John McCallum

[Business of Supply, September 29th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, it is a matter of arithmetic that the latest budget, budget 2011, is a net destroyer of jobs. If we actually look at the numbers in the budget, on the spending side the Conservatives have measures worth $500 million over two years, or only $200 million if we exclude the $300 million given to AECL. So, the measures that they keep boasting about are $200 million to $500 million.

Turn a few pages in the budget and we get to the cuts. What are the cuts over these same two years? Two billion dollars. They are cutting $2 billion and they are adding $200 million to $500 million so, obviously, net, they are destroying more jobs than they are creating.

This is wrong-headed at this time. If we look to what the IMF has said, if we look to what the chief economist of BMO has said, it is not appropriate to destroy jobs at a time when the world economy is likely heading back into a recession.

My question for the parliamentary secretary is, how can she possibly justify budget 2011 which destroys far more jobs than it creates?

[Safe Streets and Communities Act, September 27th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, my question is in a similar vein to the previous one. I know the member is an economist, but he also used to work for an organization that took every opportunity to be against higher government spending in favour of lower taxes.

Bill C-10 involves higher government spending, not the usual kind that is explicit and honestly stated, but hidden government spending. We have a situation where it may be $3 billion, or $10 billion or whatever numbers of billions of additional expenditures on prisons and the government refuses to give us any idea of what that additional cost is.

I have nothing against most of what the member said in terms of the ability of victims of terrorism to sue, that does not even cost much money, but the overall bill costs an unknown number of billions of dollars possibly ranging into tens of billions. Therefore, one might like something if it costs $1 billion, but not like it if it costs $12 billion.

How can the member possibly justify the government giving no information to Canadians on the cost of this legislation?

[President of the Treasury Board, September 27th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I have a few very simple questions for the President of Treasury Board.

Is he aware that Canadians pay him a bonus of $75,000 for being a cabinet member, in addition to his MP's salary? Therefore, when will he rise and tell Canadians what he is doing with their money? This conduct shows contempt and a lack of respect for Canadians.

[G8 Summit, September 26th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, members on this side of the House have been asking questions of the President of the Treasury Board about the G8 legacy fund for over a year. He has yet to answer one such question.

Will the minister, as part of the government that rode into power on the white horse of accountability and also as a former member of a provincial government that wreaked havoc on Ontario's books, finally stand in his place and explain his actions to Canadians?

[G8 Summit, September 20th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General's report on the G8 legacy fund said that no public servants were involved. We now know that is wrong. Employees of FedNor were involved. Clearly, somebody misled the Auditor General.

I have a motion at the government operations committee this afternoon calling for an investigation into this matter.

Will the government, which rode into power on the white horse of accountability, support my motion, or does it think now that it has a majority, accountability no longer matters?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 19th, 2011]

With regard to departmental spending from 2006 to present, what were the total costs of rentals and purchases of individual staging, lighting and audio equipment, and production and assorted technical costs for all government announcements and public events?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 19th, 2011]

With respect to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the government’s commitment of $2.85 billion over 5 years for the Muskoka Initiative: (a) for each project or program that qualifies for the renewed $1.75 billion in existing funding, (i) what is its name and objective, (ii) what is the total federal funding commitment, (iii) what is the timeframe for the project or program; (b) for each program or project that qualifies for the new $1.1 billion in funding announced on February 1, 2011, (i) what is its name and objective, (ii) what is the total federal funding commitment, (iii) what is the timeframe for the project or program; (c) for each of the bilateral, multilateral and partnership branches, (i) which partner and country is receiving funding, (ii) how much funding is each partner and country receiving; and (d) what plans does the government have to inform Parliament and the public regarding this spending?

[Questions on the Order Paper, September 19th, 2011]

With regard to each meeting of the Treasury Board since April 1, 2009: (a) what was the date of the meeting; (b) where did the meeting occur; (c) who was in attendance; and (d) what was the agenda of the meeting?

[Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act, June 24th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague not only for his excellent speech but also for his recent re-election in a riding that for many years was regarded as an NDP stronghold. Given the orange wave of the last election, it was quite an achievement on the part of my colleague.

My question has to do with who should bear the major responsibility for the lock-out. As a former minister responsible for Canada Post, I can tell you that there is no way Canada Post would ever order this lock-out without the agreement of the government. At the other extreme, it is perfectly possible that the minister responsible for Canada Post called up Canada Post and ordered the lock-out. So it is somewhere between acquiescence and order.

My question to my colleague is this: even though technically it was Canada Post that ordered the lock-out, would it not be more realistic to say it was a government-ordered lock-out?

[Main Estimates, 2011–12, June 22nd, 2011]

Madam Chair, on a point of order. In light of the Auditor General's report, will the minister give his personal guarantee that all the money in the estimates will be spent in the prescribed areas, and none of it in other areas, and particularly not in Muskoka?