House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2011, with 35% of the vote.
Employment Insurance June 17th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the self-employed are the largest group of Canadians without EI coverage. Last election, the Conservatives promised only to make maternity and paternity leave available to the self-employed.
Are Canadians to understand that the Prime Minister is now willing to make the full complement of EI benefits available to the self-employed who contribute, and will bring forward legislation, if agreement can be reached on this subject, in the autumn session?
Employment Insurance June 17th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has now said for the first time in public that it does not make any sense to have 58 regional standards of eligibility for employment insurance, and the premiers of British Colombia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario agree.
Will the Prime Minister now pledge to work constructively to bring before Parliament proposals that will make employment insurance fairer and more equitable for all Canadians from coast to coast to coast?
Employment Insurance June 17th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has finally said for the first time that it does not make sense to have different employment insurance eligibility criteria in each of the 58 regions.
Will the Prime Minister promise to work constructively to put the necessary legislative changes before Parliament to make the employment insurance program fairer for all Canadians?
Medical Isotopes June 15th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, last week, the Prime Minister announced that he was taking Canada out of the isotope business.
International experts said that if Canada stopped producing isotopes, it would take at least 10 to 15 years to find a long-term solution.
How can the Prime Minister justify abandoning the world in this way?
Medical Isotopes June 15th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I would like to see the evidence for those assertions.
However, let me go to a related issue. Last week the Prime Minister announced that he was taking Canada out of the isotopes business. The reaction from medical experts around the world has been one of shock. They point out that if Canada backs out of isotopes production, it will take “a minimum of 10 to 15 years to bring a new solution online”. That means 10 to 15 years of global supply shortages, if Canada ceases production.
How can the Prime Minister justify abandoning the world in this way?
Medical Isotopes June 15th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are looking for a government that has a plan, and it still does not have one for the isotope crisis.
Thousands of worried Canadians are not getting their cancer tests. The Dutch and the Americans can ramp up production, but they cannot make up the shortfall and they cannot guarantee that isotopes will end up in Canadian hospitals. We are facing a growing national health care crisis.
What is the current shortage of isotopes supply in Canada and what is the government's plan to make up the shortfall?
Medical Isotopes June 10th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, this public health care crisis is getting worse, and we cannot count on the minister's assurances.
Yesterday, François Lamoureux, the president of Quebec's association of nuclear medicine specialists, said, “The government does not seem to realize how catastrophic this is for patients...Patients are being held hostage”.
When will Canadians be able to get their diagnostic tests done?
Medical Isotopes June 10th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, with respect, there is a dispute over the facts here.
The Conservatives keep pretending that there is an alternative supply of isotopes, but we have spoken to the Dutch and the Australians. They say yes, they can ramp up production, but they cannot make up the shortfall. They cannot say how many isotopes will actually end up in Canadian hospitals.
So where is the credibility in the minister's assurances to those Canadians whose tests are currently being cancelled?
Medical Isotopes June 10th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the long predicted crisis is now upon us. Hospitals in smaller communities will run out of isotopes in the next 48 hours. The chief of nuclear medicine in Hamilton says “that deaths could occur” if supplies fall much further.
The Prime Minister claims that the government has acted on this issue since the last shutdown on its watch in November 2007.
After 18 months of this, is this all the Conservatives have to offer, a national health care crisis?
Minister of Natural Resources June 9th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the cheapest politics there is, is to call a crisis a career opportunity. This is not. This is about the minister's performance.
The government knows there are not enough isotopes. Today we have learned from the Dutch that if Chalk River is shut down for a protracted period, we will face a disastrous global shortage. The minister's performance is the failure here.
How can she explain that failure to patients waiting for cancer tests who are waiting in vain because of those members incompetence?