John Baird

[Aboriginal Affairs, December 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, obviously there are challenges in the management of this reserve, since $90 million has been spent since 2006 and we still have people living in these types of conditions.

We have spent $4 million on housing, $10 million for water infrastructure and $40 million in education, but Canadian taxpayers are not seeing the results for their hard-earned tax dollars. That is why this government and this minister have acted quickly to ensure that we provide the help our fellow Canadians in Attawapiskat so desperately need.

[Aboriginal Affairs, December 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the government is taking action to ensure that there is support for the families in Attawapiskat, who are facing a cold winter coming.

Immediately since the state of emergency, we have allocated $500,000 in emergency funding to renovate five homes for families in urgent need of shelter. We are working quickly to provide temporary and long-term housing for more than 20 families, and our government will be working with our partners.

We have already sent 10 composting toilets, 20 high-efficiency wood stoves and other basic necessities. More supplies will be flown in during the coming days. This is real action for families in Attawapiskat.

[Aboriginal Affairs, December 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the government is taking responsibility for the real challenges that we are seeing in Attawapiskat.

I should note that there has been some public comment that resources allocated toward health care, education and housing would somehow be diverted to support band administration. This is not the case. Not a single dollar will be used for that purpose, and the money to support the third party administrator will come from money that is set aside for band administration.

We are concerned about the huge challenges facing Attawapiskat. That is why we are getting involved and taking significant action to support these vulnerable people.

[The Economy, December 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, that is not the case whatsoever. The member opposite, and Canadians, would be interested to know that banks in this country pay more than $8.4 billion in taxes.

Let us talk about seniors. The member opposite talked about seniors. We are the ones who brought in substantial support, the biggest increase in the guaranteed income supplement in 25 years, and the NDP voted against that. We brought in income splitting to make retirement easier for couples; the NDP voted against it. We took more than a million low-income seniors entirely off the tax rolls; the NDP voted against it. These were good measures to support low-income seniors.

[The Economy, December 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, providing support to low-income Canadians has been a huge priority for our government over the past six years. Let us look at some of the initiatives we have taken: we have taken over one million low-income Canadians right off the tax rolls, so they are not paying a dollar of tax themselves; we have increased the basic personal amount Canadians can earn without paying taxes; we have introduced the working income tax benefit to support low-income Canadians; we have increased the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable seniors; and, finally, we lowered the GST, one of the taxes that low-income Canadians pay the most, from 7% to 6% to 5%. The NDP voted against each and every one of these initiatives.

[Poverty, December 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, we are pleased with the success our economic action plan has seen over the past few years. Many new jobs have been created.

However, we are well aware that there is still a lot of work to be done. That is why we included measures in the budget to speed up job creation, so that all Canadians can have a good quality of life.

As the federal government, our top priorities will continue to be job creation and economic growth.

[Canada-U.S. Relations, December 8th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, what we saw yesterday was the leadership of the Prime Minister and the leadership of the President of the United States doing everything they can to help create jobs and have more economic growth.

Over recent years we have seen the border become thicker and thicker, and this has hurt Canadian competitiveness and cost Canadian jobs.

Yesterday's announcement will make the job of an auto worker in Windsor more secure. Yesterday's announcement will make someone who works in a port in Montreal or on a railway in western Canada secure. This will lead to more jobs and more economic benefits for the Canadian economy.

This is good news for the country and we should all be celebrating that.

[Search and Rescue, December 8th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, we are very pleased that the Minister of National Defence will be representing Canada at this very important NATO meeting. He has a lot of skills, expertise and experience in this regard, and he will do an honourable job representing the country.

[Canada-U.S. Relations, December 8th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, in short order we will be tabling this fantastic news for the Canadian economy and job creation right here in this House. We are debating it right now.

We are not planning on changing any privacy laws. The privacy of Canadians is particularly important. As for the suggestion from the member opposite that this is going to cost billions of dollars, I would be surprised if it cost a small fraction of that per year.

Our priority is protecting Canadian jobs, whether it is the auto worker in southern Ontario or the person working in a port in Montreal or Vancouver. We are fighting for jobs. We are fighting for the economy. This is fantastic news and great leadership from the Prime Minister.

[Foreign Affairs, December 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, let me congratulate the member for his efforts as a member of the human rights subcommittee.

Canada encourages the Iraqi government to extend the closure deadline to allow remaining residents sufficient time to take the required steps to seek asylum, and to allow the United Nations Human Rights Council to consider and process applications.

We call on Iraq to meet its obligations under international law. We also want to ensure that Camp Ashraf residents are not forcibly transferred to another country where they could suffer.

I can assure the House that my officials and I will be monitoring the situation very closely.