James Moore

[Tax Harmonization, December 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this Parliament always has had strong, robust debates on taxes.

Every single time that British Columbians have had a choice, they have always voted for lower taxes not higher taxes. That is why British Columbians understand that if they want members of Parliament who are going to advocate for lower taxes, they will always vote for the Conservative Party. When it comes to lowering the GST, lowering income taxes, lowering the cost of living for seniors, it is always the Conservatives who have stood up for the right side when it comes to consumers.

That member should know better, because after all, when he was a city councillor in Coquitlam he voted time and time again to increase taxes on homeowners.

[Questions on the Order Paper, November 25th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, on June 26, 2009, the government announced the renewal of funding for the arts.

It was also noted that the arts presentation Canada program will now be called the Canada arts presentation fund and that its funding will be kept at the current level for fiscal years 2010-11 to 2014-15.

More information can be found at http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/pac-apc/2007-2008-eng.cfm and http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/pac-apc/2008-2009-eng.cfm.

[Tax Harmonization, November 25th, 2009]

First, Mr. Speaker, let me be the first to congratulate the member on his election in New Westminster—Coquitlam.

However, with respect, if he wanted to join a political party that believes in lower taxes for Canadians, he should have joined the Conservatives. It is the Conservative Party that campaigned on a promise to lower the GST and we delivered. We promised to lower income taxes and we delivered. We promised to lower taxes on students and we have delivered on that. We promised to help seniors with pension income splitting and we have delivered on that.

While I congratulate my friend on his election in the byelection, I suggest to him that if he wants to be consistent, he should vote with the Conservative Party in this Parliament.

[Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, November 25th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we have kept the promise we made to Canadians in the last election campaign. We said we would make investments and protect both of Canada's official languages. Air Canada has responsibilities and it is the responsibility of Air Canada to deliver the goods.

We have allocated $1.1 billion over five years to protect and celebrate Canada's official languages. Graham Fraser himself said, “The progress that has been made is impressive on many levels”. Again, we are delivering the goods.

[Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, November 25th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, that is absolutely false. We have to look at the facts.

Our government has allocated the necessary funding to ensure that the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be completely respectful of both of Canada's official languages. We will have permanent signage at all the sites. We will have francophone artists there. The official languages have been well respected.

The 1988 Olympic Games were a vast improvement over the 1976 games. The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be a vast improvement over the 1988 games. We are delivering the goods when it comes to official languages.

[Broadcasting Industry, November 18th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we are making the investments that the member describes in terms of Canadian content.

Not only did we arrive at the agreement to bring all partners together with regard to part II fees, we also brought partners together to create the Canada media fund; $310 million to do what the member describes, which is to create Canadian content and make it available on multiple platforms so Canadian stories can be told to Canadians on Canadian platforms. That is what we have done as a government.

The member criticizes us for getting involved. I will not apologize to the member or anyone else for getting involved to ensure that the CRTC does not arbitrate between two big corporate entities as he describes but ensure that the first responsibility of all of us, including the CRTC, is to put consumers first.

[Broadcasting Industry, November 18th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question and obviously all Canadians have been paying attention to this important debate. What we have done are two things most recently that are very important.

First, we gave a section 15 requirement to the CRTC that the most important thing it needs to do in its consideration and deliberation over this very important issue is to put consumers first. We want to ensure that consumers are put first in this conversation and discussion.

The second thing we have done is to bring together all the stakeholders, which is what the member is talking about. We have brought together all the partners and we have reached an agreement on part II fees which gives $450 million in immediate relief to the industry. This is good for all Canadians.

[Aboriginal Affairs, November 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we are showing strong support for aboriginal youth across this country and for aboriginal friendship centres, of which there are 117 across the country.

I know the value of these friendship centres, the largest of which is in Prince George. When I did my undergraduate studies, there were hundreds of aboriginal students who went to the University of Northern British Columbia. They could not have gone to university if they did not have the support of those friendship centres.

They gave poor aboriginals who were coming into city centres an opportunity to get a university education. From New Aiyansh to Williams Lake and Prince George, we are showing our support. We are going to continue to do so. We have invested record amounts to support aboriginal youth, and this Conservative government will continue to lead.

[Aboriginal Affairs, November 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I know this issue is of great concern to my colleague from Peace River, who has over 30 aboriginal communities in his constituency.

Today I am pleased to announce that our government has renewed funding for the Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Centres initiative. It is a $150 million initiative. More important than just the renewal of this, we are renewing this fund for six years, which means that this important aboriginal youth program will be on stable footing financially until the year 2015. This program supports over 40,000 aboriginal youth in 149 communities across the country.

I know there are a lot of aboriginal leaders who are here in Ottawa today lobbying members of Parliament. I thank them for their hard work.

[Olympic Winter Games, November 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, clearly, the hon. member opposite is not at all interested in the facts. VANOC designed the torch relay entirely. It is over 45,000 kilometres and over 90% of Canadians will be within a one-hour drive of the torch relay. It will be a pan-Canadian incredible celebration of our athletes. The hon. member clearly has no idea what he is talking about. This is going to be a great torch relay. Again, like the athletes' uniforms, like the torch relay, across the board the Liberals cannot help themselves from embarrassing themselves by politicizing the games.