Marcel Proulx

[Ethics, April 16th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we have now learned that the former status of women minister was promoting a firm that her husband and Mr. Gillani wanted to buy and then take public in a $1 billion deal. She even wrote a letter to the senior municipal official of Simcoe County, her cousin, suggesting he use this company.

A proposal that Mr. Jaffer submitted to the green fund looks an awful lot like this company's business plan. Will this information be provided to the RCMP?

[Jobs and Economic Growth Act, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. He is much more eloquent than I could ever be. But he is right, and I will give some examples.

In my riding of Hull—Aylmer, which is on the other side of the river, there are federal government office buildings. This government put up posters about repairs in the buildings, when the posters cost more than the repairs themselves. That is wasteful.

[Jobs and Economic Growth Act, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his comments and his question.

It is true that the government is clinging to its right-wing ideologies, and the member has every reason to believe that the Conservative government wants to lower the corporate tax rate yet again. I have nothing against lower corporate tax rates, but the government needs to consider the fact that we cannot afford them right now.

That is why the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada made his party's position clear a few weeks ago, indicating that he would freeze the corporate tax rate, and that the money would be put towards other programs, and particularly towards bringing down the deficit and the debt.

But the government continues to waste taxpayer money on a shocking number of advertising minutes. Ads for the government's economic action plan are all over the television. It is ridiculous. This spending is unnecessary, and the government keeps doing it.

[Jobs and Economic Growth Act, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join in this debate on implementation of the budget presented on March 4.

First of all, I believe that this is not a good budget for Canadians because it does not address the issues we are currently facing. It is a laissez-faire budget, the budget of a government that steers a course depending on which way the wind is blowing. This is a facile and lacklustre budget, one devoid of ideas.

I will repeat my comments made on March 4 after reading the budget. I said that this budget offered nothing new, that it was a budget “that did not propose any specific measures to create jobs or encourage research and development...Given that it took three months to recalibrate his government, it is far from impressive.” I am still waiting for this recalibration.

Not only has the Conservative government proposed freezes and cuts, it has put forward a budget that is extremely misleading. Let me explain.

As the member for the National Capital Region, I am very concerned by what is in and what was left out of the budget with respect to the public service. A large part of the labour force in our region works in Canada's public service and its agencies. At the same time that the government is leading the population to believe that its budget will create jobs and support economic growth, it is announcing that it will make departmental cuts. It is not creating jobs, it is cutting jobs.

A few days after the budget was presented, the President of Treasury Board proudly announced that the government would not fill the 245 positions on government-appointed boards and commissions that were deemed redundant. However, he was hiding two partisan secrets. The first is that 90% of these positions were already vacant, and some of them had been for some time. Therefore, where are the savings announced with such pomp?

The second thing the government was hiding is this: the very same boards targeted for cuts were filled with 79 Conservative donors, volunteers and candidates since the last election.

The government was again trying to control the boards. As I said at the time, if the scandal at Rights & Democracy is any indication, this government will stop at nothing to ram its right-wing, ideological agenda through boards that should be professional, not political. By filling boards with Conservative cronies and axing other positions entirely, it is cementing its stranglehold on power while wiping out the potential for dissent.

We have now seen that the government has stopped at nothing to entrench its right-wing ideology and to claim that it was saving money when it was not spending any in the first place.

The Minister of Finance even went so far as to buy a coffee at the taxpayers' expense at Tim Hortons in London, Ontario. He hired a private plane for a return flight at a cost of $4,575, but flew back on a commercial flight at a cost of $400. In other words, he spent $5,000 to get a cup of coffee.

The government is completely out of touch with the reality Canadians are living in. On one hand it claims to be reducing expenses and making cuts, but on the other hand it is squandering public funds.

The Conservatives claim they can develop budgetary strategies and attack the deficit. I do not believe them. They do not even know where to begin to make cuts in government expenditures. They have delegated this thankless job to their officials, claiming that the cost-cutting will not hurt all that much.

Let us not forget that the government plans to put its fiscal house in order, specifically by cutting $17.6 billion over five years. How does it intend to do so? By freezing departmental budgets and reviewing programs? It was this same government that granted salary increases to its employees: 1.5% this year, 1.5% next year and 1.1% the third year. How will the departments absorb the cost of inflation?

I strongly believe that the government will have to make cuts to services, and that taxpayers will end up paying for these cuts.

The government should have the guts to tell us now which programs it plans on cutting.

Will it cut the programs that are not in line with its right-wing ideology? History shows us that programs it does not like will surely be on the chopping block.

Even the former clerk of the Privy Council, Mel Cappe, admitted to a journalist at Le Devoir that public servants could find ways to cut costs, but that it would affect the quality of services.

The two major public service unions are worried. The Public Service Alliance of Canada said the following in response to the budget:

Management will likely propose layoffs and job cuts to deal with the budget freeze. Our union will fight any cuts and any proposed reduction in workforce.

So much for peaceful labour relations.

Although the Conservative government will not reduce public service pensions this year, the President of the Treasury Board is refusing to be pinned down. Will he admit that his government intends to dip into the public service pension fund later on?

The government was certainly counting on the retirement of public servants to offset the government's administrative costs.

However, the recent report of the Clerk of the Privy Council and cabinet secretary mentioned retirements, and I quote:

Compared to the previous year, the public service retirement rate declined slightly in 2008-09 (by 0.1%), after steadily increasing...between 2004-05. Projections for the next several years call for a slight increase followed by a level retirement rate, assuming a stable employee population.

What I understand from this is that the government cannot count on an increase in retirements in order to reduce its workforce and rejuvenate the public service, while also hoping to meet its objective of reining in its expenditures. Will public servants who are eligible for retirement be reluctant to quit their jobs sooner in order to take early retirement? This could be a show of their lack of faith in this government.

This government did not hesitate to freeze the operating budgets of all departments while it wastes—I repeat, wastes—taxpayers' money on partisan advertisements and fees for consultants.

And this government was awfully quick to take credit for the reinvestment of $32 million this year, even though it slashed $148 million in funding for research councils in the last budget.

Instead of investing in research and innovation, the Conservatives refused to let the Canada Space Agency spend $160 million in approved spending over the past two years, but want to take credit for adding $23 million in this budget. What a farce.

Furthermore, the budget contains nothing to give a boost to Quebec: not a single word about culture, nothing on climate change or renewable energy.

It offers too little, too late to help the forestry and manufacturing sectors, which have been abandoned by the Conservatives.

After years of undermining the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, which could have helped create jobs locally, the Conservative budget allocates a pitiful $29 million over two years. Once again, this is too little, too late.

This government is a tired government that does not know how to respond to the issues of our times.

We, the Liberals, are determined to create a better choice for Canadians. We are proposing clear measures for employment and pension plans, because we are the party that defends the middle class, seniors and families that are just trying to get by.

[Ethics, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Jaffer seems to have better access to the federal cabinet than the Prime Minister. Let us keep going.

On January 27, 2009, Mr. Jaffer was at an event in Ottawa with the Minister of International Cooperation and, again, the Minister of Labour. On April 30, 2009, Mr. Jaffer was at an event with the Minister of Health and the Minister of State for Democratic Reform.

Would any of those ministers like to tell us what discussions they had with Mr. Jaffer and whether they were disclosed to the Commissioner of Lobbyists as required by law?

[Ethics, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the government continues to deny that Rahim Jaffer had privileged access to the Conservative cabinet. Yesterday, the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities avoided telling us about other projects in which Mr. Jaffer was involved as an unregistered lobbyist, projects they discussed.

I will try again. On August 13, the ministers of Labour, National Defence and Canadian Heritage attended the same event as Mr. Jaffer in Barrie.

What did they discuss with Mr. Jaffer, and did they report the subjects of those discussions to the commissioner, as required by law?

[Ethics, April 12th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the then-Minister of Natural Resources was also at that reception. We know that Rahim Jaffer has claimed to have access to a green fund. Furthermore, he has bragged about his influence with Conservative ministers. Canadians want to get to the bottom of this and do not want to hear prepared statements.

What did the former natural resources minister talk about with Mr. Jaffer? Did she report the discussion to the commissioner of lobbying, as required by law?

[Ethics, April 12th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the government is trying to claim that Rahim Jaffer is an ordinary citizen. Despite its denials, there are so many links that the government seems to be caught in a spider web.

On April 30, 2009, Rahim Jaffer attended a reception for Christine Elliott's leadership campaign. The Minister of Finance was at that same reception.

What did the Minister of Finance talk about with Rahim Jaffer? Did he report the discussion to the commissioner of lobbying, as required by law?

[Retirement Congratulations, March 29th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, every night at 6 p.m. for nearly four decades, the people of eastern Ontario and western Quebec tuned in to the trusted local newscasts of Max Keeping. Their loyalty to him as a CJOH TV news anchor has only been surpassed by his loyalty to them as citizens of his beloved community.

And make no mistake, Max Keeping knew his community intimately, not just because of his 51 years as a local journalist, but because he made it his mission to give as much of himself to that community as humanly possible. It is estimated that Max has participated in the collection of more that $100 million in charitable donations in the Ottawa area. He participated in about 200 community events and still does each year and every year.

On a personal note, I fondly recall Max's participation early one chilly December morning during the annual Media's Big Food Drive to help needy families.

I congratulate Max on his retirement as news anchor after 37 years. We will miss seeing his face on TV every night, but I know we will continue to see him at the community centres, the charity halls, the food banks, the hospitals and anywhere else he is needed.

[Agriculture, March 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, this is a document that was tabled yesterday by the government. Why would the government not want me to table it now?