Michael Chong

[Post-Secondary Education, April 26th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada currently provides significant financial support for post-secondary education and training. The Canada social transfer provides $16 billion a year in transfers for post-secondary education, $8.5 billion in cash and $7.5 billion in tax transfers. In addition, our government currently provides $5 billion in direct support for students and their families through direct grants and tax credits.

Our government is committed to working with the provinces and territories to ensure that this kind of strategy continues.

[Public Service Integrity Officer, April 11th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2004-05 annual report of the public service integrity officer.

[Education, April 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to working with the provinces, with the territories, and with business and labour partners to ensure that post-secondary education in Canada continues to be an important priority.

We also welcome the Council of the Federation's initiatives in this regard and we look forward to working with the Council of the Federation as we go forward to make sure that post-secondary education and training remain an integral part of the government's priorities.

[Supply, November 24th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Bloc leader for his words. I have a few questions for him.

Before I ask the question, one of the big stories of the last 12 years has been the elimination of the deficit. The government will certainly try to take all the credit for that, but I think that arguably free trade, swelling of government revenues and the implementation of the very difficult but good tax, called the GST, was responsible for that success story.

The real story of the last 12 years though has been one of lost opportunities. We have had surpluses over the last number of years which we have not had in three decades, yet the government has squandered opportunity. National unity is on the slide, and I disagree with my hon. colleague from the Bloc Québécois on that file. I believe in one country and one strong, united Canada. It has been on a slide as a direct result of the government's mishandling of the Quebec file. Native conditions continue to be abhorrent in the country. The environment and smog issues are ever increasingly difficult in the GTA. Productivity continues to slide.

The story of the last 12 years has been one of lost opportunities. However, the worst story of the last 12 years, and one that should cause concern for all Canadians regardless of their partisan stripe, is the subversion of democracy.

In 1997 the party in power won that election with 155 seats out of 301 seats with a margin--

[The Environment, November 23rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, just a few days before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal we have a new UN report indicating that Canada is the worst country on the planet in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

For 12 years this government has been long on promises and short on action and our emissions have increased by 24% according to the report.

Will the government be frank enough to admit that the Kyoto plan has resulted in increased emissions?

[Points of Order, November 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I read a report today that a Supreme Court vacancy may be filled before the federal election.

Order in Council appointments, on my reading of our conventions, should not be made when there is a question of confidence by the House in the government.

I would refer you, Mr. Speaker, to Pierre Trudeau's minority government in the 1970s when he was advised by the Privy Council Office that during the period of time when there was a question of confidence in his government that had not been settled definitively by the House that he not make order in council appointments.

However I also noted in the report today that the justice minister spokesperson said that the government not only had the legal right to do so when there was a question of confidence but that it had the legal right to appoint a Supreme Court judge during the election period.

I believe that clearly there is a question of confidence in the government today and certainly by next week there will be a question of confidence in the government and we will likely be into an election period. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I would ask that you consider this a point of privilege in the House that order in council appointments not be made during this time and especially not during the election period.

[Supply, November 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, supply management is something that I support and with good reason. There are 500 dairy farms in Wellington County, the county within which I live in Ontario. They support thousands of people in related industries and provide a very good, high quality product of which we all can be rightfully proud.

I note with interest that despite the many detractors of supply management out there, over the course of the last year and a half, since I was elected in June 2004, I have not had one constituent, one consumer, complain to me about the price of milk, or eggs, or butter, or cheese, or complain about the price of chicken or turkeys. That is a very telling sign that the consumer is getting a very reasonably priced, high quality Canadian produced product. That is another reason I support supply management.

There are some concerns being raised in the community. I met with the Wellington dairy producers the other day. They highlighted concerns to me about the threat they perceive to be at the WTO trade talks and their fears about the over-quota tariffs being reduced to the point where the whole threat to supply management would be introduced because of lower tariffs allowing for the importation of milk, eggs, chickens and turkeys.

I wonder if my hon. colleague would comment on that. What would he see as the solution to the government's position at WTO? I know the Bloc is advocating that the government ensure that no reduction in over-quota tariffs are pursued, but what suggestions does he have as to what the government position should be at WTO regarding the non-supply managed part of the agriculture industry? In other words, how should Canada best pursue its trade objectives in terms of obtaining a level playing field for those farmers in non-supply managed industries?

In my neck of the woods, the farmers in non-supply managed sectors of agriculture are probably facing some of the worst financial circumstances that they have seen in a generation, if not in two or three generations. I note that the price of corn in Ontario is below the price of production. I think it is around $2.80 a bushel, which is quite a bit below the price of production. These farmers are suffering because of unfair subsidies and unfair tariffs in other jurisdictions like the U.S. and Europe.

I wonder what suggestions my hon. colleague has as to what position the government should pursue in order to obtain a level playing field for those farmers in non-supply managed sectors of agriculture.

[Airports, November 18th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, Toronto's Pearson airport is being asked to pay two-thirds of the country's airport rent even though it carries one-third of the traffic. Because of this usurious rent, Pearson has the highest landing fees in the world.

Seventy thousand jobs and $14 billion in economic activity are at risk because of the government's irresponsible rent policy. Instead of gouging Toronto and telling us that Montreal's Dorval would happily take away Toronto Pearson's business, why will the minister not give Toronto the same deal he gave the rest of the country?

[Human Resources and Skills Development, November 4th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, Imperial Tobacco recently announced the closure of its Guelph plant, eliminating over 500 jobs. These jobs support hundreds of area Guelph families. The government should be doing all it can to cushion the blow. We have proposed a $1,000 grant for apprentices, an employer tax credit for their salaries, and a $500 deduction for their tools. Our proposals will help these workers retrain for the tens of thousands of skilled trades jobs that go unfilled in this country.

When will the government follow through on a recommendation and help these workers and the 100,000 other workers who have lost jobs in manufacturing?

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable. Some of the most vulnerable live in Kashechewan and their treatment speaks for itself: substandard housing, substandard health care, and water that causes scabies, impetigo and hepatitis. This is a stain on all of us. Even more alarming, in the last 10 years under the Liberal government, the number of aboriginal communities living with unsafe drinking water has increased from 25% to 75%.

My question again is, when will the Prime Minister ask his Minister of Indian Affairs to resign?