Lawrence Cannon

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 9th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite clear that much of the cost of the G8 and G20 events is due to security. A tiny portion of the cost is for the promotion of not just Ontario, but also Canada. We are proud to be welcoming all these people who will spread the good news about Canada throughout the world.

[Foreign Affairs, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we remain concerned about the Gaza situation and the provision of humanitarian aid to meet the basic needs of the people. Canada understands Israel's legitimate concerns about security and terrorist threats against its people. The Gaza Strip, I remind the House, is controlled by Hamas, a terrorist organization, and Israel has every right to defend itself.

[Foreign Affairs, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying yesterday, Canada has called for and obviously supports an impartial, credible and transparent inquiry. Canada is convinced that Israel's inquiry into this tragic incident will be impartial, credible and transparent.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am not the only one who talks about promoting Canada. I will quote Tim West, who is chairman of the board of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, who said, “Previous governments have staged tourism setups, so this not a new concept. From my perspective, we have way too much to gain with the G8 and G20 in Ontario and to minimize this tourism opportunity would be a mistake”.

Every time we have tried to do something for Ontario, they voted against it.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we ask for equal opportunity to showcase Canada and to showcase Ontario. We are using part of the budget to promote Canada and to ensure we do the marketing. Over 3,000 media and other officials, as well as heads of government and their delegations, will be here.

We want to seize this opportunity to ensure we tell everybody what Canada stands for, which is a very strong country that wants to attract investment here. That is what we are doing.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, once again, we are going to welcome the world to the G8 and G20. We are doing what all the other governments and all the other countries that host such summits and events do, which is promote our country. What we are doing is quite normal. We have spent money on marketing and promoting our event, we are proud of our country, and we are going to promote it appropriately.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Experience Canada space covers a total area of 22,000 square feet. The total cost of building this facility is $1.9 million. Building costs for the water feature are $57,000. Experience Canada will welcome more than 3,000 media representatives and other guests and, as I said, unlike the Bloc, we are proud to promote Canada.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, during these two summits, Canada will be welcoming news media, heads of government and delegations. We are seizing this opportunity to promote our country. That is what we are doing and we are doing it in such a way that we will put Canada's best foot forward. That does have a cost. There are costs associated with security, and we are paying those costs.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, the project my colleague referred to cost $57,000. It is part of a series of programs to promote the country during the visit by these heads of state.

We are doing this because we are proud to showcase the attractions that have made Canada renowned throughout the world and we want to ensure that we can do so—

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I have just explained to my colleagues in this House that indeed, we were able to come forward with infrastructure money to ensure that through Canada's economic action plan we were able to fund projects that have been presented by communities and regional governments.

We have partnered with them, much in the same way as we have partnered with governments from coast to coast to coast to ensure that Canada's economic action plan functions correctly and ensures that we do create the jobs, and we get on the right side of our economic—