David Sweet

[The Environment, December 10th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the public record is clear. For 13 years the Liberals accomplished a big fat goose egg as far as the environment is concerned. In fact, while they were in government, greenhouse gases rose 33% above the Kyoto targets.

Our government will not sit idly by. We are taking action to fight climate change.

Would the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities tell the House what our government is doing to encourage Canadians to make environmentally friendly transportation choices?

[Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007, November 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I too want to correct the record. It was actually a Conservative prime minister who brought in the Canada pension plan. As well, it was Prime Minister Diefenbaker who lowered the age to 65.

However, the member was talking about fairness and justice. When the people of Canada elected us, we had a situation where there was an unbalanced marriage penalty in the taxation laws, there was an accelerated capital cost allowance for the oil fields, the majority of families had no benefit at all for child care, the corporate tax rate was such a burden on Canadian companies it was hard for them to compete, and the Liberals had promised to scrap the GST but never did.

We corrected the marriage penalty and now a spouse who stays at home has the same exemption. We cut the GST to 5%. The personal exemption rate went down by $1,000. The age exemption for seniors also was raised another $1,000 so they pay less tax. We have also introduced income pension splitting for seniors. Which one of those initiatives would the member like us to remove for the people of Canada? These are all initiatives for people who are in vulnerable situations and who need help.

[Poverty, November 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, it has been three weeks since the Leader of the Opposition released his uncosted plan to reduce poverty, yet the Liberals have only asked one question on this file, which the Leader of the Opposition said would be his main election platform plank.

It was the Liberal leader who sat around the cabinet table for almost a decade while child poverty increased, access to affordable housing decreased, and no action at all was taken on child care.

Could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources tell this House what we have done to combat poverty in the 22 months we have been serving Canadians?

[Tackling Violent Crime Act, November 23rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, there is one thing I wanted to ask the hon. member.

Some years ago there was a very tragic circumstance in downtown Hamilton. An offender who had been charged and convicted, charged and convicted, and charged and convicted walked across the road from what was purportedly a safe federal release site into Jackson Square Mall and repeatedly stabbed a young woman, who amazingly survived. The assistant crown attorney in Hamilton spent 18 months of his career trying to make sure that the dangerous offender label was put on this man, so that he could not do this again.

I would like to ask the member whether she is for our crown attorneys spending a year and a half to two years trying to get dangerous offenders off the street before they harm women, children or men again? Or whether she is for the Conservative provision that would allow crown attorneys to put the onus on defence attorneys when someone is repeatedly charged and convicted with violent, terrible crimes, so that they can prove to the public that the accused people are worthy of release?

[National Peacekeepers’ Day Act, November 15th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I want also to commend the hon. member for his efforts on the bill. The entire veterans affairs committee was in agreement with the bill. We worked together on it to ensure it was something with which we were entirely 100% in agreement.

I may have heard the member wrongly when he gave his initial address, but one of the aspects that we were in agreement upon was this. November 11 is the time when the peace tower flag comes down to recognize all veterans equally, to ensure that all veterans are remembered on that day. This was one of the agreements we had.

Could the member clarify what he meant in his words earlier?

[Health, November 13th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, November 14 is world COPD Day. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD for short, affects 425,000 Canadians and of these sufferers the disease will take the life of 4,300 this year in Canada alone.

Since 2000, female mortality due to COPD has risen at double the rate of breast cancer. COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in this country and yet less than 50% of Canadians are even aware of this disease.

This disease is characterized by shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing and increased sputum production. Sufferers have said that it is like breathing through a straw. We know how this would affect even minor activities in life.

Sandy Lee and her colleagues at the Lung Association are asking all Canadians to wear something red tomorrow on COPD Day and, if possible, a Lung Association emblem to alert people to the dangers of COPD.

The generosity of all Canadians is needed as well because it is through donations that the Lung Association can finance the research that will bring a brighter tomorrow.

[His Holiness the Dalai Lama, October 29th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has a distinguished visitor this week. The 14th Dalai Lama, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and our third honorary citizen, is in Ottawa.

Could the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity tell the House about this meeting with the Dalai Lama?

[The Environment, October 24th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, since taking office, our government has acted assiduously when it comes to protecting and conserving Canada's environment.

We protected the Great Bear Rainforest in northern B.C., Point Pleasant Park in Halifax and Stanley Park in Vancouver. We announced a massive expansion of the Nahanni National Park Reserve, truly one of Canada's remarkable places.

Can the Minister of the Environment tell the House what additional action Canada's government has taken to protect our precious habitats?

[Government Accountability, October 22nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, under previous Liberal governments Canada's place on Transparency International's annual clean government index was in a downward spiral. After ranking fifth in 2001, by 2005 Canada dropped to fourteenth. It seemed that reports of corruption during the Liberal sponsorship scandal had taken its toll on Canada's reputation around the world as an honest, clean country that could serve as an example to the world.

However, the Conservative Party made a commitment to Canadians in the last election campaign: give us a mandate to govern and we will clean up Ottawa.

After passing the toughest anti-corruption legislation in Canadian history, the Federal Accountability Act, and other measures to strengthen accountability in government, we did just that.

This year I am proud to say that under the leadership of this Prime Minister Canada has reversed the trend and is now ninth in the world on the clean government index.

However, we are not yet satisfied. We will continue to take action and make our institutions more democratic and accountable to ensure Canada is a leader on the world stage when it comes to transparency, openness and accountability in government.

[Criminal Code, June 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the member has consistently tried to frame her remarks as trying to clear the air and represent a crystal clear, truthful expression about gun control. I would like to go back to what my colleague said, that we want to get rid of useless gun control and get effective gun control. She compares our system here with the United States. Since 1934, handguns in our country have been restricted, so that is an absolutely false premise. She mentions over 19,000 cancellations and she confuses licensing with permits.

How can she state that murders, suicides and accidents are down from long guns, when the Auditor General specifically has said that there are no specific goals of the registry, no measures of success and no way to check the effectiveness of the registry?