Mauril Bélanger

[Official Languages, April 20th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, 35 years after this country was declared officially bilingual, the official opposition has finally said yes; supposedly, it gave its okay at its convention in March. I say supposedly because, yesterday, we saw clear evidence to the contrary, when a Conservative-Bloc alliance tried to indefinitely postpone this bill, which would improve the lives of official language minority communities in Canada. Its true position is clear.

As for our government and our party, these communities know that they have been able to rely on us in the past, they can rely on us now and they will be able to rely on us in the future.

[Canada Grain Act, April 18th, 2005]

moved that Bill C-40, an act to amend the Canada Grain Act and the Canada Transportation Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

[Points of Order, April 15th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I too rise on a point of order. During question period, representatives of the Bloc Québécois put certain questions which you ruled out of order because they dealt with a matter that did not pertain to the administration of government.

Following your rulings, the Bloc House leader accused you of having interpreted these questions in a partisan fashion. I would be remiss if I were to leave these remarks unchallenged. You received the unanimous support of the members of this House when you were elected as the Speaker of this assembly. You have always demonstrated a non-partisan attitude and a very thorough knowledge of our rules. I think it was inappropriate to accuse you of partisanship, when you had clearly used your best judgment in directing the debates in this House.

[Sponsorship Program, April 15th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite or anyone else in the House wants to obtain a report by any riding association representing any party, they need only go to the Elections Canada website, which has all the information on all the riding associations for all the registered parties.

[Points of Order, April 13th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, during question period the minister offered to table a document. There were no objections. The document was received by a table officer. Therefore, it is considered a public document tabled.

[Privilege, April 12th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, after hearing the comments of the hon. member opposite, I think you will agree that the question of privilege does not apply in this case. First, these comments were made by someone who is not an MP and, second, these comments were not made in this House.

Allow me to make the following comment: in both cases, it would be quite easy to determine rather quickly that this matter is certainly not a question of privilege.

[The Senate, April 4th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the government is perfectly aware of the importance of the other place in the bicameral Parliament. The Prime Minister has proceeded with filling some of the vacancies so the other place can function properly, as it has, in our system. We will continue to do so to ensure its capacity to function.

As far as the reform, the member opposite knows quite well that the government is prepared to consider that but a consensus has to emerge from the provinces in order for us to attempt to do that.

[Elections Canada, April 4th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, in the matter of Elections Canada, the members opposite know that Elections Canada is managed by an agent of Parliament who reports to the House through a committee of the House.

Having said that, the matter will be brought to the attention of the Chief Electoral Officer for a report to the House at the appropriate committee.

[Elections Canada, April 4th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, this matter deals with Elections Canada. It will be brought forward to Elections Canada for a report to the member in due course.

[The Senate, March 24th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, members of that party should understand that the provinces are engaged in this. We do not understand their problem with allowing the provinces to have a say in Senate reform. If we are ever going to achieve it, the provinces must be included. They are currently engaged in that.

In terms of appointments, one-third of the appointments made today were made to the opposition benches of the Senate. These members should be welcoming their new members with open arms, just as we will welcome ours with open arms.