Martha Hall Findlay

[Business of Supply, May 28th, 2008]

Mr. Chair, a Liberal prime minister and a Liberal finance minister. My apologies. That was a new member's mistake.

I would like to ask the finance minister, who was the last prime minister who inherited large surpluses and brought government spending close to deficit?

[Business of Supply, May 28th, 2008]

Mr. Chair, I will help the minister in case his memory seems to be failing him in terms of names. That would have been Jean Chrétien with Paul Martin, both Liberals.

I would--

[Business of Supply, May 28th, 2008]

Mr. Chair, the minister made a statement earlier about certain governments raising taxes and entering into deficits.

I would like to ask the minister, can he tell me who was the last prime minister who inherited deficits and turned them into significant surpluses?

[The Economy, May 12th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps trying to make us think that the economy is running along perfectly well. But what does he have to say to the workers in Windsor today?

[The Economy, May 12th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, in Listowel, 500 jobs lost; in Ottawa, 1,100 jobs lost; and in Oshawa, 900 jobs lost. This morning the finance minister was in Toronto misleading Canadians again and claiming that the government has done such a great job with the economy.

Unfortunately, also this morning, General Motors announced the loss of another 1,400 jobs in Windsor.

Instead of pretending that the economy is rosy, when will the government wake up and smell the coffee and actually start doing something?

[Trent-Severn Waterway, May 9th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to congratulate and thank our Liberal candidate Steve Clarke and the Orillia Packet & Times for quickly exposing Conservative game playing with numbers. The Conservative government has tried to claim an investment in the Trent-Severn Waterway as being new, whereas almost all of it is old money.

I would like to ask, why does the Conservative government continue to try to mislead Canadians so badly and pretend that it is doing something when it is not?

[Aboriginal Affairs, May 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for attempting to provide an answer. He referred to the example of the United States. I want to ask the minister: given all the other members of the international community, does he take the United States as a model?

[Aboriginal Affairs, May 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, last year the Conservatives tarnished Canada's international reputation when, for the first time in Canadian history, they voted against a human rights document and refused to ratify the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Now they are working against a similar document at the Organization of American States.

The government is hiding behind legal wrangling and nitpicking.

What is the real reason that the Conservatives have refused to join the rest of the world in supporting the human rights of aboriginal peoples?

[International Aid, April 28th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, that is untrue. The Liberals doubled the amount of assistance, and at the same time, set aside $3 billion for contingencies. However, because of the Conservatives, Canada is on the brink of a deficit. The government must help those in need. They must make a choice: help those in need or eliminate something else.

What exactly will they choose?

[International Aid, April 28th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, in 2005 the Prime Minister promised to increase Canada's development assistance to 0.7% of the GDP, another broken promise.

In two years the government has done absolutely nothing, yet we now have a world food crisis. The world is asking for Canada's help and the government has spent the cupboard bare. Why has the Conservative government deliberately destroyed Canada's financial ability to help the world's hungry?