House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 80% of the vote.
Petitions September 26th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I have the honour to present on behalf of constituents of Vegreville two petitions.
These petitions request Parliament to ensure present provisions to the Criminal Code prohibiting physician assisted suicide are enforced and not to make changes to the law which would allow the aiding or abetting of active or passive euthanasia.
Agriculture September 26th, 1994
Why do they not instead do the right thing and allow farmers to elect a board of directors to give them control over their organization, the Canadian Wheat Board?
Agriculture September 26th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, one of the farmers my colleague referred to is Andy McMechan who took advantage of the open borders guaranteed under the free trade agreement to avert foreclosure by the Farm Credit Corporation.
Why is the Prime Minister and his cabinet treating these farmers like drug dealers with these heavy-handed tactics?
Criminal Code September 20th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the hon. member if he has considered corporal punishment as an alternate deterrent to crime, an alternative to incarceration.
Criminal Code September 20th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the hon. member opposite. First of all in terms of alternatives to incarceration you mentioned several possible
alternatives. I am just wondering if you have considered seriously-
Canadian Wheat Board Act September 20th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, the minister of agriculture has had a bad summer. As incredible as it might seem the minister ended the summer by equating farmers to criminals because they were shipping grain into the United States.
When will the minister stop attacking farmers and change the Canadian Wheat Board Act so that farmers have the access which is guaranteed them under the free trade agreement?
Excise Tax Act June 21st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I have a question. I was going to ask it a little later, however I appreciate the opportunity.
I would like to ask the hon. member who has just spoken to elaborate on how, had he been in government, rather than putting this bill forth as an omnibus bill, he would have broken it down.
Excise Tax Act June 21st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, of course the hon. member knows there was a vote cast against caucus. That is not unusual in our caucus. Members are free to vote and are expected to vote for what their constituents want. That happens commonly. It is extremely common to have people voting differently on various pieces of legislation. It is probably as common in other caucuses as it is in ours.
Of course in our caucus we do propose free votes when it comes to voting in the House on certain issues. Certainly we propose always and it is the requirement and responsibility of all members of the Reform caucus to vote according to their constituents wishes. Even if the caucus takes a position and members have gone to their constituents through formal mechanisms and not just talking about them and have clearly ascertained that their constituents want them to vote a different way than caucus votes in general, then it is the obligation and not just the right of that member to vote in that way.
Excise Tax Act June 21st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, the exact statistics have escaped me. I did read statistics and they were presented in the House earlier. There is no doubt that statistics have shown very clearly that the consumption of cigarettes has increased due to this reduction in cost which was brought about by the lowering of the tax on cigarettes. I cannot quote the exact figure but I am sure one of my hon. colleagues will use it in a presentation later. However, there is no doubt about the impact.
Excise Tax Act June 21st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I do agree the timing of this bill could not be worse. Just to back this up I would like to read a very short piece from yesterday's Financial Post . The title is: ``The Sky is the Limit for Tobacco Tax in the U.S.''. The article lays out very briefly that in the U.S. some experts believe that tobacco taxes will increase substantially and they will be used to fund the new health care plan which is being talked about in the U.S.
I will read this very short article: "Canada may have learned a lesson about the dangers of overtaxing cigarettes, but it has not filtered through to the U.S.". No pun intended. "As Congress and the White House crank up the campaign for a national health care program, tobacco taxes have emerged as everyone's favourite way to pay for it. The only dispute is over how high to raise them. Sam Gibbons, who took over as chairman of the
House Ways and Means committee when Dan Rostenkowski was hit with 17 corruption counts, has proposed a 45 cent U.S. increase, raising the total price to $1.69 U.S. a pack. President Bill Clinton suggested 75 cents U.S. while Senator Edward Kennedy, who chairs the Senate Labour and Human Resources Committee, wants a $1.50 U.S. increase per pack of cigarettes".
There it is. At a time when we are reducing our price per package of cigarettes the Americans are talking about increasing the cost and the sky is the limit, as the article said. This article was in the Washington Notebook column by Kelly McParland. It is a very interesting little section and I encourage members to read it.