Michael Ignatieff

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it is not just the cost of this photo op. It is the content of the photo op that is so empty when we look at the G8 communiqué: no progress on climate change; nothing on the environment; no progress on maternal health, because Conservatives will not defend the rights overseas that they claim to defend at home; no action on banking reform either.

Canadians read the full text of the proposed G8 communiqué and they ask, what did we get for this, what did we get for $1 billion? What was the Prime Minister thinking?

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the member mentioned the finance minister, who has just said that the failure to institute global banking reform is adding to global economic uncertainty. The Prime Minister promised action on global financial reform. There has been no action at the G20. It appears that all decisions will actually be made in Korea at the end of the year.

Canadians are asking themselves, we paid for the world's most expensive photo op, we did not even get banking reform. What was the Prime Minister thinking?

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians have seen a version of the proposed G8 communiqué, but it is void of substance: there is no commitment on maternal health and nothing on climate change or the environment. In fact, it would seem that the meetings in Canada are just a warm-up for the real summit in Korea at the end of the year.

Why have Canadian taxpayers paid so much for so little?

[Public Safety, June 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, again, the Olympics went on for three weeks. This is going on for a weekend. Nobody can understand how the costs got out of control, and nobody can understand how to explain that to Canadians who are facing a mortgage squeeze.

Household debt is already the highest on record. The interest rates will make it harder for Canadians to spend on child care, on training, and on learning. Instead of helping these Canadian families, we have a government that does not know how to manage public money.

Again, I ask the Prime Minister, how does he justify these charges to hard-pressed Canadian families?

[Public Safety, June 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians still cannot understand it. The Olympic Games were nearly three weeks long. This is 72 hours. These are costing more. No one can understand it. The choices here do not make any sense: $1 billion for security; $6 billion in tax cuts for corporations that are already profitable.

How does the government explain these choices to hard-pressed Canadian families caught in the mortgage squeeze?

[Public Safety, June 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Bank of Canada increased interest rates this morning. Canadian families need to tighten their belts, for they are already the most indebted people in the G20.

Instead of helping these families, the government wasted $1 billion on security for the G8 and G20 summits.

How can the Prime Minister explain his government's incompetence to these struggling Canadian families?

[Public Safety, May 31st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the economy grew because of the leadership of Canadians, not the Prime Minister.

No one is suggesting that the economy should not be discussed during the summit. It is possible to talk about both the environment and the economy. This is the only government that does not believe it is possible. And now it is spending $1 billion. Why not talk about both issues?

Will the Prime Minister at least put the environment on the agenda for the G20 and the G8?

[Public Safety, May 31st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, they should have known that before they changed the venue. There is no summit in the history of the world that has cost as much as this one, and it is not just the security costs, it is the agenda.

Two world leaders came to Ottawa to beg the Prime Minister personally to put the environment and climate change on the agenda: the UN Secretary-General and the President of Mexico. The Prime Minister turned them down, so now Canadians are asking why this summit is costing us a billion dollars and the Canadian agenda will not even allow leaders to talk about what matters. How come?

[Public Safety, May 31st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are happy that we are sponsoring the G8 and G20 summits, but the government's planning of this has been a mess. It shifted the location, its agenda has antagonized world leaders, and now security costs have gone through the roof. Every time the government tries to explain this, its explanations get more and more farcical.

Will the Prime Minister accept responsibility for this fiasco, and will he give Canadians an honest accounting of how these security costs have spiralled out of control?

[Public Safety, May 27th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the handling of this issue is comical. The Conservatives could not figure out a location. They could not nail down an agenda. They could not figure out who to invite. We would not organize a children's party this way. Now we are on the hook for a billion dollar security charge on top of a $54 billion deficit.

Canadian families that do balance their budgets wonder why this incompetence has been allowed to happen.