James Moore

[Privacy, April 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, with respect, I do not think my colleague quite understands the law. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, section 7, spells out very clearly the kinds of information that are being sought by different agencies of the government, and they all relate to public safety, national security, and criminal investigations. That is what this is about. We have moved forward, as I said, to further protect the privacy of Canadians online. The digital privacy act does that.

We have worked with the Privacy Commissioner in developing these proposals. We have put them before the Parliament of Canada. If the NDP has any ideas that it wants to bring forward to draw into our legislative process, we will entertain them.

[Privacy, April 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, before we tabled Bill S-4, the digital privacy act, I spoke to the Privacy Commissioner and got her views on how to best move forward with modernizing Canada's intellectual property laws.

I spoke to her this morning about the story that has been in the news recently, and in fact here is what she said about our digital privacy act and our efforts to best protect Canadians online. She said, “...I welcome the proposals...” in this bill. This bill contains “...very positive developments for the privacy rights of Canadians...”.

We work with the Privacy Commissioner. We protect the best interests of everyday Canadians, and we are making sure that we move forward to modernize our digital laws.

[Questions on the Order Paper, April 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, for each fiscal year from 2013-14 to 2027-28, the response is as follows: with regard to (i), as of 2013-14, the ongoing annual program expenditure for the Canada Research Chairs, CRCs, is $265 million.

With regard to (ii), the number of chair allocations funded at any given time is prone to fluctuation, owing to such factors as time lags associated with program nomination and peer review cycles; retirement or mobility of professors, as chairs are not transferable between institutions; or universities not immediately utilizing all of the chair positions allocated to them.

With regard to (iii), there are two types of Canada Research Chairs. Tier 1 chairs, awarded to established researchers who are recognized as world leaders in their disciplines, are funded at $200,000 annually. Tier 2 Chairs, awarded to emerging research leaders, are funded at $100,000 annually.

[Consumer Protection, April 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we have already introduced such legislation to protect the interests of consumers. We have already done this. We are making gas pump inspections mandatory. We have already done this.

To the larger point here, it is Conservatives who, through all of our budgets, have put over $3,200 more into the pockets of Canadian families. We believe in having lower taxes so that families can have more choice in how they live their lives.

We have put in place the Fairness at the Pumps Act. We have effective regulation. We have empowered the Competition Bureau. We have lowered taxes for Canadians. We are standing up for everyday citizens.

That is what Conservatives do.

[Consumer Protection, April 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, our government has taken action. We have passed the Fairness at the Pumps Act. We put in place legislation and regulation that will do exactly what the member described, which is to stand up to any unfairness that Canadians are seeing and empower the Competition Bureau.

On top of that, we have already seen fines imposed on those who have abused Canadian consumers. Better than that, we have lowered taxes for Canadians.

The New Democrats pretend to stand up for consumers and pretend to be in favour of middle-class interests in this country. They should recognize that it is only this government that has lowered taxes over 160 times, put over $3,000 back into the pockets of families so they have more power and—

[Industry, April 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, I was very pleased to be joined by leaders of Canada's tech community in Kitchener—Waterloo to announce Digital Canada 150, our government's digital policy framework going forward.

Here is what Chris O'Neill, the managing director of Google Canada, said: “This strategy will accelerate digital adoption and technological innovation among Canadian businesses which is essential to remain a global economic power”.

Mark Barrenechea, the president and CEO of Open Text, said: “Digital Canada 150 lays the foundation for a connected and competitive Canada”.

In the last campaign we said that we would deliver to Canadians an effective national digital policy. Digital Canada 150 has five pillars, 39 new initiatives, one national policy that will benefit 35 million Canadians in the digital age.

[Foreign Investment, March 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to matters involving international investment, there will always be a process that is open to new ideas for our medical system and for the good of Canadians.

[Statistics Canada, March 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, everybody has to do his or her part in order to arrive at a balanced budget and, in speaking with Wayne Smith and the folks at Stats Canada, that department has the funds necessary to fulfill the mandate that this Parliament has given it.

Indeed it does seem odd to everyday taxpayers to have two, three, and four branches of the Government of Canada collecting the same information. Certainly, in answer a question from the Liberal Party on digital economy, part of a digital strategy for the government is to actually have agencies of the government sharing information, one with another, so that we do not have to duplicate these matters and put a further burden on Canadian taxpayers. It is called making government efficient, not invading the privacy of Canadians, and having good government.

[Manufacturing Industry, March 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the member has mixed up two things. First she talked about the digital strategy, and then about industrial policy. I will answer the part of the question on the digital policy strategy.

Of course, it was this government that put forward and created a Canada media fund. It was this government, through our economic action plan, that had our first real substantive pan-Canadian effort to have rural broadband connecting all of Canada together, and we are going further in budget 2014.

It was this budget that put forward the Copyright Modernization Act, which protects the rights of people who put their wares into the digital world. It is this government, moving forward, that will continue to lead when it comes to protecting Canada and ensuring we are not just in the game but leading in the digital world.

[Consumer Protection, February 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, through our legislation we have empowered the Competition Bureau in order to protect Canadian consumers, and the Competition Bureau has in fact put in place fines and protected Canadian consumers. We did that. It was not the New Democrats. It was this Prime Minister, this Conservative government, through our legislation that has protected Canadian consumers. It is New Democrats who want to go after consumers and hurt them with carbon taxes and higher taxes across the board.

It is our government that has lowered taxes, protected consumers, put in place the Fairness at the Pumps Act. It is this Conservative government that protects consumers day in and day out.