Ken Dryden

[Israeli Apartheid Week, March 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, this is Israeli Apartheid Week. Universities are great places to discuss, debate and criticize and yet Israeli Apartheid Week often is not about discussion and debate. It is about intimidation and hate, where one voice overpowers and silences others and cuts them off.

Israel is not an apartheid state and yet if there is anything we have learned from the great slayer of South African apartheid, Nelson Mandela, conflict cannot be resolved with hate, because even if people do win they must live with one another. Living with one another is not just about talking, but listening; not just about knowing, but learning; not just about being right, but creating something better.

Our students have 60 or more years of their lives ahead of them. They will change Canada. They will create the global world of the future. It is time for students involved in Israeli Apartheid Week to move on to something worthy of all that is in them, something worthy of the future.

The really sad part of Israeli Apartheid Week is that our students and our universities can do much better.

[Child Care, February 8th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development likes to talk about choice. Let us talk about choice.

Let us talk about average middle-class families with both parents or one parent in the workplace; their income stagnant or worse; with a mortgage and car payments; and having their kids in child care, with each place costing more than $8,000 a year and the Conservatives' so-called child care benefit providing less than $1,000 a year after taxes.

Let us talk about average parents, at home or not, who worry about their kids and know that for them the only real security and opportunity in the future is in learning; who want their kids to have a lot of experiences with other kids, other adults, in a lot of different places and settings; who need their kids to arrive at the kindergarten door ready to learn, and who know that for better child care facilities, and for attracting and keeping better teachers and for better learning for the future, the Conservatives' $1,000 benefit offers no choice.

That is the difference. With the Conservatives: no choice. With the Liberals, whether one is at home or not, in real life: real choice.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Return, January 31st, 2011]

With regard to a possible tax evasion scheme in Liechtenstein known as "Project Jade" and the information that, as of June 10, 2010, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) was informed that 106 residents of Canada have over $100 million dollars in accounts in Liechtenstein and subsequently reassessed 26 cases which revealed a total of approximately $5.2 million in unpaid federal taxes, interest, fines and penalties: (a) what is the breakdown of the $5.2 million assessed from the 26 cases, specifically in (i) unpaid taxes, (ii) interest, (iii) fines, (iv) penalties; (b) how much of the $5.2 million has been collected; (c) how many of these cases are under appeal; (d) how many cases remain open; (e) how many of the 26 cases have been closed, meaning that the full amount of taxes, interest and penalties have been collected; (f) what is the breakdown (money collected in taxes, interest, fines and penalties) for each case; (g) how many of the account holders in the 26 cases have made partial payments and, of these partial repayments, what was the (i) largest amount, (ii) smallest amount, (iii) average amount; (h) how much does CRA anticipate it has yet to collect in (i) taxes, (ii) interest, (iii) fines, (iv) penalties; (i) with regard to the amount of money contained in the Liechtenstein accounts declared or discovered by the CRA, what was the (i) largest amount, (ii) smallest amount, (iii) average amount; (j) on what date was the CRA first made aware of the names of Canadians with accounts in Liechtenstein; (k) on what date did CRA begin its investigation; (l) on what date was the first audit of an individual account holder done; (m) how many of the 106 Canadians with accounts in Liechtenstein have had these accounts audited, reassessed or been the subject of compliance action; (n) how many of the 106 Canadians with accounts in Liechtenstein have not been audited, reassessed or been the subject of compliance action; and (o) how many tax evasion charges have been laid?

[Questions on the Order Paper, January 31st, 2011]

With regard to the Minister of Public Safety, what are the exact, line-by-line details of all travel and hospitality expenses incurred by the Minister and all exempt staff since January 1, 2009?

[Questions on the Order Paper, January 31st, 2011]

With regard to the President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, what are the exact, line-by-line details of all travel and hospitality expenses incurred by the Minister and all exempt staff since January 1, 2009?

[Questions on the Order Paper, January 31st, 2011]

With respect to Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) and the recommendation made by the Special Needs Advisory Group (SNAG) in 2006 that VAC employ veterans: (a) what action has VAC taken to implement the recommendation; (b) what response, if any, has been provided to SNAG on the recommendation; and (c) what analysis has been completed by VAC on the feasibility of this recommendation and what were the conclusions or findings?

[Ryan Russell, January 31st, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Sergeant Ryan Russell was 35 years old. He had a wife and young son. He loved hockey; he was a goalie. He loved his job. It is what his father had done, and his father had been his hero. One day a few weeks ago, he left to go to work, more than 40 years of his life still ahead of him. In an instant, it was over.

In Toronto, more than 10,000 people attended his funeral. Beforehand, many had stood on sidewalks waiting for the procession, the city quieter than I had ever heard it before.

We try so hard to take the risk out of our lives. Then we see some people, police officers, firefighters, soldiers and others, who take on more risk and do it willingly to make us safer. How can they do it, we wonder. Could we?

So a city stopped, to feel sad, to offer hope for the survivors, and for Sergeant Russell and for all those who do what he did, to say thank you.

[Quebec Sports Hall of Fame Inductee, December 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, last week, Red Fisher was inducted into the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame. Red has been writing for an unbelievable 56 years, first for the Montreal Star, and now for the Gazette. He respects what he writes about and respects his audience. He has never made himself more important than the game he covers. When others have decided they have “been there, done that”, Red is still able and willing to get angered, to get excited, and to see something new.

He can be tough. At times he was not very impressed with me, but it was because he knew I could do better; and every time I could not find my own answers, I would wait for the morning paper to see what Red thought.

There is no hockey public in the world more knowledgeable than Montreal's. It is this public that sets the standard against which the Canadiens must compete and has been crucial to the team's success. No one has been more important in helping to sustain this standard than Red. Simply, day after day, year after year, Red is the best.

We congratulate Red and thank him.

[Business of Supply, November 25th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I have not been to Afghanistan. I have not seen up close what the needs are.

I am going on the basis that in fact there is an ongoing need, in order to take on that larger role. As more soldiers from other countries leave or those ones stay in non-combat roles, there is that much more responsibility and a much larger task for those Afghans who remain, and therefore the training of them.

[Business of Supply, November 25th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, my understanding is that this not an extension of a combat role.

If it is not an extension of a combat role, then that is a very different story than what was brought up in the member's question.