Earl Dreeshen

[The Environment, February 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, last July the Minister of the Environment announced his intent to implement a joint environmental monitoring system with the Province of Alberta.

At the time the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development said this:

—these commitments hold the promise of establishing a credible, robust, and publicly accessible monitoring system for measuring environmental conditions and changes in environmental quality levels, as well as determining the sources of those changes.

Can the minister update the House on the status of this plan?

[Public Safety, December 5th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians value the work that our front-line police officers do every day to keep our streets and communities safe, and this often comes at no small price to their own personal safety.

Yesterday, near the town of Breton next to my riding, there was a serious incident involving the shooting of an individual who had barricaded himself in his home and exchanged gunfire with the RCMP.

Could the Minister of Public Safety please update the House on the status of this incident?

[Taxation, December 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I have heard from many constituents in my riding and across Canada worried about troubling U.S. tax laws that would punish Canadians. For many of these constituents, their only transgression was failing to file IRS paperwork they were unaware they were required to file. As such, our government called on the U.S. government to look upon these individuals with leniency. We were also clear that penalties imposed by the IRS under FBAR will not be collected by the Canada Revenue Agency on their behalf.

Can the parliamentary secretary please update the House on this situation?

[Order of Canada, December 1st, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, on November 4, I was honoured to attend the Governor General's Order of Canada ceremony to support and thank one of Red Deer's most valuable citizens, Joan Donald. She received this prestigious award for her contribution to business and her philanthropy across our community. Joan is the co-founder of Parkland Income Fund, one of Canada's biggest privately owned gas outlets and sits on its human resources and corporate governance committee.

Her passion for her community is evident with her devotion to the Festival of Trees campaign and her support for Red Deer College, where she sits as a member of its board of governors. She is also a member of many other boards, including the Alberta STARS Society and Foundation.

In addition to being awarded the Order of Canada, Joan has also won Red Deer's Citizen of the Year, Corporate Citizen of the Year and Generosity of Spirit from the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Joan Donald is a wonderful asset to our country and a great example of a well-deserving Canadian. I thank her for her service and ask her to keep up her good work.

[Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, November 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, it was said by Socrates, “Nobody is qualified to become a statesman who is entirely ignorant of the problems of wheat”. I am afraid that comes into this realm.

Could the hon. member discuss what will happen when we have the ability to continue the pooling options for wheat, durum and barley but be able to include other grains as well? If the rhetoric is it is going to kill the Canadian Wheat Board and if she recognizes that is all that it is, as far as the Canadian Wheat Board is concerned, the pooling options that are there will give the opportunity for 100% of the people to use that option if they wish to do so.

[Firearms Registry, October 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians gave our government a strong mandate to end the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry once and for all, and that is exactly what we are doing.

However, members on this side of the House are not the only ones who received that mandate from the people of Canada. Many NDP MPs promised their constituents that if they sent them to this place they would vote to end the long gun registry. However, we have already seen early in this Parliament that many NDP members are breaking their promises to their constituents.

Would the parliamentary secretary please tell the House how she views the decisions of those members opposite?

[Agri-Trade Exposition, October 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I am excited to announce the 28th annual Agri-Trade Exposition that will take place in my riding November 9 to 12.

The Red Deer Chamber of Commerce, the Westerner Exposition Association and the driving force behind the expo, Pat Kennedy, are all to be thanked for this year's upcoming success.

This year's theme is “International Agriculture Products and Service”, fitting, as we welcome the U.S. commerce department as one of our 450 exhibitors.

People can come to the Fortis Learning Stage to discuss agriculture ideas, technology, programs and new green initiatives; talk to experts from across the nation to get answers to various farming questions; attend seminars about crops, fertilizing, grain quality; and much more. There will even be a comedian, prizes and student bursaries awarded throughout the expo.

Therefore, I invite all hon. members to come down to Red Deer's Westerner Park and experience a one-of-a-kind exhibition that will cultivate their minds.

[Criminal Code, October 25th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Kildonan—St. Paul for all the efforts she has made over the years to protect the young and the vulnerable both here and abroad.

Could she expand on why it is so important that we look at Canada's trafficking in persons offences from an extraterritorial perspective?

[Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, October 20th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for that question as well as for all the work he has done to help give marketing freedom for farmers.

I can think back to the different operations involved on our farm. I started farming 40 years ago, so I have been filling out a Canadian Wheat Board permit for the last 40 years and I know the types of things that have happened and the concerns we have in central Alberta.

First, farmers are not able to get delivery contracts when they require them. Second, when the Canadian Wheat Board decides it wants to move some of our grain, a lot of the time we find that it happens to be when the road bans are on. If that does not work, then it says we had better have it delivered while we are trying to put our crops in. Finally, sometime in the summer we are able to get that pushed in there because we have to ensure it is done before July 31. Those are just part of the concerns that one has.

Then when we take a look at the dollars being returned to the Canadian farmer compared to the dollars we find elsewhere, we can see it is one of the reasons that the family farm has the problems it has now.

These are some of the things we have to consider.

[Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, October 20th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I am thankful that the member for Guelph has asked me that question, because he is talking to a farmer from western Canada who has a family farm that has been there since 1903.

There were types of things we were forced to do when we were told that we would not be able to market the wheat and barley that we produced. It pushed us into producing flax and canola in order to get some cash flow. When farmers produce their crop and then find out they are not going to get paid for it for 18 months and then are subject to all of the different things that are happening because of the Canadian Wheat Board, these are the kinds of changes that we believe are going to increase the family farm. This is the reason we will be able to ask our sons and daughters to come back and create the family farm that we all have dreamed of.