Geoff Regan

[Sheelagh Nolan, May 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart to pay tribute to a memorable Nova Scotian.

Last Monday, Sheelagh Nolan of Halifax died after a long and tenacious battle with cancer. She was only 43.

She was integral to the political career of her husband, former Nova Scotia Liberal leader Danny Graham, although she was ill for much of his tenure. Despite her short life, Sheelagh touched many of us, as evidenced by the thousand people who attended her music-filled memorial last Thursday night.

All of us who knew Sheelagh remember her as a wonderful mother, wife and friend whose greatest joy was her family. Today her courageous spirit lives on in her three boys. She was a generous soul we will not soon forget.

I ask all members of the House to join me in offering our thoughts and prayers to Danny, Patrick, Andrew, Colin and all of the Nolan and Graham families.

[Petitions, May 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to table a portion of a petition on behalf of 9,000 concerned Nova Scotians. This petition, signed by parents from Yarmouth to Cape North, calls upon the Prime Minister to honour the May 16, 2005, child care agreement between the Government of Canada and Nova Scotia.

I know members from two other parties will receive the remainder of this petition and I look forward to seeing them table it here in the coming days.

[Post-Secondary Education, May 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, that is another arrogant answer from a bush league government.

Our students have to go through all sorts of contortions to cover their registration fees and meet their needs.

On Monday, the minister promised to respond to the concerns of our students and, on Tuesday, she reneged on her promise.

Clearly the NDP abandoned our students in return for 10 seats.

Why has the minister abandoned our students to their miserable fate?

[Post-Secondary Education, May 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the finance minister created false hope on Monday when he pretended his budget would help thousands of students pay tuition each fall. However, all he offered was an $80 tax break on text books and the ability to go deeper in debt.

Did he keep his promise to create as dedicated transfer? No. Did he help aboriginal students? No. Did he offer students any hope at all? No.

How does that minister have the gall to stand in this place and offer students a pittance?

[Post-Secondary Education, May 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I think my hon. colleague is still asleep. The Conservatives have stitched together a pathetic package of credits and exemptions and are calling it a plan for education. Credits and exemptions are for tax time. They are too late for tuition time. They are not a plan for student assistance.

The government's scheme will mean that the only students who get higher education are those from higher income families who can cut the cheques in September. When will the government provide real support for Canadian students?

[Post-Secondary Education, May 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the rising cost of post-secondary education puts a heavy load on students, yet the government plans to spend 85% less than the Liberal government committed to help students in need.

What is worse, the government believes everything can be cured by a tax credit, but not one penny will get to students by the time tuition is due. Why is the government abandoning lower and middle income students in this country?

[Federal Accountability Act, April 25th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as you know, the rules of order are very important in this chamber. The reason we have this particular rule against the use of unparliamentary language is to maintain order and decorum in this place. That is a very important provision. That is why members cannot say, “I withdraw but I reserve it for outside”. They either withdraw it or they do not. They do not half withdraw; they do not partially withdraw. They either fully withdraw those kinds of comments, that unparliamentary language, or, Mr. Speaker, it is your responsibility as you know, to name them and have them leave the chamber.

[Human Resources and Social Development, April 10th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, despite a severe shortage of skilled workers, there is a deafening silence from the government when it comes to skills training. This is a priority for Canadians. We committed $3.5 billion for new labour market agreements. Last week, the heritage minister said her party would not honour any Liberal commitments.

Does the government plan to abandon Canadian workers or will the minister honour our skills training initiatives?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, April 6th, 2006]

No, guess again. It's already passed.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, April 6th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the Minister of Finance on both his election and his appointment as minister and welcome him to the House. I was looking forward to his comments when he entered the House because one notices when the Minister of Finance arrives and we especially notice it on budget day of course.

We are all looking forward to that, but in spite of the fact that it was not budget day, we did look for some more details and there were a lot of vague generalities. We are all anxious to have more details, anything really. We hope we have some soon. There was not much unfortunately in his comments today and I guess we have noted already that the plans of the Conservative government are in fact to raise income taxes.

I really question how the government can come in here and talk about tax relief when in fact its plan is to raise income taxes. We know the government's revenues are up. The Conservatives have been left in a very good situation with the strength of the price of oil, for example, and other factors across this country. The revenues of the Government of Canada are very strong.

If it were not for the fact that over the past 13 years the Liberal government has put the finances of this country on a solid footing and left the government in a very good basis, members would not be able to talk about doing any of these things. The fact is the government is in a very good position and there is no reason, whatever it does with the GST, why it should have to actually raise income taxes for lower and middle income people as it is planning to do. It is entirely irresponsible, so I hope the minister will assure us that this will not happen.

Second, I wish to comment on the point of eliminating the child care agreements across this country. The premier of Nova Scotia and the new Premier Rodney MacDonald were here not long ago and met with the Prime Minister and talked about the importance of maintaining those agreements. I wonder what his plans are in relation to those agreements, when the Conservative premier of Nova Scotia is saying to maintain those deals. What is he planning to do? Let us hear about that.

When he talks about job training and the importance of skills, he is right. Skilled workers are incredibly important in this country. There were a couple of words in the Speech from the Throne about competitiveness and productivity, but not the word “education”, not the words “job training”. He talks about incentives, but no direct support for apprenticeships, for real training. What is the government going to do for those crucial areas? So far we are seeing nothing from the government in these crucial areas.