John Baird

[Points of Order, February 10th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the member in question was wrong and the member has apologized. The government does not condone those comments in any way, shape or form. That member has apologized. The member Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte should apologize for his sexist comments.

[Points of Order, February 10th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order on something that arose during question period with respect to the issuing of an apology by the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke.

The member for Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte made a number of sexist comments with respect to the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, wondering if she was back in her riding organizing some sort of a bake sale. After I tried to point out the nature of his comments, these continued to the effect that she was having a bake sale in a Christian Church.

Such statements that stereotype women and malign their role in government and politics are unacceptable to all of us in this place, as are such comments with respect to a Christian Church. I am not just not sure why degrading someone who might be involved in fundraising activities for charities at a Christian Church has any place in the House as well.

[Business of the House, February 10th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, boy, have I mellowed. I would not have said such nice things about the Badger even just a few short years ago, but I have mellowed and have become so quiet and soft-spoken since I arrived on Parliament Hill.

I would like to the thank the House leader for the official opposition for his questions.

With respect to Bill S-10, it is an incredibly important piece of legislation that goes after people who traffic in drugs, sell drugs to our children and who traffic in date rape drugs, which is something that is incredibly serious in many parts of the country. We want to see that bill passed and we will move forward on a path to allow it to be passed.

With respect to the bill on human trafficking, we want to see that passed. Again, it is an important piece of legislation. We do not want to provide the Liberal Party with an early opportunity to kill that good piece of legislation. I know they are anxious to kill legislation that is tough on crime, but we are going to stay focused.

Getting back to the business of the House, we will continue today with the Bloc opposition motion.

The parties are currently negotiating a way to proceed with Bill C-59, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (accelerated parole review) and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. This is a modified version of what makes up part of Bill C-39, a bill that has been at the public safety committee since October 20, 2010. This is an important piece of legislation. The thrust of it has already received agreement in principle from this House. We will be continuing the negotiations on it, or dances, depending on how one defines that, with all parties on this issue.

Given that Bill C-59 will prevent fraudsters from getting out of jail after serving only one-sixth of their sentence, I hope there is sufficient support to move on this initiative without further delay. Tomorrow, therefore, we will either debate Bill C-59 or a procedural motion relating to Bill C-59.

Following Bill C-59, the government intends on calling Bill C-42, Strengthening Aviation Security Act; Bill C-46, Canada-Panama Free Trade Act; Bill C-55, Enhanced New Veterans Charter Act; Bill C-20, An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission; Bill C-8, Canada-Jordan Free Trade Act; Bill C-57, Improving Trade Within Canada Act; Bill C-50, Improving Access to Investigative Tools for Serious Crimes Act; and Bill C-12, Democratic Representation Act.

I could come back with more if we could get all of these bills passed on Monday.

That is the agenda for next week.

[Business of the House, February 10th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, before I address the specific question by my friend from Ottawa South, I would like to say that today is a very sad day in official Ottawa.

This week, Richard Brennan, who is affectionately and sometimes unaffectionately known as the “Badger”, and who works in the National Press Gallery for the Toronto Star, will leave the Parliamentary Press Gallery and return to the Toronto Star headquarters in Toronto.

The Minister of Finance, the Minister of Industry, the member for Toronto Centre, the member for Hamilton Centre and I all thought we had escaped the wrath of the Badger when we left Queen's Park or, in some cases, were asked to leave Queen's Park. He returned like gum on a shoe that one just cannot get rid of.

However, we want to wish him very well. To paraphrase John Diefenbaker when he talked about Jack Pickersgill: “A scrum without the Badger would be like hell without the devil.”

We do wish him the very best as he returns to Toronto.

[Conservative Party of Canada, February 10th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I really do not know where to start with that question, but let me say this. As Canadians, people of faith, certainly have every right to be heard by their government. We respect their positions and their views. We think it is tremendously important in a pluralistic society like Canada to always reach out to people of different backgrounds, and we make no apologies for it.

[Conservative Party of Canada, February 10th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, every Canadian is entitled to be heard by our government. That is why our government is very proud to hold literally thousands of meetings with Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

In the last few months, I have had the pleasure to meet with Jewish groups, Muslim groups, Hindu groups and Sikh groups. I have had the pleasure to meet with Buddhist groups. And I want to tell you something remarkable: I have even met with a few Christian groups.

[Health, February 10th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, we have asked the Senate to look into this issue. The House health committee of elected representatives is certainly free to look into any matter it wishes. We have a minority on that committee.

One of the things that is important with respect to health care is that this government, instead of cutting health care by $25 billion like the previous government did, has increased health care spending by 30%. That is a great accomplishment of the federal government.

[Search and Rescue, February 10th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the member in question has apologized for her comments. A lesson I learned when growing up was if someone recognizes they have made a mistake then sincerely apologize. The honourable thing to do would be to accept that apology and move on. That is certainly in the best traditions of this House.

That said, the issue of improved search and rescue capability is very important, especially in the very dangerous waters of the north Atlantic. We have done a lot and we are committed to doing even more.

[POINTS OF ORDER, February 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development has always demonstrated great skill and ability in working on her files, and I know she cares a lot about Canadian children. I know that Canadian children demand an apology because for 13 long years the Liberals did not create any of the child care spaces they promised.

[Government Appointments, February 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, our government has one principal factor that we take into account when making government appointments, which is that the individuals are qualified for the appointments to which they are being appointed.

No government has done more to advance non-partisan appointments. No government has done more to ensure that people are qualified for the government appointments that we make. This government should be commended for those actions.