Greg Thompson

[Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, March 29th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, we have not done that. All he would have to do is read the budget. A lot of words, but he has not read the budget.

We have put more money into Atlantic Canada. In fact, in this year's budget over $200 million more was transferred to New Brunswick over the previous government of which he was member.

In terms of regional development and capital cost allowances, we are getting it done in New Brunswick. He should be ashamed of Liberal record. We are getting the job done.

[Battle of Vimy Ridge, March 29th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the world has long known that it can count on Canada. Wherever there is danger, wherever there is need, Canada has earned an international reputation for generosity and compassion. Wherever peace is threatened, Canada's men and women in uniform have earned the reputation for courage and action.

We are a nation devoted to freedom, to democracy, to human rights and to the rule of law, and we see it today in Afghanistan and Canada's many other peacekeeping and military operations around the world.

On the eve of the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, we are reminded of where this proud tradition was forged. It was on a treacherous, sodden battlefield in the north of France that a young Canada came of age as a nation.

Every time I rise in this House I cannot help but mention that we only serve in this place because our veterans served our country with great courage and at great cost.

Such is the story of Lieutenant Colonel Sam Sharpe who was a parliamentarian. He sat in this chamber and, like all of us in the House of Commons, he earned his privilege to sit here. He took his seat as an elected member of Parliament but he was also a soldier, a soldier who served on that battlefield that the French came to call “the graveyard of France”.

He witnessed death and destruction on a scale that none of us can imagine: 800,000 casualties and 200,000 dead on the heavily fortified slopes of Vimy Ridge alone.

Lieutenant Colonel Sharpe knew what he was facing when arrived with his own troops just weeks before the battle began on a cold and miserable Easter Monday morning.

He felt “a sacred trust” to bring his men home alive, and he knew exactly how difficult it would be to honour that trust.

Writing to his wife, Mabel, he said:

We have very little protection there and I may not pull through. If it should be my fate to be among those who fall, I wish to say I have no regrets to offer. I have done my duty.

Seven months later, while still serving on the battlefields of Europe, the fields of France, he was re-elected to this House of Commons for the third time.

However, even in such victory, Lieutenant Colonel Sharpe was already succumbing to the ravages of war. He never returned to this House. His life ended tragically, shattered by what he had seen. He had survived the bullets and the bombs but, sadly, he died at a Montreal hospital in May 1918 of complete mental and physical exhaustion. He was heartbroken by the loss of so many young men placed in his sacred trust.

We must never forget our Sam Sharpes or the Woods family of Winnipeg, in fact, Mrs. C.S. Woods, the Silver Cross mother who lost eight sons in that great war.

When we speak to such families that have paid the ultimate price, they often tell us that they were only answering their call to duty.

We need to cherish and honour them and we need to cherish and honour our last living links to what has been called our “greatest generation”. We need to celebrate men like John Babcock and Dwight Wilson who represent our last known surviving Canadian veterans of the first world war, two remarkable men who remain as proud of Canada today as when they wore the uniform back then.

Their stories are of great sacrifice and great achievement. They remind us of who we are and where we are from. And they remind us of the great debt we continue to owe.

British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, explained it very simply in a speech he gave just days after the great war had ended when he said, “What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for our heroes to live in?”

I know all of us here are committed to this challenge and we accept this responsibility. I see it every day in this House and I am always comforted by it. When the passions and rhetoric of question period have subsided, members from every side of this House, from all parties, approach me, as Minister of Veterans Affairs, not for political advantage or personal gain, but on behalf of their constituents, their veterans, Canada's veterans.

All of us want Canada to do the right thing for our veterans. It speaks highly of all members in this House. And so, this is what we will honour next month in France, in Ottawa and in every region of this country.

Canadians of all ages will come together in our largest cities and our smallest villages to pay tribute to our veterans' heroic efforts and to remember: to remember that our victory at Vimy Ridge came with a steep price. More than 10,600 Canadian soldiers were wounded in the fighting. Among them were 3,600 Canadians who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, for freedom and for peace.

Their names are inscribed on the beautifully restored Canadian National Vimy Memorial, the same memorial that Queen Elizabeth II, the Prime Minister and thousands of ordinary Canadians will rededicate next month. There are 11,285 names etched on this powerful monument, a lasting tribute to the Canadian soldiers who died in France and a lasting tribute to the 600,000 Canadians who stepped forward to serve our country in the war to end all wars.

With 5,000 students travelling to France next month, we will ensure that those Canadians from our past are remembered for generations to come and that they are remembered for more than just numbers or finely etched names.

They were fathers, sons, brothers and uncles who answered the call of duty, the call of their country in its greatest need.

They were soldiers cut down in their prime before they could realize their own dreams. They sacrificed what they could have been so we could know a better tomorrow. It is the most unselfish act we can ever know. These soldiers remain a source of pride and inspiration today.

We know that soldiers, in moments of reflection, often wonder why they were spared and not their fallen comrades. They wonder, in moments of silence and solitude, why fate chose their comrades. They often struggle with the question of why they were allowed to return home to their loved ones while other brave Canadians were laid to rest in foreign soil.

That is why I am so honoured and so privileged to be leading a Veterans Affairs contingent to Vimy next month to join some of our traditional wartime veterans and special guests on a six day pilgrimage to France.

We will pay tribute to those men who accomplished, through courage and ingenuity, what other allied forces could not: to capture and hold Vimy Ridge.

We will mark the true birth of a nation when the four divisions of the Canadian Corps joined together for the first time on April 9, 1917, and began what was termed “months of unending triumph”.

But more than anything, we will be going back to France to keep the promise of those who returned home, the promise of those who vowed never to forget their fallen comrades.

I am sure that in the silence of our solemn ceremonies, our veterans from all generations will hear the voices of those they left behind. Those voices will be saying, “Thank you. Thank you for today. Thank you for your gift of Remembrance”.

[The Budget, March 26th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I know the member asked a question in the House today about Shermag, which in the Sherbrooke area, if I am not mistaken. It is unfortunate that happens. I think the minister, who answered in question period, talked about the capital write-offs, as announced by the finance minister on budget day, that would make investing in new equipment a reality now for some of those companies. They can invest in new technology to move ahead and be more competitive because that is a very competitive business. We do not like to see any business shut down. However, I there is a lot in the budget for Quebec and all parts of Canada so companies can continue to—

[The Budget, March 26th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, first, I fundamentally disagree with Professor Savoie. In fact, he is the economist who sometimes contradicts and disagrees with himself.

As a former minister of ACOA, the member should know that Donald Savoie was the guy who suggested ACOA should be scrapped. That is how much credibility Donald Savoie has on some areas. We have to consider that.

How does more become less? It is only with Liberal math that could happen. Think about it. This year we are transferring $2.3 billion to the province of New Brunswick, a province of only 700,000 people. How could anyone argue with that?

Donald Savoie, under the last Liberal lot, was given an appointment by guess who? The former finance minister and former prime minister, the member for LaSalle—Émard. That is the type of guy that Donald Savoie is. He is a nice man, I respect him at many levels, but he is a Liberal.

[The Budget, March 26th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I want to inform you that I will be splitting my time with the Minister of National Revenue.

I want to begin by thanking the finance minister for a good budget. I know he is in the House and will appreciate those words. I think those are words that should be coming from all sides of the House if politics were locked out of the discussion. However, we know in this place that cannot happen and will not happen.

We are focusing as a government, and particularly the finance minister in this budget, on the right things. We are focusing on hard-working Canadians, on families, on seniors, on students and on investing in our provinces and on solving the fiscal balance. We have done that in this budget. We are moving the economy forward by reducing debt, cutting taxes and a tax back guarantee from the finance minister and from this government. We are investing in infrastructure, post-secondary education and child care.

As the Minister of Veterans Affairs, it is important that I talk about what we are doing for veterans, our men and women in uniform. We are investing in our men and women in uniform, those men and women who have made Canada what it is, a country that is dedicated to freedom, democracy and the rule of law. We have done an exceptionally good job with our veterans and for our men and women in uniform.

I want to go through some of the things that we have done in the last year for our men and women in uniform, particularly the veterans. When I am speaking of veterans, I am speaking of their families and their dependant children.

In our first year alone we spent $352 million more than the previous government. As a result of this year's budget, we have added to that. After being in government just a little over a year, in total we are spending about $.5 billion more on veterans and their families than the previous government. That is a pretty good start.

One of the things I want to talk about is ex gratia payments that we extended to the widows and dependant children who were left outside of the new charter.

Just about a year ago, we implemented the new veterans charter, which was passed in the House of Commons by the previous government, but it failed to implement it. Just a little over a month after having been sworn in as the government, we implemented the new veterans charter.

Mr. Speaker, I know you are a great supporter of veterans. We did some events together at Lester Pearson High School on Flag Day, and it was a great event. If my memory serves me right, I think you are the only Speaker in the House who has a legion crest in his Speaker's gown. It is nice to have you in the chair while I am speaking of veterans.

We extended ex gratia payments to those widows and dependant children. The reason I want to mention this is it kind of gives a sense of how we, as a government, are committed to them.

As the Minister of Veterans Affairs, I often say we have to be as committed to them and their families as they are to our country. We send them on dangerous missions around the world. Whether it is peacekeeping, peacemaking or any other mission, they dedicate themselves 100% to the mission and to their country. When things go wrong for them and when they need us, we have to be there for them.

When we extended that tax free ex gratia payment of $250,000, that was what these families and dependant children would have received as the result of the death of a loved one if the new charter had been passed, which it was not. They fell between the cracks. It was one of the first things I ever went to cabinet and the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance with to correct this wrong.

The new charter has made a difference to the lives of many of our veterans. As we well know, every year we have 5,000 service people retiring from the service and coming into the system. Sadly, we are losing about 23,000 traditional World War II veterans every year because of old age. Now they are octogenarians and moving on at an alarming rate. We are there for them and for the new families of these new service veterans, new service members moving into the system.

Last year we also provided funding to what we call the Juno Beach Centre. We committed $5 million over the next decade to maintain that facility, Canada's only second world war memorial in Europe. In fact, that was an announcement we made in your riding, Mr. Speaker, $5 million The centre was started by some veterans and we stepped up to help them because we did not want that centre lost to history.

In this budget we have made some more advancement for veterans. We have announced that we will set up five additional operational stress injury clinics across the country. That is in addition to the five we presently have. We are doing this because it is not just bombs and bullets that injure our soldiers. A lot of it is mental stress and mental injuries that one sustains as a result of being in areas of conflict and areas of stress. That is something I am very proud of and we are moving on that.

In addition to that, shortly we will be announcing an ombudsman for veterans and enforce with a bill of rights for veterans, something veterans have been talking about for years, but no government moved on that. We are moving ahead with that as well.

At the end of the day, we are spending money and investing in the men and women who deserve it, the men and women who have always been there for Canada. I am very pleased to see those announcements in the budget. Until budget day, it is all a mystery to us, whether it will be in or out.

I thank the finance minister for considering our veterans and standing up for them. At the end of the day, all of us on all sides of the House applaud that type of support.

In regard to my home province of New Brunswick, again there is good news for the province. I always do this by comparing what we are doing as opposed to what the previous government did. I think that puts it in perspective. When members criticize what we are doing, as the Liberals often do, basically they are criticizing their past governments.

This year alone we are investing in the province of New Brunswick $203 million more than the previous Liberal government did on its watch. That is a significant amount of money in a small province. The investments include about $1.4 billion under the equalization system, $512 million through the Canada health transfer, $222 million under the Canada social transfer and $64 million more in infrastructure.

There are some major changes on the tax side. There is additional relief in terms of capital cost allowances for our companies that want to invest in new equipment, which will move the economy ahead. There is money for students and education, which are all important things for the province of New Brunswick.

I am very pleased with the budget, particularly as a New Brunswicker. I am also pleased with the things we are doing for veterans.

We will continue to move forward. At the end of the day, we are getting the job done.

[The Budget, March 23rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to use the words of the finance minister and ask the member for Acadie—Bathurst to read the budget.

In fact, the New Brunswick government alone is getting over $203 million more than it received under the previous Liberal government. That is significant. In addition, New Brunswick is getting $110 million more than it received in our budget last year. That is being pretty generous to New Brunswickers.

I do not know how the member can come up with less when the province is getting more. That is poor arithmetic.

[National Defence, February 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. We are spending $352 million more this year than last year on behalf of veterans affairs. We have opened a number of clinics across the country.

We are working very closely with DND to recognize symptoms very early so treatment can begin earlier. The health of the soldiers is the most import factor, no question about that.

[Juno Beach Centre, February 15th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chance to pay tribute to our veterans, the corporate citizens and more than 18,000 individual Canadian donors who made the Juno Beach Centre a reality. They were determined to have a lasting memorial to honour the men and women who made remarkable efforts during the second world war. The centre was built on the Normandy coast.

Today, at Lester Pearson Catholic High School, the Prime Minister and I had a chance to recognize veterans like Garth Webb and, to show our unwavering support, we announced $5 million in funding over the next decade so the Juno Beach Centre will never again be in jeopardy.

[Canadian Forces, February 12th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I will let the House know that this year alone this government spent $352 million more on veterans and their families than last year. We implemented a new veterans charter which commits us to $250,000 for every widow, tax free, something the other government sat on but did not do. We are spending more on veterans and their families and the widows.

[Veterans Affairs, November 10th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, just a reminder to all of us that tomorrow is Remembrance Day. We will be leaving this chamber, you, I and all members of Parliament, and going back to our largest cities and smallest villages and laying wreaths in honour of those men and women who have sacrificed so much for us.

Last week, when I was speaking in the House, in a tribute to our veterans and Remembrance Day, I reminded all of us that we only serve here because of what they did for us, the greatest democratic institution on the face of the earth. We thank them and honour them.

I thank all members of the House for the support they have given me in recognizing our veterans and doing as much as we possibly can for them. We have some of them with us in the House today. We wish them well tomorrow. I know we will have a big turnout. I urge all Canadians to do the same.