Dick Harris

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 8th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, that is not exactly correct. In fact the minister told me that he would be willing to meet with the mayor and his officials in a month or so. A month or so is not good enough, because water and sewer services to the band will be cut off at the end of March.

The minister is prepared to spend about $10 million over the next five years to duplicate these services for a 59 person band rather than try to solve the current problem immediately like he should be.

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 8th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development appears to be quite ready to let the town of Burns Lake in my riding be hung out to dry for about $1 million in municipal taxes owed to them by the Burns Lake Indian Band.

To help this along the minister appears to be ready to spend an estimated $10 million over the next five years to duplicate the same services that are now offered to the band for which they have not paid their back taxes and refuse to pay any more.

This is an urgent situation. Will the minister meet with the mayor of Burns Lake and his officials on an urgent basis within the next two to three weeks to get this impasse resolved?

[Supply, February 8th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I strongly object to the characterizations of the member opposite, who is known in the House for his personal attacks during his speeches. I ask that he withdraw that sarcastic reference to our leader he just uttered.

[Speech From The Throne, February 2nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I should like to refer to some statements the Minister of the Environment made today.

I was surprised when the government talked about its grand plan for going to Kyoto and holding Canada out as an environmental standard for the world. It went to Kyoto without a plan or a cost estimate, and yet it promised the world to all the other nations there.

When the government came back to the House we asked how it would finance its plan and carry it out. The government did not know because even at that time, after it made its promises, it did not have a plan.

The K word is missing from the throne speech, K being Kyoto. Yet there are statements about the environment which are quite vague and meaningless. It seems reality has caught up to the government in terms of its Kyoto promises.

Because the Kyoto agreement and the promises Canada made are so significantly absent from the throne speech, where exactly do the Liberal government's ill-conceived environmental promises stand on its agenda now? Could the hon. member tell us in detail?

[Natural Resources, February 2nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the examples of indifference or even ignorance shown by the Liberal government toward British Columbians occur on a regular basis.

Here is just another example of many. B.C.'s forest industry is being devastated by a mountain pine beetle infestation that is a natural disaster equal to an ice storm in Ottawa or a flood in Quebec. Yet, while the mandate of the Canadian Forest Service includes assistance in regard to insect damage, the federal government has done nothing to help British Columbia's forest industry out of this true natural disaster.

Once again, as a B.C. MP, I say to the Liberal government, thanks for nothing.

[Economic Policy, October 19th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad he finally got to his question.

What I did when I stood up earlier was explain to the parliamentary secretary some of the programs that we would cut. Granted, we are talking at this stage only about $7 million or $8 million. If I had an hour we could put it up into the billions.

The member from Nipissing says that we are $25 billion short. Let me state exactly where it is because hidden in this magnanimous gesture of tax relief, in this mini-budget, is $52 billion in new spending. Twenty-three dollars billion goes to health care, which it has ripped out of it since 1993, but that still leaves about $25 billion in new spending programs that the government is trying to hide in this mini-budget by talking about all the tax relief; $25 billion in new spending. Just to make sure that it got spent, just to make sure that no Liberal forgot how to spend money, they brought in the ex-premier of Newfoundland to remind them all how to spend money. We are going to see that person in action if this Liberal government, my goodness, I shudder to think, should ever win the next election. I pity the people in the government, and there are two or three who have some fiscal sense, because they are going to be crying themselves to sleep every night as they watch the ex-premier of Newfoundland teach all the Liberals who may have forgotten how to spend money how to do it once again.

[Economic Policy, October 19th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I withdraw the word deceitful.

The Liberals may be at times, in addition to being devious, seen to be lacking in integrity. They may seem to be at times, by some people, lacking in moral fibre. However, one thing they are not is stupid when it comes to using the book of election trickery. They know that book very well and they have read that book very well. We saw an example here yesterday of just how much they have been able to embrace that book of political trickery over the years.

They have been stripping Canadian taxpayers of their hard earned money for seven long years. They have put in about 40 tax increases over the last seven years. They have taken over $50 billion of new tax increases over the last seven years. Now, on the eve of another election, they are going to give them all their money back.

What a gimmick. What a gift. They are going to give Canadians back their own money. This is amazing. They think they are doing something wonderful. It is like when my children were small. When they misbehaved I would take away their toys. When I would give them a few back and they thought they were getting something new.

They have failed miserably in their attempt to out tax relief the Canadian Alliance Party. Their program simply is not believable. One only has to read the recent auditor general's report on HRDC and on budget program 2000 and see the language that is contained in that report.

Given all the evidence of the mismanagement of HRDC, the billion dollar or so boondoggle, given the wording of the AG's report on the budget 2000 that the minister has presented, a financial document that is misleading, Canadian voters will be asking themselves one question: Can we trust the Liberals? The answer will be a resounding no on November 27 when they elect a Canadian Alliance government to run this country properly.

[Economic Policy, October 19th, 2000]

Certainly, Mr. Speaker. They may be at times seen—

[Economic Policy, October 19th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the member from Nipissing unfortunately has been drug around by a horse a little too long. It is starting to affect his thinking.

As I commented on once before, if one focuses on something too long one tends to take on the characteristics of it. It is obvious in his case he has by riding in that little cart behind the horse.

There is one thing about the Liberals, and let us be fair, they may be devious, they may be deceitful—

[Economic Policy, October 19th, 2000]

He sort of drug that one up.