John Baird

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is tremendously proud to be hosting both the G8 and the G20. One of the great priorities this past year has been the economy and to stop an economic decline that began around the world and ended here in Canada. We are excited about the G8 and G20 to welcome the world's leaders to discuss jobs, hope and opportunity.

The G20 has been absolutely essential at getting the world economy on track, so much so that Canada's finance minister has been named Finance Minister of the Year. We are proud of that. We are proud of the jobs that have been created. We are proud to be welcoming these leaders of the world.

[Ethics, June 3rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the government has forwarded the serious allegations to the relevant independent authorities and to the member. We will let those independent authorities do their work.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 3rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it will not surprise the member opposite but I do not agree with the premise of his question.

We will have literally thousands of journalists and thousands of delegates from around the world visiting one of the most beautiful places in Canada, the Muskoka region. They will fan out in the entire region, and not just in Huntsville. We are spending some resources on public infrastructure to help spruce up the area so that a beautiful part of Canada will be that much nicer.

[Ethics, June 3rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the member is making totally outrageous allegations. Let me be very clear. Nothing was fast-tracked and no funding was given to any of the projects in question.

[Ethics, June 3rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I say very directly to the member opposite, nothing was fast-tracked and no funding was given to any of these projects. The government acted responsibly and it reacted well.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 3rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is doing something that is really unprecedented. We are hosting two major international world summits back to back. The costs for the security of these summits are in line with what has happened at previous events. There will be 8,000 delegates, more than 3,000 media and literally thousands of others attending these important summits. We will spend what is necessary and nothing more.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 3rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, let me very clear. Security costs money. It is expensive. We do not want to spend this money, we have to spend this money.

Since 9/11, we are living in a new environment. A lot has changed in the last 20 years since world leaders went to Halifax. Canada is being open, honest and transparent about its security costs. We will do our job to ensure not just the leaders and the thousands and thousands of delegates are kept safe, but also that people in Muskoka and Toronto can be safe too.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 3rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, there seems to be a lot of hot air on that side of the House.

Let us look at what the Liberal leader said about Muskoka and Huntsville:

We want to make it very clear...when we are the government of Canada, the next G8 Summit will be held at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville....

You heard it from me: the G8 Summit will be in this community when we form the next government.

He went on to say:

it seems to me since this is a federal event the federal government should take the large majority of any costs.

That was what the Liberal leader said. We are proud to showcase the Muskoka region and proud to showcase Huntsville to the world.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 3rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, do not listen to me. Listen to John Kirton, the director of the University of Toronto's G8 research group. This is what he had to say:

If you want to be at the G-8 table, you can’t go to the washroom when the bill comes

The cost for each of the two Canada summits are more or less within range of what G-8 and even G-20 summits have been costing.

This is the truth.

Let us be very clear. Who also supported the location of Huntsville for the G8 summit? In fact, it was the Liberal leader.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 3rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we have brought in Canada's economic action plan, designed to encourage job creation, more hope and more opportunity, and the good news is that the plan is working. We have seen the creation of more than 285,000 new jobs since last summer. That puts us in first place in the industrialized world for job creation and economic growth.

We were the last to come into this global economic downturn, and thanks to the strong leadership of the economic team in this government, we are going to be the first to come out.