House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2011, with 33% of the vote.
Foreign Affairs May 17th, 2007
Mr. Speaker, once again the minister is hiding behind a political rant. That was no answer.
Following his logic, does this mean that we would not bring the great villains of the past to court because of what they might say about the Jews, the Tutsis or the ethnic minorities in Cambodia or Bosnia?
We do not hide ignorance, we confront it. We get it to expose itself in front of the world, embarrass it and show it for what it is.
Will the minister and his government support that motion?
Foreign Affairs May 17th, 2007
Mr. Speaker, we waited several days for an answer from the foreign affairs minister. A few days ago we got one and it was totally unacceptable.
He said that his government would not bring a foreign affairs subcommittee motion on Iran to the courts because it would give Iran's president a platform to proclaim his noxious views. Why then do we have courts at all?
If somebody says something repugnant, do we just let him go? Do we not bring him to his proper justice? The more repugnant is the more we do not do anything; that makes no sense. We deserve a far better answer from the foreign minister.
Foreign Affairs May 14th, 2007
Mr. Speaker, because of repeated statements by Iranian officials, including the president of Iran, for the annihilation of Israel and for Israel to be wiped off the map, a foreign affairs subcommittee passed a motion for the government to ask the United Nations, under its charter, to stop this incitement to commit genocide and to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court.
Of all the members on the subcommittee, only the two Conservative members voted against it, no one else. Why?
Russian Speaking Congress of Canada May 1st, 2007
Mr. Speaker, the board of directors of the Russian Speaking Congress of Canada is here today. I am hosting a reception for them just outside this chamber right after question period.
I am proud to represent in York Centre the largest Russian speaking community in the country. They came to a place so much like home, the same climate, the same landscape, even the same favourite game, and to a country which today admires Ovechkin and Malkin just as we once did Tretiak and Kharlamov.
They are here as extended families. The oldest, veterans of World War II, were critical allies who fought Hitler on the eastern front and suffered losses far greater than all the rest of the allies combined. It is their great gift to Canada, their new country. The cold war made us forget that contribution; we must not.
The youngest of them now in school and their well educated parents, all with dedication and ambition are doing spectacularly well.
The parents, their great learning and training not yet acknowledged in Canada, are not yet able to make the contribution to this country they would like to make. All they need is a chance.
The Russian--
The Environment April 30th, 2007
Mr. Speaker, Al Gore has said that the Conservatives' platform is “a complete and total fraud”. David Suzuki described it as “all smoke and mirrors”.
The not new, the cynically old Conservative government is doing it again: just stuff, stuff to sell, stuff to spin. Like its entire budget, on the economy, aboriginals, child care, smoke and mirrors could apply to it all. In 5 years or 10 years, there will be no impact; so not up to a Government of Canada, not up to Canada.
When will we see a real plan for the environment? When will Mr. Smoke or Mr. Mirrors return Bill C-30 to the House?
The Environment April 30th, 2007
Mr. Speaker, we have a Prime Minister who year after year opposed anything to do with the environment, who referred to Kyoto as “essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations”.
We have an environment minister who had no known interests in the environment. The Prime Minister's change: no road to Damascus conversion; no realization he got the environment wrong. It was a realization he got the politics of the environment wrong, that people actually cared.
Now he says, “I must politically care”. That is what he has given us, some words and lots of selling and spinning, so not up to it.
When will the Prime Minister have a real conversion and care about something other than politics?
The Budget March 27th, 2007
Mr. Speaker, Fraser Mustard told us yesterday where we stand on child care. The Prime Minister is a hockey historian. We are not the Chicago Blackhawks or the Phoenix Coyotes in this. We are the Philadelphia Flyers, dead last, 30th out of 30.
In any area of the budget, five years or 10 years from now, what will be the impact on Canada? Next to nothing.
Where in this budget are the worthy things we need to take on together, such as the environment, learning, child poverty? Political parties need tacticians, but countries need leaders. When will the Prime Minister start acting like a prime minister?
The Budget March 27th, 2007
Mr. Speaker, on budget day we see what is and every day after what is not. The $2,000 child tax credit does not mean $2,000 but $310 maximum. The poorest get nothing.
The working income tax benefit does not even apply to single workers in Ontario working full time for minimum wage because they make too much.
For aboriginals, the environment and our competitive economic future, the closer we look the less there is, with all the opportunity but no ambition for Canada.
Political parties need tacticians, but countries need leaders. When will the Prime Minister start acting like a prime minister?
Kelowna Accord March 22nd, 2007
Mr. Speaker, Kelowna offered hope. Everyone was at the table, governments and aboriginal peoples together. This would be tough. Trust was needed and that was what was building. Now it is gone.
Listen to the voice of the aboriginal peoples. They know what Kelowna meant: Hope.
No hope.
The Prime Minister is in or he is out. He wants a majority. It is okay to lose the majority of Canadians in the doing. It is politics. One just needs to look south of the border to see what the politics of division has done.
Real leaders, real prime ministers, do not divide.
When will the Prime Minister start acting--
Afghanistan March 22nd, 2007
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is the great divider. For him it is all about politics: create the wedge, then divide. On Afghanistan, he decides who is patriotic and who is not.
For aboriginals, the poor, the less educated, he decides who will get a chance.
Yesterday, he decided that it was not possible to support our troops in Afghanistan and to support the basic human rights of all peoples. It is one of the reasons we are there.
A prime minister is a connector, not a divider.
When will the Prime Minister start to act like a prime minister?