John Baird

[Infrastructure, October 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, our priority has been to work with the municipalities, to work with provinces and territories from coast to coast to coast to give the federal green light to infrastructure projects so that they can get on with construction. They can hire architectural firms and engineering firms and create jobs. We have worked very hard to ensure those funds have been distributed.

I was pleased to be in committee yesterday when the member for Winnipeg Centre said, “I think a lot of NDP ridings actually fared fairly favourably from the spending, so I have no evidence that there is any hanky-panky going on in where the money went”.

We have put politics aside and we hope the member opposite will continue to do so.

[Infrastructure, October 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer asked for additional information. This government has approved some 7,000 infrastructure projects in every corner of the country. He asked for more specific information on those projects, and we were pleased to provide a substantial amount. We will be providing more to the Parliamentary Budgetary Officer in the future.

I can tell the House that we have run a very open and transparent infrastructure program. When announcements of projects are made, they are immediately put on the Web with their location and their dollar value in an unprecedented commitment to work with provinces and territories of every political stripe.

[The Environment, October 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to take a fair, balanced and pragmatic approach to climate change.

We will continue to strike a balance between the environment and economic recovery. We are working hard. The Minister of the Environment and his officials are working hard with the Obama administration in the United States and with our partners in the G20. We will continue to work hard to find a solution that meets our planet's needs.

[The Environment, October 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, our government is working very hard to have a strong and effective plan that will produce real results for Canadians in every province and territory.

The previous government did absolutely nothing in the last 16 years. It is our job to act, and we will continue to work hard with President Obama and the rest of the world in the coming six weeks before the international conference in Copenhagen.

[Health, October 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we have seen an unprecedented amount of work and an unprecedented financial commitment from this government in dealing with pandemic planning. The Minister of Health, her officials, Dr. Butler-Jones, the provinces and territories and the literally thousands of public health nurses in every corner of this country are responding in a major way. The good news is we have taken the time to ensure that we have a safe vaccine, that the vaccine is effective and that there are more doses of vaccine available per capita in Canada than in any other country in the world. That is a credit to the hard-working public servants in the Department of Health.

[Health, October 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the tone of the question by the member opposite is rather unfortunate.

What I think Canadians expect of us is this government to work in cooperation with Dr. Butler-Jones, the Chief Public Health Officer, to work with every province and territory, and to work with public health units and nurses in every corner of the country.

We have six million doses available. The largest mass immunization campaign is well under way. More doses will be available next week and even more the following week.

We are working hard to ensure that every Canadian can get this vaccine, but let us be clear, more vaccines are available in this country than in any other country in the world per capita.

[Health, October 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this is the largest mass immunization campaign in Canadian history.

The government has worked diligently to ensure that there is a safe and effective vaccine. There will be a vaccine available for every Canadian who wants one.

The work of our public health nurses, our provinces and territories, and the Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Butler-Jones, is unprecedented. It goes without saying that the hard-working public health officials in every corner of the country cannot mass immunize 33 million Canadians in a single day or a single week.

They are working hard. Our government is working hard. We are putting politics aside.

[Health, October 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear. This is one of the largest mass immunization campaigns in the history of Canada.

Our provinces and territories and public health units right across the country are working incredibly hard. More than six million doses are available in every corner of the country. Our public health nurses are responding in a way that is really unprecedented. They deserve our support.

We must take the politics out of this important public health issue.

[Health, October 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this government has worked tremendously hard with public health officials, with Dr. Butler-Jones, the Chief Public Health Officer, and with the provinces and territories to ensure that the vaccine was both safe and effective.

Last April, we set a goal to have safe and effective vaccines ready for early November. We are pleased that the efforts of the public servants at the Public Health Agency have been able to beat that by more than two weeks. What we have seen is more than six million vaccines in every corner of the country. On a per capita basis, that is better than any other country in the world.

[Crown Corporations, October 29th, 2009]

What is very clear, Mr. Speaker, is the member opposite wanted a meeting with a crown corporation. The meeting was offered to her. We offered to put everything on the table so she could get a briefing for her new role as critic for crown corporations, and I want to congratulate her on that promotion.

With respect to her comments and Senator Housakos, is it not interesting that she is once again asking a question that is fact free?