John Baird

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 4th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I say to my colleague opposite, it does take gall. This, a day after the Public Service Commission, an independent arm's length body reporting to Parliament, identified the political assistants who were hired by Liberal ministers who invented phantom jobs.

I can tell the member opposite, we will be asking some very significant questions of the member for Vancouver South and the member for Kings—Hants, who engaged in what is nothing more than fraudulent political activity at the cost of the public service.

[Official Languages, October 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, all of us in the House want to ensure that human rights are respected. We want to ensure that the Constitution and the charter are respected. That is the job of Canada's government to defend.

The previous government wanted a program to fund Liberal lawyers to challenge its own government. We on this side of the House accept our constitutional responsibilities.

[Official Languages, October 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to tell my colleague from Nova Scotia that, if the Liberals believe that any provincial or federal legislation fails to respect the Constitution, they should explicitly say so.

Human rights are very important. Perhaps the member from Nova Scotia could stand in his place and explain the outrageous allegations levelled by the member for Eglinton—Lawrence, who has charged that he has faced bigotry and discrimination because he is not Canadian enough. Maybe the member opposite could explain those comments.

[Government Accountability, October 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, what we on this side of the House and people in Ontario genuinely hope is that Bob Rae does not do to Canada what he did to Ontario.

When the member for Wascana talks about thousands of dollars for an image makeover for this member, it never happened. If it had, I would be the first one to ask for a value for money audit.

[Government Accountability, October 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, that question is coming from a man who sat around the cabinet table with the likes of André Ouellet, David Dingwall and Alfonso Gagliano and said nothing during all those years of scandal.

While he is on his feet in his supplementary, maybe he could tell Canadians how the income trust scandal investigation is going.

[Government Accountability, October 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, we know that the Liberal culture of corruption did not end when Alfonso Gagliano left. It did not end when David Dingwall left. It did not end when André Ouellet left. It did not end with the Gomery report or the Auditor General's report. In the dying hours of the Liberal regime, instead of packing their bags, we learned in this report released today that the Liberals were once again breaking every rule in the book trying to get favoured Liberal patronage jobs for their friends. It is an absolute disgrace.

The federal accountability act would put an end to this queue jumping by Liberal staffers and would clean up the Liberal--

[Points of Order, October 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I told my hon. colleague from Ottawa—Vanier quite clearly that I would be pleased to give you the letter.

[Points of Order, October 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I read from a letter written by Mr. Shapiro to the hon. member for Malpeque, a colleague across the way.

[Literacy, October 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I think in the 35 second answer I gave on Friday, what I did say was that governments across Canada spend some $45 billion a year on education and training. We now have labour agreements with all 10 provinces. We work closely with the territories.

What we want is to have every Canadian learn how to read and write. We want every Canadian to be able to make a productive contribution to Canadian society. The very best way to do that is for the federal government to respect its jurisdiction and to work with the provinces to ensure that we reduce overlap and duplication, whether it comes at the primary, secondary or adult training level of education.

[Government Programs, October 2nd, 2006]

What I said was that the comments that he said on Friday were attributed to me were in fact not.

I say to the member for Wascana to just relax. Maybe members opposite could get the member for Wascana on the question period list for tomorrow.

What I do say is that we believe we have to work more effectively in the areas of provincial jurisdiction. We have to ensure that there is no duplication and ensure that we deliver good results and good value for the money of the taxpayers of Canada.