Marc Garneau

[Census, December 6th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am amazed at how out of date the Minister of Industry is.

On Wednesday, MPs will have the opportunity to vote on a private member's bill that would restore the long form census, save taxpayers millions of dollars, and ensure that governments, charities, universities and colleges would have access to the data that they need to do their jobs efficiently and effectively. Anyone who votes no will be voting to support the Prime Minister's plainly stupid decision.

Instead of waiting for the vote, why will the industry minister not do the right thing and restore the long form census?

[Census, December 6th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, our researchers have warned us that eliminating the mandatory long form census will force them to look to the private sector for the information they need. They will also have to use the research funds provided by the federal government to purchase this data.

We already know that the Conservatives' plan will cost an extra $30 million and provide less reliable data. But what will be the other hidden costs associated with this irresponsible decision?

[Desjardins Group, December 6th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to congratulate Desjardins Group, which was awarded the title of “Bank of the Year 2010 - Canada” by the prestigious British magazine, The Banker, published by the Financial Times.

This is the first time in Desjardins's history that it has participated in this competition and it is the first time that a Canadian cooperative financial institution has won this prestigious title. Desjardins Group was certainly recognized for its performance and business model, but also for its corporate culture, its role as a leader in sustainable development, its community involvement and its charitable work around the world.

Desjardins Group is a Quebec and Canadian success story that we can all be proud of. It is a pleasure to congratulate it today on receiving this important honour.

[Policy Salon, November 30th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand in the House of Commons today to congratulate David and Diana Nicholson on the 1,500th anniversary of their Wednesday night policy salon that will take place tomorrow night, December 1, in my riding of Westmount—Ville-Marie.

For the past 29 years, Diana and David Nicholson have been hosting a group of political junkies in their home every single Wednesday evening, that is, 52 Wednesdays a year. The animated discussions cover everything: the economy, the environment, financial markets, international affairs, culture, federal politics and of course, Quebec politics. These evenings are characterized by openness and respect.

As noted by Westmount mayor Peter Trent, the event is a family of friends and colleagues who all have an interest in sharing expertise among neighbours and newcomers from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. every Wednesday night.

Having myself been in the hot seat on a few occasions, I would like to take this opportunity to thank David and Diana for their commitment to discourse and the pursuit of knowledge.

Félicitations.

[National Defence, November 29th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, this will be the biggest military contract in Canadian history. At the very least, the government should ensure that the money will be well spent and that there will be guaranteed spinoffs for our industry. Other companies are offering to guarantee 100% of the value of the contract, and we could get that if we were to launch a competitive bidding process.

How did the government manage to get the Bloc Québécois to support wasting taxpayers' money without even guaranteeing maximum spinoffs and jobs for our regions, including Quebec?

[National Defence, November 29th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Auto Workers' union, which represents 10,000 aerospace sector workers, wants the government to guarantee economic spinoffs related to decommissioning the CF-18s, but the Bloc-Conservative coalition wants to go ahead with a contract that provides no guarantees with respect to $3.9 billion worth of spinoffs based on the sale of 5,000 aircraft, according to the Pentagon.

Why not launch a competitive bidding process to maximize spinoffs and jobs in our regions, including Quebec?

[National Defence, November 24th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I would recommend that the Minister of National Defence learn how to do his job properly.

According to the Pentagon, the economic spinoffs for Canada are two-thirds lower than what the Bloc-Conservative coalition claims. Furthermore, we are no longer talking about 5,000 planes, but rather 3,000. The Prime Minister and the Bloc Québécois are misleading Canadians and cannot guarantee any spinoffs from those contracts.

Does the coalition know that it is going to waste $3 billion of Canadian taxpayers' money and lose thousands—

[National Defence, November 24th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister lost all fiscal credibility with Canadians when he sole-sourced the biggest Canadian military contract ever without giving a single credible reason for not holding a competition. This new anti-tendering habit will waste billions of Canadian taxpayer hard-earned dollars and cost Canadians thousands of jobs, and the price of the fighter jets is still rising with no end in sight.

Could the Minister of Finance think of a better example of a risky scheme involving taxpayer dollars?

[Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act, November 23rd, 2010]

Madam Speaker, to my knowledge, we have identified those bodies within the government that will have a role on the enforcement side, but we have not identified the resources. This is where we, as legislators, are going to have to be extremely vigilant after this bill has passed in watching how it is executed. The execution will be very much related to the first instances where spam propagators are challenged and action is taken. We will then discover if it takes an eternity to get anything done.

As we go along, we will have to ask whether the three bodies, the CRTC, the Competition Bureau and the Privacy Commissioner, have the adequate resources in order to effectively implement what is in Bill C-28.

At this point, I do not believe those resources have been identified. I think those are simply extra duties that are imposed upon those groups. We will have to be extremely vigilant to make sure that this bill not only has teeth, but that the resources are available to put it into effect.

[Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act, November 23rd, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I hope I made it clear in my presentation that we definitely are not out of the woods, as the member said. There is an important phase ahead of us, because it is one thing to have legislation but it is another thing to enforce it.

The member made a very good point. Once this legislation is put in place, there are going to be instances where people who are accused of propagating spam are challenged. The CRTC, the Competition Bureau, and the Privacy Commissioner will all be involved. The question is whether they will have the necessary teeth to enforce this piece of legislation so that the amount of spam actually will be reduced.

We are finally getting a piece of legislation, but it is like getting to first base. In time we will only know whether this piece of legislation is just window dressing or whether it will reduce the amount of spam that is literally clogging the Internet today.