House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was industry.

Last in Parliament October 2015, as Conservative MP for Edmonton—Leduc (Alberta)

Won his last election, in 2011, with 64% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Member for Edmonton—Leduc June 19th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, it is truly an honour to rise in the House today for my last statement in this beautiful chamber, a place where I have had the good fortune of serving for 15 years.

At the outset, let me thank all of those within this House and outside the House for their tremendous good wishes over the last number of days.

I want to thank a number of people today. I want to thank the people of the ridings of Edmonton—Leduc and Edmonton Southwest, whom I have been privileged to represent over the last five terms. I thank them for their confidence and for their support for me.

I wish to thank the many volunteers and supporters who helped me during this period: the constituents who provided me constant feedback and guidance and the supporters who are like a family to me, many of whom supported me for the entire time.

I would like to thank my present and past colleagues on both sides of this House for their passionate love of our country, their commitment to making it better and their kindness toward me. They are friends for life.

I would like to thank and express my sincere appreciation to the many wonderful people who have worked in my offices in Edmonton and Ottawa for their incredible service to our constituency and our country.

I may get very emotional here. I want to thank Debbie Healy for 15 years of amazing service to me. Debbie and I are part of the same family now. I just love being part of her extended family and I thank her so much. I thank Kim Dohmann, who has served me for 15 years as well in such an extraordinary capacity. I thank Willii Burgess, who served me for 10 years and worked with me for another five years. I thank all of my current staff, Samantha Johnston, the communications whiz, Lene Jorgensen, Carmel Harris, Trevor Rogers, who have done such an outstanding job for all the constituents. They are so much part of my success.

Two of my staff who were very colourful in my past are here today: the lovely and talented Michele Austin, and Bryan Rogers, about whom I will not tell any stories here because that would not be appropriate in this chamber, but I thank them so much for being here today.

I also want to thank my family and friends for their unconditional love, their support, the friendship they have given me in this fantastic journey through politics, particularly my heroes: my parents, Ron and Elaine Rajotte. I am more like my dad today than my mom. My mom is the strong one; my dad is the guy who cries at everything.

I believe more profoundly today than I did when I entered Parliament that Canada is the best country in the world, a place where we can fulfill our deepest hopes and aspirations and be a light and example for the world.

I want to end by saying this. There are a lot of comments about political life and politicians that occur here today and a lot of cynicism. After 15 years of serving with people in this place, people who volunteer in politics, I have more faith in those people who are in politics, who volunteer in politics. It is a noble endeavour. It is making this country a better place. This is the best country in the world. We can continue to make it better.

I thank all those in the chamber and outside of the chamber for their service. It has been a wonderful path for me. I genuinely appreciate it.

Thank you very much, and goodbye.

Committees of the House June 18th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 13th report of the Standing Committee on Finance, entitled “Terrorist Financing in Canada and Abroad: Needed Federal Actions”.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

As this is the last report I will present to this House, I want to thank all present and past members for their outstanding work and their collaboration with me in operating this committee since 2008.

I want to thank our analysts, Adriane Yong in this report, and especially Mark Mahabir, who has been with us the same amount of time and done an outstanding job. June Dewetering, whom many of us know in this House, has done just an outstanding job as well over the years.

I would also like to thank our clerk, Christine Lafrance.

She insisted I use my French here today. I want to thank her for her outstanding work as well.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns June 8th, 2015

With regard to government funding in the riding of Edmonton—Leduc, for each fiscal year since 2007-2008 inclusive: (a) what are the details of all grants, contributions, and loans to any organization, body, or group, broken down by (i) name of the recipient, (ii) municipality of the recipient, (iii) date on which the funding was received, (iv) amount received, (v) department or agency providing the funding, (vi) program under which the grant, contribution, or loan was made, (vii) nature or purpose; and (b) for each grant, contribution and loan identified in (a), was a press release issued to announce it and, if so, what is the (i) date, (ii) headline of the press release?

Committees of the House June 8th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 11th report of the Standing Committee on Finance, entitled “A North American Renminbi Hub: Canada as the Leader”. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

As well, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 12th report of the Standing Committee on Finance, entitled “Recent Oil Price Changes: Selected Canadian Impacts”. Again, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

Committees of the House June 5th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the 10th report of the Standing Committee on Finance in relation to Bill C-59, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 21, 2015 and other measures.

The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House without amendment.

Foreign Affairs June 5th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, various media outlets are reporting that Vladimir Putin has broken the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian President Poroshenko is warning against a possible full-scale invasion from Russia.

I ask the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to provide Canada's official reaction to these serious events.

Business of Supply June 1st, 2015

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague knows, the government is supportive of the motion presented by the NDP, but we do need to bring some sense of reality.

Canadians should be proud of the fact that for seven years in a row the World Economic Forum has recognized Canada as having the best banking system in the world. We can get basic major banking services for $4 or less a month. We have a 21-day grace period for credit card payments in this country, which is something that was brought into force by this government.

About people saying “bank profits” and “banks exceeding”, we cannot see this as banks over here exceeding. I recall my father, who is a retired schoolteacher, complaining about this one time. I said to him, “Dad, let's go look at the Alberta teachers' retirement investments on the website”. It was bank after bank. I said, “Dad, your defined benefit pension plan is in part directly linked to banks doing well in this country”. We are very much linked in this Canadian society.

If we look at the Canada pension plan investments, something that the opposition members want to increase, we see that the Canada pension plan has loads of investments in our major banks. I would like the member to stand up and add a bit of balance to what he is saying in being so critical of the banking sector in this country.

Petitions May 15th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to present a petition on behalf of many Canadians. It is a petition organized by Families For Justice, which is a group of Canadians who have unfortunately had a loved one killed by an impaired driver. They are people like Sheri Arsenault from my riding, the mother of 18-year-old Bradley Arsenault, who was killed along with his two friends, Kole Novak, also 18, and Thaddeus Lake who was 22. This was a very tragic incident.

These families believe that Canada's impaired driving laws are much too lenient. They want the crime to be called what it is, vehicular homicide. It is the number one cause of criminal death in Canada. Over 1,200 Canadians are killed every year by a drunk driver. This group is calling for mandatory sentencing for vehicular homicide and for Parliament to support Bill C-652, Kassandra's law.

2014 Leduc Citizens of Distinction May 15th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight the 2014 Citizens of Distinction Award winners, who were honoured recently at the Leduc volunteer appreciation banquet. These outstanding citizens range in age from their teens to their golden years, and all have made tremendous contributions to their community.

This year's recipients are Brianna Raymond, for athletic achievement; Charlene Schatz, for community spirit; and Art Birkholz, for culture and heritage. The youth award of merit went to Caline Strach and the mayor's special award went to Clarence Shields, son of former MP Jack Shields.

We can all think of a community member who has made a difference in our lives. They are mentors, teachers, parents, volunteers, and role models. They deserve our gratitude and recognition for the valuable contributions they have made and continue to make to our families, workplaces, and communities.

On behalf of the people of Edmonton—Leduc, I congratulate the recipients and thank them for their dedication to making our community a better place.

Economic Action Plan 2015 Act No. 1 May 15th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I want to pull the member back to the budget bill itself and read some of the measures in it. The budget bill would allow seniors to keep more in their RRIFs for a longer period of time. It proposes moving the small business tax rate down to 9%. It proposes increasing the lifetime capital gains exemption to $1 million. It introduces the home accessibility tax credit, extends the mineral exploration tax credit, allows foreign charitable foundations to be registered as qualified donees and provides an accelerated capital cost allowance for the manufacturing sector for a 10-year period.

Which of those measures does he support, which of those measures does he oppose, and if he opposes them, why does he oppose them?