Dick Harris

[The Environment, June 10th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals cannot seem to get their stories straight on their massive new carbon tax. Yesterday the member for Halton confessed that the Liberal plan was--

[Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, June 6th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, day three and still no answers from the Liberal leader. The deadline for him to pay off all of his leadership race loans was three days ago and he still has not tabled the agreement with Elections Canada, nor how he is going to pay off the loans.

When will he reveal the truth to Canadians? When will he reveal to Canadians just how much he owes and how he is going to pay it off?

The Liberal leader has racked up massive leadership race debts and now he has failed to find the supporters to help him pay it off. The Liberal leader has clearly shown that he cannot be trusted to handle the nation's debts.

When will the Liberal leader table his agreement with Elections Canada and clearly show his debt repayment plan? Canadians are waiting for this. They are waiting for the truth.

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I know the member was swimming upstream on his rebuttal, but to use a phrase like that I think is unparliamentary and I would like to ask him to withdraw it, please.

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, certainly the member who has just spoken has once again shown that he is most capable of shameless hypocrisy in the House, as he has on so many other occasions.

Speaking of the Elections Canada issue, it is important to state some facts. First, it is the Liberals themselves who have continually brought up Elections Canada in the House while the Conservative members who are involved rightly made the choice to pursue this in the courts. It was never brought up in the House proactively by the Conservative Party. It was always the Liberal Party.

By contrast, a lawsuit was launched against the member for West Nova. That member chose to use the privileges of this House in an attempt to fight that lawsuit outside the courtroom before he made it to court. That, in my opinion, is a direct conflict of interest.

Speaking of hypocrisy, I would suggest that if the impartial Ethics Commissioner who makes decisions about ethical conduct of the members of this House had made a choice the other way, there would be utter silence from that side of the House.

I will remind the Liberals that when a member of the Conservative Party had an issue with the Ethics Commissioner, the same members who are speaking now vigorously supported the Ethics Commissioner at the time because it was in line with what their thinking was.

I would like to ask the member--

[Budget Implementation Act, 2008, May 30th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I suppose one could determine that no matter what the member or any of his colleagues say, the fact that they will never form the government of our country kind of makes their statements pretty much unaccountable because they will never have to fulfill any promises they make. They do that very effectively, make promises which they know they will never have to live up to.

The member talked about fast tracking and allowing people to get in to Canada to perform certain duties. I understand he is from northern Ontario. He will know that all across the northern and rural part of our country there is a dramatic shortage of doctors, nurses and medical specialists who are critical to health care in that part of the country.

The member knows that on a regular basis doctors, nurses and medical specialists are allowed to come in to Canada to fill critical demands in health care, which not only apply to the northern part of my province but also to his.

Is he suggesting that we take away all of the fast track privileges and have people in rural and northern Canada go short on much needed health care? Is that what he is trying to say, or is he just, once again, trying to mix words to support whatever ideological straitjacket the NDP happens to be tied to at this time?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2008, May 30th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order, which is on relevance. The member has strayed dramatically from the amendments to the budget. Not only that, his misrepresentations of what he is talking about currently are even further away from the amendments.

[Fisheries and Oceans, May 30th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, monitoring, surveillance and enforcement are important elements of preserving our fisheries and oceans.

When our government came to power, we inherited a depleted force of fisheries officers who were stretched very thin in performing their duties. We took immediate action. We reversed the cuts made by the previous Liberal government and we have continued to invest assertively in this area.

Could the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans please update the House on any further investments that we are making in this area?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2008, May 30th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, my first thought is, God help us if the Liberals were in government at this time when this country is facing some economic challenges from outside the country and throughout the global marketplace.

The member for Markham—Unionville flipped-flopped, not once but at least three times during his speech. The Liberals are being dishonest with the House and with the Canadian people. They criticized our budget and yet voted for it. That is dishonest.

That member, among all the members of the Liberal party, should know that there is a direct correlation between a low tax regime and a buoyant economy and a direct correlation between a high tax regime and a struggling economy.

Our Minister of Finance knows that giving taxes back to families, back to small business, back to low income people and back to seniors is a good formula for making it through times of external challenges to our economy. That is what that member's party did not do. God help us if the Liberals were in power now.

[Aboriginal Affairs, May 15th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the government is following through on the residential schools settlement agreement. We are compensating former students and in just two weeks, the truth and reconciliation commission will be established. However, we still have no date for an apology from the government, the one to which it committed in the throne speech.

I would like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs to tell the House when that apology will happen?

[Kodiak Impact, May 2nd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, congratulations are in order for the Kodiak Impact, a 17 and under boys volleyball team from Prince George, B.C., a champion boys volleyball team. The team rose as victors in the B.C. provincial championships, claiming gold in the process.

The Kodiak Impact is in Ottawa this weekend to compete in the national volleyball championships. My colleagues in the House and I would like to wish the players every success in their playoff quest this morning.