John Baird

[Canada-U.S. Relations, November 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians' right to privacy is something that this government respects and strongly supports but we also strongly support Canadian sovereignty. This is not an issue where Canada needs the United States. This is an issue where we need to work together to ensure that we protect jobs on both sides of the border. That could be more important in no other area of the country than his own constituency of Windsor where auto parts will cross the border some 6 to 12 times in a car manufacturing facility. We want to make it as easy as possible so that the auto workers in Windsor and southern Ontario have the very best economic conditions, not just to succeed but to thrive.

[Canada-U.S. Relations, November 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I know this member understands that it is tremendously important that trade across our borders is open, that manufacturing sectors, particularly in southern Ontario and southern Quebec, can get their products back and forth across the border.

Canada is a trading nation, and this government is focused on jobs and the economy like a laser. We want to ensure that we deal with some of the challenges that employers have in getting their goods and services across the border. That is why we are working very closely with the Obama administration on a deal to try to address some of these challenges that are affecting both of our economies.

We are going to continue those discussions and hope to have something in short order.

[Government Spending, November 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, this government strongly believes in supporting and recognizing Canadian history. It strongly believes in supporting and acknowledging the head of state of Canada, and certainly has made a number of initiatives in this regard. We think these are good things for Canada and we strongly support them.

[Ukraine, November 25th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I want to say to the member for Wascana that is probably the best question we have had all day. I completely agree with him that we are tremendously concerned about the political prosecution of the former leader of the opposition there. We are tremendously concerned about her well-being. I will certainly endeavour to follow up to ensure that Canada speaks strongly, that she get the medical care that she needs. If necessary, we would certainly be prepared to offer her support here in Canada.

[Canada-U.S. Relations, November 25th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite had his way, he would not sign any agreement until every challenge had been dealt with.

We have a good working relationship with the Obama administration under the Prime Minister's leadership. He has been working incredibly hard to try to take down barriers that hurt Canadian jobs.

Sometimes in the manufacturing sector parts will go back and forth as many as 7 to 12 times. These border problems have a huge impact on the Canadian economy, and the Prime Minister has been working incredibly hard to tear down these barriers to protect and promote Canadian economic growth. No final deal has been reached but, under the Prime Minister's leadership, I am confident it will.

[Canada-U.S. Relations, November 25th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the government defends Canadian jobs each and every day. We referred this important issue to the industry committee so that it could take the time to study the issue and report back to government. What happened? What stopped the industry committee? It was the Liberal Party of Canada that voted to call an early opportunistic election, rather than allowing the industry committee to do its important work.

If we had not had an early election, the industry committee would have finished its good work.

[Employment, November 25th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, we are pleased with the 600,000 net new jobs created since the bottom of the recession, but we are not declaring victory. We remain focused on the Canadian economy. We remain focused on ensuring that every single Canadian who wants to work has a job.

Let me remind the member opposite of what the NDP voted against. It voted against the family caregiver tax credit, the children's arts tax credit, the volunteer firefighters tax credit and tax relief for the manufacturing sector, something he purports to support. Why will he not stand up and support the good measures that would help job creation and economic growth?

[Employment, November 25th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, as the federal government, our priority is economic growth and job creation. We set out new measures in this fall's bill, but the NDP voted against every one of our proposals aimed at creating jobs. It voted against efforts to help small businesses and measures to lower taxes and make Canada the best place in the world to invest. Economic growth is our priority. We have already created 600,000 new jobs over the past two years. That is a good start, and we will continue to work on economic recovery.

[Egypt, November 24th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I think I can speak for all members of the House that we are outraged when we see the violence in Tahrir Square when people are seeking to peacefully protest. We are outraged when we see Coptic Christians in Egypt being targeted and many being killed.

We are calling on all sides to work co-operatively toward the elections that are coming up this Monday and to ensure that democracy will outweigh the violence that we have seen in recent days.

[Iran, November 16th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Mount Royal for his question and his work in this regard.

Canada today has the toughest sanctions against the Iranian regime in the world.

We are incredibly concerned by the IEA report on its nuclear weaponization program. We are tremendously concerned about the Saudi assassination plot. We are tremendously concerned by the abysmal and terrible record on human rights.

We will continue to work with our allies to ensure that we continue to have the toughest sanctions on this despicable regime.