François Lapointe

[Business of Supply, March 8th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we must not slide down the slippery slope of judging the credibility of an elected representative. We were all elected by universal suffrage. She was elected.

I would ask my hon. colleague to withdraw his suggestion that one elected representative has more or less credibility than another.

[Business of Supply, March 8th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would simply like to point out that my hon. colleague is under 30 and is just beginning her political career. She is making a very simple point, that is, her indignation. If she needs to shout to express her indignation, she has every right to do so.

[Business of Supply, March 8th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, I would like to tell the hon. member for Guelph that he has my full support in the battle to find out what happened in his riding, which will likely be a long process. The first pieces of evidence submitted are absolutely inadmissible and unacceptable.

I would like to know what the hon. member thinks about two things. I heard a political commentator say that, under the law, impersonating an Elections Canada official is like impersonating a police officer.

I would like to hear the hon. member's reaction to this analysis and to another thing that I found very interesting. I would like to point out that, for the past few days, the Conservatives have been changing their tune. They started by saying that these were unsubstantiated smears, but for the past two days, they have been talking about exaggerated allegations. Things are getting interesting.

I would like to hear the hon. member's reaction to these two things.

[41st General Election, March 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities answered “no” to the question about whether aggressive solicitation is a practice supported by the Conservative government.

And yet we know that RMG uses the name of the Conservative Party's telephone fundraising office and that solicitation calls are made from a number cited hundreds of times on websites that list complaints of harassing calls.

To top it all off, we are now beginning to hear from Conservative supporters who feel as though they were taken advantage of. The Conservative Party must take clear action. It must determine which Conservative officials support these practices and impose the necessary sanctions. It must demand that RMG turn over the databases containing the names of people who may have been harassed, take the necessary action and make a public apology.

If it does not, Canadians should consider the little “no” that was so nonchalantly uttered yesterday as another form of contempt for them and, even worse, for the Conservative electorate. There are cases where no—

[41st General Election, March 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, if we have understood today's robo-answers correctly, robocalls are the norm for the Conservative Party.

After Fernand Coulombe, two other people contacted Le Devoir and said that they had been subject to aggressive solicitation. In all cases, the number used was reported for harassment. These people were harassed by the Conservative Party's fundraising arm, which, we should remember, has the same address as RMG in Toronto.

Are harassing calls the norm and are they recognized and supported by the Conservative Party?

[41st General Election, March 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, in June 2011, the Conservative Party fundraising call centre, which is located in the exact same office as RMG in Toronto, repeatedly solicited Fernand Coulombe, an 89-year old man from Montmagny, for a $200 donation. Mr. Coulombe said he never promised anything. Yet I have before me the letter he received, which reads, “Thank you for your generous promise of a $200 donation.”

Is RMG mandated to do its own fundraising on behalf of the Conservative Party? Is aggressive solicitation a common Conservative practice?

Our seniors deserve respect. So, please, how about a little transparency for once?

[Asbestos, March 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the minister thinks that moving an employment insurance processing centre to his constituency is a transition plan for asbestos.

Yesterday, La Presse reported that, between 2005 and 2010, more than 45% of work-related deaths in Quebec were associated with asbestos. An industry that is no longer socially acceptable clearly has no future. Out of simple respect for his office and for his fellow citizens, the minister must come up with an answer that is different from the same old tune about safe handling.

What is preventing the Minister of Industry from announcing an economic transition plan? Is the reason that he has sunk to courting votes or that he has no influence in his caucus?

[Daniel St-Pierre, February 29th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Daniel St-Pierre passed away on February 2, 2012, at the age of 63, after a devastating battle with cancer. He will be sadly missed by his wife, his brothers and sisters, everyone in his extended family, his friends and colleagues, and the thousands of people who rubbed shoulders with him in the course of his many social commitments.

I would be remiss if I did not rise here in the House to commend Mr. St-Pierre's years of work with co-operatives like the Horisol workers' co-operative, the thousands of hours he put in as chair of organizations like the Fondation-Jeunesse de la Côte-Sud, as well as his invaluable contribution as a Saint-Jean-Port-Joli municipal councillor and as mayor of Saint-Aubert.

The legislative efforts of major democracies would basically be meaningless without people like Mr. St-Pierre who give themselves fully to civil society. So, in defiance of this loathsome killer, which seems intent on taking our best and brightest before their time, Mr. St-Pierre will forever be remembered fondly by the thousands of people who knew him simply as Dan.

I would like to offer my sincere condolences to Michelle Séguin and take this opportunity to say here in the House: Dan, thanks a million.

[Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, February 27th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Halifax for her comments.

The members opposite always talk about the right of workers to reach a fair agreement that deals with their education and status. That is a problem for the free market.

If trade does not make for real progress, then we are preventing these countries from one day developing an actual market. People who have gone to school and who have decent jobs create a market. The position of the members opposite is inconsistent, as though standing up for fundamental rights does not lead to a better quality of life and the development of markets. I would like to hear the hon. member's comments on this issue.

[Senate Reform Act, February 27th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, the likelihood that there will be riots in Quebec regarding the Constitution and the Senate—that is, the kind of disastrous situation that my colleague just evoked—is non-existent. I can guarantee this. People do not care about the Senate. It will simply be a democratic exercise to determine whether the Senate should be kept in some intelligent form or completely abolished. There will be no riots in Quebec, there will be no breaking up the country over an issue like the Senate. That is impossible.