Dean Del Mastro

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, it is interesting. The member quoted Julian Fantino's book, Duty, but I wonder if he has actually read it. I wonder if he has actually considered some of the things that are in it, some of the heartbreaking stories that are in there from a person with 42 years of service in policing, someone who has stood up for victims and communities, someone who has looked in the eyes of people who have committed true acts of evil and watched them walk on technicalities. That is difficult. Julian Fantino has done that and he stood up for communities.

I want to say something about this debate today. This is not a big issue in my riding and I doubt it is a big issue in the member's riding either. At a time when economies in Europe are failing and everyone is talking about the economy and jobs and things that Parliament should be focused on, the Liberal Party is talking about what happened in 1982. I do not think that is a platform, but maybe the member can relate why we are having this debate today when people at home have real concerns about how they are going to get jobs, pay their bills and so forth. The member does not seem to have those concerns at all on his mind.

[Points of Order, December 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, on a question that was asked of the hon. Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, he quoted the current CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the former deputy prime minister of Canada, John Manley. I distinctly heard the member for Ottawa South say aloud “What would John Manley know anyway?” I would like to have him retract those comments. They are disrespectful.

[Peterborough, December 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today in recognition of Peterborough being recognized in a recent survey as the second happiest city in Ontario and seventh happiest overall in Canada.

Home to the world's tallest hydraulic liftlock and the Trent Severn waterway, Peterborough was nicknamed “electric city” when it became the first city in North America to light up electric street lights. That vibrance still drives our beautiful and industrious region to this day, whether in our factories, hockey rinks, performance venues or our outstanding post-secondary institutions.

What has always made me proud of my hometown is its heart and generosity. Nowhere in Canada is the expression that the greatest joy is the one that comes from giving on better display than in Peterborough.

Now the electric city region and Peterborough are happy to share our collective joy with all Canadians. In fact, once we re-establish passenger rail service between Peterborough and Toronto's Union Station, we will have connected one of Canada's happiest cities to Canada's least happy, according to the same survey.

Not to worry Toronto, Peterborough will be only too happy to share the joy along the Shining Waters Railway just as soon as the trains start running.

[Copyright, November 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, as we have noted before, the opposition coalition has never seen a tax it did not like. In fact it has never seen one it would not hike. We know that for a fact.

Loreena McKennitt, Juno Award winning singer-songwriter said, “I would oppose the iTax. I would rather have a strict and predictable business model in which to conduct my business.

We can have that today. By unanimous consent, we could pass the copyright reforms today. Let us pass Bill C-32.

[Copyright, November 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear. This government will not support the iPod tax or the digital tax that the Bloc, the NDP and the Liberals put forward. They have put this forward despite the fact that many Canadians, from a broad spectrum right across society, have indicated that this is a bad idea.

Graham Henderson from the Canadian music recording industry said, “I don't think that's the solution. I don't think creators benefit from that...I don't think consumers are going to benefit from that. No one will”.

Why do those members support this ridiculous position?

[City of Lévis, November 22nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I addressed this question on Friday. Obviously, we are very proud that Lévis was one of three cities that was selected as a cultural capital for 2011. It is a great story.

In fact, I lauded the efforts of the member for Lévis—Bellechasse and how hard he worked on this. However, I forgot the lobby efforts of the member for Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière. He worked incredibly hard on this.

It was one of three cities selected and we are so proud that a cultural capital has been established in 2011 in the city of Lévis.

[City of Lévis, November 19th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, what a wonderful opportunity to stand up and congratulate the hard-working member for Lévis—Bellechasse, my colleague who has championed through the cultural capital program for his home riding.

Only three cities out of eleven that applied were honoured with the title of cultural capital. Lévis--Bellechasse was one of them. He is an outstanding member of Parliament. It is a great city. The title is well deserved and we are honoured to support it with this distinction.

[Copyright, November 19th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I will continue a little further down the page with all the groups that have come forward in support of Bill C-32, including entertainment software companies such as EA, Microsoft, Nintendo and Ubisoft. I think some of those are in Quebec. They are supporting this.

Ultimately, here is what this is about. The Bloc, the NDP and the Liberal Party all voted earlier in the House to extend something that we referred to as the iTax, a tax on digital devices and memory devices. Canadians do not want to pay fees and taxes on upgrading and updating media. This kind of tax on technology is regressive thinking. That is the Bloc—

[Copyright, November 19th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the special legislative committee will be considering Bill C-32 beginning next week. It is important that the member be aware of how many people actually support the bill: over 400 film, television and interactive media companies; 150 chief executives across Canada, representing companies with $4.5 trillion in assets; 38 multinational software companies, including Corel, Dell, HP, Apple, IBM and Intel; 300 of Canada's board of trade associations; 25 university student associations. It is a big page. I hope he has another question.

[November 17th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, our party has been very clear. We are not going to support an iPod tax.

In fact, the member well knows that when the Canadian Recording Industry Association came before committee, it indicated to her, “You want to give us scraps. What we want is a market”.

That is what Bill C-32 would provide. It would provide the opportunity to re-establish a marketplace where people buy music, and it would absolutely shut down illegal file sharing in this country. That is what we need to do. We need that member on board.