John Baird

[41st General Election, November 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear. The Conservative Party of Canada ran a clean and ethical campaign and it was not involved in any voter suppression.

Obviously, we are all concerned about what took place in the riding of Guelph, which is why we are working with Elections Canada on this important issue. We do know that one conviction has been rendered about robocalls and breaking the law, and that, of course, was by the Liberal campaign that has been convicted and fined for breaking the law, as it properly should be.

[Ethics, November 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, the new official agent is working with Elections Canada on this issue.

It does not absolve the fact that Elections Canada discovered, under our new finance rules, the biggest campaign fundraising scandal under the new laws brought forward by the New Democratic Party. It is not like there was a misplaced cheque. It was hundreds of thousands of dollars which blatantly violated the Federal Accountability Act, something that the member for Winnipeg Centre and I worked so hard to stop. Little did I believe that it would not be the Liberals caught cheating, that it would be the NDP convicted of cheating under these new rules.

[Ethics, November 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, there is a new official agent in place who is working with Elections Canada to correct any mistakes in the return.

The minister has always been very clear in directing his campaign not to accept corporate or union donations. Why did he do that? It was because this party and this government banned big money from Canadian politics.

For a member of the New Democratic Party, which pocketed $340,000 illegally into its bank account, to make these charges is just simply too rich.

[Taxation, October 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, this government and the Minister of National Revenue have done an extraordinarily good job in ensuring that every Canadian pays his or her fair share, and that is tremendously important. Good, honest, hard-working taxpayers pay their fair share and they expect all Canadians to do so. That is exactly what the very talented and capable Minister of National Revenue and her team are doing for this great country.

[Taxation, October 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, this government has one of the best fiscal records in the developed world because of the strong leadership and the fiscal discipline. More jobs are being created, more hope, more opportunity. We are on the right track and we are going to continue to stay focused on job creation.

[Taxation, October 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals come into the House day after day, asking for more government spending, more taxes and more debt. This government is taking a thoughtful approach to find efficiencies within government and to return Canada to a surplus. We have one of the best--

[Taxation, October 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we have taken a thoughtful approach to find efficiencies to balance the budget.

What we will not do is return to the days when the Liberals were in power, when they gutted health care and gutted funding for our provinces and municipalities.

I can remember the leader of the Liberal Party criticizing the Liberal Party when he was premier of Ontario. We will not go back to those dark days when the Liberals cut health care.

[Taxation, October 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we have taken the thoughtful approach to find efficiencies within government spending so we can return to balanced budgets--

[Taxation, October 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, different from the Liberal Party, when we are government, the federal government presents one budget a year, not as many as three budgets that were presented when the Liberals were in power.

The reality is we have taken a thoughtful approach to balance—

[Employment, October 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, this government will not be satisfied until every single Canadian who is looking for work has employment. That is why we have come forward with initiatives to support small business, we have come forward with initiatives to reduce taxes, we have come forward with initiatives on infrastructure. These initiatives, as part of our economic action plan, have helped create more than 800,000 net new jobs.

Our work is not done. We remain focused on economic action that is seeing real results. Canada's economy will grow by more than any other G7 country, and every single time we come forward with a measure to support job creation, the NDP stands in its place and votes against it. All it wants is a big $20 billion carbon tax.