John Baird

[Points of Order, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite said that a member of the government intentionally misled the House. That is completely unparliamentary. The government requests that you require that member to withdraw his comments.

[Points of Order, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, during question period, I made reference to a number of documents, and I am very pleased to table them.

The first document is a press release entitled, “Paul Martin government announces...budget.” The sub-headline says, “Budget 2004, announced today by the Paul Martin government—”. Then the first paragraph says, “The budget today announced by the Paul Martin government—”. In the second paragraph, it mentions, “Minister of Finance [the member for Wascana]”. I cannot mention his name, but I believe that if members went to www.ralphgoodale.ca, they would find the name. It also has the government website at the end, www.fin.gc.ca.

I want to assure the House that some press releases were saying the “H” government because if we called it the Paul Martin government, people would be very confused.

I will table that.

In response to a question by the member for Repentigny, I talked about a Bloc press release.

It is about a fundraising cocktail party for the Bloc Québécois in Chambly—Borduas. For more information, there is a number to call. I will table this press release in the House.

I am also pleased to table a story by the Canadian Press dated March 11, 2011, 11:51 a.m., about a senator appointed by the Liberal Party. It reads, “Liberal Senator Raymond Lavigne guilty of fraud.”

I will table all three of these documents in the House.

[Government Priorities, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I will in fact be in Sudbury on Sunday and Monday next week. I will be making a government announcement. I will be talking about issues like the gun registry on which a lot of New Democratic members broke faith with their constituents.

I will also be talking about the GST, which has gone from 7% to 6% to 5% and how the New Democratic Party wanted the GST to stay high rather than support the significant tax reduction this government delivered to families in Sudbury, the Nickel Belt and throughout all of northern Ontario.

[International Co-operation, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Brampton—Springdale is just trying to change the channel.

I have in my hand a press release, which says, “Paul Martin government announces prudent and ambitious budget”. It is at the www.fin.gc.ca press release. Who is quoted in this press release? I cannot mention his name, but his first name is Ralph.

[International Co-operation, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the minister reported at committee 11 times on December 9, 2010, that she was the one who made the decision.

[Citizenship and Immigration, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Immigration has two responsibilities, one as the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and he has continued on with his good work as Minister of Multiculturalism in his new portfolio.

He has done an outstanding job at welcoming new Canadians, and doing more for immigration settlement, particularly in the province of Ontario where the member and I come from.

When my premier, Dalton McGuinty, had to come begging for a fair deal for immigration settlement funding, he did not get it from the previous government. This government is the only government that has delivered for immigrants in Ontario.

[Citizenship and Immigration, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I already made it clear that this minister has two responsibilities. That is the reason for the change. He also returned over $300,000 to the Bank of Canada because he did not spend all of his money.

But I do wonder why the Bloc is using public resources for a Bloc Québécois cocktail fundraiser. Why did it use the riding office of the member for Chambly—Borduas? Will he return all of the public money that was used? I have not received an answer to my question.

[Citizenship and Immigration, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, not at all. It is because the Minister of Immigration was also the minister responsible for multiculturalism.

Perhaps the member for Repentigny could answer my question. I have here a press release regarding a cocktail fundraiser for the Bloc Québécois in Chambly—Borduas. It says that if you want information, you can call the riding office of the member for Chambly—Borduas.

Could you explain why you are using public resources for your election campaign and—

[Government Accountability, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know what to say to the member. I completely reject the premise. I think the member is getting a little out of control. There is no member of the Conservative caucus facing any criminal charges.

We have worked hard to eliminate the role of big money in politics. We have made outstanding progress in that regard and I completely reject the premise of the member's claim.

[Government Accountability, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, there is no member of the Conservative caucus, neither in the House nor in the Senate, facing criminal charges. The House leader of the NDP should stand in her place and apologize and, if she does not, she should have the courage of her convictions to go outside of this place and make those outrageous charges against two outstanding parliamentarians.