Greg Thompson

[Citizenship Act, June 1st, 2007]

moved that the bill, as amended, be concurred in at report stage with a further amendment.

[Criminal Code, June 1st, 2007]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-59, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (unauthorized recording of a movie).

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Canadian Forces, May 31st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the member knows full well that one of the first things I did as Minister of Veterans Affairs was to call for a health care review so we could understand exactly how we could extend those benefits, the VIP precisely. The member knows that and members of the committee know that. We will act on it but not before that full report is in.

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2007]

moved that Bill C-22, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (age of protection) and to make consequential amendments to the Criminal Records Act, be read the third time and passed.

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2007]

moved that the bill be concurred in at report stage.

(Motion agreed to)

[Veterans Affairs, May 2nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the member has to be intellectually honest in his remarks but he is not being intellectually honest because he must acknowledge the 12,000 we brought in this year alone.

In terms of the veterans who are applying for disability pensions, he is referring to an issue that we worked on with our counterparts. We have the best pension entry plan in the world and the best arbitration in the world in terms of appeals. We are getting the job done for veterans.

[Veterans Affairs, May 2nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the member will acknowledge that we did more in our first 13 months than the Liberals did in 13 years: five OSI clinics, front line workers for veterans, an ombudsman for veterans, a bill of rights and we implemented the new charter.

We are committed to enhancing the VIP. I want to let the member know that this year alone we brought 12,000 new entries into that program. That is not a bad record.

[Veterans Affairs, April 27th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I want to make the member aware of what we have done for veterans in the last budget.

In fact, since taking office, we have increased benefits to veterans to the tune of half a billion dollars. We have brought in more front line workers. Those are things that the Liberals actually rejected in our budget. We have already brought in an ombudsman and the bill of rights. We are committed to improving those benefits.

Again, we are not going to do it in the ad hoc, make it up as we go along approach that the Liberals always take. We are doing it in a way that is--

[Veterans Affairs, April 27th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I think everyone will acknowledge that we have done more for veterans in our first 13 months in office than the Liberals did in 13 years. The Liberals, the government the member was part of, cut VIP services to allied veterans. They cut burial programs for veterans. They cut travel rates and treatment benefits for veterans.

We are committed to improving the VIP, but we are not going to do it in the ad hoc, make it up as we go along approach the Liberals always took and always will take.

[Official Languages, April 16th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as the member would know, when that was brought to our attention, we took action immediately to have those signs removed. We did that immediately, long before it was brought to the attention of that member. We did the right thing.