Gary Goodyear

[Committees of the House, February 27th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 113(1), I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 13th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the membership of the legislative committee on Bill C-20, An Act to provide for consultations with electors on their preferences for appointments to the Senate.

[Afghanistan, February 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the hon. member for clarification.

In listening to the debate, I have heard some members, mostly from the opposition, suggest that this is a military mission which this new government decided upon. That is absolutely incorrect. I would like some clarification.

My understanding is that the previous government sent our troops to Afghanistan without a vote. Then it sent them down to Kandahar, the most dangerous place in Afghanistan, also without a vote.

When I hear those members stand up and say what they have said, I want some clarification. Is it not true that not only did the previous Liberal government send our troops to Afghanistan without a vote, but it then decided to send them to Kandahar, the most dangerous place, without a vote? I want to know if there was ever an exit strategy on any of those decisions.

[Committees of the House, February 26th, 2008]

(Motion agreed to)

[Committees of the House, February 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I move that the 12th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs be concurred in.

[Committees of the House, February 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Orders 104 and 114, I have the honour to present the 12th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, concerning the list of associate members of standing committees.

I seek unanimous consent of the House to move the motion for concurrence in the 12th report.

[Petitions, February 13th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I again have the honour to present yet another petition from folks in my area concerning the Canadian Pacific Railway and its building of a rail yard, which is deemed to be inadequate in protecting underground gas lines and, in particular, in protecting the pristine Nith River River from spills, leaks and contaminants, as well as inappropriate and improper sound barriers and on and on, including no guarantees that the engines will not idle for days and days, polluting our atmosphere like they do in Cambridge.

In this petition of over 270 signatures, I notice that a lot of names are from outside my riding, which seems to indicate a groundswell of Canadian citizens against the behaviour of Canadian Pacific Railway.

[Committees of the House, February 13th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, with the consent of the House, I move that the 11th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, tabled in the House today, be adopted.

[Committees of the House, February 13th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Orders 104 and 114, I have the honour to present to the House the 11th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the membership of House committees.

If the House gives its consent, I intend to move concurrence in the 11th report later this day.

[Senate Appointment Consultations Act, February 12th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the hon. member a simple question. There are elected senates in countries such as Australia, Mexico and Brazil. I believe that even in France there is an elected senate. What does the member have against elected senates?

[Canada Elections Act, February 11th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the hon. member congratulated the procedure and House affairs committee for all its work, although I guess in some weird way I should thank the member for all the work because we have been trying to close the holes that the Liberals found to get contributions in very tricky ways. I remember when there were $5,000 dinners and we had to close that loophole. Then there were donations from kids for $5,000 and we had to close that loophole.

The latest one in this act is really a good one. Let us say that a party that we might call the L party had a candidate running for leadership, and let us just call that candidate D. He borrows $800,000 from the bank, which is guaranteed by, let us say, his brother. Then he defaults on that $800,000 loan, making his brother pay it. The banks are happy, but the brother happened to make an $800,000 contribution, which is completely against the intent of the law. There are a number of members on that side, most of them sitting on the frontbench, who did exactly that.

I would like to ask the member if he intends to endorse that kind of a policy, or is the member actually going to encourage members of his party to follow the law's intent and stop making the procedure and House affairs committee work so hard?