Libby Davies

[Speaker of the House of Commons, March 25th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, you have given a decade of service to all members of Parliament as our Speaker. Maybe this day is no different from all those others spent occupying the chair, listening to endless points of order that really are not points of order, making your rulings and seeking order, seeking order, and still more order.

Of course, it is different today, in that this appears to be the last such day. So it is fitting that we pay you tribute, and I do so on behalf of our leader, the member for Toronto—Danforth, and our entire NDP caucus.

Mr. Speaker, you were elected or acclaimed as Speaker on four occasions, and it is no small feat in itself to have earned the respect of the House so many times over. You presided at many critical moments, including being the only Speaker ever to decide a confidence vote in 2005.

Mr. Speaker, we remember you for your fairness, your impartiality and your good humour.

You know this place inside out and all of its strange practices that no one really understands but which, at certain moments, become important, even critical, to how we function and do our work for Canadians.

Most of all, though, Mr. Speaker, you will be remembered for your historic rulings on the disclosure of documents dealing with Afghanistan, other document disclosure and questions of contempt, which bring us here today.

You have been our guardian and the guardian of our Parliament. I think it was best said in an article just yesterday in Maclean's magazine, which concluded:

Amid much gnashing of teeth over the state of our parliamentary democracy, [the Speaker] reasserted the power and preeminence of the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the NDP members, we wish you well. We hope you are not left to muttering “Order” in your sleep. We thank you for your service as an honourable Speaker, and we thank your family for sharing you with us and for the work you have done so well.

[Business of Supply, March 25th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the government House leader certainly has been trying very hard to spin Conservatives' record as something that is supporting Canadians.

We have seen him do this day after day in the House of Commons. I think he has become very familiar with it. Maybe in the most generous of moments I could give him an A for effort. There he is smiling. He could not even keep a straight face yesterday as he tried to ram through a whole bunch of government bills that he knew was impossible.

The fact is that the real record of the government is that it has the worst record on scandals in this country. It has the worst record of disclosure and of not providing information, not only to parliamentarians but to the people of Canada. It has the worst record on insider scams.

Day after day we have had to go through a litany of these issues and expose what the government refuses to disclose to the people of Canada. The fact that we are now, at this moment in this Parliament, finding contempt surely must be something that deeply disturbs even Conservative members.

We are talking about the institution of democracy. We are talking about the work that we are sent here to do—

[Ethics, March 22nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Bruce Carson was out there selling access to government to the environment minister, to the Indian affairs minister using his girlfriend as a front. The truth is that the Conservatives would never have called the police if it had not have been for the work of the APTN. Bruce Carson would have kept right on doing it if he had not been caught out.

How can the Conservatives still tolerate these loopholes in their Federal Accountability Act?

[Ethics, March 22nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Bruce Carson, an adviser to the Prime Minister, knew everything about lobbying laws. He knew all about the loopholes, the same loopholes the NDP tried to close, loopholes the Conservatives would not close. Now we know why. The Federal Accountability Act was just for show. Former government officials, right out of the PMO, are still able to sell their services to people looking for access to power, despite the five-year ban.

When will the Conservatives close the loopholes and prevent another Carson from doing the same?

[Petitions, March 21st, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition is from residents of the Vancouver area who call on the Government of Canada to renew funding for the Sisters in Spirit initiative phase 2, evidence to action, and to invest in an action plan for aboriginal women, which NWAC has developed, to stop the devastating number of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls in Canada.

[Petitions, March 21st, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition has to do with Bill C-304, An Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians. The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to play an increased federal role in housing and to create a federal housing program.

I note today that the bill was tabled in the House. There have been many petitions on this issue right across the country calling on Parliament to move on this bill swiftly because it is an urgently needed matter to provide accessible and affordable housing for all Canadians.

[Petitions, March 21st, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to present and table three petitions.

The first petition comes from residents of metro Vancouver who are very concerned about the proposed Enbridge northern gateway pipeline that would carry over 1,170 kilometres from Alberta to the coast of Kitimat, B.C., contributing to an expansion of the tar sands.

The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to immediately legislate the moratorium on offshore drilling and oil tanker traffic on B.C.'s coast. This has been a huge issue in British Columbia and there have been many petitions on this issue, so I am pleased to table this petition today.

[Government Accountability, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, we know that Senator Lavigne, who is facing charges and is in court today, was censured and disciplined by the Senate. However, Conservative senators also facing charges are still sitting in the Senate enjoying their perks and continuing to do party fundraising.

Why is there one set of rules for the Conservatives and another set of rules for everybody else? When will they take responsibility and suspend their senators facing these criminal charges?

[Government Accountability, March 11th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, this has been a tough week for the Conservatives and an even tougher week for Canadians. There are insiders facing criminal charges and potential jail time. There were two more rebukes from the Speaker. It seems that they have given up on accountability in favour of schoolyard behaviour as they cry that others did it too or resort to name-calling.

The courts have ruled, Parliament has ruled and now you, Mr. Speaker, have ruled as well.

When will the Conservatives stop their schoolyard antics and take responsibility for their wrongdoing and their actions?

[Political Financing, March 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, that is ridiculous. The Conservatives do not have a single piece of evidence to back up their wild claims.

This is about a government that does not know the difference between right and wrong. What we did was legal. What the Conservatives did was illegal. We respected the spending limits and they exceeded the spending limits.

When will they stop making up these stories about in and out, acknowledge their mistakes and show that they understand the difference between what is right and what is wrong?