opportunity here for all of us. For example, I could descend into the debate about NDP expenditures in different riding offices around the country, but that is not what we are here to do today. We are here to lift the debate up and take an opportunity in front of us to improve things for Canadians.
If my bill were ever passed in this House, and I offer up to the government that I am not proprietary about it, it would be an opportunity to bind any successive government, not just this government, going forward. Why would all parliamentarians want to come together to do that? It is because it is the right thing, and there is an opportunity for us to do so. This is about driving up confidence and trust in our democratic institutions and processes and the way we spend money, the scarce taxpayer resources sent to us every year by Canadians. That is the opportunity in front of us. That is why we are debating this motion. I think we can get it right for Canadians. We can certainly do it better than it has been done in the past.