John Baird

[Employment Insurance Act, September 18th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I was very impressed by the member for Winnipeg Centre's speech, and I would like to ask for unanimous consent for the House to give him an extra half hour to continue.

[Quebec Bridge, September 18th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Louis-Hébert for his question.

That bridge is indeed of great importance to the Quebec City region. This issue is currently before the courts. Our government has a strong team from the Quebec City area working hard on this matter.

I agree with the member. This is a very important political issue.

[Infrastructure, September 18th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to make an important announcement with the Minister of Finance and my favourite mayor of a city of more than 2.5 million people, David Miller, in the city of Toronto for more than $600 million to support 500 projects. It will create jobs, hope and opportunity in Canada's largest city. It will lead to better public transit, cleaner water and better roads and bridges.

Working together with Toronto, we are getting the job done.

[Canada-U.S. Relations, September 18th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has only used the public health care system in this country.

As for vicious right-wing ideologues, when I was a young Conservative, I remember the member opposite being one of those very vicious right-wing ideologues he speaks of.

[Transport, September 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the real concerns faced by the member and his constituents with respect to timely and ready access to mainland Canada. I would be pleased to work with the member opposite and to look into what we might do to help his constituents and constituents on the east coast of Canada.

[Health, September 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, neither the minister nor this government offers any excuses. What happened was inexcusable and the minister is pledging on behalf of all Canadians to get to the bottom of it.

As we speak, the Minister of Health is meeting with her provincial and territorial colleagues to work on dealing with this challenge. In a statement earlier today, she said:

There is strong co-operation taking place with First Nations people at the community, regional and national levels, as well as with provinces and territories, to ensure that all Canadians are informed of and protected from the H1N1 flu virus. As Health Minister I am fully committed to these efforts."

The people of Canada can depend on the Minister of Health to get the job done.

[Health, September 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I share the views of the leader of the NDP on one point, that what happened was incredibly unacceptable. I do not think the leader of the NDP is putting much light on it and he does not do himself any service by his comments at the outset of that question.

[Health, September 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the government has been very clear. I have been very clear. The Minister of Health has been very clear. What happened was inexcusable. It was unfortunate. It was regrettable. It was incredibly insensitive. The Minister of Health has issued a statement, and I will read from part of it:

As minister of health and as an aboriginal, I am offended. To all who took offence at what occurred, I want to say that I share your concern, and I pledge to get to the bottom of it.

The Minister of Health will do just that, and she will make it public.

[Health, September 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health has taken great leadership with respect to H1N1. Her department and the Public Health Agency of Canada have done a significant amount of work in preparation, building on the work completed by the previous minister of health.

In recent days they have announced specific measures, giving priority to those communities which are the most vulnerable, and that is as it should be. We are obviously tremendously concerned for those most vulnerable for this and for our health care practitioners.

We will continue to work incredibly hard to ensure that all efforts are taken to combat this challenge.

[Health, September 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I again agree with the member opposite. It was unacceptable. It was incredibly insensitive. Indeed, it was offensive.

The Minister of Health put out a statement earlier today in which she was very clear that she finds this act to be totally inappropriate. She has ordered an inquiry from her department. She is incredibly concerned about it and she will make the results of that inquiry public for all parliamentarians and Canadians.