James Moore

[Airline Security, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the Vancouver airport incident comes on the heels of a Senate report entitled, “The Myth of Security at Canada's Airports”. According to the report, there are still no procedures outlining how air crew are to interact with air marshals; there are many airports where no bags are being screened at all; passengers are being screened differently from one airport to another; and there is virtually no screening of cargo on commercial flights.

How can the government claim to be looking out for Canada's national security interests when this is its shoddy record on air security?

[Airline Security, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, last Tuesday a single mother facing deportation escaped custody at Vancouver airport. Friends opposed to her deportation swarmed immigration officers and she managed to get into a car and escape.

In the post-September 11 environment, the government promised to improve airport security but it has largely only improved its bottom line by raising taxes.

Just what kind of airport security is it that allows an unarmed handcuffed deportee to outfox security officials?

[Airport Security, December 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, we have heard this promise of studies before. In May the government said it was going to study it and report to the House in September. It failed to do so. It is now December and it still has not studied it.

The transport committee took it on and studied the tax ourselves. We could not find a single witness to say that the air tax as it stands is tolerable. We recommended unanimously that it be substantially and immediately reduced. Will the government do it, yes or no?

[Airport Security, December 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Alliance believes that the air tax should be scrapped immediately, but at minimum the government could reduce it immediately as we go into the holiday season.

To that end, yesterday the transport committee recommended unanimously that the government “implement an immediate and substantial reduction of the air tax”. Will the government do it? Yes or no.

[Committees of the House, December 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. As the chair of the transport committee mentioned, this resolution was passed unanimously in committee. There has been some conversation and if the House would give its consent I would move that the report just tabled be concurred in.

[Kyoto Protocol, December 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, here we go again. This is a very important public policy question that is very complex and we have the arrogance of the government in invoking closure again. When we look at the Liberal Party on arrogance it is like looking at the Grand Canyon. It is this big fact of nature that we cannot help but stare at.

The reality is that with the Kyoto accord two lines on a graph are crossing. There is rising public understanding of the Kyoto accord, and as people understand it more and more, people are liking it less and less. As more people are understanding it and fewer are liking it, the government has now decided to invoke closure.

Does the Minister of the Environment not understand what he is doing to the problems of national unity, to the problems of alienation, to the problems in western Canada and to the problems of economic development by invoking Kyoto without consulting the provinces? The government is doing this to give the Prime Minister a legacy and it is totally irresponsible in regard to the prospects of national unity. Why is the environment minister invoking closure and ramming through Kyoto without properly consulting--

[Finance, December 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, an illegal Russian immigrant is charged with using three privately owned automatic teller machines to steal more than $1.2 million, but there is a twist. He did not steal the money from the machines. He owned the machines.

He used the ATMs to gather bank information and PIN numbers from unsuspecting customers and robbed their accounts later. These machines were authorized by the federal Competition Tribunal but because they are not operated by a chartered bank, they are unregulated.

When will the government act to protect both consumers and legitimate owners of private ATMs?

[Member for LaSalle--Émard, December 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, Karl Marx once noted that history's great events happen twice, first as a tragedy, then a farce.

A modern case in point is the second leadership run by the former Liberal finance minister, the member for LaSalle—Émard.

Why a farce? Once he was opposed to free trade, then he flipped and not only supported free trade but expanded it. Once he was going to abolish GST. Not only was it not abolished when he was finance minister, but it was further entrenched by the creation of the HST. At first he said that Kyoto did not go far enough, then he said that it was a bad plan, then he said that we should consult the provinces and now he is going to vote for ratification by Christmas.

While campaigning he said that we needed to invest in our armed forces but he was the guy who gutted our armed forces for almost a decade. He says that we need to eliminate the democratic deficit but he does not even allow the free sale of memberships within his own party. The last time he ran for the leadership he said that he supported an elected Senate. Now he says that he is opposed.

He says that the accounting scandals of Enron must be noticed and that we must have truth in accounting. Where is the truth in accounting for EI?

About corporate responsibility, perhaps the former finance minister could tell Canadians why his company, Canada Steamship Lines, does not have its ships registered to pay taxes in Canada.

There is a credibility gap and this man should not be trusted.

[Justice, December 4th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, in 1995 Darcy Bertrand murdered his wife. He also murdered his wife's mother and father. He was convicted of three counts of second degree murder and sentenced to three life terms in jail. Two weeks ago, it was announced that Bertrand will be transferred to a minimum security prison 15 minutes away from a Port Coquitlam family member of the murdered victims. The prison does not even have a fence.

Why is it that a person convicted of three counts of murder, convicted to three life sentences, is now going to a comfy minimum security prison after seven years of being in hard time?

[Justice, December 4th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, Chinese student Wei Amanda Zhao was murdered on October 9. Her boyfriend, Ang Li, reported her missing to the Burnaby RCMP the same day. The missing person report was not issued publicly until a week after her reported disappearance. A few days later, her boyfriend fled to China.

The RCMP believe that he killed Ms. Zhao. Canada does not have an extradition treaty with China. We cannot get him back.

Why did it take a week before launching an investigation? Why did the government let him leave the country? How are we going to get him back from China?