House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 45% of the vote.
Veterans Affairs January 28th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister commit today that he will reverse the callous decision and provide the necessary funding to keep the veterans affairs centres open?
Further, will he assure veterans that in the new budget he will provide the necessary funding to ensure that all veterans have ready access to trained case managers and that they can receive the necessary health services they require in a timely manner?
Questions Passed as Orders for Returns December 2nd, 2013
With regard to ministerial business, including that of the Prime Minister, since May 2, 2011: (a) how many invitations to speak at, appear at, or attend a function has each minister or the Prime Minister, or their ministerial or departmental staff, accepted or initiated; (b) how many requests to speak at, appear at, or attend a function has each minister or the Prime Minister, or their ministerial or departmental staff, made; (c) what were the details of each such invitation or request, including the date, location, and nature of the function; (d) what were the costs of transportation, accommodation, meals, and security related to the travel of the minister or Prime Minister to and from each such function; (e) what were the costs of transportation, accommodation, and meals incurred by the minister's or Prime Minister's exempt staff members in relation to each such function; and (f) what are the file numbers of any files generated in respect of each such function?
Presence in Gallery December 2nd, 2013
Mr. Speaker, in conversation and consultation with the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore and the Minister of Veterans Affairs, I believe you will find unanimous consent that the House holds a one minute silence in commemoration of the three service personnel who died last week.
Veterans Affairs December 2nd, 2013
Mr. Speaker, last week we had three members of the military who committed suicide. Clearly, we are not looking after our military. Nine veterans affairs centres will be closed by the end of January and 17,000 veterans will be deprived of their case managers.
The minister is letting one case manager per centre move into the local Service Canada office. With veterans already being told that there is no one to talk to them, how does the minister expect veterans to get the services they need, the services we owe them and they deserve?
Crisis in the Philippines November 20th, 2013
Mr. Chair, I really wish my colleague well with the work that is waiting for him in his riding with all the Filipinos who live in his riding. He has one of the largest Filipino communities in the country in his riding.
I think the Government of Canada should clearly state and signal that it will extend visitor visas for an indefinite amount of time until the situation back in the affected areas in the Philippines has been looked after. Anybody who is here should be given, possibly, a temporary work permit, even if they are visitors, in order for them to be able to provide for themselves and to be able to stay with loved ones here in Canada. As well, the government should make it very easy for loved ones who have been affected to visit from the Philippines and should expedite those visits. Certainly they are suffering right now from traumatic experiences.
We can sit here and talk about it, but it is not the same until we visit the areas. I happened to visite Gujarat, I happened to be in Sri Lanka right after the tsunami, I was in Muzaffarabad, I went to Banda Aceh, and I went to China. I have to tell members I will never forget the experience.
In China, there was one young lady who had been buried for close to four days. When I met her, it brought me to tears. She had exactly the same date of birth and was the same age as my youngest daughter. It was like, through my eyes, seeing my daughter. There is nothing more moving than to see somebody who is the same age as one's child who happened to go through this.
Crisis in the Philippines November 20th, 2013
Mr. Chair, I know the events and the amount of work that the member is doing in his constituency. I know that his office is probably one of the busiest offices right now, with the immigration cases happening out of the Philippines and that he will be able to share with us that the work that has been done.
We need to be able to extend the time until December 31. I do hope that the Prime Minister comes into this House tomorrow and says, “The 31st it is”, because at the time of Christmas, the time of the spirit of giving and receiving, Canadians will open not only their wallets but their hearts. The little children will tell their parents, “Don't buy me a gift. Let's give a contribution to the typhoon relief efforts in the Philippines”.
For the record, I do want to share with my colleague two things. One is that when the tsunami hit, we, when we were the government, immediately responded, and we had an extra 13 staff in Colombo.
When Muzaffarabad happened a year later, we responded again, and we had an extra five or six staff in Islamabad.
Going back to 2001, when the earthquake happened in Gujarat, in India, immediately the government of the day, the Liberal government, responded by saying, “We are matching dollar for dollar”, and we brought more staff into India, so there is a history here of governments of Canada doing the right thing.
I just hope that the government of the day will respond in the same way that the Liberal government responded by ensuring that we get extra staff and that we extend until December 31 all the matching efforts that the community does in co-operation with registered entities that the government recognizes.
Crisis in the Philippines November 20th, 2013
Mr. Chair, before I start, I want to request that I share my time with my colleague from Winnipeg North, a riding that has one of the largest Filipino communities. I know how much my colleague is involved and how much he is helping.
That said, it is important to note that disasters have happened and will happen again, and that we as Canadians will respond in good faith. Sometimes we will respond faster than others and sometimes we will allocate more resources than other times. There have been times that the current government has responded, but it has gone there screaming and yelling, and there have been times that it has responded right away.
Let us examine those times, because it is very important to do so.
When Haiti happened, the government immediately responded. The Prime Minister went to the Red Cross and made his donation, and the cameras were following him. We were at the time of proroguing. The House of Commons was shut down.
When Haiyan happened in the Philippines, the government responded immediately. This time, we had one of the second-highest hitters, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, writing his cheque when the camera was there. How appropriate. We have seen his good spirit, and the government again is going through a crisis consisting of senators Duffy, Wallin, and Brazeau.
When the earthquake in China happened in 2008, there was no response for a couple of days. We had to force the government time and again before it responded. At that point in time, overwhelmingly the massive support was happening from the Chinese community. It collected millions of dollars, bought tents that were shipped over courtesy of Air Canada, and the Red Cross transferred the money to the Chinese Red Cross. That was all done primarily through community involvement.
A couple of years ago, another typhoon hit the Philippines, and the current government did not act.
However, this time it did act, and what did it put in place? The Conservatives put in place the Liberal protocol for disasters, the protocol that the Liberal government before them had in place for years.
Let us examine that. There were four pillars to it.
One was to expedite family class immigration processing from the areas that were affected, and if anybody was in Canada, to ensure they could stay in Canada until the disaster back home was looked after.
The second was to make the DART available.
The third was to work with communities and match dollar for dollar any funding that they raised for a great length of time.
The fourth was that we would help the communities to help themselves. For any money that they raised, we would respond quickly to ensure we were able to provide a one-time CRA tax donation number so they could issue tax receipts for the money they collected.
This is being done today by the Conservatives, and we from this side agree with them that what they have done is great.
However, we heard tonight that there is no extra allocation of staff at the post in the Philippines. Immigration has absolutely no extra staff to deal with this situation. The immigration officials in the Philippines are overwhelmed. The immigration officials in the Philippines have to deal with thousands of cases. They just got off a strike a number of months ago, so not only do we overburden them, but we also do not provide any extra staff.
The other thing we do not hear is the goodwill of Christmas that would allow for the community to respond until Christmas.
I do want to express through my speech my condolences to the families of the people who have been affected. My prayers and thoughts are with them, and I join them in their fight to overcome this. On December 4, on a Wednesday night, IDRF, the International Development and Relief Foundation, will be having an event in Toronto that I will be attending.
I am looking forward to continuing this conversation. I do hope that the Conservatives will stand up and say that more staff is going out to help immigration officials and that the time will be extended until December 31 in order for us to continue to raise more money.
Crisis in the Philippines November 20th, 2013
Mr. Chair, I want to confirm two things.
I understand that any money spent on DART or DART operations or payment to the personnel will be above and beyond what has already been promised. I think we heard assurance from the parliamentary secretary that this has happened, but I do want to hear it again.
I also want to confirm that the minister sitting beside him has not confirmed to us that there will be additional personnel, immigration personnel, at the embassy helping with the processing of visitor visas, family cases. If the member could confirm those two things, it would be greatly appreciated.
Crisis in the Philippines November 20th, 2013
Mr. Chair, I will not take this from the minister, but you can rule. If the minister wants to repeat it outside this chamber, to tell me to have a drink, I assure you he will have a lawsuit on his hands that will make his head totally spin.
Crisis in the Philippines November 20th, 2013
Mr. Chair, I rise on a point of order.
I just want the minister to apologize for shouting, “Have another drink”. I have been after him, and maybe I've been a little vocal tonight, to put on record how much extra staff he sent to the Philippines. We have not heard that. When the tsunami happened, 13 extra staff members went to Sri Lanka.
Everyone knows my record. I do not drink. He should stand up and apologize, if he has the guts.