John Baird

[Personal Information, May 29th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, we are all tremendously concerned about the privacy of Canadians. This government will take every measure necessary to ensure that the private information of Canadians is fully protected.

When this issue was brought to my attention, we immediately acted. This has been on the public radar screen for some two years.

I did notice that after we came forward with an action plan to address the privacy concerns, the Privacy Commissioner said in a press release, “This comprehensive strategy is a positive step toward addressing Canadians’ concerns about the flow of their personal information across borders”, and the Privacy Commissioner congratulated the government for our swift action.

[Elections Act, May 29th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, this government is a law and order government. This government wants to ensure that all of the laws of this country are fully respected and fully upheld. We will do everything we can to ensure the rule of law prevails.

The one thing this Parliament can do is to clean up government and to enact the federal accountability act. I am pleased to hear that the New Democratic Party and that member are prepared to stand up for accountability, which is why we need to ensure the federal accountability act becomes law. I hope we can count on the support of members opposite.

[Elections Act, May 29th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I will not stand in my place and defend the corruption from the Liberal members opposite.

We will be bringing in the toughest anti-corruption law in Canadian history. We will ban union and corporate donations and, most important, we will lower donations to just $1,000 to ensure Canadians can count on an honest, transparent and democratic government that obeys the law in this great country.

[Federal-Provincial Relations, May 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I will say that takes some nerve for the member opposite who served as a former minister of immigration and shortchanged the people and immigrants to the province of Ontario year after year. On a per capita basis, immigrants coming to the province of Ontario to establish a new life and establish a new beginning were shortchanged by that member when she was a minister in the previous government.

This government will deliver real change. We will honour the agreement and we will support immigrants to the province of Ontario to ensure that they are well settled and contribute to Canadian life.

[Federal-Provincial Relations, May 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, this government made a very clear promise to support the Canada-Ontario agreement. We saw for 13 long years successive governments, successive premiers, trying to get a little fairness for the province of Ontario from the previous government. That was a long battle.

This government will fully honour the Ontario-Quebec, the Canada-Ontario agreement.

[Public Servants Disclosure Act, May 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would say to my colleague from Quebec that the largest union that represents public servants said that Bill C-11 was not so strong. The good news for public servants is that now there is a real government that will truly support the public servants of this country, much more than the previous government did.

I would also say that it is very important to have Bill C-2 in place. We must work harder to be certain that these measures contained in our accountability bill are passed by this House of Commons. I hope we can count on the Bloc Québécois' support.

[Public Servants Disclosure Act, May 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is quite clear. The previous government implemented a bill at the last minute during the last Parliament that is not strong enough to protect our public servants.

This government, particularly the Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board, has introduced Bill C-2, which will better protect our public servants. That is the bill that must be implemented to protect public servants.

[Access to Information, May 18th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the government wants more accountability. The government wants more transparency.

What the Information Commissioner wants CBC journalists and reporters to do is to turn over all their notes on journalistic sources and interviews to him for him to decide if they should be made public.

The government wants more accountability, but it will not support this attack on the independence of journalistic integrity.

[Pay Equity, May 17th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the equality of men and women is something that this government gives great importance to. The equality of public servants is something that is required for the good functioning of government and we strongly believe that we must treat every public servant fairly.

This was another example of where the previous government said, after 13 long years, that it was just about ready to get on with it. We do not need any lectures from the member opposite. The member opposite who sat in the government throughout all those years did absolutely nothing in this regard.

[Correctional Officers, May 17th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I said that this problem with the previous government went on for four years. In my first 100 days in office, I have met with this union and spoken to its representatives four times in all. My assistant deputy minister is working with this group to get a real solution, a solution that the public servants can support and the government will support. As soon as possible, I will announce in this House the positive results achieved for the public servants and taxpayers alike.