House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 44% of the vote.
Business of Supply November 7th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I am not surprised by the Liberals' attitude. They would like to forget about all of the scars the current leader's father left on Alberta. I do not think that Albertans are willing to amputate just to get rid of those scars. It is a bit late for the Liberals to be standing up for Alberta.
The NDP feels it is important that the resources belonging to Albertans last as long as possible for future generations.
Business of Supply November 7th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, surely my colleague across the way knows northern British Columbia and the Pacific coast. Can he tell us if there is a safe way for tankers to navigate between the British Columbia coast and the string of islands lying between the ports housing the terminals and Vancouver? Ocean currents reach a speed of 25 knots. There are many reefs and the channels are very narrow. These are the most dangerous waters in the world.
Is there a safe way to move these tankers, which take 4 kilometres to come to a complete stop?
Business of Supply November 5th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, we see what the debate has come to.
We see the passion with which the Liberals are standing up for their future retirement home and, on the other side, all the energy the Conservatives can put into trying to preserve the pool of labour they need at election time to travel across the country at taxpayers' expense.
What Canadians want right now is for the Prime Minister to take responsibility for the people he recruited himself. If he cannot speak to his integrity, he could at least speak to his judgment in hiring those people.
Navigation Restrictions November 5th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives say they are champions of cutting red tape.
On Friday, I will be moving Motion No. 441 in order to simplify the Vessel Operation Restriction Regulations. The purpose of my motion is to simplify the process to obtain navigation restrictions, the 20-some pages of procedures, the years of efforts, and the hundreds of thousands of dollars it is costing municipalities. This is a prime opportunity for the government, which claims to hate red tape.
I hope all my colleagues will support this motion.
Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2 October 29th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the government appears to have a strategy: neglect infrastructure in order to avoid tax increases.
If everything is going so well, can my colleague explain to me then why there are still some old DOT-111 rail cars in service transporting oil on questionable tracks and why there are old locomotives from the 1960s catching fire and crashing into towns like Lac-Mégantic and ones in Alberta on two different occasions? Would it not have been better for the Conservatives to have given the matter some thought last spring when my colleague raised a question about rail transportation?
Business of Supply October 22nd, 2013
Mr. Speaker, ever since my eminent colleague from Toronto—Danforth tabled his motion, the Conservatives and some Liberals have maintained that he is an amateur and that his motion was hastily cobbled together.
However, I have a few questions for the Parliamentary Secretary in an attempt to prove that it is actually his government that is flying by the seat of its pants.
Their version of a reformed, elected Senate has no electoral rules. None at all. There are no rules that would apply to the entire country. Each province would be left to come up with its own rules.
Moreover, if the Senate remains a partisan institution, candidates vying for a Senate seat will wage a partisan campaign. Will they have access to funds provided by their respective parties or will their campaigns be financed in some other manner?
There are many questions that cannot be swept under the rug because when important questions such as these are swept under the rug, that is when people start making things up as they go along.
If my colleague has some idea of how this would work, then I invite him to let me in on the details.
Business of Supply October 22nd, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I am wondering if the hon. member shares my opinion.
If we were to pass this motion today, if the Senate were to start doing the work senators are paid to do, and if the Senate began to fulfill its mission, the Senate itself would be completely useless, not for us, but for the Liberals and Conservatives. The Senate would lose its partisan, biased bent.
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE AND ITS COMMITTEES October 21st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, my colleague across the way seems loath to discuss one thing in particular: why Parliament was prorogued.
Apparently it was to calm things down and change the channel. Unfortunately, that move was utterly futile except for the fact that we lost a month's worth of time when we could have been getting things done here.
I was embarrassed as I travelled throughout my riding because I was meeting people who work every day and who asked me whether I was working. I told them the truth: I could not work because the Prime Minister had closed up shop.
Now the Conservatives are using their majority government status to “de-prorogue”. Since that cannot happen, they found another way to do it by using their majority. People will see exactly what a strong, majority Conservative government is all about: a month off and an ad hoc parliamentary process in the hopes that people will forget.
In the end, the Prime Minister looks as ridiculous now as he did in June in the midst of the Senate scandal.
Safeguarding Canada's Seas and Skies Act October 21st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, at this very moment, the oil spilled in the latest derailment is still burning. We are well aware of what happened with the tragedy at Lac-Mégantic this summer. There is no point in revisiting this disaster and rubbing salt on the wound—these people have suffered enough.
Does my colleague think that what happened today is trivial and insignificant compared to all other threats facing Canadians? These rail cars travel along rivers and lakes all across the country. I wonder what my colleague thinks about that.
Canadian Museum of History Act June 17th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, there is nothing more controversial than history. We have not yet finished learning about our past. Soon we will have no more archeologists to carry out digs where they are urgently needed.
It will be such a disaster the day they begin trying to tell their version of history. We have to wonder who will write this history and how it will be used.