LaVar Payne

[Business of Supply, September 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I received an email from one of my constituents, Glen. He talks about meetings with the Prime Minister and the premiers. He says:

—I give our Prime Minister...full credit for providing this necessary leadership.

I have followed politics for many years, and...observed past Federal-Provincial meetings as being a waste of time. (I have to tell you that I even felt sorry for Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien when the 10 Premiers “ganged up” on the Federal Government.) In short, I observed meetings and premiers that were not committed to problem solving. Instead these meetings provided an opportunity for self promotion and the display of ultra egotism. As a taxpayer, I felt these meetings were a waste of time and money.

When meetings are deemed necessary, the Prime Minister should call meetings--not the premiers....

To paraphrase Steve Jobs, the Prime Minister must be vigilant against the “bozo explosion.” The constant whining and bickering of our provincial leaders is getting to be a little tiresome.

Would the member for Wascana like to comment on that?

[Agriculture, September 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, today the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the OECD, reiterated that our government's decision to deliver marketing freedom to western Canadian farmers is a positive change for Canada.

While the opposition wants to impose a job-killing carbon tax on food production and groceries, can the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food tell the House how our government is supporting farmers?

[WorldSkills Competition, June 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, one of my constituents has made his fellow citizens very proud. Jordy Bartman won the gold medal for post-secondary auto repair at the Skills Canada competition in Edmonton a short while ago. His win in the autobody repair apprentice division means that Jordy will now go on to represent Canada at the WorldSkills competition in Leipzig, Germany in July 2013.

At just 20 years old, Jordy is a journeyman welder and is working on his autobody repair apprenticeship with Pat Stenger of Brooks Collision. Jordy credits his mechanically inclined family members, like his dad Sandy, for having supported him and taught him many of the things he knows today. Jordy's mom Cindy said, “I'm over-the-top proud”, and she has every right to be so.

We salute Jordy and we are rooting for him to come home victorious from Leipzig, Germany.

[Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, June 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the leader of the third party for the first time in quite a while stood in the House of Commons to talk about the economy. After seeing the job he did with Ontario's economy in the 1990s, it is no wonder the leader of the Liberal Party and former premier of Ontario has not spoken about the economy in quite some time.

While the leader opposite was the NDP premier of Ontario, he devastated the economy, raised taxes, ran record deficits, opposed trade, saw unemployment almost double. Clearly, the government will not be taking advice from the leader of the third party.

Our government has a proven track record of creating jobs and creating economic growth. Over 750,000 net new jobs have been created since July 2009.

We will continue on this path, and we call on the leader of the Liberal Party to support our positive plan. We also call on the leader of the Liberal Party to return the $40 million the Liberals owe Canadians.

[Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act, June 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Brooks, Alberta, is a city in my riding that has a huge population of immigrants and refugees. On average, per capita, it is probably far greater than most other communities across this country. I have talked to those individuals, those immigrants and those refugees. They tell me that they are extremely upset with people who are jumping the queue.

How would this bill help us to protect the opportunity for people to come to this country as immigrants and refugees?

[Business of Supply, May 31st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I was listening to my colleague, who talked about people travelling two hours, so I am making an assumption that he means one hour to work and one hour back home.

I live in a rural riding. There are people in my riding who actually drive for an hour to get to work and drive an hour to get home. There are no subways or public transportation for those individuals to get to those jobs.

I am wondering how difficult that might be, since the NDP says people cannot go to work by travelling for an hour.

[Business of Supply, May 31st, 2012]

Madam Speaker, as a former human resources manager, I know it is really important that people get out to work, not only for the economy or for business but for themselves and the self-respect they get from being employed.

Can the parliamentary secretary inform this House of the specific number of individuals who are currently eligible for EI and how these changes we are discussing will positively impact those claimants?

[Business of Supply, May 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that my wife has a membership in a Medicine Hat co-op and through that membership we buy a lot of goods. I know for a fact that co-operatives are profitable. My wife gets an annual dividend, which is very nice.

A lot of people are not aware of co-operatives. Could the hon. member advise us of any ideas that he might have which would help people across the country become members and participate in the co-operative lifestyle?

[Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations Legislation, May 29th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I would appreciate it if you would have the blues checked and ask the member to repeal his comments and apologize to parliamentarians for his use of that type of language here in the House of Commons.

[Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations Legislation, May 29th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I am really disappointed in that member in terms of his unparliamentary language here in the House of Commons. I think he owes all parliamentarians an apology and should withdraw those remarks.

Second, I would like to point out that CP Rail is a vital link to the west coast for produce and products leaving Canada and coming into Canada. With this strike there is a huge potential to damage Canada's international reputation as a reliable supplier.

I know that the member is being pulled by the strings of his union bosses. My question to him is this: do the union bosses who are pulling his strings want to bring the Canadian economy to the same level as we see in Greece?