Michael Savage

[Norman Crawford, November 6th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, last Friday was a special day in Dartmouth, a day to remember and honour our past.

In the morning, at HMCS Sackville, now docked in Dartmouth to coincide with the play Corvette Crossing, I attended a multi-denominational prayer service held to honour the many Canadians who served on our corvettes in the icy North Atlantic during World War II.

This event, the inspiration of Neil Black, brought together veterans and community and religious leaders from many faiths and will become an annual event.

That afternoon I attended, with many others, the funeral of Norman Crawford. Norman was a larger than life figure in Dartmouth, a 22 year veteran of the RCMP, an entrepreneur and a well-known and well-loved city councillor.

Norman was one of the best dressed and most big hearted citizens. Everybody loved to be in his presence. I will miss him as will our community. His wife, Barbara, my friend, Colin and Ashleigh will miss him the most.

The history of Dartmouth--Cole Harbour is rich with individuals who have served others. I am proud of all those who have served and continue to serve our community. They, like Neil and Norman, make a big difference.

[Business of Supply, November 1st, 2006]

Mr. Chair, what I would say is that about a year ago the previous Liberal government introduced into the House a bill that would give $2.2 billion over five years to make post-secondary education more affordable for low income Canadians.

If the minister thinks infrastructure is all there is to access, does the government feel any obligation to help the students most in need? Does the government care or has it just not gotten around to it yet?

[Business of Supply, November 1st, 2006]

Mr. Chair, if she read the budget documents, the answer is in there. These are her budget documents. It says that the total share of federal support has remained constant over the past 10 years at 25%.

We put money into research, bringing Canada from the lowest to the highest in the G-7 in publicly funded research.

The issue now is access for students. I wonder if she can tell me what she is doing to help low income Canadians get to university or community college.

[Business of Supply, November 1st, 2006]

Mr. Chair, the average tuition is $4,347. I would think the minister responsible would know that.

What has the federal government's percentage of investment in post-secondary institutions been over the past 10 years? What is the trend?

[Business of Supply, November 1st, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I would encourage the minister to read the bill and if she sees any mention of infrastructure perhaps she could let me know because it is not in that bill. This talks about access.

I wonder if I could ask the minister what the average university tuition is for post-secondary education in Canada.

[Business of Supply, November 1st, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I would like to read Bill C-48 as it pertains to post-secondary education. It states, “for supporting training programs and enhancing access to post-secondary education...an amount not exceeding $1.5 billion”, not $1 billion.

Why is it not $1.5 billion and why is it not enhancing access?

[Business of Supply, November 1st, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I would like to speak about post-secondary education. I wonder if I could ask the minister what happened to Bill C-48, how much was it supposed to be, what was it intended for and where did it go.

[Petitions, November 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition from a number of my constituents of Dartmouth--Cole Harbour who have called upon Parliament to recognize that the marriage is the permanent union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others and they are calling upon Parliament to reopen the issue of marriage in this Parliament and to repeal or amend the Marriage for Civil Purposes Act to promote and defend marriage as the lawful union of one man and one woman.

I am pleased to present the petition on their behalf.

[Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, October 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, since January, politics is rampant in ACOA, in the timing of announcements, the minister's arrogant attitude toward criticism and in the appointment to key public service positions. The former chief of staff to former premier Lord in New Brunswick has been appointed the vice-president of ACOA. Now we hear a political operative from Premier Binn's office will be appointed to a similar position in P.E.I.

Are Atlantic Canadians really expected to believe that the only qualified people to lead ACOA reside in the offices of tired Conservative premiers? Will the Prime Minister assure this House that he will not parachute any more partisans into a comfortable landing at ACOA?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2, October 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I enjoy being on the finance committee. The hon. member is a good chair and I actually look up to him, but he is six foot nine so that is about what one might expect. However, what he says, unfortunately, is hogwash. We do not mistrust Canadians at all.

He mentioned many things in his 25 minute question, things like the tax break for students and the tax break for recreation. We actually asked a number of witnesses who were involved and liked those measures as well if they would prefer to see tax tinkering, little bits here, throw crumbs out to people or would they rather see investment in infrastructure, for example, recreation infrastructure through their municipalities, or the child care program as opposed to little bits of money. Most people, even people who were directly involved in the areas he mentioned, preferred the investment in infrastructure that all Canadians could use without a membership card and without having to pay a membership fee, that they would have access to whether it is education, whether it is child care, whether it is physical recreation.

It is all a balance but Canadians do not want little piecemeal solutions. We heard that from the Chambers of Commerce in Kingston and Waterloo. Canadians want solutions, they want vision and they want a government that understands their problems and will work on them. They have not seen it from the current government.