James Bezan

[Liberal Party of Canada, June 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, this weekend 11 wannabes gathered for the first Liberal leadership debate. After such a boring and visionless showing, let us call them Waffley, Blurry, Burny, Shakey, Lefty, Yappy, Five-Hole, Who, American Nomad, Shouty, and Doc. Let us discover some of their real identities.

Waffley is the ethically challenged member from Kings-Hants, who cannot decide what position he has on policies like Kyoto. Blurry, the member from Vaughan, objected to debating health care, and no one knows where he stands.

People are still wondering if Burny, the member from Vancouver Centre, is still seeing burning crosses in Prince George. We also have Shakey, the member from Eglinton—Lawrence, who denied he was shaking down elementary kids for $5,400 campaign donations.

Five-Hole is the member from York Centre, who is about as comfortable in this leadership race as he is out of net. American Nomad, from parts unknown, the member from Etobicoke—Lakeshore, bragged about his ignorance of the equalization formula.

If this is the best the Liberals have to offer, Canadians can expect the Liberal Party to be in opposition for a long, long time.

[Committees of the House, June 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am a western MP and many people would be surprised to learn that in my prairie riding I have 1,300 commercial fishermen on Lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba who are very dependent upon having fully functioning small craft harbours to get their whitefish boats in and out with their daily catch, especially during the season that is upon us. They are out with nets catching whitefish, pickerel, jackfish, saugers and mullets and bringing them back to the fish sheds to get them to market.

There is no doubt that the increase of money that the motion calls for is something that our small craft harbours need. Fishermen have lobbied me on a number of occasions because they felt ignored by the previous government and want to ensure there is more money in the budget to deal with the issue of the small craft harbours.

The member for Malpeque talked about the dredging issue. Dredging is not a new issue. In my riding of Selkirk—Interlake we have had an ongoing problem with consistent dredging since 1993 when the Liberals came to power. The mouth of the Red River has not been dredged since 1999. We cannot get the big fishing boats out of Lake Winnipeg and down to Selkirk with their catch. Everything has to be taken by road. Ships come into Gimli and everything is thrown onto trucks and then shipped to Selkirk to the fish plant. They cannot come down the river any more because it has been ignored for so long.

I just had a meeting this morning with the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to again plead for the resources to be freed up for the dredging that is needed at the mouth of the Red River so the ships can get to the plant to ready their fish for market.

I really am concerned that we are wasting a lot of time talking about this motion. Everyone in the House agrees to the motion. The government should be taking care of business right now rather than spending a lot of time on the motion. We all agree we need to increase the funding to small craft harbours, and not just increase the funding but actually carry through on the commitment and do a pile of repairs to our small craft harbours throughout the country from coast to coast, including our freshwater lakes.

Does the member feel that this is a proper use of time when we should be dealing with orders of the day and trying to get our government business going forward?

[Correctional Service of Canada, June 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, under the past Liberal government, Canada's corrections officers were doing their own hard time for four long years without a labour contract. The former government dithered and failed to act in good faith in the negotiations.

Former Treasury Board President Reg Alcock seemed more intent on bullying and intimidating the union members than on getting a deal done. Our corrections officers deserve better.

What has the new Treasury Board President done for our corrections officers during the four short months this Conservative government has been in power?

[Criminal Code, May 29th, 2006]

That is propaganda?

[Criminal Code, May 29th, 2006]

That you are not used to at all.

[Criminal Code, May 29th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague's intervention was a breath of fresh air after hearing some of the rhetoric on conditional sentencing that has been floating around the chamber today.

It is important that we get back to the basics in dealing with crime and punishment. The approach being taken by the Minister of Justice is the right one. It is the approach that people supported in the last election. Canadians want to make sure that people who do serious crimes do their time in jail, not under house arrest and not on conditional sentences where they walk our streets and reoffend. We want to make sure that we protect property values and protect people from injury so that we can continue to move ahead as a society and feel safe in our communities.

In Winnipeg not too far from my riding there has been a great increase in the number of property crimes. Car thefts are up exponentially. Various violent offences, injuries to seniors and personal injuries, whether they be from sex offences, break and enters or home invasions are on the rise.

Perhaps my hon. colleague would comment on the approach the Minister of Justice is taking with respect to conditional sentencing in order to ensure that criminals who reoffend and terrorize our communities will be kept off the street.

[Petitions, May 29th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition in the House today on child care from the city of Selkirk and area. The parents in that area feel quite strongly that they need to ensure that they have child care that supports both the families directly through income support, as well as creating child care spaces in community day care centres across the country. I am pleased to present this petition on their behalf.

[Criminal Code, May 29th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, while I found the presentation by my hon. colleague fairly entertaining, it was rather meandering as he went from topic to topic.

Bill C-9 is something that is long overdue. It is time that the government got tough on crime. People committing serious crimes must do the time. Over and over my constituents in Selkirk—Interlake have said to me that they want to ensure people who are a menace to society do their time in prison.

Does my colleague across the way feel that his constituents are also in agreement that dangerous and violent offenders, or repeat offenders who commit property crimes, like home invasions, should spend a fair amount of time in jail, rather than in house arrest or traditional sentences, which allows them to wander the streets and recommit those crimes?

Could the hon. member talk about that specific aspect of the bill and how his constituents feel about ensuring their communities are safe? Does the hon. member's constituents feel that it is safe to allow their children to play in playgrounds or walk the streets? Do his constituents have the sense of security, which we treasure as Canadians?

[Aboriginal Affairs, May 18th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, in my riding, as in the ridings of many other members, native friendship centres provide a valuable resource to thousands of aboriginal Canadians who live off reserves in our cities and towns. The 116 centres nationwide are places for people to meet and places for young aboriginal people to learn from their elders.

Could the Minister of Canadian Heritage please tell this House what measures the government has taken to ensure friendship centres are adequately funded?

[Agriculture, May 17th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, at the agriculture committee, the CEO of the Farmer Rail Car Coalition said that if the government had given its fleet of hopper cars over to the FRCC it would have had to charge a lease fee to farmers. He then said that with the FRCC plan there “will be some increased cost to farmers”.

Could the transport minister tell the House if the government's decision to keep the hopper cars means any increased cost to farmers?